Awakening of the Weakest Slayer

The Flesh Reaper, or rather an imitation of what it once was, a body made up of purple mass of energy, prostrated itself before Sezel, its form a blasphemous parody of fealty.

Just as the impossible reality began to settle in, another window bloomed in front of Sezel's face, obstructing his vision. It bared some new words. He read them carefully with narrowed eyes.

[The Puppet has accepted you as its master]

Sezel's heart slammed with incomprehensible excitement, 'Now this thing will follow me, save me from dangers.' The thought ignited in his mind.

It was a huge advantage in this realm, earlier the monster that had nearly killed him was now his servant, with a guard so strong, what were the chances that he would get in a situation as worse as this one. Very less likely, but he knew better. In this realm of lies and illusions, certainty was a fool's luxury.

He accepted the notification in his mind. The process was becoming second nature. He didn't need to speak, he just needs to think in his mind and the thing will happen, it's like the status window and this whole thing is connected to his mind somehow.

He felt the girl's grip tighten around his waist, she was afraid of the thing that was in front of them, even if it was not doing anything, her body refused to stop trembling, it is how humans are.

Sezel looked at her, his crimson eyes softening, '_She must have seen some horrible things._' He gently placed a hand on her head, a gesture of comfort, "It's okay, it is under my control." his voice was just above a whisper, but to the girl it was comforting.

"And now, how will this thing listen to me?" he scratched the back of his head, the puppet was not moving at all, from the bowing position.

"Hey, stand up," he said, simply. The puppet moved instantly, rising to its full, terrifying height. "Now, will you just follow me around?" Sezel asked, but it seemed the puppet was not able to speak, well even the Flesh Reaper in its original form was not able to speak.

Then, its form began to dissolve, the purple energy broke into thin particles and shimmered into Sezel's body. He felt a strange, tingling sensation as the energy seeped into his skin, a foreign power being absorbed into his very soul. And within seconds the whole beast was stored away somewhere.

The girl stared at him in awe. Sezel offered her a cryptic smile. "Now," he said, his voice stronger now, "I think we should get out of here."

The girl nodded.

With the new sunlight pouring from the shattered dome, the grand hall was revealed in all its ruinous majesty. Sezel's gaze inspected, it was undeniably a palace, a fortress built for giants. But it had been abandoned for a long time. As Sezel moved through the grand hall he witnessed eleven colossal thrones on either side, each one large enough to seat a small building.

But the strangest sight of all was the throne at the very center—a lone, smaller seat, perfectly sized for a human. '_Did a human once rule over these giants?_' it seemed impossible, but considering that power tops size in this realm, perhaps it wasn't.

They crossed the vast hall and entered a wide passageway that felt more like a tunnel, the light didn't reach here and it was comparatively darker, they continued because, this, it seemed, was the only way forward.

After walking for a while the tunnel-like passage opened up into another immense, circular chamber. But this place was not dark. Sunlight streamed in from a hundred broken windows, illuminating a scene of beautiful and eerie decay, there was a dry pond at the center, its basin cracked and filled with weed.

The walls and the pillars were completely visible, strange markings all over them or maybe just a design? Obscured by thick blankets of moss and wild, creeping plants. Even the floor had grass growing out of it, with just a single trail of something that moved through.

'_Those must be the traces of the Flesh Reaper going in and out._'

But why was this place so empty? In this D-Rank gate Sezel's primary objective was to find answers, and for that he most likely had to reach the heart, and with his assessment device broken, he had no idea where to go and where he even was.

He sighed at the fact that he is lost inside an area as large as several countries or maybe even a whole continent without any means to communicate, but there was no use in whining about it. He stepped out from the palace through a gate that loomed above two hundred meters, and the scene outside was just spectacle.

He and the girl passed through a final, gargantuan gate, its wooden frame hollowed and broken by ages of neglect. Sunlight seared their eyes, forcing Sezel to shield his face as they emerged onto a broad stone platform, below them a pair of twenty stairs descended into a world that shattered every assumption he had made. The sight made him wonder, where even was he?

A forest of regular-sized trees, a sea of green and brown, accompanied by tall, untouched grasses swaying in the gentle breeze. And through the wilderness, he could see it, a road, an actual road paved by civilized people, hidden beneath the overgrown trees and wilderness.

And with another little effort he could even see houses, broken and withered with time, but they were there, covered by trees and mosses.

Sezel's heart slammed harder, his mind blank, '_What is even this place?_' Nothing made sense, he just walked out of a colossal palace, large enough to sustain a whole human city inside. Above this palace there was another forest of such ginormous trees and wilderness. And now, at its base, an abandoned human settlement.

And now, at its base, an abandoned human settlement. It was a world of contradictions.

Then, a far colder and more terrifying memory surfaced, that made his blood turn to ice. The Leviathan. The mountain-sized serpent he had seen at the very top of this palace. It had been killed with an arrow that had been fired from down here.