Hours earlier

Kyle wordlessly screamed as he felt his very being shatter, as he felt every moment of his soul mangling on itself. It was unbearable, an agony so profound he could feel his very sanity break with. And then it suddenly stopped.

He was still hovering in place, surrounded by the dark light. Glancing about he looked down at himself, his form was dissipating into dark ash. His hands were gone, his arms half way so as what was, floated as ash next to them. As if time had stopped, yet not.

“And the hero finally falls.” Spoke a voice from everywhere at once.

“Who…who are you?” Kyle asked, looking around he saw nothing by the destruction caused from his fit of rage.

“I am all, I am you and everything around you. I believe you can call me, Avatar.” Responded the voice.

Kyle grimaced “Ah…I see. What do you want? If it’s nothing important, I’m sort of busy falling apart here.” He tastelessly joked.

“Always time for sarcasm with you isn’t it?” The voice chuckled “Yes my dear Hero, this is very much important. But I’ll make it quick seeing as, time for you is surely running out. And time my dear Hero, is the one thing I have little control over.”

Suddenly Kyle saw as the ash flowed back, reforming his arms and legs, reforming even his tails. He watched in awe as his body rebuilt itself.

“I must apologise Hero, for I needed you to fall. Else we could never have come to communicate like this, an existence such as myself may only speak with equals or those on the verge of death. When one’s mind is running so rampant that it will accept anything.” The voice explained as Kyle listened “Tell me Kyle, what do you think a Yako is?”

Kyle was briefly confused by the sudden and seemingly unimportant question “A Yako is…the opposite of a Kitsune. Where one absorbs positive Spirit, Yakos absorb negative Spirit.” He answered bitterly.

It hummed thoughtfully “Hhm, incorrect. A Kitsune is neither one end or the other, it is the very middle. The Nogitsune is the fallen end, while the Yako is three thirds of the way.”

“Hah…so I was given the short end of the stick by being born Yako?” Kyle chuckled sorrowfully, as he floated surrounded by the dark mass, as the sparks of reality lay frozen within.

“No Yako, you weren’t. I said three thirds of the way, I never said in which direction. A Yako’s soul is simply put, more malleable than a Kitsune’s. Change comes with ease for your sub-kind. It is why you are so rare, because you are so volatile. Three thirds of the way, in both directions to fall and ascension. And there has been many Yakos born before you, yet none of you have ever ascended…”

The voice’s tone seemed to grow sorrowful as it continued to speak “The first Yako fell, and made sure the next one did so too. The second Yako fell and made sure so did the third…and so on. A long chain of pain and hate. Now you might ask, what does this have anything to do with you? You’re falling as we speak…so why should you care of why?”

Kyle snorted in disdain “Took the words right out of my mouth.”

“Hah, I’ve watched you for a long time Kyle. You were the miracle…the low…so low a probability that it seemed impossible…You gave hope to my creation of your kind. Because my oh so dear Hero, you are no normal Yako. Born from Kitsune and Yako, and kept both bloodlines? Impossible, yet real. You are something new Kyle, something reality hasn’t yet seen. Neither Kitsune or Yako, you are both in one.” As the voice spoke Kyle felt something grasp his soul…a strange cold feeling that gripped something inside him tightly.

“You Kyle are something I cannot risk losing, you are something the Voids cannot risk leaving alive. This is why you fall, this is why you were tortured and beaten. Because you are special, and dangerous.” The voice was suddenly inside Kyle’s head now “So I ask you Kyle, do you want to fall and give in to your rage…or do you wish to find balance? I cannot help you if you do not consciously accept my help, that is how this works.”

Kyle breathed scattered breaths, as he glanced at himself and around. At first he thought he was hallucinating but now…he was sure he was truly speaking with it. Kyle was speaking with the Avatar, and it was offering him one last chance. But did he want to take another chance? Did he truly want to keep trying? Was it even worth it?

Was there…anything left for him? His family was gone, his body was stolen, his plan ruined and existence was on the way to destruction. Even though he swore, he couldn’t keep Karnage safe and away. Even though he promised, he couldn’t continue adventuring with Lilior.

Even after everything they had done for him…He turned his back on the guild, too selfish and depressed to keep trying…Was there any point for him to keep trying?...

“Kyle!” shouted a voice from his left, disrupting his thoughts and replacing them with a deep guilt that threatened to swallow his insides. Kyle took a deep breath as the voice spoke out once more “Kyle!”.

