The Masochist's Avatar

Han was startled out of the memories when a gunshot came from the hallway. Amelia had arrived, he needed to speed it up. He ran through each room to look for anyone but it was all in vain. There was nothing, no one.

Then he barged into a room that made him stop in his tracks. Hanne's room, on the shelves there were books carrying fond memories, there were these things called game consoles on the floor, connected to a TV which was still on because Hanne played it last night. Beside it was an untidy bed, everything about it was alike to Hanne's memory except for the piece of paper on the bed, the words on it were scribbled hurriedly and the paper was torn from a piece of newspaper. Han could barely understand the foreign letters as he read it.

'Hanne, if you ever decide to come back here, please head towards the outskirts of the city, the military set up a defensive line and are evacuating civilians. Me, Mom, and your sister are heading there. Please be safe Hanne, We love you so much, son.'

The words 'love' resonated in his mind but he didn't let it warm his heart, as the one it was meant for was dead. He brushed the thought off, pocketed the note, and quickly took a backpack. He went to the kitchen and left his corpse leg for a much more practical weapon, a cleaver. He scavenged for supplies such as canned goods, bottled water, and clothes, before standing by the door towards the apartment to wait for the gunshots to stop. Once they did, it would mean she had run out of ammo, and she would be no threat anymore. He would be in total control.

As he waited, he savored the last moments of safety and comfort he would ever have. His, no, rather Hanne's family portrait was calling out to him, yet he disregarded it as he had to focus. He listened to the gunshots that stopped soon enough, and Amelia started shouting. The sound was followed by thuds, consecutive thuds of what sounded like bodies dropping.

Han instantly went out, but not before taking something from the room and shoving it into his bag.

Once the hallway was in his full view, he was stumped. Amelia was fighting the zombies with a severed zombie leg, and she was moving like a damn martial warrior, albeit a low level one. A memory from Hanne popped up in his mind, the way she moved reminded him of this world's special forces. Elite combatants, people that Han assumed could put up a fight against a martial one warrior with pure combat training, even without body enhancement.

He could still beat her, it would just be like crushing a slightly bigger ant. She was still a normal human, although a skilled one, while Han was someone who had centuries of combat experience.

He rushed towards her, Amelia noticed this and screamed, "Stay back, Han! Get into the elevator!"

Han didn't bother to follow her orders, they had to retreat back into the lower floors. He was done here.

There was ever only one reason he orchestrated her to follow him here, it was to get rid of the threat of her gun by depleting ammunition, as early as possible. Now he could be at ease on the fourth floor. He could do worse things if he wanted to now, without fearing a bullet. He doubted anyone could pick up a fight with him and live. With his cleaver, any human with blood flowing through their veins were mere ants in his eyes. All it took was the slightest cut, to let blood flow endlessly into a river of red.

Although he excelled in assassinations, it didn't mean that he couldn't fight directly. There were multiple botched up assassinations due to betrayals, dumb allies, or perceptive targets. All those times, when the guards surrounded him, there was not a man that could stop his slaughter or escape.

Right now, nothing was stopping him from escaping as he realized that the zombies didn't decrease, in fact, it seemed as if there were more than he left. Only then did he see that the zombies were coming from the stairs. Unlike the fourth floor, this one wasn't barricaded at all, and the gunshots lured every zombie in the whole apartment complex. Their endless groans reverberated from the staircase and Han could tell that they were more than his meat cleaver could handle.

He slipped through multitudes of zombies and yanked the heavily breathing Amelia back into the elevator in a blink of an eye. He tossed her on the floor as he pressed 4, causing the elevator doors to close and begin its descent. She was speechless, her eyes reflected relief that Han came as soon as he did, and yet he was the one who put them in a perilous situation in the first place.

"Was it worth it?" Amelia asked with a tinge of anger laced in her gasping voice. Her hand released the leg that she was holding ever so tightly.

"You were right, they weren't there. But they're alive, and are headed towards the safe zone in the outskirts of the city." Han took out the note from within his pockets and waved it at her face.

"That's good, very good." Amelia mumbled out of her breath, "But the broadcast ordered not to move towards the outskirts. The military will come on their own. So you're staying with us kid."

