Killian couldn’t let go of the tendrils that came out of him. He forced himself to a stop, and pulled back, controlling a tendril to move the dagger towards cutting the connection.

Roar! Roar!

The two beasts pulled even harder and he fell. He understood it wouldn’t be so easy as this was their last attempt at taking down the one who killed them.

Suddenly the earth began shaking. Killian snapped his head up in worry, but relaxed when he saw it was the human-rabbit assisting him.

The ground underneath was not as soft as he deduced, stalling the sinking time for the beasts.

<Ablaze>

Killian’s fire flared from his wrists, consuming the tendrils that grew from his fingertips and turning the net over the ground as a fiery trap. The beasts’ cries increased until the pull lessened.

"One more down..." Killian strained against the hold. The last one still pulled harder, forcing him towards the fire.

The ground finally gave in, as the crater lowered the beast deeper under the earth till they were buried. The pull loosened completely.

Killian remained on the ground, on all fours, as his hand tendrils returned to his fingertips. He stared at his fingers, with a small smile on his face. "That was something."

The girl bent down beside him. "Are you okay?"

He nodded twice.

"I thought they only came out from your legs," the girl said, looking at his fingers and the tendrils under his legs.

"I wasn’t being creative enough." He sat down on the ground. "When I saw you use it, I realised. They are also easier to control compared to the ones on my leg. Thanks for the tip."

She smiled, and brushed her nose lightly. "Any time."

He received notifications that nearly washed away all the pain.

[New Skill Unlocked! (Fire)]↓

[Skill Upgraded! (Void)]

Killian’s eyes swept over the quiet land. The twinkles returned to his eyes. "You see now? A platter of bodies has been served. Do you want one of the bodies?"

The girl shook her head, wiping away some sand particles still on her face. "We rabbits are herbivores. Thank you."

"Welcome." The tendrils under his feet rushed out at his thought. "Status." Killian waited for the progress points. He also used the time to check all his stats of the other elements.

[Name: Grim Warden] [Rank: C Lower]

[Element: Void] [Affinity: 45%] [Skills: (2)]

[Capacity: 38%]

[Element: Fire] [Affinity: 17%] [Skills: (2)]

[Objective: Increase Body’s Temperature]

[Element: Corrupted Fire] [Affinity: 100%] [Skills: (1)]

[Objective: Unstable. Sync Failed]

[WCoins: W16000] [Missions: (2)]

[Verdict: Stable] [Potential: Great]

[Remark: Chaotic Good (Anomaly)]

"Hmm?" Killian narrowed his eyes at the last thing. The remark feature had already been out for newbies.

"As long as there’s a ’good’ there, I’d likely be less monitored by George, and be given more missions to grow."

He glanced at the girl. She sat comfortably, folding her legs and watching the tendrils eat. He looked back at his WLog when two notifications came at a time.

[Capacity 38 → 45]

[Capacity 45 → 52]

"It takes you that long to eat two?" he raised his voice at the tendrils. Some paused, while others kept on squeezing around the beasts’ corpse and consuming every part of it.

The human-rabbit chuckled. "You treat them like they are your children."

Those words made Killian pause.

’Children? I am just being a good partner. No one should expect their children to fight in such a dangerous place.’

’Unless they were a greedy coward of a father.’

[Capacity 52 → 59]

[Capacity 59 → 66]

[Capacity 66 → 73]

"He should return by now. The capacity is big enough already." He mumbled, watching the tendrils slither towards the crater to consume the last two that had fallen in there.

He left the ground and walked to steps towards them. He watched them squeeze the smaller one to reduce its body parts to be easier to digest. He infused more mana into them.

"Eat it whole." The tendrils expanded, spreading like a rug and engulfing the beast that it swallowed at once.

[Capacity 73 → 80]

Killian nodded. "Good. See? Do the same to the leader. Don’t waste...." he stumbled on his words. His head grew heavier, but he ignored the feeling.

"Don’t... waste...." He stepped back from the graveyard. He held his head with one hand, while reaching towards the girl that came to hold him.

He dropped before he held her, his eyes closing immediately.

[Capacity 80 → 90]

His grip on the dagger weakened, and he let go. "Hey, are you okay!" He heard the girl call, but his senses soon filled after the pain spread to every part of his body.

His consciousness faded immediately. The whole world around him felt silent as he drifted in the midst of nothing. A strong force pulled him towards it.

Then, his eyes snapped open elsewhere.

He immediately rose to his feet, then wondered how he could still walk when his head was spinning a few seconds ago. His feet touched somewhere hard and he stood straight.

He checked the environment as he strolled further down, not knowing why he moved or where he moved to. Only vague instincts that he was being summoned to a place remained.

"Where am I?" He stopped himself, betraying his instincts.

Planetary bodies hung in the air at strangely close distances, and rings of gases and meteors spun around large bodies of translucent masses.

They were identical to Earth, but not quite. Killian looked down at where he stood. He hung on nothing, yet didn’t fall.

It scared him because he knew he was vulnerable to whatever was happening or would happen in the next second.

"Killian."

Hearing the voice sent a shiver down his spine. It was expected to hear him, within nothingness. He slowly craned his neck behind him, feeling more dread than hope.

"V-Void?" He saw nothing. It was nothing.

A vast landscape of darkness with tiny stars embedded into a distant planet the size of mountains. Killian knew that if he got closer, it would be a thousand times bigger.

"Why are you still trying to bring me back?"

The voice had almost lost the reassuring edge he remembered. Killian stared at the mass of nothing speaking. He looked around the vast space once again.

He dug his hands into his pockets. "You are not a coward so stop acting like one and hiding here. I beat the angel already."

There was silence.

"Killian, do you know what I am?"