It was unknown how much time has passed. Perhaps it was just a few minutes and hours, or maybe days—weekends, and stretching the possibilities maybe even months had already passed. He didn't know.
He didn't know what happened. He only saw whiteness along with darkness envelope the world. He like, the other agents, blacked out all at the same time it happened. He didn't even know if they were still alive. But he was.
He woke up soon after the event. The moment his eyes opened, he immediately knew something went wrong during his unconscious state. It was unexplainable.
The previously striving of life forest, filled with vibrant trees and colorful grasslands—vanished and was replaced by a barren and empty land. Nowhere was the previous luster of the world and land.
The scene before his eyes was too different. If he would provide a mirrored example, it was like the state of the demon dimension he entered earlier. Barren, lifeless, corrupted and empty.
..Today was really not his day. He just wanted to complete a mission from the TAOJ but his life kept getting threatened one after another. If he somehow, or somewhat, lived through this; he would take a break from the TAOJ.
He decided he would stay with his daughter in a few months before returning. If he could give it up all together, he would, but the bills and expenses aren't going to pay themselves.
"Though," Ciel muttered, his mind thinking about a blonde haired sorcerer. "I wonder if you're still alive, John."
ROAAAAARRRR—!
From behind him, a loud bestial roar resounded. Ciel turned his back, looking in distaste at the beast in front of him. It was a magic beast demonized by corrupted energy.
"Oh well, this shouldn't take so long..." He muttered as his body was enshrouded in darkness
—
Somewhere in the tore down, barren forest—a brown haired man uncontrollably shivered, a shudder running down on his entire body, snapping his consciousness awake.
Rio wearily opened his eyes. Perhaps that was a mistake. As soon as he woke up, he immediately felt immense pain assault his body—not only his body, his whole mind ached in agony. It was...tormenting pain near the experiences of the Blood Ritual. His eyes went wide open as he let out a loud scream:
"Arghhaaaa...!!!"
From above, withered, lifeless leaves slowly fell to his body. The wind suddenly blew, blowing it away from its trajectory.
Rio let out screams of agony—his mind unable to process the pain, while his body slowly broke from the agony. Bit by bit, his body tore itself apart. The pain was too much. It tormented both his psyche and body.
Perhaps this was his prelude to death. A punishment for his sins.
Rio let out scream after scream, the voice on his throat slowly losing sound as time passed. Before long, he wasn't even able to scream anymore—no matter how much he tried, his voice wouldn't come out.
He could only close his mouth and silently accept the immense, unstoppable pain that ran through his body. The pain didn't stop—it continued, even lasting more agonizing as time passed.
During this period of immense agony, at plenty of times he wanted everything to simply stop and finish. He wanted to... just close his eyes and give up, succumb to darkness.
But he didn't. He knew that if he lost conscioussness right then, he was going to die. He couldn't die. He remembered his grandfather's words. He remembered his sins. He remembered his wishes. He remembered the question...he long wanted an answer for. He just couldn't die.
Those were reasons why he couldn't simply close his eyes—shut down his pupils and rest free from the immense pain. For some, those might be inconsequential. But for an empty broken man like him, it was everything.
In his mind, so be it if he would experience agony. It didn't matter to him in the slightest. He would even gladly welcome it.
..If all it took was pain beyond human comprehension to live, then he would gladly accept the pain. If pain was all it needed for his wishes and questions to be answered—then may his body and mind be damned through eternity.
Regardless of what he thought, the pain continued. The agony carried on. Rio's eyes stayed wide open, silently accepting the pain admist the darkness—right now, nothing mattered but living beyond his current state.
Time passed as the pain slowly lessened, allowing his strained body to slowly stabilize itself. His mind, that was in utter disarray and torment, came to balance and allowed him to think freely.
Perhaps a day already passed, maybe just mere minutes or hours. He didn't know, and he wasn't interested in knowing. The pain had long deluded his sense of time—every bit of second he felt pain was like an eternity of torture.
"Argh..." Rio groaned, his body twitching. At that moment, he opened his eyes wide. ...He prepared himself, waiting for the pain to come again. But it didn't. The pain never came back, it left his body completely.
..Finally, it was over. The agonizing pain, once and for all, finished its journey. A sense of satisfaction erupted within him—his lips curling into a mocking smirk. He lived.
