Evans panted heavily as he stared at his disfigured blood-soaked hand lying against the roof top.
Blood continued to drip onto the cencrete.
"I actually did it."
He let out a shaky breath before looking around expectantly.
"So... Where the heck is reward?"
Seconds passed and nothing happened.
His smile slowly disappeared.
Then a system notification appeared.
"Daily Quest"
[Stab your hand 15 times (completed)]
[Consume 10 souls (0/10)]
"Time Remaining: 2 Hours 20 minutes "
Evans stared blankly at the screen.
"... You've got to be kidding me."
"So there's still another objective?"
His expression slowly darkened.
"... Consume ten souls..."
A disturbing thought crossed his mind.
"... Does that mean..."
"... I have to kill people?"
He immediately shook his head.
"No."
"There has to be another way."
He stood there thinking.
Then his eyes suddenly widened.
"Wait..."
"Beasts have souls too!"
A grin spread across his face.
"If I can find a recently opened Rift..."
"... I can devour the souls of the dead beast and avoid killing anyone..."
He smirked.
"... So Sorry for you system but your plan failed."
Just as he was about to leave, he took a look at his injured arm.
"Hm?"
The deep wounds in his left hand had already begun to close.
Although the healing was slow, the bleeding had almost completely stopped.
"Looks like my regeneration is working..."
He flexed his fingers carefully.
"... Just not fast enough."
He reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of bandages.
After clumsily wrapping his injured , he examined his handiwork. The bandages were uneven and looked terrible, after all he was never really the scouts boys.
Evans sighned.
"... This is what I get for learning first aid from Looney Tunes."
He chuckled to himself.
Then he looked towards the city with a confident smirk.
"Alright..."
"Time to conquer."
He stepped off the roof top and leaped to one closer to the ground before he jumped off and onto the street.
Elsewhere, at home...
Reina slowly stepped out of Grandma Tina's room, dressed in a simple white top and black trouser, her beautiful black hair flowing freely like the wind.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes before stretching lazily.
"... Wait."
"Where's that dummy?'
She stroded to Evans' room and gently pushed the door open.
It was empty.
"Hmph... Looks like he already went out."
Knock! Knock!
A knock echoed through the house.
"It's probably that dummy".
She walked to the front door, already preparing to scold him.
She pulled it open.
"Hey, you-"
She stopped.
Standing outside were three familiar girls.
The one in the middle smiled brightly.
"Hey, Reina! We've been looking everywhere for you!"
The girl on the left crossed her arms curiously.
"We asked around and finally tracked you down."
She grinned.
"So... What's our academy's strongest and most popular graduate doing all the way out here?"
"Actually I think I remember somebody saying a guy lives here."
Before they could continue asking questions, Reina sighed.
"Alright, enough."
"No more questions."
"Let's get going."
Before leaving, she quietly walked back to Grandma Tina's room.
"Grandma Tina's..."
"My friends are here, so I'll be leaving now."
She paused.
Grandma Tina was still peacefully asleep.
A gentle smile appeared on Reina's face.
"I'll try and visit again soon."
With that, she quietly closed the door and left with her friends.
Elsewhere...
Evans sprinted through the streets at astonishing speed.
The wind rushed past his face as he checked the map on his phone.
"According to the news..."
"A Rift appeared somewhere around here."
"I have to hurry before the cleanup teams remove the Beast corpses."
A few minutes later...
He arrived at a devastated street.
Rifts can appear at anywhere and time and when they do they first release shockwaves depending on their size and some people and areas fall victim to this unexpected openings and this is the result.
Collapsed buildings lined the road, while several Beast and some human corpses lay scattered across the ground.
"I made it."
He immediately activated his skill.
"Hollowbite."
Dark crimson energy spread from his body.
Two faint ash-coloured souls rose from nearby Beast corpses before being drawn into Evans' mouth.
Then dark markings stretched across his face-a horizontal line crossing the bridge of his nose and another running vertically from his forehead through his left eye, then they disappeared.
Evans smiled calmly.
