Chapter 2. Divine Pup

(Kaiji's POV)

"Woof!" The White Divine puppy remained relentless to beg for commands. It being an extension of my shadow, I could feel it's growing intent and desire to do something violent and chaotic - like, rip someone apart.

However, I had my well reserved doubts. The Divine Dog I had summoned was a puppy, a stark contrast to the powerful, ferocious form I was used to seeing in the manga.

And it wasn't just any kind of puppy. It was the Cute kind. One that would make you wonder if it could even gnaw on a bone properly.

However, it's physical details didn't mirror it's sensory information, and the vibe it gave me. Given the order, I knew it would deal some considerable damage to my current opponents.

With only a hundred seconds or less before the summon withdrew and my energy dissipated, I knew I had to take the chance.

I was now in a fully submissive pose. I couldn't move any part of my body as the lad took his time to execute me. All that, just for clothes?

What kind of world was this?

"If I could just move one hand," I said out loud as I channeled my seething rage and renewing energy.

With all the commotion going around in my mind and physical environment, it had taken sometime to realize that something else was happening.

It had actually taken my mind to clear s bit and listen to the voice in my mind, elaborating the relaxing feeling in my shoulder and stabbed palm.

---

(Update)

Healing Factor: 30

As a sorcerer, you can use cursed energy to recover from certain injuries. However, it's speed, efficiency and Healing Factor depends on your Expertise Level: The higher your Expertise, the faster and better you heal, and the less Cursed Energy you consume.

Current Expertise: 30/(100 + 175)

Cursed Energy after Healing Factor: 70/100

<Info. 'Healing Factor' shows the amount of Cursed Energy that will be used for healing. To cancel process, simply stop flow manifestation to area.>

<Info. This notification doesn't consider other abilities currently draining your Cursed Energy.>

---

That's right!

I had a freaking Healing Factor! Although my wounds weren't recovering as fast as I would have loved them to, I was still glad I had the ability.

"If I could just move one hand," I continued my statement, feeling the rush of adrenaline and Cursed energy in my body. "You'll all be down within 1 minute."

Hahaha...

They all took the time to laugh at me as if I had made the greatest joke of all time.

"Hahaha... T'old ya' hs's f'nny." The woman said amid gags and hiccups. Even the lad had put the weapon at a rest position to laugh at my statement.

I had made my threat, hoping that the Divine Dog would take the cryptic hint to act. It googly eyes squinted and its stare became more serious, as if it was internalizing my command and working out a plan.

I was even beginning to get excited at what havoc it would reek, when...

Woof!

...it barked at me again, requesting for a clear command.

I wished I could let it know how disappointed I had felt, but this wasn't the time for it.

"Free me you... (insolent beast)," I half-shouted at the dog but managed to stop my self from even cursing, worried that I would hurt it's feeling and complicate things even more. "Good dog."

For the first time since summoning, it moved it's legs. A clear indication that it had understood that command.

Mmm?!

The laughing stopped, and the vagabonds aura switched back to the original dark demeanor.

"He is mocking us again, pops." The lad said and raised his club with such vigor that I could feel his shadow mirror the clenching of his muscles.

But it was all too late for them. I had unleashed a puppy on them, eager to deal some damage.

Woof!

It's new bark remained that of a puppy, but it was laced with a hint of malevolence as it leapt with power to the bin on the left and jumped to bite the hand holding the incoming club.

Grr..hm!

Though not beast-sharp, it's teeth were still carnivorous. It bit the arm of the lad with a subtle growl. The sudden and unexpected surprised put the lad in a mixture of shock and terror as he wondered what had harmed him.

Unaware of what exactly had caused his arm to bleed, he first groaned and let the club fall to the ground, staggering in shock. As the pain increased, his groan turned to a cry as he reached with his other hand to support the injured one, as it had become heavy.

His nightmare increased to another level when he felt the invisible presence on his arm that he couldn't shake off.

"G-g-g-g...Ghooost!" He mixed the utterance with his pain-stricken cries.

The others looked at him with a mixture of fright and confusion as they wondered what had happened to their comrade to make him act the way he was.

He was waving his hands uncontrollably, disregarding the much blood he was spilling all over.

"What's gotten into you Mich?" The woman, now speaking clearly, was the first to let her guard down and loosened her grip on my hands.

Now was my chance to show them, as the Divine Dog jumped from Mich's chest, back to the solid ground. It licked the residue blood on it's mouth and squinted it's eyes to the next victim.

