Jack wasn’t sure if he should be laughing or crying right now.

Getting his face ripped off was NOT part of the plan and definitely NOT an experience he wanted to keep having.

On the other hand, he managed to somehow appear next to the honey badger’s location and reached the badger with some help from the forest.

‘The fact that the forest is helping me only proves that man’s words. Of course, it could be a ‘coincidence’ but I’d have to be retarded to believe that after all I’ve gone through and seen...’ Jack couldn’t help but smile helplessly.

A living forest....

Or was it a dying forest?

Jack wasn’t really sure what to make of it, ‘I’m really hoping I get some answers soon. For now, all that’s left is to hope the plan works...’ he sighed.

It all hinged on whether or not he could appear next to the badger once again.

Soon enough, he was back in the forest.

Looking around, there was no honey badger in sight but a blue trail of leaves was already laid out.

A broad grin stretched Jack’s face as he saw this, “Oh yeah, we’re officially in business!” He laughed as he ran towards his quarry.

—————

Badger was torn on what to do.

What Badger was suffering from is the result of him being so close to becoming a true Flux Beast. His intelligence wasn’t the only thing rapidly increasing. There was a budding human-like personality also rapidly developing within him that brought with it an almost fatal characteristic to any beast.

Indecisiveness.

Normally, beasts were creatures driven by instincts that are honed and passed down through generations. It’s these instincts that enabled them to survive the vicious environments they are born in. As they get stronger so too do their bestial instincts.

On the other hand, as beasts increase their Grade, their intelligence also increases which eventually leads to what Badger is dealing with now.

Intelligence and instincts begin to clash against each other for dominance.

Should Badger heed his instincts and run away?

But there’s nothing here that could hurt him especially because he still has one more use of his Flux Lightning so why should he run?

Badger just couldn’t decide.

If any other beast, that was a grade lower, were in Badger’s place, they would have immediately chosen to run away.

In time, it’s entirely possible for Badger to remedy this problem and even allow his intelligence and instincts to empower each other but time was not on his side.

He needed to swiftly make a choice right now.

Stay or run?

Badger couldn’t help but feel that this would be a lot easier if he knew what the danger was.

Did he anger the Kings? No, he would already be dead if that was the case.

Was it really that weird human? But he was so weak...

Badger fidgeted about while different thoughts stormed through his mind.

In the end, a determined light came to his eyes.

He would run.

Tomorrow, he’d come with his full strength restored and resume his hunt. Turning around, Badger prepared to leave.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Badger spun around as he heard something running towards him. Out of the brush, Jack came running with a rock in one hand and a smile plastered on his face.

“Oh? How considerate. Thanks for waiting.’

Badger looked at this human that he had already killed twice and couldn’t wrap his hamster wheel of a brain around the fact that he just kept coming back.

Suddenly, a bolt of ingenuity seemed to pierce through Badger’s mind fog and his genius began to shine through!

He’d been tricked!

This human has been toying with him!

Badger wasn’t some hapless whelp with no experience. He had seen plenty of humans, both white-robed and black-robed, fighting in the Outer Area and Inner Area. Some of them were very weird and had abilities that made no sense at all. This human must be one of those humans!

Granted, he’d never seen another human die and come back but he had once seen a female human create illusions that befuddled the mind with perfectly symmetrical geometric shapes that were weirdly satisfying to look at...

This must be similar!

He must have been frightened of Badger’s superior intellect and electrifyingly devastating abilities and instead of fighting him, decided to tire him out with illusions!

A coward! A knave! A ruffian!

More words that Badger didn’t understand!

Jack watched with a mix of amusement and confusion as the honey badger seemed to go through a myriad of emotions and absolutely lose his shit.

Suddenly, the urge to express his emotions overtook Badger. He had to vent all this anger!

He didn’t even think, he just did what felt right.

He jerkily attempted to stand on his hind legs, barely succeeding, and pointed a fore paw at Jack as his body intensely trembled from the strain of standing like this.

At that moment, Badger finally uttered his first words which resounded with his determination!

“FUCK YOU!”

Unfortunately, Badger still lacked the necessary anatomy to speak human words so all that Jack heard was a high pitched screech. Nevertheless, Jack still understood Badger’s intent even if he didn’t understand his words.

That’s also why he immediately doubled over in laughter.

Chest heaving from his outburst, badger dropped back down on all fours and watched as Jack laughed himself to death.

How dare this human laugh at his majestic expression of emotions?!

Electric sparks began to manifest around Badger’s body as he prepared to vaporize this human. All of a sudden, he stopped as realization dawned on him.

