After an unknown amount of time passed, below some trees and dirt the figure of a little boy suddenly rose like an undead leaving a grave, once he regained some of his senses back the figure started running and even when it fell, he quickly got back up as if it was possessed by something, this boy was Daimon of course.
Once he woke up, the pain was killing him, there were some burning marks on his clothes but he didn’t have any fatal wound, then the image of his mother facing the manticore flashed through is head and he immediately stood up and started running back to where they were before all this happened.
“Move stupid body… even if I die, it will only be after I look for her” he thought, he spat some blood along the way due to the agitated state in which he was and his legs gave up a lot of times but he still somehow managed to reach his destination, once he arrived the reality struck him like lightning… there was nothing, the place was completely destroyed.
Daimon fell on his knees, for a moment he remained in silence, the smoke that resulted from the explosion had formed clouds and it even started raining but he didn’t move at all, then he remembered the kind woman that had taken care of him since he was born into his world and tears started flowing from his eyes.
Back on earth he was left with his father who was in short terms a scum, he drank everyday and then he will beat him up until he couldn’t move, this kept on until one day while being drunk his father slipped in the stairs and broke his neck putting an end to his miserable existence.
He was already twelve years old and when it happened, he called the police and since he didn’t have any living relatives, he was adopted by an old couple which took care of him until he was sixteen years old before they passed away.
He continued with his studies and one day when he was walking to the school a building collapsed and tons of metal and concrete fell over him thus killing him, but he then opened his eyes and saw himself as a baby, there were some weird looking people surrounding him which made him feel apprehensive until he felt a warm pair of arms embracing him and all his worries faded away.
He turned his face up and saw… an angel, the woman in front of him had silver long hair and violet amethyst like eyes, she looked a bit tired but her beautiful face was filled with the most tender love he has ever experienced, while he was wondering who was this woman, he heard some words he couldn’t recognize and then his head started hurting which naturally made his baby current form cry.
After a moment the pain stopped and once, he calmed down he realized that now he could understand what the woman was saying.
“It’s okay, my dear son, mommy is here ♥”, Daimon thought he either was crazy or he might have… reincarnated, as time passed the reality didn’t change so he eventually accepted his new life as Daimon Naktis the youngest son of a noble family, everything was normal until one day he saw his mother drinking some red like liquid which he initially thought it was wine but she explained him that it was blood, this new body of him turned out to be a vampire!!!
All this time the only one that took care of him was his mother, for some reason he didn’t understand his father never spoke to him nor gave him a second look until one day when he turned five years old, he was taken to a room where his father and other old looking people were observing and then all this started.
Remembering the contemptuous gazes of his father and those old farts, his anger overcame his sadness, he clenched his hands so hard that his nails pierced his flesh and his tears were replaced by blood, he then looked at the clouded sky and shouted.
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”, he kept screaming until his throat went sore, while he coughed to get rid of the feeling, he heard some movements near him which made him come out of his trance, when he looked for the source of the sounds, he saw it… the dark manticore was trying to move while it limped towards him.
Daimon felt his lungs filled with anger, “how dare you still be alive” he shouted forgetting that even if it was fatally wounded the beast could turn him into meat paste with only a hit of its paw.
“Roooaarrr”, the manticore shouted back as if it was answering him, Daimon started looking for something to fight back, he knew it was not possible for him to escape so he steeled his resolution and then he noticed something in his pocket, when he took out the object, he started crying again it was… his mother’s storage ring.
That’s right, when Aisha kissed her son’s forehead, she secretly put her ring on one of his pockets, from the very beginning she had already decided to sacrifice herself and the last thing she did to help her son survive on this forgotten land was leaving him all her treasures with the hope that he could use them.
And her last will paid off, Daimon took out a sword from the storage ring, his body was feeling numb and he was tired after all that has happened but he gritted his teeth and firmly held the sword’s handle, even the clouds disappeared from the sky allowing him to see that there were three moons on the sky which made him realize this was not the grey ash continent.
Daimon shook his head “I don’t care” he thought before turning to face the dark manticore and pointing at it with the sword before saying.
“Even if its costs me my life, I will take you down”, the manticore seemed to understand his words as it started to move its wounded body faster than before, Daimon quickly analyzed the wounds on the beast, one of its front legs was gone, the left side of its face along with the eye turned into a bloody mess, the sides were filled with third grade burns and the tail was also nowhere to be seen.
The explosion result of Aisha self-detonating her magic core should have actually made the dark manticore vaporize, but almost half of her cultivation leaked through the cracks that appeared after using that escaping forbidden spell and that allowed the manticore to survive although it was half dead already, Daimon knew he only had one chance he took a handful of dirt from the ground and started running, the manticore also forced its body to run faster while it prepared for a clash.
Daimon grinned, when he was almost one meter away from the beast, he suddenly throwed the dirt at the right side of its face and the left his body fall backwards while the sword was pointing at the sky, his plan seemed to work the manticore closed the only eye it still had due to the dirt but its body kept advancing.
“Growllrrrr”, the manticore let out a pained roar… the sword pierced its flesh and the momentum made the sword to rip apart the stomach of the beast, after letting out some screeching sounds its organs spilled on the floor.
*thud*, the manticore collapsed on the ground, Daimon stood up, his hands were bleeding due to the force he had to use to kept the sword from moving, he saw the sword which blade was a bit dull, in his hurry he didn’t notice it before but this was the sword his mother also used to defend against Victor when they were fleeing, his eyes got teary again but he shook his head this was not the time to cry, the smell of blood will probably attract other animals so it was better for him to hurry and leave.
But when he was about to run, he felt as if a truck had hit him and his body flew away until it clashed against a tree almost 100 meters away from his original position, Daimon almost fainted but he forced his eyes to not close and while he felt as if his organs were crushed, he stood up.
“Ahhhhhh”, he finally lost it, he rushed towards the manticore that somehow managed to move one more time before losing the any left energy, seeing beast that caused his mother’s death his eyes turned bloodshot, in his berserk current state he wished to drink the blood and eat the flesh of the manticore, he wanted it to feel the maximum pain possible.
Daimon started stabbing the manticore with the sword repeatedly while screaming for who knows how much time, when he regained some of composure the head of the beast was a mess of blood and meat, his breathing rhythm was out of control and the adrenaline of the moment left his body which made him fall on his back.
After a couple of seconds tears dripped from his eyes as he started mumbling.
“Kuhh… give her back… give me back my mother!!!!, you freaking monster!!!”, now that the manticore was as dead as something could be he let out all his frustration and sadness forgetting the current situation, luckily without him knowing that same manticore was the overlord of all the surrounding area so all the other magic beasts didn’t dare to approach this place.
While Daimon was trying to get some control over his emotions when he heard a sound which he was quite familiarized with, followed by a robotic voice.
*Ding*
“Congratulations the host had fulfilled the requirements to….”, the robotic voice stopped midway as if it was considering some things and then the tone changed to a girl’s one.
“What the hell, this body is too shitty, how is someone able to fight with such a thing, the system will perform a free physical reformation as… uhh, a welcome gift, yes, a one-time welcome gift, ahem host please nod if you accept it”.
Daimon was in awe “what the hell is happening”, he thought.