Wooofffrrr!

In their moment of confusion, I swung my hands in front of me and pushed my neck back to hit the man restraining me with the chain.

Switching to a violent mode triggered the energy within my body that made me feel a rush of power as cursed energy flowed from my core to my hands and legs, ready for manipulation.

This new development made it even easier to pull out from their grip and send them both flying with just my core strength.

The Divine Dog swerved to navigate the falling bodies and pounced on the woman immediately she smashed to the ground. Swiftly, it proceeded to piercing a sizeable chunk of her bottoms with it's pup teeth, causing her agonizing pain and a shrivelled cry that masked all the other sounds of the night.

|Uuuuuwwwwscchhaaaaa!" The woman cried.

Standing up, I dusted myself off, my mind thinking back to the Interface. It had indicated that I had a power level of 22.5, which I supposed was higher than the average human (or whatever power rating these guys were). That explained how I had achieved that feat, once I had tapped into my Cursed energy.

Several seconds had passed, and I knew that it wouldn't be long before I ran out of Cursed Energy. With the Divine pup summon and the Healing Factor, together with my own tapping into the energy, I had less than 50 seconds to knock this guys out.

The pain in my shoulder and hand was still there, but I could feel it declining.

With a resolve to clear this situation, I moved fast before the man recollected himself, exacting a knock-out punch on his rough face with my left hand.

Next was a quick round kick to the psychotic lad throwing the club aimlessly in the air to fight against the 'ghost'.

Though amateur, swinging my leg that freely and hitting something had never felt so refreshing.

Finally, a stamp on the screaming woman that got her to shut up. All my attacks were strengthened with cursed energy, putting the vagabonds into instant slumber as they passed out.

I even felt like a well-groomed martial artist.

"This city is not the most friendly." I thought as I moved to the bodies on the ground to ransack them. "I gotta be more careful, if I want to survive."

"Woof!" The Divine pup alerted me to it's presence, signalling that it wanted the next command.

"You did good." I said to it as I knelt beside it and rubbed its head.

"But I want the bigger version." I thought to myself. "And a psychic way to give it commands. I must level up."

"Go." I gave it the final command, and it dissolved in the shadows with it's tongue out, pleased that it had been praised by it's master.

"One last thing left to do." I walked back to the bodies lying on the ground, their eyes white with shock. "Use shadow concealment."

Stopping the flow of cursed energy to Healing Factor, I knelt to the club on the ground, next to the lad. I wasn't sure how much cursed energy shadow concealment required, and I was running low on it.

---

(Update)

Healing Factor stopped.

Abilities active: None.

Cursed Energy: 40/100

---

Even in the dark, there were shadows because of the city lights that made it to the gutter, and my body was patched with them. The instructions for shadow concealment was to use it on apart of my body with a shadow, and the mass (object) would be sent to the Shadow Realm.

I stretched out my left fingers as if to grab the object and used my body to create the shadow required. Shadows are easy to create, provided that there is a little light.

With the shadow on my body and the club as the stimuli, an Interface with further instructions appeared.

---

Non-living mass detected. You can use shadow concealment.

Mass Type - Small (Info. Other types include Medium, Huge.)

Shadow Concealment: 40

Proceed with process? Y/N.

<Info. Shadow Concealment refers to the Cursed Energy required for process. Level up use more a faster and efficient>

<A N: Kaiji can't send living things to the Shadow Realm, until Realm Summoning (Special Grade Ability).< p>

---

That would meant that I would be all out of cursed energy, until rejuvenation. But that was my first mission, and I was still curious to see it in action.

By thinking on it, I chose to proceed and the process started.

The shadow on my palm elongated and engulfed the spiked club, levitated it and brought it to my hand, such that I could feel it's handle, and then, it vanished as though nothing had happened.

The Interface updated me, and then disappeared.

---

Object concealed successfully.

Details:

Name: Spiked Club

Location: Left Palm

Mass Type: Small

Shadow Concealment: 40

Shadow Concealment: 9/10 uses remaining.

Cursed Energy: 0/ 100 (Tip. Rest for rejuvenation. Meditate for an increased limit.)

---

---

<Mission update>

1. Use Shadow Concealment - completed successfully.

2. There's nowhere to run - completed successfully.

Rewards: None

(New Mission)

3. Find a place to rest and relax.

---

I didn't appreciate not getting a reward after completing the allocated missions, but I understood that that were low-tier tasks. That only gave me more reason to want to level up to the next level, presumably Sorcerer Grade 3 at power level 30.

