Chapter 4: I don't need your pity, don't pity meeeee!!!

Alick woke up in the middle of the night, his clothes soaked in sweat. He knew he had a nightmare, but as soon as he woke up, he couldn't remember what it was about. Pulling on his shirt that was clinging to his skin, he decided to get up and change. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep anytime soon anyways. He took off his shirt and glanced down at his body. Despite starving himself, he hadn't lost any of his fat. He didn't know why his body was like this, but it didn't change the fact that it still caused him some distress.

He quickly changed his clothes and pulled on some clean dry ones. Alick wore loose fitting clothing for ease of movement. Then he stepped outside into the cold night air. Breathing out caused vapor to form and he breathed on his hands to warm them up. He looked up and glanced at the moon, watching the clouds pass across the sky, obscuring the moon before revealing it once again.

I wonder how long I'll be alive before I die. Alick thought to himself. It'd been two months since the day his mom vanished. He'd thought that maybe, she had just decided to stay the night in the town, but as the days continued to pass, that small hope was quickly extinguished. Alick was 7 now, though he didn't celebrate it at all, and the day passed unnoticed. He shivered in the night air, but didn't budge, his heart and mind had gone numb. He felt broken and nothing he did made the whole he felt in his chest disappear.

Alick closed his eyes and laid back onto the ground, feeling the rough dirt terrain jabbing him in different places. Pain was one of the few reminders that he was still alive.

"KuKuKu!!"

Alick sat up and opened his eyes wide as soon as he heard what sounded lile laughter. But no matter how hard he stared in any direction, he couldn't see anything.

"I wondered how long it'd take me to find a suitable vessel after finally breaking free from my prison!"

"Who's there!?" Alick asked cautiously.

"But to think that a perfect vessel would be so close! I can't help but laugh at the irony!!"

"What do you want?" Alick shouted as he took a step back unconsciously.

Suddenly a form slowly materialized from within the shadows. A figure slowly stepping closer to Alick, the figure looked like a man, but was covered in shadows. However, suddenly, the figures form changed and instead of a man, it was a she. Then just as before, the figures form would change into something else. As soon as Alick had a thought on what the form of the figure was, it would be something else. But one thing that was constant about this figure, was that the longer Alick stared at it, the more he felt like he was being pulled in, as if he would be devoured at any moment.

Upon discovering this feeling, Alick looked away from the figure and found that the feeling had dissapeared. But then he felt a hand on his cheek, and then his other cheek was likewise grabbed by another hand. Alick was then forced to look at the figure and found that several more hands had reached out of the figures form and latched onto Alick's body. Attempting to pull him in.

Alick tried to resist, but he was only a kid who had little strength to his body. Even among other kids his age, he wouldn't be able to resist due to how weak his body had become lately.

... Ummm, Author-san, are you planning on killing off the hero already?? Isn't this guy some kind of last boss character?? What's going on Author-san? I have questions!!

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Yes, I'll be quiet now, please don't punish me again Author-san.

Alick's mind was in a state if panic, and he didn't know what to do. He thought about his life, and everything he'd experienced so far. He felt like he was standing alone in a room with a moving picture displaying his entire life before his eyes. But it ended almost as soon as it had started. That's when Alick realized something. His life had been brief, and he'd accomplished nothing with it. He had lived 7 miserable years, putting up with what the world had thrown at him. Then he had another epiphany, if there truly was a God, then he had been abandoned by said God. Because what God would let some child experience everything he'd experienced.

Where was the light at the end of the dark tunnel? His life had been one tragedy after another, and now it was all about to end. What kind of fucked up God would let that happen? Wasn't he responsible for all the good and bad in the world? Didn't things happen according to his will? That's what his mother had taught him. If that was all true, then was his life really meant to end like this?

Oh... I'm about to die now, Alick thought suddenly. That's when something in him snapped, it wasn't a desire to live, it was a desire to destroy everything. If he was going to die anyways, he might as well take everything with him. This fucked up world didn't deserve to exist.

The figure was taking it's time slowly adapting it's new found vessel to it's liking. But then suddenly, something changed, and it felt like it was being cosumed by the vessel instead.

?!

What's going on?! The figure thought, and it began trying to devour Alick faster. But just as it began doing that, the speed in which is felt it was being devoured back sped up as well. The situation had slowly turned into a cycle of devouring, the last one standing would be whomever could devour the other faster. The figure than began using it's magic sense to probe Alick's body to fins the source of the anomaly.

As it sensed Alick's body, it finally discovered the anomaly, deep inside, for whatever reason, there was a mana crystal within Alick's body. Normally, the only beings with mana crystals in their bodies were demons and magic beasts. Depending on the type of demon or magic beast would determine the quality of the mana crystal. So finding one within a human was strange enough as it is. Even if a demon were to somehow mate with a human, the only way for the half breed to have a mana crystal is if the mother was the demon.

But the other stange thing about the mana crystal within Alick, is that it was growing. Normally, a mana crystal is fixed at the moment of birth. After the demon or magic beast was born, the mana crystal within their body wouldn't change. That's why it was important for demons and magic beasts to find areas with rich, dense magic particles. The mana crystal of the newborn would be affected by the quality of the magic particles in the environment as well as the mana crystal residing within the mother's body. After the newborn was birthed, their mana crystal was fixed at that state and wouldn't change for the rest of their life.

But Alick's crystal was growing, and it's quality was rising due to the devouring magic that the figure was using to consume Alick. The crystal had begun responding to Alick's will to destroy and began taking measures accordingly to carry out his will. So the more magic the figure poured in, the stronger the crystal would become.

How the hell did this freak of nature come into existence? The figure questioned as it began pulling back its magic. However, it discovered something terrifying, the mana crystal had begun devouring it's own magic. At this rate, I'm going to die!! This brats mana crystal is going to devour me completely unless I do something!! The figure panicked.

The figure then came up with a solution as a last ditch effort to save it's life. At least with this, I won't dissapear. The figure then stabbed it's hand into it's own chest and ripped out the mana crystal. Then it plenged it straight into Alick's chest. The figures body became even less solid as it plunged into the hole that it had made by forcing it's mana crystal into Alick's body. A vortex had formed as the shadowy figure was slowly sucked into the hole, soon everything was silent. Alick stood silently for a second before falling backwards onto the ground unconscious. Hints of the shadowy substance from the figure's body would leak from Alick's body from time to time.

However, the night had regained it's usual calm and the air was still.

...... WHAT WAS THAT AUTHOR-SAN???!!!! Since when did our hero have that kind of plot armor?!

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But it doesn't make any sense!! I thought he was ordinary, I didn't see anything special about him at all!!! Author-san, you did something behind my back right?! Right?!

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Well, I guess it is a good thing that the hero is still alive. It means the story will continue.... but I really didn't like his train of thought at the end. Doesn't he want to destroy the world? Did we just witness the birth of the villain?! Are we watching the villain in the story Author-san?!

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I need answers Author-san!! I don't want somr villain to come barging up on my doorstep, trying to kill me!! I like living too much!!

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Why didn't I step in?! You mean I can do that?!

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Don't look at me like that! You're stare hurts Author-san!!

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I don't need your pity, don't pity meeeee!!!