His legs burned.
Every stride felt like lifting stones lashed to his ankles. The cold air scraped his throat raw, but he couldn't stop gulping it down, ragged and wheezing. His chest ached not from a long run, but from the feeling of something unravelling inside him, thread by thread.
His body was drenched in blood. Not in just his own, but in that belonging to countless Nightmare creatures, with some still chasing him even now.
He scowled in pain.
And still, that glowing white light in the distance felt much farther then it had been before. Epsilon lost track of how long he had been running, but out of fear and desperation, he dared not look behind him to see how close Ki Song's shelter really was.
'I can't keep doing this.'
Hearing trees rustle from above, Epsilon quickly ducked as a chimera scout zipped right above him. It crashed, rolling on the ground before quickly realigning himself. It growled at Epsilon as it then charged at him once more.
'6 months.'
Epsilon felt some of his energy be sapped away from him, as a pulse of white light much more powerful than before emerged. It quickly slammed right into the chimera scouts body, drilling a hole straight through its chest, killing it on the spot.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Chimera Scout.]
Collapsing to the ground, Epsilon shuddered. He could still feel and hear the sounds of Nightmare Creatures closing in on him.
Biting his tongue, he struggled as he dragged himself behind the roots of a thick tree, leaving a trail of blood which would only guide them closer to him.
In this short time, Epsilon had learned how his innate ability functioned. He could sacrifice a portion of his life span to boost his dormant ability, but once he did, he would be sapped of even more of his strength in the present. This was temporary, but in the situation he was in now it was a vital drawback.
'I'm going to die.'
That was his first thought. Using this power, he was able to cut through two of the Awakened Monsters and escape without issues, but eventually his stamina got the better of him.
He was tired, he couldn't run any longer.
'Is there really nothing else that I can do?'
He looked to his [Judgement] attribute, waiting for some kind of sign.
But there was nothing. Only silence.
'I'm going to die.'
His hand trembled from that fact as his sword hung loose. His heart twisted, his soul shook, every part of him was infected with fear and despair which only grew along with the sounds of approaching Nightmare creatures.
Normally, Nero would save him at a time like this. The hope that he would come would've kept him calm, but thanks to the [Bond] attribute, he knew that simply wasn't possible.
'I'm going to die.'
He was going to die without even achieving anything. He wouldn't ever see his mother again.
'I don't want to die.'
And then the shadow of a large, bulking beast was cast over him, belonging to the chimera warrior whose name he had recently learnt. It stared at him with the familiar fury in its eyes, as saliva dribbled from its mouth in a rabid like fashion.
It didn't move. For a moment, Epsilon thought that time froze, but then he understood that this was what death felt like. Slow, merciful, with plenty of time to reflect.
'Was I wrong? Was Nero and Ki Song correct? Is trying to achieve the impossible, stupid?'
He should've stayed behind, he should've listened to them all.
An impossible dream like becoming a Divine, was something only main characters could hope to achieve. It was reserved for ambitious legacies like Smile Of Heaven. Epsilon was just some boy from North Americas worst colony, what could he hope to become?
But instead of feeling relieved, he felt bitterness. Instead of the indescribable weight being taken off his chest, it only grew heavier. And the despair that washed him, was replaced by a slow, boiling anger.
'My dream isn't mine to achieve? Who the hell decided that!?'
Epsilon gripped his blade firmly, and in his other hand, he could also feel something that wasn't present before.
The Maddened Frenzy.
'Who the hell are they, to decide what can and cannot be done!?'
A twitch of his brow, a shift in his eyes, he clenched his jaw while his breath grew sharper, shallower. The sight of the chimera warrior before him, it disgusted him, infuriated him. He wanted to crush it into the ground, he wanted to tear it limb from limb, he wanted to obliterate it, and every other abomination in this forest.
Death too, was just another enemy that must be slain.
"One year."
Epsilons short sword glowed with a luminescent light, far brighter then it ever had been before. The Chimera warrior moved with haste, raising its fist before hammering it down on him.
But the impact never came. Instead, he could feel its arm be cut cleanly, as it collapsed to the ground.
The warrior screamed in fury, but another change took place in the boy. The glowing light transferred from his blade, to himself as his skin shined with a strange, threatening radiance.
"One year."
The Chimera warrior charged, intending to crush Epsilon under his weight, but in just a few moments the boy had disappeared.
The world seemed to turn upside down as it hit the ground right on its head, and yet he could see its own body still standing, and moving as it crashed right into the tree, easily obliterating it.
It was beheaded. And a few moments later, its skull was crushed under Epsilons foot.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Chimera Warrior.]
[You have received a Memory: Wrath Born.]
But the battle was not yet over, several more chimera warriors and scouts, surrounded him from above, on the ground, all with the same malice and fury in their eyes.
"10 of you huh? You think this is enough to stop me? You think this is enough to kill me!?"
It may have been enough even, but he did not care. He just wanted to tear them all apart. He wanted to see their blood be spilt, even if it came at the cost of his own.
"10 years!"
His body shined with an even greater radiance than before, one so almighty that it burst through the roof of the forest. All the chimeras were blinded by the sight, but even then, they all recklessly charged forwards.
At almost the exact same moment, a loud tremor shook the land as a loud boom, echoed.
But Epsilon did not care what it was, there were opponents before him that needed to be culled. He was too far gone in the madness to care about the odds of winning, or even the exhaustion he suffered from. In that sense, he was no different from the Nightmare Creatures he faced.
"I'll make you all wish that you fought a titan instead of me!"