"This most mean am close to acquiring the power I had in the academy live test battle ".
The he looked forward and realized the remaining corpses stayed motionless.
Evans frowned.
"... Only two?"
He looked around.
"There are dozens of bodies."
"Why didn't it consume all of them?"
A system notification appeared.
"Daily Quest"
[Consume 10 souls (2/10)]
"Alert "
[Remaining Beast souls have already departed for the afterlife. Soul absorption is no longer possible.]
Evans clicked his tongue.
"So if I don't get there quickly..."
"...the souls disappear."
He let out a sarcastic laugh.
"Well... Isn't that just perfect?"
He quickly pulled out his phone again.
"There's another Rift incident nearby."
Without wasting another second, he dashed toward the next location.
His increased stats speed allowed him to cover the distance far faster than before.
Soon, he arrived at another ruined street that fell victim to the Rifts and beasts and once again, Beast corpses littered the ground.
Evans immediately stretched out his hand.
"Hollowbite."
Two more ash-like souls were pulled from the corpse and devoured.
Then a system notification appeared again.
"Daily Quest"
[Consume 10 souls(4/10)]
"Alert"
[Would host want to enter info settings on soul type]
Evans blinked in confusion.
"...soul info?"
He shrugged.
"Sure, why not."
"Yes."
The screen flickered before another window appeared.
"Soul info settings enabled"
"Host can now see every soul description and higher soul worth"
[E-Rank-Beast=faint colourless soul]
[D-Rank-Beast=ash-like soul]
[C-Rank- Beast=pale white soul]
[B-Rank-Beast=pure white soul]
[A-Rank-Beast=crimson soul]
[S-Rank-Beast=Golden-red soul ]
"Soul worth"
[B-Rank-Beast souls are worth 3 souls while A-Rank-Beast souls are worth 10 souls and S-Rank-Beast souls are worth 30 souls]
"All absorbed souls information can also now be displayed"
Evans stared at the screen with interest.
"This will come in handy."
Evans sprinted toward the next Rift site and without a second thought.
"Hollowbite."
One souls rose from the Beast corpses before being devoured.
System notification
"Daily Quest"
[Consume 10 souls (5/10)
"Time Remaining: 1 Hour"
Evans clicked his tongue.
"Only one this time... whatever."
"I can't stop now."
Ignoring his now aching body, he dashed through the streets once more while breathing heavily.
After several minutes, he reached another ruined district.
Just then another notification appeared.
"Warning"
"Host fatigue: 70%
[Physical performance is beginning to decline.]
Evans took several deep breaths.
"I can't stop now."
"Hollowbite."
An two ash-coloured soul rose from two Beast corpses before being absorbed.
System notification
"Daily Quest "
[Consume 10 souls (7/10)]
A tired smile spread across Evans' face.
"Just three more..."
As he turned to leave -
Click.
The cold barrel of a pistol pressed against his forehead.
Three men stood before him.
One, a tall black skin man wearing a black top and trouser with a menacing face, aimed his gun directly at Evans while the other two white men stood at his sides with their own weapons drawn.
The leader narrowed his eyes.
"Yo, you lost or something? This ain't a place you should be wandering around."
Evans forced a weary smile.
"Sorry. I was just leaving."
One of the men who was standing at the right beside their boss wearing a rugged jacket and thorn jeans with an earring, looked at Evans and scoffed.
"Boss, let's just drop him and take whatever he's got."
The leader kept his gun raised.
"... Not bad sounds legit."
Evans sighed.
Seriously? , who would've thought today I'd end up bullying criminals?.
He looked at them calmly.
"Look..."
"I really don't have time for this."
The man at the right finally snapped.
"Yeah? Am gonna put you on ice".
He squeezed the trigger -
But before he could fire-
WHOOSH!
Evans vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of the gunman and casually shoved him with one hand.
BOOM!
The man's body flew across the street and crashed into a wall before collapsing unconscious.
Evans dusted off his hand.
"Relax."
"I only knocked him out."
The remaining two men froze.
