..
….what is this place ?…why is it so suffocating…. What are those bright lights in distance…. Wait, that goat tattoo.. I have seen it somewhere..
Kai sees a shadowy figure near him having a goat tattoo in blue color.
Kai opens his eyes.
What was that nightmare?? Did I die in that???
You! ?? How did you survive that? The demi-human looks confused.
It seems the demi-human cast a nightmare using Aether on me but somehow I have survived, I need to turn this around now.
I don't know what tricks you used but they won't save you second time. The demi-human starts chanting again
"Mruthyuvatikranthā bhāvāḥ—"
Kai throws a fork at demi-human, but he doesn't stop chanting.
" daivasūtratayā prakaṭadhvam."
Kai throws a playing card directly to demi-humans eyes blocking his vision….
His chanting stops.
Yes! So you need to maintain eye contact with me to cast the spell.
I don't need to use spells to defeat you weak humans. The demi-human says while his horns grew larger and became black, his entire body got covered in weird carvings, he looked more muscular. His claws looked sharp.
Suddenly! He tried to strike Kai with his claws, he thrusted his sharp claws but Kai thrusts a fork from side into the claw changing the thrust attack tragedy, basically he parries it.
But soon Kai got hit with a punch which he tried to block. Kai was blown away 5 meters.
Without wasting time demi-human started chanting again.
Mruthyuvatikranthā bhāvāḥ—
daivasūtratayā prakaṭadhvam.
Woah, woah not so fast pal, Kai threw a card into demi-human eyes interupting his chant.
Kai started vomiting blood.
I need a weapon, bruh because of excitement that this was going to be my last day of work, I forgot to bring the coin, gosh I regret it.
Hey goat how about we both calm down and settle this over rock paper scissors.
Demi-human charges at Kai.
Guess the goat doesn't like to listen.
Kai throws a card to slow down his speed. He then keeps the fork ready to try to parry claw thrust, but demi-human grabs Kai and throws him 2 meter into sky.
Kai falls down in a loud thud. Kai struggles in pain while on ground.
A coin suddenly slips out of Kai's pocket slowly rolling... it then starts spinning and shining. Oh my god YES! I have the coin!
Kai screamed in joy as the coin glows and slowly transforms into a sword, it was a long one edged sword with no hilt which glittered purple color while its blade was unreasonably blackened.
Flashback:-
Kai had fainted while fighting demons on Jan 1st 2025, when he woke up he found a coin in his hands which looked very ancient, while his sword was nowhere to be seen.
He later crawled to see his house blown away in smitherins where he collapses and wakes up in an hospital.
After some months of resting he left the hospital with a long dept to his name. He wandered the streets to find a new home.
Everywhere he looked, he saw broken things, people and buildings alike. Depression loomed over the streets as starvation was a common thing, in this new world where it was survival of fittest. After walking for some time he found some thugs were throwing things out of a building while three kids were trying to stop them.
Stop! Please this is our home, please leave us alone.
How will you kids survive in this world without an adult? Just give us this building and die.
A kid with white hair walked forward blocking their way.
Surviving in this world is our problem, We shall feed the kids in this orphanage by working hard. You people have no right over this orphanage.
A thug raises his hand swinging at white hair kid.
Norman no! Orange hair kid rushes and punches the balls of thug.
Ahh! The thug shouts in pain. Other two thugs try to rush and punch but they slip and fall.
The third kid with black hair threw oil on ground while orange hair kid was punching.
While this was happening a bunch of other thugs come and grab the kids.
Let us go! Leave us alone. HELP! SOMEONE HELP!
The kids screamed on top of their lungs.
This world is in shambles right now, no one is gonna save three orphans. We would've just taken the house and left you kids alive, but now that you kids revolted we might as well sell you and get some money.
Kai sees this scene and starts deep thinking, saving orphans from so many thugs classic scene from novels but HOW THRILLING WILL IT BE TO EXPERIENCE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME.
His eyes sparkle with excitement and a huge grin grows on his mouth.
Ummm….. yes, Kai is a thrill seeker.
Kai starts jolting towards the orphanage. Mid run, he notices something weird, he felt stronger and faster. He realises that he must have awakened while he fought demons, but the weird thing was he didn't remember seeing a flashback. He kept these thoughts for later and ran to defeat the thugs.
Kai quickly knocks out three people by chopping near their necks.
