Chapter 4: Call me Hado

Hado walked through the forest, avoiding the strange beasts that hunted around the area. He could easily conclude he wasn't on a world like earth, just from the strange animals he assumed he'd been transferred to some game-type world.

It didn't make much sense, but he'd only seen strange creatures like this on random tv ads for games.

With a little more walking though, he got unlucky enough to be confronted by a smaller tiger like animal, growling at him and snapping its head toward him, as if it was picking a fight.

'It would be good practice... Just to see...' He thought, sighing to himself as he didn't turn and walk away, but stood his ground, looking at the beast.

"You wanna fight?" He asked, his voice calm despite his quickening heart beat.

The small tiger beast ran toward him in response to his words, jumping in the air, its jaws agape and aimed at his throat.

'Oh shit... I'm going to die.'

But Hado did something unexpected, even to himself.

He quickly dropped to his knees, dodging the tiger as it soared over him. He jumped up, looking at his body in confusion as he rushed the tiger, stomping down on its back as it landed on the ground.

He felt a crunch under his foot, followed by a whimpering yelp from the beast as it scurried off, turning and growling at him in anger.

"Huh... When did I get so quick?" He thought aloud, crouching down a little, staring down the tiger as his heartrate began to slow.

He rushed forward, moving much faster than any normal human should be able to, but he supposed he wasn't normal anymore.

Hado reached out, grabbing the top and bottom of the tigers mouth and ripping out, intending to break its jaw.

He did more than that.

The tigers body easily ripped under his force, from the mouth to its tail it ripped in half, blood splattering on his face and his nude body.

"Guess I was gifted more than the bug thing..." Hado said, stepping back, watching the tiger corpse fall to the ground.

He wiped his bloody hand off on his legs, staring at the dead animal as an amused smile came to his face.

Having power, true power, overwhelming power, it was possibly the greatest feeling a human could ever experience, and here he was, standing naked in the forest with multiple gifts.

'Enahcned Strength, speed, and even this insect manipulation... Conquering is going to be quite easy,' He thought, smiling maniacally as he turned away from the beast, the insects inside of him moving as if they were cheering.

He walked for hours with no more encounters, perhaps the animals knew what had happened to the tiger beast, but Hado didn't see a single thing again.

Finally, his racing heart quickening at the sight, he saw a group of people unpacking for a night of camping.

Hado didn't rush them immediately, bloodlust was not the best thing to have, and he could see quite clearly their armor and weapons they carried.

"Are you sure the revolutionaries are holed up in this forest?" One man said, taking off his helmet, looking sweaty and tired from a long days venture.

"Of course, we got the information straight from the emperor, unless you are questioning him?" Another man, the clear leader, said as he looked around, nearly spotting Hado before the boy jumped onto a tree, instinctively climbing up.

He didn't even notice how his body stuck to the tree, it was like it was natural in his mind, even though he knew his body shouldn't be able to climb it like that.

"Nah, just tired of this bullshit war, the emperor is getting... Predictable, we should stick to generals instead of worrying about the scared nightmares of the emperor..."

Hado stopped listening to the conversation, he'd heard and seen enough. He was clearly in some type of mideieval world.

The armor, swords, and mention of emperors made it pretty obvious, plus the way they spoke was like nothing he'd ever heard.

That's when Hado got an idea.

'Emperor? That means there's some type of empire in this world... I take over that then I'm already half way to conquering this entire world...'

His calculations were definitely off, but math had never been his subject... Considering he'd never even stepped foot in school.

Hado dropped from the tree, thinking about his approach. He could try and kill all these guys, but that wouldn't guide him to their empire.

'Fine... Let's all calm down,' He said to himself, the wriggling of the bugs instantly stopping as he walked up to the bushes, breathing in before flopping to the ground. "Help, someone please help me!" He screamed in a desperate cry.

Instantly the soldiers jumped up, the sound of clanking gear and crunching leaves sounded in Hado's ears before a blonde man looked down on him from above the bushes.

"What the hell? Where'd you come from boy?" He asked, his eyes scanning Hado's nude body in disgust.

"Mister! Please help me mister! The rebels! They kidnapped me and killed my famiy!" He yelled, not sure if he should attack or not.

The man didn't seem to care about his words at all, in fact he looked almost... Angry.

"Lighten up Ichiro," Another man said, stepping over the bushes and looking at Hado with sympathy.

'Oh he's the soft one?' Hado thought as he tried to look as miserable and pitiful as possible.

"Poor kid," The man said, reaching down and helping Hado up as the boy laughed inwardly.

It was almost too easy, it wouldn't take much to get them to take him back to the empire. The next thing that happened though immediately made his plans come to a halt.

*Scht!*

Hado was still trying to look pitiful, but the next searing pain in his side made his face drop, his eyes widening as he was lifted in the air by the throat.

He tried to look down, catching a glimpse of a dagger hilt sticking out where his rib cage was, blood flowing from the wound as the seemingly soft man smiled at him cruelly.

"Did you think we wouldn't know a trap when we see one rebel scum?" The man said, pulling his knife out and stabbing it deeply again, then again, then again and again and again.

Hado tried to yelp in pain, but the man squeezed down on his throat, keeping any sound from escaping.

'I... Underestimated these people for sure...' He thought as he was dropped to the ground, his life seeping from his body.

"What the fuck!" One of the men yelled in the next moment, pointing at Hado's dying body. The blood had spilled, in fact there was tons of it. What surprised the man however was Hado's skin knitting back together, slowly reconnecting as if he hadn't been stabbed at all.

'They are a part of you, they are your lifeline, you protect them, and they protect you, that is your support, they take your pain and turn it into... Power.'

Hado opened his half-lidded eyes, the voice in his head waking him up as he jumped up, spinning in the air and slamming his leg into the cruel stabbing man's face.

"Hah... I understand now... So I'm not even human anymore then?" He asked aloud, cracking his neck as he looked at the dozen soldiers looking at him in shock.

He didn't get an answer, but he didn't need one, everything was now clear to him. 'I am... Superior.'

"What the fuck kid! What are you!" One of the nearer soldiers said as Hado turned his attention to him, a small smile coming to his face as he picked up the seven-inch dagger.

"You can go ahead and call me... Hado."