Kapitel 25: The Reckoning in the Shadows 1

"Ahhh!!~~"

Jacques clutched the bleeding stump where his arm had been moments ago, the raw, jagged wound leaking crimson onto the cold concrete floor. His face twisted in agony, eyes wild with disbelief as he continued screaming in agony. "Gah!!!"

The shadow blade that had severed his limb dissolved back into the floor, its faint, inky tendrils fading into nothingness as though mocking him. He staggered backwards, blood pooling at his feet, and his cries of pain echoed through the dim chamber. In the meantime, he was looking at Zimo, his eyes wide in shock. That was not from the Beast. That was from him!

Meanwhile, everyone else in the room couldn't help but scream and moan and gasp in shock. What was going on? Had ZImo just used Magic? But how? He was a normal person like them as he was not? Or maybe there was something else. Maybe it was because he had a Beast now.

Before they could think too much about it, Zimo took another step forward, drawing everyone's attention. Zimo stepped forward, his expression cold, eyes gleaming with a dark satisfaction. He didn't hesitate. Jacques' pain was not enough.

He grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the ground with a force that rattled the room. Jacques gasped, the impact stealing the air from his lungs and causing his face to distort due to the pressure. He was not as strong as Zimo. He knew that for certain now. And that was also why he did not even try and fight back.

The woman he had been holding was on the floor, her body covered in blood, shivering in fear as she looked at the two men she thought she knew.

"You've had your fun," Zimo hissed, his voice low and venomous as he slammed him on the floor again, causing him to go unconscious. He glanced at Kivu, who prowled silently at his side, her massive form cloaked in rippling darkness. Her green eyes gleamed like lanterns in the gloom, her gaze fixed intently on Zimo as though awaiting his command.

Zimo gestured sharply. "Take him too."

Kivu moved with liquid grace, her hulking frame betraying no sound as she loomed over Jacques. She clamped her teeth delicately around his unconscious body, lifting him as though he weighed nothing. Her shadowy form seemed to consume him, the darkness wrapping around him like a second skin and making him disappear just as Maya had disappeared before then.

It seemed she had bitten him on purpose just to make him feel more pain. It was interesting to Zimo. He knew that she was doing it for him, and he couldn't help but sigh in interest as he saw this. Over time, Zimo was seeing just how intelligent and intuitive she was, and he was loving every single moment of it.

Before Zimo could breathe a sigh of relief, a guttural roar erupted from behind the heavy steel door at the other end of the room. The sound reverberated through the room, a feral, primal cry that sent a shiver racing down his spine. Zimo knew immediately what it was. It was Jacques' Beast.

This cowardly serpent-like Beast must have figured that running away was not going to be useful. Zimo chuckled. How was he going to deal with this... His plan before was to kill Jacques, and then to have this become a Beast without a Master, and in so doing he would finally be able to get some situation going in which he would be able to get three missions done.

Finally seeing the beast, Zimo couldn't help but sigh. It was something that looked a bit like a snake with flames on its back. That must be its attribute. Flames? Its eyes burned like molten coals, and its muscular form bristled with raw power. Flames licked along its body, an inferno barely contained. Without hesitation, it launched a massive fireball straight at Zimo.

ZImo was also ready for it though, making sure to take a look at it with [Beast Eye].

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|| Beast Eye: Taco || Skills |

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Name: Phoebe (Serpentine)

Level: 2

Resonance: 87%

States:

—————>

Health, Well-Being, Satiety: 73% ++

Energy, Stamina, Vitality: 92% ++

Mentality, Decision-Making, Focus: 49% --

Mana, Casting, Magical Power: 89%

<—————

Physical Stats:

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Dexterity (Agility, Flexibility) → 24

Strength (Speed, Power) → 25

Constitution (Endurance, Health) → 28

Intelligence (Memory, Reasoning) → 18

Charisma (Charm, Persuasion) → 17

Wisdom (Intuition, Adaptability) → 8

Spirit (Mental State, Character) → 12

<—————

Magical Stats:

