Prologue

The ruins of the city loomed around me as I laid amongst the carnage, the bodies of beasts scattered around me and pools of blood soaking into the cold stone floor. My vision blurred as I struggled to lift my head, clinging to fragmented thoughts that slipped through my fingers like grains of sand.

'Since when did it became like this?'

The world around me was dark, the shadows of a waning moon flickering across the ruins of the city. All that remained of towering buildings were heaps of broken stone. Jagged beams and crumbling walls jutted into the sky.

An eerie silence hung over the destruction, the once bustling streets now desolate. The only sounds that broke the deathly stillness were hungry cries of beasts prowling the remaining scraps of life to feast upon.

I struggled against the exhaustion weighing down my limbs, fighting to rise, to escape becoming another beast's meal. But it was no use. The power within me was spent, leaving only the slow drain of mortality.

As darkness closed in, memories begin to flicker through my fading thoughts.

...

My name is Aris. I was once an ordinary student with a simple, comfortable life. My mother worked as a lawyer while my father worked as an doctor, and there was comfort in the rhythms of my life.

The moments I looked forward to most were the times after class spent with friends. We'd laugh and chat as we wandered the streets, finding small joys in little rebellions and dares. No matter what mischief we got into, my friends were always there with me to share the fun.

At home, my father's half-hearted scolding couldn't dampen my joy in the day's adventures. The kitchen was scented with my mother's cooking, a warm welcome back to familiar embraces and belonging. Those were the brightest days of my life. I was happy and relaxed with my friends and family.

All that was shattered on October 24, 2029. Creatures appeared within gates as they wield powers beyond comprehension, elemental powers that let them manipulate the fabric of nature as if gods.

Some took forms from ancient myth and legend, as if legends had stalked forth from their age-old stories to torment our age. and so we called them the 'God Beasts.'

In an instant, hell broke loose upon the world. Civilization crumbled overnight as beasts rained destruction from unseen gates. The human population was decimated, cut by 60% from fifteen billion souls to a scattering of survivors.

Countries burned, explosions tearing the void where cities once stood. Ruin and death stained the face of the earth red.

And that day.. I lost everything... my family, my home, all that had illuminated my life now, completely turned into ashes.. But from the flames, a new purpose kindled. Vengeance against the God beasts who had brought such ruin.

The innocent ordinary boy died in the fires of that fateful day, and from the ashes rose a hunter with nothing but a heart of vengeance.

Humans soon went into hiding, searching for a way to fight beasts beyond our power to defeat. Though the God beasts were not immune to modern weapons, bullets and steel could not stem the tide of their advance.

The God beasts came in categories. The weakest were Scavengers, lacking elemental power but possessing monstrous strength and speed, however they have the weakest defense. as guns are enough to kill them with ease.

Elites were far more powerful, with ten times a Scavenger's strength and unique powers defined by bloodline. Even railguns barely scratched their armored hides.

Yet worse lurked in wait. Colossals wielded elemental powers, each capable of razing nations. The strongest could even shrug off a f*cking nuclear warhead. and these beasts are usually 300 meters tall, rivaling skyscrapers in terms of height.

Finally came the Titans, the pinnacle of the God beasts. Towering 900 meters and higher, they dwarfed even the highest skyscrapers of the world - the Burj Khalifa. and in front of a Titan, it's a child's toy before their shadow.

Not just that but when a Titan appears in the world, it can be said to be the mark of the end, these creatures have full manipulation of elemental powers they wield, unlike Colossals who aren't as proficient as Titans.

The Titans can be said to be experts in manipulating elemental powers, volcano eruption with the law of fire is as easy as breathing for them, creating a new ice age with the law of ice? well it would be exaggerating to say that its as easy as breathing but it's the truth.

That's how strong these beings are and the great thing about it is that they don't exist in the world. well, not yet at the very least.

And for the first time, humanity united against a common foe. Countries once enemies joined hands, pooling resources and knowledge in a desperate bid for survival.

Together, we create technology capable of slaying even gods. Through combined effort, what might have taken lifetimes was achieved in months.

The technology capable of slaying these beasts is called 'Infusion.' this technology helped humanity have a standing chance against the beasts. by ingesting and engineering beast tissue into their genomes, humans gained supernatural powers without losing lives to biological incompatibility.

Early attempts led only to gruesome deaths. but one day a scientist had a break through in his research, realizing that life essence must be preserved, not merely duplicated. humans were able to integrate beast powers into themselves. With the biological structures left intact, the humans emerged with abilities even greater than those of the God beasts they took the powers from.

With Infusion, humans gained the powers of the God beasts. Soldiers could wield fire and claws as easily as normal weapons. Using the beasts' power against them, humans slowly turned the tide of the war.

Humans who underwent Infusion were known as 'Slayers.' The power of the God beasts ran in their veins and they receive a mark on their skin.

Mark I, granted mastery of the elements. With practice, depending on what bloodline of the beast they have infused, the Slayers are able to wield elemental powers and unique traits of the beasts as familiarly as their own limbs.

Mark II enhanced physical abilities, but at the cost of stability. The beast's power came closer to the surface, threatening to break free.

Mark III allowed partial transformation. Up to 70% of the body could shift into a mix of human and beast, gaining massive power at cost of fighting the destructive urges that came with the blood of devils. Few could leash the monster within them.

Mark IV, the final transformation, also known as Avatar. In this mode, one could access 100% of the God beasts might.

But with such power came with doom. There was no return from the abyss of madness, by unleashing the Mark IV, the human would succumb into the urge of destruction, the primal instinct of a God beast. the human would lose all reason and attack anything in sight, and they are no different from a wild God beast.

However for my case? I never awakened my Mark further than Mark II. My motivation for undergoing the process was revenge, the God beasts had torn my family and friends from me, so I sought the power to make them pay in kind.

Infusing with the Nine-Tailed Kitsune gave me power over time, however there is a big restriction in using this power, its just that I don't have enough energy to properly use this power.

The Nine tailed Kitsune, used its nine tails to gather energy around the atmosphere to use its elemental powers. and from what I heard before.

Nine Tailed Kitsune have nine separate powers, these are fire, water, wind, lightning, ice, earth, time, light and space. I initially had the optimism of thinking that maybe I would be able to wield one of these powers with high proficiency and have my revenge against the God beasts.

Instead, I found the elemental power of time nearly beyond my grasp, the power of reverting things back, and the power to see through the future. What the Kitsune had used innately taxed my mortal frame to its limits with slightest exertion.

I never really understood the power of time until the day I died.

...