The human was trying to trick him again!

He was trying to goad him into recklessly attacking him!

This was an illusion just like before!

Well, he underestimated the genius that is Badger. Finally calmed down and thinking ‘rationally’, Badger turned around, ignoring the human, and walked away with his head held high.

'Hah! Your tricks won’t work on me human!'

Jack seeing the honey badger walk away finally stopped laughing, “Haha...pant...haha...Oh c’mon, don’t be like that. You just looked so funny I couldn’t help myself.”

Badger just kept walking.

“Wow, he’s really just going to ignore me...” said Jack, astonished at his luck.

Well, this isn’t the time to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Shrugging, Jack walked up to Badger, who was still ignoring him and raised the rock in his hand.

It’s at that moment that Badger remembered something. ‘Didn’t it actually hurt the last ti-’

Too late.

The rock smashed into Badger’s head and thus the bonking began once again.

Badger couldn’t help but lament.

Why was being smart so painful?!

—————

Meanwhile, in the depths of space.

The Gentleman watched this all play out not with amusement, as one might expect, but with a combination of anticipation and restlessness.

Finally, he moved his eyes off the planet and spoke out loud, “Remwalt, prepare yourself.”

His voice was neither loud nor soft and, almost in defiance to the laws of physics, seemed to carry out clearly through the vacuum of space.

In response, an enormous vertical line appeared behind him before opening up to reveal an eye that’s almost as big as half the planet he was observing. Fantastical shades of color glittered and thrummed within the eye as if it was made of all manner of gems and crystals. This in combination with it’s size, made it seems as if a wondrous paradise of a planet had suddenly appeared behind The Gentleman.

“Big Brother, do you really think ‘It’ will try to stop his Rebirth?”

The creature’s voice can only be described as paradoxical.

It was both light and heavy.

Melodic and rough.

Benevolent and sinister.

Quiet and loud.

It was all these things and none of them, all at once.

It seemed to shred the very fabric of reality while also healing it.

Any sane man would be driven to the brink of insanity after hearing a single word from this creature.

The Gentleman did not find it unpleasant at all.

“It is already a miracle that Prime has lasted this long. There is no doubt that when ‘It’ senses its control over Death lessening, ‘It’ will try to erase Jack at all cost. Our only saving grace is that ‘It’ is still bound by its own Laws.” Sighed The Gentleman, before continuing in a much somber tone, “Prime has already done all he can, for now. It is our turn to act now. We must make sure that Jack’s Rebirth goes uninterrupted. Your role shall be to weaken any incoming attacks and I shall take care of them. Whatever you do, DO NOT try to directly block any of them, understood?”

Remwalt couldn’t help but snort as he replied, “Don’t worry big bro, I’m not some inexperienced hatchling. I know what to do.”

“Ah, but you cannot blame me for worrying. This is your first time facing an enemy of this caliber, even if it’s an indirect confrontation.”

Remwalt’s open eye widened as he spluttered in indignation, “F-..First?! Big bro, I’ve destroyed PlaneWalkers and RealmDevourers before. I’ve fought plenty of powerful enemies!”

“Yes, yes, and you were adorably devastating,” said The Gentleman, a look of reminiscence flashing through his eyes. “But you are playing at the big boys table now so I need you to promise me that you will be careful.”

Sighing, Remwalt acquiesced. “I promise I’ll be careful, big brother. Besides,” Suddenly Remwalt’s tone turned teasing. “I know you’re really excited about fighting after so long, you can’t hide it from me. The only reason you’re ‘letting me help’ is because you want me to gain some experience against ‘It’.”

“Perhaps...” Muttered The Gentleman, a smirk stretching his lips.

“Hah! I told you I’m not a child anymore, big brother, “ Laughed Remwalt, before his eye shut close and vanished.

Running a hand through his immaculate hair, The Gentleman couldn’t help but sigh to himself, “Ah, they grow up so fast...” The next second though, a predatory grin and maddened eyes appeared on his face.

“He’s not wrong though. It’s been a while since we’ve stretched our legs. Isn’t that right, dear?”

In response, Ŗ̷̰̯͕̫̪̝̽̂̉̋̈͒͝͝͝͝ͅḙ̴̠͚̜̗̰͙͓̈́́͛͌͒̀̀͘ǎ̸͍̳̼͔͙̞̄͜ḷ̸̛͙̬̌̊̾̋̆̄͘͠͝i̸̢͙̠͙͇̫̹̭̎̈͝͝ͅt̴̝̪̟̟̭̾͐̀ͅy̷̤̮̆́̌̔͋̈̆̓̍̚ seemed to fluctuate and pulse around him, as if purring in delight.