Slowly, his body rose, crawling to a nearby shattered tree. He leaned in on the trunk, relaxing his body. Once his body relaxed, he looked at the wounds etched on his skin.
The cold smell of blood lingered around him. He sniffed, smelling it. He didn't know, but his body somehow felt...greedy for it. Rio shook his head, staring at the wounds on his arms.
His arms had the least and severe wounds, while not as severe and lethal as the others—it was still mortifying to look at. Several long sharp lines cut through his arm, revealing his bones and veins beneath.
He already imagined how painful would it be to cure it. He shifted his attention to his legs. His legs, on the other hand, compared to the others, had the most amount of wounds.
Whether it was simply cut, stabbed, or exploded. There was a plethora of different kind of wounds etched on his legs. It was gory and insufferable to look at. If he had to guess, the cuts and stabs were most likely from the battle he watched before. The explosion was...from...he didn't know.
He shook his head, trying to forget of thinking deeply about it. He would think about it later. For now, he would check the biggest wound of all. He put a hand over his back, caressing a long, deep lethal wound.
"...Fuck."
Rio cursed. This wound was perhaps the most worrisome among others. He tried putting his finger on it, but it took him long before he found its depth. He was cut so throughly it marked a scar behind his back.
He sighed, removing his thoughts away of his mind. His eyes darted around the surroundings. Where was he...anyway?
Rio's face turned into a frown, not recognizing the place. Where was he? Was he still stuck inside the forest or was he transported again to god knows where? He would love to know.
Unfortunately, his damned smartwatch was broken.
Thud—!
Suddenly, a loud thud resounded. Above him, a giant beast's carcass fell to the ground. Rio's body was immediately alerted, instantly turning his eyes to the position of the noise.
"...It was just a magical beast," Rio muttered, his head shaking. He moved his body to the carcass, staring at its state.
The magical beast was more or less incapacitated. Well, it was dead—of course. Beneath it, blood spread, forming a small puddle of scarlet liquid. Oddly enough, the blood attracted his stare. He found it...in a way, alluring. Weird.
He ran his hand over the beast, feeling its body and fur. It was new, that was good. Its spiritual stone should still be inside it. He raised his body slightly, pushing the carcass to take a look at its front.
...Well, atleast he confirmed where he was with the beast's appearance. It was a deer. Most deers, in his knowledge, lived only in the forest and nature. The odds were high that he was still stuck in the forest.
Somehow, that made him both bitter and happy.
Rio sighed. He pressed his hand over the deer's body. The spiritual stone should be located on its chest. He nudged his hand, moving it specifically to the chest of the deer.
He tried to manipulate his magical energy. But it was stuck. Somehow, it wouldn't move. That was strange...
He tried again. This time it moved. He manipulated it—directing the flow to his hand. His hand sharpened as he sliced through the deer's skin, removing its flesh as he stared over its inner organs.
Bloody, it was. Not only bloody, but the beast had a weird and gross disfunctional anatomy. Its bones were bended and shattered, its organs were spread randomly, almost as if no recognizable way. It was overall... extraordinary.
He brushed it off as fantasy semantics. You can't have a fantasy world without extraordinary special animals. The deer must be a rare one, or perhaps a strong one. The size of its spirit stone should indicate its strength.
Rio put his hand inside the body—randomly moving his hand until he found what he was looking for. Before long, he grasped a hardened, glossy stone. Much to his surprise, the stone felt large. It must be a strong magical beast then.
He hurriedly took the stone out. His eyes shifted to his hand, filled with blood and...blood..that felt..—Rio shook his head, looking at the stone on his hand. "Now, let's see how good of a ha—"
His words stopped in his throat before he could finish. His eyes went wide open in shock, staring at the stone infront. The stone...wasn't ordinary. No, less than that—it was corrupted. Demonized.
Within the stone, corrupted energy spread.
Rio dropped the stone to the ground, his mind quickly forming a theory. Before long, he arrived on a—different all-together, terrifying conclusion. He raised his hand, staring...at the blood.
Woosh—!
He didn't know what got to him, but the next thing he knew, his teeth were already clenched on his hand. Hungry, starved and greedy for the blood.
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