He turned to look, his heart freezing over as he saw Karnage standing at the edge of his destruction. “No…Leave!” he tried to shout, but then noticed that his voice couldn’t reach. He didn’t even have a voice, realising that all this time he was speaking with his thoughts alone. “No…Why? Why is she still here?! Dammit! Not again! Not again!”

Kyle panicked as he realised, history was only repeating itself. She was still here, and he was losing control. Glancing around his body he watched as his sudden panic continued the fall, his fingers rapidly bursting out into black ash, as did his feet and the tips of his tails. Karnage would be caught in the crossfire, killed just as he had killed Alison all those years before.

His panic rose, his hands entirely breaking up into the ash, his legs began to dissipate too just now reaching his waist. “No…”

“Focus Kyle.” Spoke the voice once more “Don’t think of what is to come, don’t think of what mistakes you made in the past. Think of now, think of what you can do now. Of what you can still save, of what YOU can still do! Accept Kyle, accept balance and try again.”

Kyle grinded his teeth as he closed his eyes, doing nothing to relieve him of the agony that plagued his form “I…Please…Help me.”

“Gladly.”

Now

Behemoth rose as he was met with Kyle, sneering as he faced him “Oh? And what might you want from me? Just gonna say it right away…No I’m not giving you your body back.” Kyle chuckled in response, he was still just a soul. Bodiless, a Spirit Beast’s Spirit. Yet something had changed, something even Behemoth sensed. “You feel…different?” Behemoth asked in mild confusion.

Kyle smiled, a calm, average smile “I am different, like to know how?” his voice was conflicting, loud yet silent, deep yet quiet, it made Behemoth feel sick inside. So much so that the beast took a step away from Kyle, but Kyle stepped forward as he did “I’ve realised, what my role is. I’m not the fighter, I’m not the leader nor the follower. I’m not the support or the wildcard.” His smile widened, a wicked grin with wild eyes shining with insanity “I’m the mad hatter.”

Behemoth raised a brow in confusion “That doesn’t make any sen-”

Suddenly Kyle surged forwards, his entire body bursting with red hot flames as his fist collided with Behemoth’s crossed arms. Behemoth also summoned his flames, the Darkfire immediately entering a frenzy and lashing out at the common red flames.

“It doesn’t have to make any sense at all, not to you anyway.” Kyle whispered as he looked Behemoth straight in the eyes, before surging back and relaxing his stance. “All you need to know, my little first beast. Is that you might as well be already dead.”

“What?!” Behemoth snarled in annoyance, the hair on his black ears and tails rising on edge as he bared his fangs.

Kyle chuckled “Finally fired up aren’t you? Good…” the red flames surrounding Kyle made way as blue cold flames joined them, at the same time Kyle’s colours changed. His brown hair faded into a snow white, his green eyes burning up into a crimson red and his grey ears and tails gaining a white glow as they changed to a light blue “Cause I’ve been fire’d up for a damn while.”

Kyle popped his neck as his fangs grew out, as his claws stretched out. Through his bared yet closed fangs he made a low growling sound, slowly it grew in loudness until finally he took a step forward and fully bared his maw. Like a beast, he roared out. A growling snarl that Behemoth returned.

“Let’s get to it, not like simple warriors or mages. But how it’s supposed to be…” announced Kyle as the red and blue flames around him suddenly twirled in a burst of movement “Let’s go at it like the fucking monsters we are!” the two flames seemed to merge together, suddenly rushing upwards in a pillar of golden flames.

Author: Here it is :3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_HUuDd3dSU

“Fool! I’ll devour you too then!” warned Behemoth as he suddenly charged towards Kyle, Darkfire engulfing his entire body as he surged at top speed.

Kyle met his charge in kind, surging forwards as well. The two met mid-way, their claws clashing with each other in sudden and unfollowable movements, their flames lashing out at each other as they remained near. Both briefly retreated back, surging back and watching the other closely.

Behemoth growled as he chanted “Rot, Rust and Disintegrate! Darkfire breath!” he opened his jaw wide, belching out Darkfire towards Kyle.

At the same time Kyle also chanted “Purify, Cleanse and Smite! Holyfire breath!” he bit down as the golden flames formed in his mouth, his cheeks pumping up as he briefly held it in until the Darkfire reached him. Kyle opened his mouth, letting out a blast of bright golden flames that pierced through the hot darkness and threatened to engulf Behemoth whole.

Behemoth surged aside, evading the breath attack only to be met with Kyle moving back into close quarters combat. Their claws met once more, snarl for snarl, fist for fist and flame for flame. They clawed away at each other, grappling the other while pushing away their efforts to grip and bite. They fought like frenzied beasts, like enraged animals. One hungering and the other vindictive.