My wounds weren't completely healed, and with no Cursed Energy, I no longer had a Healing Factor, until I rested.

Before I decided to leave the gutter, I first ransacked the vagabonds for any valuables and hurdled them together to keep them warm in the cold night.

After that, I chose to explore the city I was in, a bit (carefully), and then chose a place to crash for the rest of the night, having found several crumbled notes in the unconscious woman's cleavage.

---

(Morning)

I woke up to the sounds of the city stirring to life. The events of the previous night flooded back into my consciousness, reminding me of my whereabouts.

---

(Mission Update)

3. Find a place to rest and relax - completed successfully.

<Info. 100 Your Cursed Energy:>

Rewards: None

(New Mission)

4. A day's worth of training and meditation.

Brief Stats:

Power: 22.5/30

Cursed Energy: 100/100

Shadow Concealment: 9/10 uses remaining

---

Stretching out stiff limbs, I surveyed my surroundings, taking in the dingy alleyway where I had chosen to rest. The crumpled notes and the warm clothes I had taken from the vagabonds had served as a makeshift pillow and blanket.

As I gathered my bearings, I realized that despite the darkness and danger lurking in every corner, there was a strange allure to this city, from the positive energy in the air. It felt like a city where dreams came to life.

Pushing myself up from the warming pavement, I dusted off my clothes and set out to explore the unfamiliar streets in hopes of grabbing some breakfast. I figured that that would be the best way to spend the notes that amounted to $5 (that couldn't get me a decent place to spend the night in this expensive part city).

The towering skyscrapers looming overhead, cast long shadows that stretched across the bustling sidewalks, as the sun made it's great debut. People hurried past, their faces masked by a myriad of emotions - determination, despair, hope.

And then, I saw it.

Rising majestically amidst the concrete jungle was the unmistakable silhouette of the Avengers Tower. Its gleaming facade stood as a beacon of hope in the midst of the chaos of the city and the world - a symbol of strength and resilience.

Seeing the remarkable A-symbol in real life filled me with both awe and trepidation, for I knew that in a city like this, even heroes had their limits. I had had my resilience trial the previous night, and I knew I needed to put in a lot of work before I could become the most powerful, and an adept survivor.

Stealing my glance away from the tower, I switched back to the thoughts in my mind.

"Grab some breakfast, train for sometime, then take care of my financial and sleep situation." That was my current mantra as I thought about all the ways I could come by a few bucks, or get stronger.

My cursed energy had packed up again (100/100), and I was fully healed, thanks to a good night sleep (kinda). Even so, I had established and grown a desire to become stronger.

My stroll to find a good breakfast place was, however, suddenly interrupted by the sound of chaos and commotion as tires screeched. "Somebody. Anybody. Catch them!"

It was easy to spot the source of the noise by just looking at the crossroads where several cars had come to an emergency halt. Somebody in a black hoodie was already dashing across the crossing.

Pi! Pi! Pi!

The traffic police was whistling restlessly, making me wonder if that was enough to stop the running criminal. Not that I knew that he had done something wrong, but I was in Marvel, and that was kind of the norm in this world. A constant feud between hero and villain that never seemed to stop.

That had got to be the case too with the guy running in a black hoodie.

However I didn't find any of it to be interesting, and wasn't planning on participating. Not even when he brushed right past me, alerting me to something unnatural.

I couldn't tell why, but I felt a strong presence in his shadow, as if something alien was consuming it. Nevertheless, I walked on casually.

"Here. Use my buzzer." I heard and saw a taxi driver gesture to the yelling person (a middle-aged man, probably in his mid-thirties).

"No need. He's already here." Somebody else in the gathering crowd said, causing so many heads to turn around or look up as if searching for something.

I couldn't help but turn mine too. For some reason, the tension rising was starting to feel a bit interesting.

"Swoosh!" A swift sound cut through a strangely strong wind, followed by immediate silence, then a, "swash!"

"Look." A kid all dressed up for school said and pointed with her finger to the air. "Spiderman is here!"

"What?" I imagined the iconic hero as I tried to locate his shadow. "Spider-Man? You mean, I get to see Spiderman in action today?"

Things had just got interesting.

Edited.

Early Access in Patreon.com/CursedMillennial - Stories for another Millennium.

A Symbol to remind you there's more to see.