"Hey kid, You mind telling me how you're still alive?"
Kazuki's eyes flickered with fear. Even with barely any essence in him, he could feel it, the man's killing intent, the bloodlust, the overwhelming urge to end his life.
"You know kid, you really are something else." The agent let out a loud chuckle as the flames in his palms flickered out.
"When I first saw you walk up to that platform, I thought it was all over for me, all my efforts till now, all I've struggled to achieve, it would have all been pointless, but imagine my surprise when I found out you are just a measly F-Rank Essen-User."
He stayed silent for a moment as the flames crackled and rose into the air. "Say kid, did you see it?"
Kazuki's brows furrowed. He couldn't make sense of a single word the man had said. "I-I don't understand."
"Did you see it!?" The flames around them surged as the man's rage intensified. The violent essence he unleashed slammed Kazuki to the ground, choking the air from his lungs.
"N-no." Kazuki muttered weakly, struggling to breathe as the flames devoured the oxygen around him.
"That's good to know, however, I'm afraid you've seen too much kid." The flames on his palms reignited, spreading across his fist until it was completely engulfed in it's wrath.
The agent lunged forward with explosive speed, driving his fist toward Kazuki's head, intending to end it in a single, clean blow.
Almost instinctively, Kazuki leapt to the side moments before the agent's fist could connect. However, just when he thought he had escaped the danger that loomed above him. "I told you I wouldn't underestimate you again."
His eyes widened, as if he'd seen a ghost, but before he could react, a sharp pain tore through his stomach. His eyes widened, and his mouth agaped as the agent's flaming fist punched straight into his guts.
The impact hit him like a cannon, and he shot backward like a missile, crashing through tree after tree—wood splintering, bark flying, branches snapping under the force.
Each collision sent fresh waves of pain through him, until he finally slammed into the base of a thick trunk with a loud thud, leaving behind a smoking trail of flames.
The man walked up to the tree where Kazuki had fallen. After everything he'd witnessed, there was no way he'd let him live. Kazuki lay at the base of the trunk, his body battered and blood trickling from his mouth.
"He.. hehehe." He let out a low, maniacal chuckle, leaving the agent stunned. Was he really laughing in a situation like this?
"What the hell is so funny?"
"I take it you're the one that killed the original inhabitant of this body then? So that's how it is." Despite his aching body, he rose slowly to his feet.
"Even after everything I suffered, it still wasn't enough was it?" He clenched his fists in rage, his fingers digging into his own skin. "Even after watching me die on my mother's death bed it wasn't enough was it? And now you won't even let me have a second chance?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Screw you!!!" Kazuki's eyes burned with fury as he lunged at the man. He knew he wasn't strong enough to win, but in that moment, none of it mattered. Everything hit him at once, and all he could do was opposed his fate.
Before he could land a single hit, a sharp pain shot through his body, a crushing blow slammed into the side of his face, followed by a brutal kick to his gut. In the next moment, the man unleashed a relentless barrage of kicks and punches, driving Kazuki straight through the thick trunk of the tree.
He crashed to the ground, his body battered beyond recognition, barely clinging to consciousness.
"You seriously thought that you, a talentless nobody who couldn't even awaken an Essen-Type, can beat an A-rank Essen-Hunter? You really are stupid, unfortunately, I've already wasted so much time here."
The man raised his hand to the sky, and flames began to gather above his palm. They grew quickly, swirling into a huge ball of fire. It crackled with power, glowing brighter by the second, as the heat spread through the air.
"It's over, Flame Essen-Technique: Imperial Star."
"Why?" Kazuki mumbled to himself, barely holding on to consciousness. All his life, fate had given him more than he could bear. It had torn a happy family of four into a broken family of two. But even that wasn't enough—it took his mother from him… and eventually his life as well.
Just when he thought being transmigrated to another world would give him a second chance, it made him talentless—and now, it was trying to take his life all over again.
It felt as if the universe itself had rejected his very existence.
Slowly, he rose to his feet, blood dripping from his head and running down his arms. In that moment, Virelia's words echoed in his mind, followed by Takashi's harsh words.
"I should have known, higher essence? Don't make me laugh." If there was one truth he had been told, it was that in this cruel world, he was too weak to do anything about the casualties he suffered.
"No more, no more..." He was done cursing, he was done being weak, if the universe truly rejected him, there's only one thing left to do. "If I'm going to survive in this cruel world, if I'm ever going to change the fate that awaits me, I need strength! I need strength!!"
[Reinc-]
[Reinc-]
Almost immediately, a translucent holographic panel flickered and glitched in his line of vision, exactly like the first time he got into purgatory.
Just as the man hurled the massive ball of flames toward Kazuki, and his blood dripped down to his fingers, everything went dark, like the universe itself had suddenly switched off its light.
[Due to system errors, all conditions for a second awakening has been disabled!]
[Due to system errors, all conditions needed to seal the blood contract has been lifted.]
[You have successfully sealed the blood contract!]