Who are you? Why are you attacking us?
I am Kaelus, the saviour of orphaned ones says Kai while having a confident posture.
Hearing this all the thugs burst out into laughter.
LOL, TF WAS THAT? SO CORNY DIALOGUE. I am Kaelus the saviour of orphaned ones more like I am Kaelus and am an orphan.
And tf is Kaelus supposed be, imagine having Kaelus as name LMAO. All thugs imitate him and make fun of him.
Amist this the two kids look at Kai with an smile, the smile wasn't from jokes thugs made, the smile was a genuine one reflecting their admiration while the black haired kid's eyes were filled with excitement looking at Kai.
All the thugs stop laughing and some of them start charging at Kai but Kai could clearly see their movements. Kai immediately counters them with minimal movement and makes them faint. Remaining thugs became scared and start shouting captain.
CAPTAIN HELP US PLEASEEEE.
WHY ARE YOU GUYS CALLING ME ? CAN'T YOU GUYS HANDLE THIS SMALL MATTER, YOU ALL ARE USELESS, I WILL INCREASE THE SENTENCE FOR EVERY ONE OF YOU.
A 6'1 man with a ruggish look walks towards the orphanage from behind the thugs. He had scars all over his body, He wore a brown sleeveless shirt and black torn jeans. A cut on his face near his left eye stood out. Weirdly enough his look was the most normal thing about him, you see he had a bowl shaped shield on his back.
The thugs tell him about Kai.
Gotta give you credit your strong enough to take out my men, I would've even invited you into my crew but if only your name wasn't Kaelus, he says while laughing.
Kai gets angry and rushes to punch him. The thug captain blocks his punch.
Do not even try this shit on me, I have awakened and became a returner. He says while taking out his shield with other hand. This shield is an artifact which I got from my vision. He quickly punches Kai using his shield. Kai falls on ground.
I need a weapon Kai thought in his mind. The ancient coin fell from Kai's pocket and started swirling. It glowed and started transforming into an large one sided hammer. The hammer had an bell inside it and an horn on one side.
Kai picks up the hammer and pounds it hard on the shield. The air vibrated, sound echoed and ground shaked, the pressure could be felt.
Heh my shield protected me— as the thug captain was about to finish sentence, Kai started to pound again and again, stronger and stronger.
Kai pounded until he broke through the shield and hit the thug captain from which he fainted.
All the thugs picked the captain and left while kids ran to Kai.
YOU WERE SO COOL, HOW DID YOU SUMMON A WEAPON OUT OF NOWHERE, WOW YOU ARE SO STRONG, two kids kept on talking to Kai while Kai kept a prideful grin on his face.
The kids tell their names, orange haired kid is actually a girl named emma. Black haired kid is Ray, white haired kid is Norman.
From then on Kai lived with the kids, protecting them from thugs using the coin.
The coin seemed to have transformed into a weapon whenever it sensed danger. Kai called it "The coin of fate".
Coin also transformed into random things sometimes like a leaf, a potion and a stick etc,. So fighting using coin always required luck.
As Kai was a thrill seeker he liked the coin very much.
In the present moment :-
Norman must have kept the coin in my pocket, thanks Norman I will bring you a chocolate.
With the newly transformed sword Kai just got, he stood up with confidence.
The demi-human glances at the sword and laughs.
That sword won't save you from me.
We will see about that.
Kai lunges with his sword, demi-human blocks Kai's sword with his claws. Kai strikes hard on demi-humans claws, but demi-human was able to block it easily.
Ouch, Kai says while his palms become red. This sword has no hilt and the handle is so bad, it literally hurts to hold it properly.
Kai tried to strike a heavy slice again, this time demi- human thrusts with claws which pushes Kai 6 meters backwards.
I can't win with this sword head on, I need a plan while Kai was thinking the demi-human started chanting again.
StOp that! Kai throws a card into human eyes.
Alright lets pause for a second and relax.
Kai closes his eyes.
Think, think, THINK, the demi-human is around 6 '10, it has sharp claws, it's very muscular, can use long ranged mental attack, its biological processes are similar to humans, its weak points are neck, joints, eyes. I have a bad sword, 40 playing cards and 3 forks. Think, think THINK…. I am missing something, what is it?? I am in a back alley, nothing useless nearby, its a demi-human and I have limited weapons.