—————

Back to our regularly scheduled bonking.

“Why...”

SMASH

“...won’t...”

SMASH

“...you...”

SMASH

“...die?!”

SMASH

Badger was too dazed to even attempt to reply.

Jack had already spent a good thirty minutes just bludgeoning Badger with rocks of different sizes.

This was already the tenth rock, the other nine having been broken to pieces.

Jack had come prepared.

He knew that one rock wouldn’t be enough after last time. Fortunately, this forest was littered with rocks. There was no shortage of them which was unusual when you consider that this forest lacks any plant life whatsoever aside from trees, grass and bushes.

A forest filled with rocks instead of plants?

How unusual...

Noticing this about the forest, Jack had picked up a random rock on his way to Badger’s location without worrying about running out.

Whenever a rock would break, he would just pick up another one from nearby and resume his bludgeoning before Badger could get his bearings.

He had spent the last thirty minutes doing exactly that.

Badger could only curse his luck.

What kind of human uses a rock as a weapon?!

All the humans Badger had seen before used beautiful weapons made from really shiny metal. Their movements were methodical and graceful. Even the black-robed humans, that tended to be savage in their attacking style, still moved with purposeful grace!

This human just flailed around like a retarded gorilla!

No, even retarded gorillas fought much better than this human!

But all of this wasn’t what truly aggrieved Badger.

What truly aggrieved Badger and made him not know whether to laugh or cry, was how effective it was!

Each time Jack smashed Badger’s head, Badger felt as if someone had reached inside his head and shook his brain so hard that it turned to mush. The deafening ringing in his ears and extreme disorientation did not help.

Truthfully, Badger couldn’t be blamed for this.

He was by no means, physically or mentally weak. In fact, he could be considered a talented genius, just not exactly in the way he thinks he is...

So, some might wonder why this ‘talented’ and ‘powerful’ beast was basically completely helpless against a ‘simple’ rock?

Well, this all stems from a...slight...misunderstanding that Jack had.

Initially, after the....squirrel incident..., Jack had tried to break off a tree branch and failed miserably. He had taken that as a sign that he was extremely weak by this world’s standard.

He wasn’t exactly wrong but this matter isn’t so simple.

In truth, none of the beasts in this forest, even the Kings, are capable of even scratching the trees in The Forest of Death.

As far as they’re concerned, the trees are immovable and indestructible.

In fact, the only reason that Jack managed to even move that branch slightly was because the forest, specifically that tree, didn’t want Jack its King to feel like a complete failure...

Now, everything else in the forest isn’t as exaggeratedly durable but they’re still extremely tough even by this world’s standards.

It’s actually a testament to how hard Badger’s head is, that Jack managed to break so many rocks just by smashing them into Badger’s head.

Unfortunately for Jack, if the rocks he was using were so tough then how could a weakling like him not also suffer injuries?

Every time Jack struck Badger, the excessive shock generated would shoot up his arms and numb his muscles. This wasn’t so bad once or twice but Jack had already been doing this for thirty minutes straight. His arm muscles weren’t the only thing suffering though, his palms were bloodied with cuts and scratches that he had gotten from so many rocks breaking apart in his hands.

The only thing stopping him from collapsing from exhaustion was grit and determination but even those were rapidly running out...

Finally, the tenth rock broke apart in Jack’s hand. Ignoring the piercing pain from in his hands, Jack scrambled to find another rock as quick as possible.

Badger, finally finding some reprieve, struggled to focus his mind and mobilize his Flux. The sluggish Flux within his body began to slowly move as sparks began to fly off Badger’s body.

This was his chance!

He couldn’t really tell up from down yet and he could barely move his body but that didn’t matter. As long as he could charge up his Flux Lightning then he could easily run away!

Unfortunately, right as he was going to succeed he got bonked on the head by Jack and all his concentration was broken.

“Hah!...pant...you really think...pant...that I’ll let you use that?” Said Jack, in between heavy pants, as a tired smile twisted his lips.

Jack didn’t give the honey badger any chance to reply as he went back to his rock smashing.

Badger had been so close!

If he had had on more second, he could’ve full charged his Flux Lightning!

If Badger had the capacity to form thoughts right now, he would be cursing the heavens for his rotten luck.

None of this would be happening if he was a true Flux Beast!