Their strength seemed equal, their speed not even a second behind the other…But Kyle was clearly ahead of Behemoth’s every step. As he evaded his claws and tore away at his chest and arms, as he blocked his kicks and turned them around, throwing Behemoth aside and misbalancing him. Kyle saw it all coming, the seemingly random bursts of slime tentacles, the quick almost unpredictable movements of [Quick Surge] and even the combined attacks of Darkfire with [Surge].

Behemoth was tiring, but Kyle was only getting started. As he blocked Behemoth’s Darkfire engulfed high kick, Kyle grappled it and spun the beast over, slamming him down into the ground head first causing the ice around them to crack and divide into floating plates.

Behemoth groaned as he slowly pulled himself up, as Kyle stepped back and cautiously watched “This…is not over!” the beast exclaimed before suddenly turning tail and surging away. Or at least that was his plan, before Kyle appeared in his path and planted a fist in between his eye sockets then slamming him back down to the ground.

Kyle chuckled coldly as he stood over the groaning Behemoth “Do you feel that Behemoth? The dizziness? The pain? That’s mortality for you, such a damn annoyance isn’t it? But I still want it…” Kyle growled as his grin turned into a grimace “I want my body back, and there is nothing you can do to stop me now.”

Behemoth snarled as he surged away “Nothing?! I’m a bloody deity you incorrigible child! I’LL SHOW YOU WHO CANNOT STOP WHO!” the beast bellowed as he suddenly arched back and opened his mouth wide, gushing out came shadows blacker than anything Kyle had ever seen. The darkness poured out of his body, seemingly never ending until a gigantic cloud of the stuff floated around him.

Suddenly his body went limp, falling to the ground unconscious. From the shadows that twirled around him Kyle saw several faces form, all beast like, all speaking at the same time “I am the devourer, the unsateable, the true beast! And now that I am free of my curse! After eons of being trapped in the veil! NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM FULFILLING MY HUNGER!” the beasts of shadow roared in unison, baring that fangs of black.

But Kyle could only chuckle “So proud, so blindingly proud you ‘Higher Beings.’” His voice was void of magic as he spoke, his expression solemn“You are powerful, I’ll give you that much but…What is the point of power if…you have nothing to lose?” he glanced down at his body as the faces moved out of the hurricane of shadows, bodies forming for each of the five giant beasts.

“Power is power, there needs not be a point!” Behemoth growled back at him with each beast.

Kyle shook his head in disagreement “If you have nothing to lose then you have nothing to fight for. I realised, I still have something to lose. I still have several things to fight for.” he suddenly surged forwards, placing his hand over his sprawled-out body’s face. His form shimmering into ethereal before rushing inside the open mouth.

Each beast surged with him, one turning aflame, one engulfed by lightning, one surrounded by frost, the fourth covered in blades of wind and the fifth blurring into darkness. Each one collided with another, deforming, engulfing Kyle’s body whole as bouts of flame, wind, lightning, frost and darkness exploded out and around causing a severe screen of snow and steam to form.

The whirlwind of shadows reformed into one, a singular beast of flowing shadow now staring off into the cloud of steam and frost. Canine by design with bladed tails growing out all the way up to the back of its head like feathers, its fangs were jagged, its eyes a dark void, yet its face was the only colour other than black. Yokai’s mask enlarged and worn over the beast’s own snout.

As the snow and steam dissipated Behemoth grinned widely, revealing a broken and slime deformed Kyle. His body was hit hard as he retook possession of it, his left arm was entirely gone and his body was riddled with patches of seared slime and flesh. “Oh you think yourself cunning? Having taken back your body? Well how unfortunate for you child, it matters little!” Behemoth chuckled “Without a body I am not limited by mortality anymore!” he stomped down his forelegs and snarled.

Kyle smiled weakly as his body regenerated from the attack, chuckling as several notifications filled his view "True enough this vessel of mine lacks the power your existence has but...This world isn’t all magical or physical prowess. Chaoz is not based entirely on skill and experience either…Ironically it is, in a different meaning."

Spirit levels merging with physical level... Calculating... A divine power imbues your body... Calculating...

“This world is a game system, an MMO, a broken fucking stat calculator.” Kyle’s eyes shone, a glint of madness and amusement as he sneered at Behemoth “And I’m friends with the database moderator, who gave me a little boost…You know when a Hero completes a quest they get to choose half of the champions for their chosen God? Well…call it an early birthday present, guess who I chose?”