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Mana (Magical Energy Pool) → 8 (4 * 2)

Arcane Knowledge (Magical Talent) → Rank 1S

Mystic Control (Magical Energy Control) → Rank 1D

Elemental Affinity (Connection to Elements) → Fire(D Rank)

<—————

————————————|

|————————————

| Beast Eye: Taco || Skills ||

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Magical Skills: {1 Skill}

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>> [Fire Ball (D Rank)]

<—————

Combat Skills: {1 Skill}

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>> [Sweeping Flames (D Rank)]

<—————

Support Skills: {1 Skill}

—————>

>> [Sun Wave (D Rank)]

<—————

————————————|

He dodged, throwing himself to the side as the explosion ripped through the space where he'd stood. The heat seared his skin, and smoke filled his lungs as he coughed, his vision blurring momentarily. If he was a normal human that would have affected him. But he was far from normal.

Every level-up he had experienced before had given him something more, something incredible, and it was pretty certain that it was going to do so much more for him too at this time. He was not so worried. After all, his body had experienced a level-up in everything it was from the genetic level. He was better now.

The Beast roared again, its fiery gaze locked on him with unrelenting hatred.

Zimo grinned despite himself, adrenaline coursing through his veins. A challenge. Finally. He didn't know why, but he was changing, something deep inside him was awakening just as something was dying. And he was loving this change, this challenge in this new world.

"Kivu... I changed my mind. Eat him up." ZImo said as he darted forward. Kivu heard those words and she growled as if she did not like the taste of coward. What was she talking about? She was going to be eating a coward very soon again too.

ZImo circled the creature, studying its movements as it began attempting to swipe at him with its tail. Those swipes left molten trails in the air, but Zimo moved with calculated precision, staying just out of reach. He ducked, rolled, and darted closer, aiming a strike at its flank with his knife—only for the blade to shatter against its hardened scales.

He was strong but his weapon was weak. "Fuck..." Zimo muttered, retreating as the Beast's tail whipped toward him, narrowly missing his chest.

From the shadows, Kivu observed, her glowing eyes narrowing. She didn't intervene, not yet. This was Zimo's fight, and she seemed to relish watching him dance on the edge of death. In the meanwhile, she had done as Zimo told her to, and somehow, some golden coins had appeared, coming into her. Zimo didn't see that though, but he would understand what it meant soon enough when he looked at his Stats.

The Beast charged, flames erupting from its maw, and Zimo felt the heat singe his skin. But then, in the chaos, he noticed something, a small gap between its scales near its underbelly, a vulnerable spot.

Zimo smirked. There it is.

He lunged forward, feinting to the left before darting right. The Beast hissed, its claws swiping through empty air as Zimo rolled beneath it. He drove his broken knife into the vulnerable gap, twisting with all his strength.

The Beast howled in agony, flames sputtering as it reared back. Zimo didn't relent, his movements fueled by rage and desperation. And this time he inspired the shadows too, making them move inside the Beast and ravage everything they could, causing the Beast to hiss again. The Beast's struggles grew weaker until, finally, it collapsed in a heap, its fiery glow fading to embers.

Zimo stood over the corpse, chest heaving, the broken knife still clutched in his trembling hand. Kivu padded forward, her massive form towering over him. She sniffed the Beast's body before leaning down and devouring it with the darkness in a single, fluid motion.

Her shadows writhed and thickened, and her eyes glowed brighter, as though absorbing the power of the slain creature. Zimo watched all this in interest. It seemed she had grown again. Wonderful. And she was not the only one. He too was growing just as she was. They were both becoming stronger. ZImo had already driven off all the panels that appeared. He was going to read them later. Not now. Now he had to deal with the aftermath.

Kivu turned her gaze to Zimo, her expression unreadable. But there was something in her eyes—a flicker of approval, perhaps. It made Zimo feel good. In a funny way. Wait why was he getting good feelings from that??

Zimo smirked, wiping blood and soot from his face. "Not bad, huh?"