The leader slowly lowered his gun.
"... Hey kid you're one of those Sacred dudes or whatever, aren't you?"
Evans scratched his cheek.
"... Something like that."
The man expression changed unimpressed as he stared at Evans before holstering his weapon.
"... You should've said that from the start."
He turned around and began walking away.
"C'mon. Let's roll."
"... Unless you wanna end up in a you shaped coffin...I won't advice tangling with him"
The remaining thug hurried after him without another word.
Evans watched them leave before letting out a tired sigh.
"... That was a big waste of time than I expected."
Then he turned and resumed his search for the remaining souls.
"If I keep running, I'll end up collapsing from exhaustion. The best I can do now is jog the rest of the way,"Evans thought.
Slowing his pace, he jogged towards the final Rift site.
After several minutes, he finally arrived.
The street was in ruins once again, with only a handful of Beast corpses scattered across the ground.
Evans took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"... Finally."
"Hollowbite."
Silence.
Nothing happened.
Evans frowned and walked farther into the street surrounded by corpses.
"What the heck...?"
"...was I too late?"
Frustrated, he slammed his fist into the ground.
CRACK!
The pavement shattered beneath the impact.
"This was the last site..."
"... and I was too late ."
Suddenly-
ROAR!!
A massive wolf-like Beast burst from the pile of corpses.
It was at least twice Evans' height, it's body covered in wounds as though it had been playing dead all along.
Its claws slash across Evans' chest, launching him straight through the wall of a nearby building.
BOOM!
The beast let out a Savage roar before flashing a devilish grin, revealing rows of razor-sharp fangs.
It slowly rose onto it's hind legs while its long forelimbs dangled in the air. Blood dripped steadily from a deep wound on its head.
Inside the shattered building, Evans slowly stood.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
He looked at the Beast with tired, eyes.
"A shadow Howler..."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"Perfect."
"That make you a B-Rank-Beast..."
"...and my ticket out of this madness."
He stepped out of the rubble.
His head remain lowered.
"I'm exhausted..."
Dark markings spread across his face. A horizontal line stretch across the bridge of his nose, while another ran vertically from his forehead through his left eye.
His crimson pupils glowed.
"... So Let's begin."
BOOM!
The ground exploded beneath his feet as he shot forward.
Before the Shadow Howler could react, Evans seized its head and smashed it into the street with tremendous force.
The road caved in.
But then-
A dog- like Beast lunged from behind.
Its claws slammed into Evans' shoulder.
Slash!
Evans grunted in pain but instantly grabbed the Beast by the head and hurled it aside.
"... A C-Rank too."
The brief distraction was enough.
The shadow Howler recovered and raked its claws across Evans' face.
Bang!
The impact sent Evans skidding several metres across the broken street.
Elsewhere...
Inside a quiet cafe...
A man with purple hair calmly sipped his tea.
Suddenly-
Clink.
His teacup slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor.
For the first time, his expression changed ever so slightly.
"... how troublesome."
He calmly stood up, paid for his drink, and walked out of the cafe.
Back at the battlefield...
The Shadow Howler unleashed a flurry of claw attacks at Evans.
Despite his exhaustion, Evans narrowly dodged every single strike.
The Shadow Howler roared and launched another claw straight for his face.
Just before it could connect-
Evans caught its wrist with one hand.
The Beast's eyes widened.
With a squeeze, Evans crushed its forearm.
He looked at the Beast with cold, emotionless eyes.
"You still don't see it..."
"...the gap between our strength."
Crimson demonic energy wrapped around his clenched fist.
The Shadow Howler trembled instinctively.
For the first time...
It felt fear.
Just as Evans was about to throw his punch-
The C-Rank Beast from earlier lunged from behind and sunk its fangs into Evans arm.
Evans grunted as the pain hit hard.
Without hesitation, he slammed his arm and the Beast with it straight into the ground.
The ground cracked beneath the impact.
He slowly turned back towards the Shadow Howler.
His eyes were filled with cold bloodlust.
The Shadow Howler growled before opening its jaw wide.
