The Transcendent Godslayer

Kallen pivoted in the rain, his sword meeting an attack from behind.

He used the momentum of the collision to twist his body to the side, driving his elbow at the attacker, only to hit thin air.

His expression darkened slightly. Despite his Will blanketing the world around him, he still couldn't find who was attacking him, only able to react at the last moment.

If he hadn't received the stat boosts he had now, and if his reflexes weren't fast enough, he would have already died, given how fast and deadly the attacks were.

Hearing a slight whoosh to his right... like a blade cutting through air, he twirled the sword in his hand into a reverse grip, turning to meet the attack again.

A flash of lightning streaked the sky as their blades clashed, the flash of light enabling him to behold his sword crossing paths with... claws.

'A panther?' he questioned internally, as his eyes met that of a black feline.

He drove his leg forward for a kick, his thoughts and movements flowing smoothly from one to the other.

However, rather than the impact he planned, the cat instead stomped on his leg and used it as a springboard to leap backward, disappearing completely with the flash of lightning.

It was incredibly light!

With how powerful each of its strikes were, he'd thought he had messed up when it crouched on his leg. However, his mind was blown away by how incredibly light it was.

'A darkness-related skill then... This will be troublesome,' he thought.

He jumped backward, dodging a swipe aimed at his bowels.

'Seriously... What's with everyone and gutting me open?' he thought darkly as he turned and sprinted away... Suddenly splitting into many.

He had hardly crossed ten meters before he was forced to stomp on the ground, launching into the air and spinning to avoid a swipe that nearly severed his Achilles.

'It's not working?' he questioned internally in bafflement, as the panther pounced again, completely breezing through his illusions like they weren't there.

Kallen blocked the strike again, retreating. His eyes remained calm however, as he stopped bothering with trying to throw it off with his illusions, then waited for something to happen.

It was a last-ditch effort, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Then, as if the universe itself was listening and decided to answer his prayers, the panther attacked again, unrelenting in its brutality.

At the same time, lightning split the sky again, and Kallen's hand moved as well. This was exactly what he was waiting for. This time, however, his sword wasn't in his hand.

Chi.

The claws tore into his palm, almost splitting the bone of his palm and fingers, but he pulled in closer to the panther's space, lowering his palm in the direction of force to offset the blow, its other paw digging into his shoulder.

His bloodied hand clenched around the paw, and his free hand drove the sword into the creature's neck from above. Both of them fell to the floor as his shoulder blade was also severed.

The panther roared in pain, but Kallen's eyes remained cold and calm, his leg locked around the panther as he drove the blade deeper into its neck.

The panther twitched, clawing at Kallen's chest with its free paw for a few seconds before it died, letting out soft meows and whimpers.

[You have slain First Ascension Shadow Cat]

[Do you wish to digest her Essence?]

[YES] [REJECT]

[REJECT]

Kallen made his conclusion in an instant, huffing and panting as he unwrapped his leg, from the… cat.

'First Ascension,' he thought.

This cat was powerful. More powerful than Menelaus and Yula, and yet it was only in the First Ascension.

That was the true difference between the elite and the mediocre:

Those whose Essence was very much potent due to digesting the Essence of those far above their level—and those whose Essence was less potent as a result of digesting those of others on par or even lower than them in level.

His cold eyes swept over the beast lying motionless on him. It was black as night, only as big as a dog... which was very big for a cat, and unnaturally sleek and nimble. Beautiful, in a wild, lethal way.

Though Kallen had seen ascendant beasts before, those were the domesticated ones in the Crimson Estate. This was the first time he was seeing, and unequivocally, facing a wild one.

There were not a lot of things one could enjoy in the Crimson castle. Although if he had awakened his core, it would've been a completely different story.

Naturally, ascendant beasts roamed the wilds, avoiding civilization due to the danger posed by powerful humans. This one had only ended up here at all, only because of the devastation that struck Andreía.

Obviously, not even the wild had would be spared from the cataclysm the Saints unleashed in their wake. Just as the orcs had scattered in chaos, so too had the beasts, driven from their territories by the collapse of their environment.

Unbothered by the pain or the bleeding from his torn leg, Kallen placed his hands on the beast's corpse and plundered its Essence.

Energy slithered into him, and his stats surged upward, far more than he'd anticipated. It was more than he expected for a First Ascension ascendant, and even more than he'd have expected from someone of Menelaus' level.

But ultimately, even in the First Ascension, this cat was by far, stronger than both Menelaus and Yula.

He waited, breathing shallowly, letting his injuries knit themselves together before rising to his feet. His cloak was tattered and claw-marked, rain plastering it to his body.

He took one step forward, then stopped and looked back.

After a brief pause, he returned to the beast, hoisted the cat's light corpse over his shoulder, and made his way to a hover pod crashed against the ruins of a fallen building. Smashing the glass, he tossed the carcass inside.

He hesitated for a second, then pulled it back out and stashed it in his storage ring. He hadn't wanted to waste the limited space in the ring, but it was better than leaving tracks.

An orc that "died to natural catastrophe", and a beast that was killed, were two different things. One could be overlooked, but the other couldn't be missed.

As for the blood, there was no better erasure than the rain and this broken, bleeding land.

Exhaling once, he moved again.