Level up! (x100)

Title ({Champion of Ymir}) has been unlocked by a higher being! Warning you have Several [Attribute] points awaiting sorting!

Kyle’s smile grew “And sure, you might be a Spirit who is immune to physical attacks. But I’m a Spirit Beast, bitch with what kind of attack do you think I’ll come at you with?! And also...Spirits don't get levels do they?...Hah...” his tone turned into almost a hiss as his hatred for this vile creature he faced rose. Just how much Behemoth reminded him of Void, was enough to make Kyle utterly despise it.

But after trying to tear him apart from the inside out? After stealing his body? After ruining his entire plan? Kyle only felt the hatred he felt now twice before, both towards the Nogitsune who ruined his life. And he wasn’t one to let hatred gone unsated as he grinned maddingly up at the colossal beast of shadows.

“For everything you’ve done…For every misstep you took against me…For every lie, for every deception and for every stab at my back.” Kyle chanted fiercely as Behemoth sensed his magic and lunged “Nothing will stop me now from enacting vengeance! Cold Soul!”

From Kyle’s position an explosion of frost blasted outwards, engulfing the leaping Behemoth entirely, too fast for the creature to even see. Time around Kyle seemed to slow to a crawl as he shouted in real time “Lilior! Merge with my hand!” he told the Fairy who had been watching safely from the sidelines. Lilior flying also in realtime as she morphed to slime and splashed into Kyle’s right arm which also turned to slime.

At the same time Kyle had opened his character sheet, and dumped every single last of his Attribute points into Intellect. Tripling his current mana bar,

Mana [16,200 / 16,200]

But this wasn’t the only change, as he skimmed through the rest of the notifications…

Spirit bar has been changed! Meter is now limited and regenerative! Spirit [ 16,200 / 16,200] [{Tails}]’s sub-skill [{Darkfire mask}] has been lost! [{Tails}]’s sub-skill [{Devouring Frostfire}] has been removed by a higher power and replaced with the sub-skills [{Foxfire}], [{Frostfire}], [{Holyfire}]!

Pointing out this change was also another physical trait, not only were his hair, eye and fur colours changed but Kyle had also gained a third tail. Yet none of this mattered right now, as he planned to use neither of the flames. No Kyle had enough time to fully think this through, to know exactly what attack he’d need to defeat this abomination that lunged at him with fangs bared in slowmo.

And he only had a few seconds to create it, as Lilior’s form and abilities lay themselves for him to cast through their merging, something he had only just asked her about but betted on fully. As he chanted quickly without wasting anymore time…

Author: This part required its own music for me to write…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg-OFE3lwwI

“Dungeon Domain!” he chanted, using Lilior’s mana stores to form her current limit of Dungeon Cores, as the three aquamarine crystals formed in a line ahead of his outstretched right arm changed to slime.

“Core Overload!” he shouted, expanding his entire 16,200 Mana bar. Summoning forth a mass of slime only surpassed by what he managed weeks ago to form the city-wide illusion of Eslet.

“Shapeshift!” he finally chanted the last skill, allowing him to shape his own slime and Lilior’s along with her Dungeon cores to his exact liking. Forming the familiar gun barrel, twenty times larger than his [{Slime Cannon}]. Three Dungeon cores perfectly spaced out within the wide aqua-blue barrel of slime as it darkened in colour, as it condensed becoming more solid as the precious seconds passed by.

Finally forming the cannon just as time began to speed back up, as the frost covering Behemoth’s shadowy body slowly dissipated away. As his eyes widened, just as the massive barrel end collided with the roof of his throat.

Kyle chuckled wickedly “Begone from this world and all the others, disappear from my sight. Slime Anti-Spirit Cannon!” Kyle flowed in the entirety of his Spirit bar into the first core, which quickly shattered and flowed into the second, also shattering before flowing into the third…of which shattered too leaving behind a brief sphere of green electric-like energy that suddenly reared back down the barrel and then burst forth, shooting out the end in a pitch-black ray of destruction.

Behemoth was thrown back, the ray of energy blowing him away with, sending him through trees, snow, ice and stone. As the beast screamed in agony, as the super-condensed Spirit attack seared away his very existence like a laser burning away paper.

For several moments the ray shot out of the end of Kyle’s barrel, even after Behemoth’s form was entirely erased from existence, permanently erasing kilometres of the Spirit Realm with him. As Kyle looked ahead he couldn’t help but ignore the notifications that followed, his mind caught up on one sole emotion.

Relief.