Kai quickly analyzes all the information.
Wait! I have another weapon, a can of alcohol and a lighter.
Kai thinks for 3 seconds.
I have a plan, it's doable now. Kaelus smirks.
Cold wind blows through the back alley, people inside the restaurant try to watch the match from the hole. Only two sounds could be heard. One was the sound of a demi-human heart and the other was Kai's deep breathing.
Kai still has his eyes closed, taking this as an opportunity demi-human tries to close the gap and rushes towards Kai.
Kai quickly opens his eyes and rushes towards demi-human.
Both go head on, Kai bends down and tries to cut demi-humans right arm with his sword which he held with his right hand. At the same time Kai held three forks in his left hand which he was aiming at demi-humans balls.
The demi-human uses his left hand to block the fork, right palm to grab the sword due to which his palm gets cut.
The demi-human instantly tries to counter attack by throwing away Kai's forks using his left hand, then he tries to punch Kai with left hand.
Kai lets go of his sword and grabs the demi-humans left hand with his right hand. He then uses his left hand to throw many cards into the air which all curve in the air and block view.
While the playing cards were falling, kai throws the can of beer into the demi-human and lights it on fire, Kai quickly grabs his sword and backs out.
The demi-humans face burns in fire, after a lot of struggle demi-human puts out the fire and finally opens his eyes then he sees the King of hearts card near his eyes… and then his head falls on the ground which Kai had just severed.
Kai stands still and breathes for a second and celebrates his victory, he then goes near the demi-human corpse to see the carvings, he holds the demi-human head with his hair and stands still seeing the horns.
Suddenly Kai felt someone covering his face with a cloth, which made him unable to see. After 3 seconds Kai opens his eyes. He was shocked by what he saw.
Kaelus stood in a snow biome in the middle of nowhere.
..
..
..
Multiple people in a dark room with over 100 monitors look at screens and talk among themselves. The thing which stood out is each monitor had one person standing still, some were in snow, some were in jungle, some in plains.
All the people were discussing among themselves about the people in the monitor.
Do you think this plan will work out?
Of course it will, after all it is the plan of the "Director" he is one of the strongest in the council.
The participants seem very promising at least.
Look at that monitor!
A 5 '10 man with messy hair and specs stood in the middle of a swamp wearing a Doctors jacket and white clothes. He looked like he was in his early twenties and very handsome.
Isn't that "Sushruta", "The hands of god". He is from the "full moon" safe zone.
I heard he has some weird ability.
And look at that monitor!
A girl with long blonde hair in a green half coat blazer and tall boots stood in the middle of the jungle.
It's Luna De Cartel from the "Waxing Gibbous" safe zone.
OH MY GOD LOOK AT THAT.
A beautiful Chinese girl.
Bro that is the famous demi-human girl, I heard she is a nine tailed fox.
Damn.
Bro is that who I think it is?? No way, even she is here?
I heard that before the council could even choose her, she already chose to be part of this.
A beautiful girl with black shirt and black pants stood in the rain looking up at the sky, her face did not show any emotion, her eyes just drifted into the sky while the rain drops were falling from her pale white skin.
She had no thoughts about where she was or what she should do, all she did was hold her sword and stand still. Her shoulders looked heavy from all the burden she was carrying which was not seen.
She is the emotionless saintess of the church. The beloved saviour of humanity. "Lumina" signifies hope for the future.
Apart these people there are many more like the four champions of humanity, I heard there was even a god in the list. Wow, looks like this secret project might work.
Suddenly everyone in the dark room looked at one single monitor, everyone had the same question while looking at the monitor, Who is that? How?
Kaelus, a good looking teen boy, stood on white snow in a black shirt and pants while wearing an apron with "Bloody sweet" on it. What stood out most about the boy wasn't the fact he was unknown, it was the thing he was holding in his hand. He was holding the severed head of a demi-human while blood was dripping on the white snow.
Everyone was confused about how the unknown boy was able to already hunt a demi-human when he just got into the arena.
Does anyone know who selected that kid? A man asked from the crowd in the dark room.
Silence lingered.
If no one from here chose him does that mean him being here is a mistake ?
There are no mistakes in life. A voice was heard. Now you would've expected the voice to be deep menacing or commanding but surprisingly, the voice was that of a child's, an innocent voice.
As everyone is here, now let us continue with the project #####.