Kivu's low growl was the only response. It probably meant You have a long way to go little one. ZImo did not care too much about it. He turned his eyes to the others in the room.

The survivors in the room, the ones who had cowered in the corners during the fight, the ones who had watched on as Zimo got tortured, stared at Zimo with a mix of awe and terror. One of them, a young man named Felix, stepped forward hesitantly.

"Zimo…" he began, his voice trembling. "You're so strong. How did you…" As he said those last words he glanced at his legs, gulping, before shaking his head. "Never mind. With the magic of the system, nothing is impossible, right? You must have bought something from the store."

"I know you might not like us, but I still feel the need to say this. You're a good man, I know this for certain. Otherwise, you wouldn't have cared when Jacques held her hostage," he began, pointing to the woman who was being taken care of at the side, who had her eyes on Zimo.

"If you stay here, we will help you build a community. The Community might not seem like much, but it is incredibly important, especially in this new world that we barely understand. Again, I know you might not care, but dont you want to have something to protect? Something to build off of?"

Zimo turned to him, his expression cold and unyielding. "Protect you?" He laughed bitterly. "Why? So you can drag me down with your weakness?"

Felix flinched, but he persisted. "You're not like Jacques. You're not a tyrant. You… you can be different. Better. And we won't be weak forever. It's only been almost hours. We still have time a lot of it too. We just need to take control of this area and then progressively get everyone to become stronger together. With a powerful, compassionate person like you leading us, we will never go astray."

Zimo's gaze hardened. "This world doesn't need better. It needs survivors. If you can't take control of your destiny, you don't deserve to survive. Time? You have no idea what's out there, do you? You haven't seen those Tier 1 Deadspawn… You have no clue what you're even saying."

After saying this, he remembered something, and he smirked. "And compassion is something that I have long ago lost. Which is why..." Zimo held out his hand, creating a beckoning motion with his fingers. "hand it over."

"What?" said Alex from the back, still unwilling to come forward.

Zimo's gaze turned dark and in the next moment, he smirked in a fashion that drove chills down everyone's spine. "All the BC you have. Everyone who has made it to level 1. Give me your BC. Now."

They did not hesitate, and they all came forward, giving the BC to Zimo. Some of them did not know how to do this, but Zimo explained that the System worked based on willpower, and this was something they had to do by just figuring they wanted to.

Felix was the first to figure it out, giving Zimo his 110BC and asking him to stay, but Zimo ignored him. The others figured it out soon enough. And in time, everyone else was done and Zimo had gotten about 520 BC. Not bad.

He turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing in the silence. The survivors watched him go, their pleas dying on their lips. Kivu followed, pausing only to cast a chilling glance back at them. The darkness seemed to deepen around her, covering Zimo as if swallowing him just as she had swallowed that Beast before, and the survivors shuddered, their fear palpable.

After walking out of there, Zimo mounted Kivu, letting the flood of darkness around her envelop him in a warmth only he could describe as feeling extremely comfortable. The unconscious body of Maya was slung over her massive shoulders and Zimo looked at her with a wicked smirk, his eyes glinting with something… dark.

The two people and the Beast left that place, heading out into the wild of the world. As Zimo let, he noticed the Deadspwan heading towards the building probably because of the commotion he had caused. He smirked. Well, they would be fine, right? He soon arrived in a new section of the city, one he had never been in merely because he did not stay there at all.

This section of the city was something closer to the industrial zones so it didn't take long for Zimo and Kivu to reach a place he had marked as his temporary living location, at least for a while. They had arrived at an abandoned factory, its towering silos casting long shadows in the moonlight.

Zimo dismounted, dragging the unconscious figures inside with Kivu somehow changing the size of her form, turning smaller into something that was more the size of a leopard, that walked by Zimo's side, making him raise an eyebrow.

She could change her size? Of course, she could do something like that. Of course... What else could she do with her abilities? No, maybe that was the wrong question. The right question was what couldn't she do with her abilities?

Kivu stared at him and then smirked, saying nothing. She was keeping it a secret. Well, okay them… Keep your secrets, young lady.