Han smiled and nodded, but he didn't like the idea of waiting for help. He could simply sneak away. Still, his body required a time out, he wouldn't deny a chance to rest at the moment. Aside from that, he had to prepare his body for the first proper body enhancement, tonight. Having more martial skills would be such a blessing, he could find Hanne's family much faster and go back to his own world.

To go back to his world. That was what he was striving for, to the life of being an assassin, living freely, enjoying women, and waiting for a gruesome death at an opponent's blade. What more could you ask for after all?

'What more could I ask for after all?' Han repeated his thought as he looked at the note, looking at one word that persevered to warm his heart.

"Thank god! You're both alive!" A voice suddenly said,

Han pocketed the note and looked up to see Lola's sobbing face. Beside her, were the survivors. They were back on the fourth floor and everyone there was looking at Han and Amelia. Of course, it was to check for any bites and scratches once again. Han sighed as he knew he was going to be having another checkup as both of them were covered in blood.

After an intense scolding from Lola and apathetic looks from everyone, he and Amelia went to get checked up.

What Han did, could be understood as a strong urge to see his parents. Everybody had someone they wanted to see, someone they wanted to know was well and breathing. Han knew no one would make a big deal out of it if they weren't harmed, but they sure did look at him like a stupid ass kid. However, that simply meant he fooled them all.

Once the checkup was over, Han quickly thanked Amelia for her assistance and went to his assigned apartment, next to the apartment filled with patients. Luckily he was alone in the apartment, as no one wanted to share one with an impulsive cleaver-wielding kid.

He was about to begin his body enhancement. He remembered the first time he did this, he was rather reluctant to learn blood art body enhancement, it was his only choice back then. Now, even if he could choose, he would still cultivate this blood art.

'The Masochist's Avatar', the blood art that he relied on to be overwhelmingly tyrannical in his past life. It was a body enhancement method that made him beat martial cultivators levels above him. All those times he dominated life and death battles were all due to this. However, its strength could only be attained through excruciating pain that could make one go mad, to Han, who at least reached the 6th level of Martial Ancestor. Doing it all over from scratch would be no problem at all.

First, he sat crossed-legged on the floor, then he proceeded to guide this world's energy onto his body. He noticed the unstable energy of this world and groaned in annoyance as it meant cultivating was going to be very slow compared to his old world. Soon enough Han felt his blood boil and churn within his veins, it circulated swiftly and painfully within him. The blood inside him was churning so wildly that it started to ooze out from all his orifices. The pain was agonizing, and yet it wasn't enough to make Han utter a sound. He had to do this to enlarge his blood and energy canals until the maximum limit, only then would he proceed to the next step.

For four hours, like a man of steel, he sat there cross-legged, until he felt a certain pressure resisting against his circulation. The maximum limit was reached, now all Han had to do was breakthrough.

Han proceeded with the cultivation method and carved up different parts of his body with the cleaver, with no hesitation at all. Black goo spurted from his wounds like worms being set free. Aside from releasing the accumulated impurities, the pain stimulated his body's regeneration and growth. The body was essentially a huge binding of muscle after all, and muscle was made stronger by damaging it within regenerative capabilities.

For another hour, Han sat there, mending his body with raw energy as he let it get used to its new revitalized blood. Han knew it was finally over when he felt a rush of power travel down his constitution. He stretched his arms and jumped up to stand, feeling as light as a feather. Yeah, he may be bloodied and reeking of a sour odor but at least now he can move faster, hit stronger, and do a lot more martial skills. However, what he was most happy about was his energy sense. A passive ability, to be able to feel the energy with a distance according to one's strength. Everything within 10 meters of him, he could envision, hear clearly, and even know the martial levels of those weaker than him.

He could envision the bodies moving above him and below him. Their groans and cries were rampant in Han's ears, there were sounds of chewing somewhere near as well. Even the apartments beside him weren't safe from Han's perception. Han scanned the patients' room next door, Han saw a lot of them were rather active, which was rather surprising at this time of night, basically early morning. He also saw the amputee kid finally being awake, kissing Lola, who seemed asleep, rather eagerly on the forehead.

But very quickly, he stopped. He picked up his cleaver and rushed towards the patient's room as he realized that the chewing sounds were coming from there.