HOOOOWWWLLL!!
A Concentrated sonic shockwave erupted from its mouth.
Evans instinctively crossed his arm to shield himself.
BOOM!!
The blast tore through the street.
Then-
Splatter!
Evans' left arm was blown clean off.
He dropped to one knee, gritting his teeth as unbearable pain shot through his body.
"... Damn it ..Damn it... Damn ittt..."
"... That hurts, you bastard."
He clutched the bleeding stump of arm before slowly lifting his head.
The Shadow Howler stood before him with a twisted grin, its injured right arm hanging uselessly at its side.
Its tongue hung out as though it were mocking him.
Evans slowly stood.
His expression remained completely cold.
Then-
BOOM!!
He vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of the Shadow Howler.
His knee slammed into its abdomen.
CRASH!!
The beast coughed up blood as it's body folded.
Before it could recover-
Evans drove his right fist straight into its face.
The Shadow Howler crashed headfirst into the ground, creating a massive crater.
He placed his foot on the Beast's skull.
His voice was cold.
"My arm..."
"...for your head."
Crunch!!
With one powerful stomp,the Shadow Howler skull shattered
Then in a cold voice.
"Hollowbite."
A pure white soul slowly rose from the Shadow Howler's corpses before being devoured by Evans.
Immediately, the crimson screen appeared.
"Daily Quest completed"
[Stab your hand 15 times (completed)]
[Consume 10 souls (completed)]
"Rewards obtained"
[Level +2]
[Stat points +15]
[Exp +500]
"New skill Acquired"
[Demonic sense]
"Allows the host to detect nearby souls, Demonic Energy, Sacred Energy, and hidden enemies within a limited range."
"Bonus Reward"
"All current injuries will be healed."
A warm surge spread throughout Evans' body.
The stump of his left arm twitched.
Muscles, bones, nerves, and skin rapidly regenerated before his eyes.
Within seconds...
His arm had completely regrown.
Every wound on his body vanished as if they had never existed.
Evans slowly flexed his restored hand before his crimson eyes shifted to the injured C-Rank Beast.
A sinister smile spread across his face.
"Well then..."
"... let's continue."
Suddenly-
A strange sensation ran down his spine.
His smile disappeared.
Without hesitation, the dark markings on his face faded away, and his ash-gray hair returned to normal.
He slowly looked ahead.
A lone man was calmly walking toward him. He wore a black jacket over a pair of jeans. Short purple hair rested neatly above his eyes.
His head remained lowered until...
He finally looked up.
Black sclera. Purple pupils.
An expression so calm it was almost unsettling and through those eyes and expression Evans truly understood the through meaning of Hollow.
At the moment, the wounded C-Rank Beast roared and charged at him.
The man didn't even bother moving.
He simply flicked the Beast's forehead with a finger.
Boom!
The Beast shot backwards like a cannonball, crashing through several buildings.
The man sighed.
"... How troublesome"
He casually raised one hand.
Then, with a simple wave -
A cresent- wind slash shot forward.
SHHH!
TheBeast...
The buildingbehind it...
Everything in its path...
Was cleanly cut apart.
Evans stared in horror.
His body instinctively tremble.
"No way..."
"I've already become stronger..."
"So why..."
"Why am I still scared?"
He activated Demon sense.
Nothing.
No Sacred Energy.
No Demonic Energy.
Nothing at all.
His eyes widened.
"I... can't sense anything from him"
His voice remained calm and emotionless.
"I have one request."
"Come with me"
"Yes..."
"...or no."
Evans swallowed nervously.
"W-wait..."
You can't seriously expect me to just say yes."
"Troublesome."
He disappeared.
Evans pupils shrank.
"He's gone-"
Thud!
A single punch landed squarely in Evans' abdomen.
His eyes widened as blood burst from his mouth.
The impact stole every ounce of strength from his body.
His vision blurred.
"How..."
"With just one punch...".
His knees gave way
As darkness swallowed his conscious...
He faintly felt someone dragging him.
Then...
Everything went black .