He had been just one kill away from Advancing and with his Flux Lightning it would have been a breeze to kill even the top beasts of the Inner Area. Unfortunately, those very beasts also knew this fact and as such stayed the hell away from Badger.

It was all because of his Flux Lightning. None of the other beasts in the Inner Area could do anything against it.

Truthfully, beasts at Badger’s Grade should not be wielding such powers. Only true Flux Beasts are capable of manipulating Flux in such ways.

It’s a testament to how talented Badger actually is that he managed to figure out how to turn raw Flux into another element and actually succeed.

He might not be the brightest honey badger around but he was a genius in this regard.

Unfortunately, just because he figured out how doesn’t mean that his body is suddenly ready to use this level of power.

As a consequence of him not being a true Flux Beast, using Flux Lightning had many drawbacks. Effectively, Badger could only really use it three times a day. He simply didn’t have the Flux reserves to use it more than that. It also took a couple seconds to charge up while standing still before he could use it which would present an opportunity for his enemy to interrupt him. Fortunately for Badger, the majority of beasts would chose to run away instead of rush towards him after seeing sparks begin to cover his body.

Even Jack had fallen for this trick. During all their previous battles, if he had chosen to rush towards Badger when he was charging his Flux Lightning instead of running away, all it would’ve taken is throwing something at Badger or simply attacking him to break his concentration and thus prevent him from using Flux Lightning.

Unfortunately, Badger’s luck had finally run out.

Jack didn’t know any of these specifics. What he did know was that any time Badger tried to use his Flux Lightning, a good bonk to the head immediately stopped him.

That was good enough for Jack.

SMASH

Jack wanted to stop.

He was so exhausted.

SMASH

He’s whole body burned with pain.

What was he doing this for?

SMASH

Power?

SMASH

Freedom?

SMASH

Some illusory promise from a mysterious man?

SMASH

“No...”

Looking at the blood spilling from his hands onto Badger’s silverish fur as if crimsons roses blooming in the snow, Jack knew why.

Jack had never truly killed before. He had never gone hunting or other such activities. The only thing he’s ever killed before were video game characters. The gratuitous digital violence had long since desensitized him but that didn’t change the fact that his hands were clean. They had never been soaked in blood, neither literally or figuratively.

That was unacceptable.

This world would not accept such weakness.

That’s why Jack knew.

This was necessary.

He did not do this out of malice.

He did not do this for some twisted sense of joy.

He did it for a second chance.

The Forest of Death operated on one simple currency.

Death.

Only through death, could you progress higher. This is a law that every single beast in this forest knew and followed.

You want to survive?

Kill!

You want to become stronger?

Kill!

You want to be free of the shackles this world has placed on you?

Kill!

Death shall accept all you can offer and deny none of you!

Jack was no different than those beasts.

And he knew it.

It didn’t matter if that man’s words were true.

It didn’t even matter why or how he was here.

Jack, the average person living an average life in an average world, died on Earth.

He wasn’t that person anymore.

He would never be that person anymore.

This was his second chance. His chance to be anything whatsoever.

To be better.

To be stronger.

To be more.

And he would be all those things.

He would be like Death.

He would accept all this world had to offer and deny none of it!

No matter how dark, how twisted or how gruesome it was.

He would not turn away.

That’s why he’s hands never stopped.

Even as his mind and body threatened to give up from exhaustion, he did not stop.

Even as tears streamed down his face and mixed with the blood on his hands, he did not stop.

These were not tears of sadness or grievance.

They were tears of gratitude.

SMASH

“I won’t apologize.”

SMASH

“I won’t grieve.”

SMASH

“I won’t make empty promises.”

SMASH

“But I will thank you.”

Tears still falling and a tired smile on his face, Jack finally stopped.

There was no need to continue.

Badger could feel the life drain away from his body, his mind already fading away.

Jack could also feel it.

He knew.

Rock dropping from his hands, Jack reached out with his trembling, bloodied hands and held Badger as he buried his head in the honey badger’s blood soaked fur.

“You have every right to hate me. I don’t blame you and never will.”

Body shuddering with sobs, Jack tightened his hold on Badger.

“But thank you, thank you for being my second chance.”

Finally, as all life left Badger’s body and death set in, the only sounds that reverberated through the clearing were the sounds of a man sobbing as he held onto a honey badger.

The trees did not sway.

The grass did not wave.

At that moment, the whole forest stilled as if in mourning.

This day would mark Jack’s first kill.

A death that would put in motion a chain of events that would shake the multiverses and bring them to their knees.

And this was still merely the beginning...