Kei was in the middle of a peaceful meditation, focusing solely on his cultivation process so that he could reach a higher rank of Enlightenment.
Sadly for him, he was interrupted. A loud grumbling could be heard outside, coming from the ground.
He ignored it at first but as the ceiling joined in, he could no longer.
As he opened his eyes and stood up in an annoyed manner, he gazed out of the window of his room, watching the streets carefully.
Kei lived near the center of the first stronghold because his family, the Fujiwara, were influential people and a few of them, including Kei, were Enlightened.
After all, the closer one gets to the center, the richer and more powerful the people living there become.
The Enlightened were all discussing loudly and the mortals were in a state of panic. This naturally caused him to feel alarmed as this was never the case normally.
Just as he was starting to put everything together, the ground started shaking as small rifts and craters were formed and rocks came loose from the ceiling.
The rough shaking of his house made him lose his footing and suddenly he fell out of the window and onto the ground.
He got up again with a pained and dramatic groan.
It took him a long time but he soon did realise that the first stronghold was under attack of monsters.
Soon after his realisation, the wormlike monsters broke through the ceiling and dropped down onto the ground, at the same time, the grumbling and shaking of the ground and ceiling stopped.
Kei was filled with an intense fear. He knew that this would spell certain death for many mortals and perhaps even some Enlightened. Despite being an Enlightened for 3 years already, he never partook in the defence of the first stronghold before.
Not only was he too scared and inexperienced, but he was also merely an Enlightened rank 1. Even if he were to merely fight a very weak one of these wormlike monsters, his chance of dying would still be high.
He has the talent and support to ascend far higher than rank 1. Him dying now would be ill advised, not only did he not want to die but the first stronghold strongly advised him against fighting as well.
To this city, he was one of the most precious treasures.
The city and the ones in power would prefer the death of a thousand mortals more each monster attack rather than Kei helping out and dying prematurely.
The only value a person has is their Enlightenment.
What was worse than the Monster attack was that one dropped right in front of Kei.
As it landed it screeched loud enough to rupture the eardrums of mortals nearby and it crushed multiple immediately under its extreme weight.
Kei was frozen in fear and sweating profusely as he was a shaking mess.
Mortals were torn apart and cut open as well as crushed and eaten alive. All he could hear were screams, the flow of blood, bones crushing and organs splattering onto the ground.
But as it all became too much and he couldn't take it any longer, he spoke up, his voice increasing gradually and shaking strongly.
"S-stop…stop it already…you cruel beast."
He started to ball his hands into tight fists and an unwavering rage overcame him as he screamed loudly.
"Stop it you hellish beast! You have no right to take any lives you worthless fool!"
His resolve hardened as he continued standing there, ignored by the monster as it ate mortals.
He used some of his essence to form a metal axe out of nothingness and with his mind he launched it right at one of the monsters appendix, cleaving it in half immediately.
"Every mortal here, RUN! Run until you can't anymore! Get out of here or you will certainly all die!"
He spoke loudly to the panicked and screaming mortals as they were trying to get away.
Out of his back, he formed a metal appendix and by hooking it into the ground and forcing his body forward by using it as a grappling hook, he quickly arrived right in front of the monster.
He let the appendix dissipate into nothingness just as fast as he created it. After all, especially for an Enlightened rank 1, it took a lot of essence to produce anything out of nothingness.
If his essence were to ever drop to zero, he would die immediately.
He produced a few pieces of extremely sharp metal and launched them at the monster at high speeds.
His face showed hatred, anger and unwavering determination.
The monster let out a sharp shriek and moved backwards. Without a doubt, this monster is merely equal to a rank 1 Enlightened judging from its pathetic defence.
All of a sudden, it stopped shrieking and all of its wounds started suddenly healing and closing again. Detached appendixes simply attached themselves again and looked as if they were never cleaved to begin with.
This was not the ability of a normal monster.
This individual was undoubtedly a special one!
Some monsters, if they are far more intelligent than usual individuals of their species and have the talent, may be able to ascend and become Enlightened themselves, unlocking a primary element exactly like humans would!
There are plenty of primary elements that could allow the user to heal such as the primary element plants or water.
Seeing how it didn't use its primary element for anything but self healing, it must not be able to use it in a different way. If it did, it surely would have already.
Kei stood there shocked and wondered how this could be possible. He has never seen something like this before in his life after all. Luckily for him, he got back to reality just in time to dodge an appendix flying towards his face.
The battle raged on for minutes without a break. Kei would deliver heavy blows and the monster would recover quickly. The monster would naturally ditch out equally as strong blows as Kei. The problem was that he could not regenerate.
After merely five minutes, he was soaked in blood. Some cuts on his bodies were shallow yet others deep. He was bleeding profusely.
The strength started leaving his body but despite that, one thing hardened.
His resolve became stronger than any steel.
He told himself that he will kill this monster no matter what. Even if it means he'll die. Even if he doesn't even kill it, he would hold out until help arrived. He won't let anyone but himself or the monster die here.
His body was too weak to even just make a facial expression now and yet, he emitted a scornful aura nonetheless.
Kei started using all of his essence without holding back, knowing well that he might die due to it.
His body was quickly enveloped in a sort of sharp metal scales, creating a protective armor around himself.
He knew it very well, if he were to keep this armor for longer than just a minute, he would certainly die.
Knowing this, he dashed forward, launching the sharp scales at the monster to injure and distract it as he closed in on it until it was in close combat range.
"Now I got you. It may be in your nature to kill and so this isn't your fault, but you are nothing but a worthless killer either way."
"Die like the trash you are."
Kei expands all of the sharp ends of his scales on his right arm as he dashes around the monster over and over, slicing it dozens of times every second.
It attempted to retaliate and defend itself but it was unable to because its appendixes were cut before they could do anything.
In this instant, Kei seemed like a different person. In fact, it was hard to tell from a distance who the true monster here was.
The monster shrieked in agony and realising it could no longer win this fight, it tried to run and regenerate but Kei's cuts were simply faster than its regeneration.
Before it could escape, it had already died a horrible death.
Kei gazed at the mangled corpse with a sense of deep hatred but also a tinge of relief as he allowed his armor to fade into nothingness.
Shortly after, the adrenaline in his body died down. He used up almost all of his essence just now and he is bleeding profusely from the large cuts on his body.
He could no longer endure the injuries on his body and passed out on the cold ground, surrounded by a puddle of his very own blood mixed with the blood of the monster he had just slain.