The demonic creature let out a screech of pain, releasing its bite on Noah's forearm as it stumbled backward, wrenching itself off his sword. He looked at the monster with contempt as he brought his now free hand to his mouth to consume what it was holding. He reversed the grip on his sword then took it in both hands before driving the blade backward at his waist into the chest of soulless latched onto his shoulder. He felt his exhaustion wash away as the item he consumed took effect.

As the limp soulless became detached from his shoulder, Noah pushed the creature away from him and rose to his feet. His eyes once again began to burn with purple intensity, the strange ability he gained earlier activated displaying the illusion of slowing down the soulless's approach.

Noah looked pityingly towards the oncoming horde like a king looks down on his wayward subjects. He impassively raised his sword point forwards, unleashing wind blade in a concentrated line. He felt a phantom pain at his back, forewarning danger. He dropped down to one knee, head bowed with his sword point resting on the ground with both hands holding the hilt like a solemn knight swearing fealty to his Lord.

Three soulless flew over the top of him while crashing into each other, falling to the ground in a tangled heap. Now that Noah felt reinvigorated, he took this opportunity to activate his [Six Spirit Arms] ability. As the ethereal arms appeared, they swept out behind him. Instinctively deflecting attacking soulless without him needing to look.

He raised his head with the grim look of an executioner about to begin his bloody work as he fluidly rose to his feet. He drove the sword's point through the back of the pile of tangled soulless, pinning the three monsters to the ground. He watched with disgust as the shadows beneath the creature's skin fade away as their unholy life left them.

"Time for you monsters to learn what fear feels like!" Noah declared.

He let out a curse as his [Spirit Armor] ability activated while he was prompted by his instincts to dive to the right, ruining his solemn appearance. A wall of fire washed over him from the other direction, countless soulless surrounding him were incinerated.

Noah rolled to his feet to see the defeated man from earlier, appearing half-dead as he walked towards him with determination as a red glow faded from his skin.

The man was missing an eye, his entire body was also soaked in his own blood, which was oozing from deep cuts that exposed bone. One arm was even hanging limply at his side. It seemed to only be held by the torn material of his shirt. The man's other hand cradled the baby. The baby appeared to be healthy as it continually let out loud, distressed crying.

The woman was nowhere to be seen. He could only assume that she was dead for the man to have recovered the baby in his condition. The remains of the woman's corpse must have been cremated inside that inferno.

The crowd of soulless had noticeably thinned after the combined onslaught of Noah and the heroic man. There were still too many of the creatures as he began to charge towards the pair. He let out multiple wind blade strikes to either side of the man, delaying the demonic creature's approach.

"Hold on, I'm almost there!" Noah called out to the heroic man.

The man didn't appear to hear him or even see him as he continued his single-minded walk forward. A disturbance occurred in the crowd of soulless as one of the larger ones began to twitch.

Noah could see the shadows under its skin begin to ripple violently as the monster hunched over while the vestiges of its clothing dropped away from its body. The bones and muscles under the soulless' skin seemed to move unpredictably as it grew in size.

He swung a hurried slash towards the mutating soulless while releasing a wind blade. The ability left a deep cut, but couldn't penetrate far enough to affect the creature. An answering roar of rage from the horde was his only response from the creature as it ignored its wound.

The soulless finished its transformation as it rose to its full height. The adjacent grade one and two soulless could not even make it to the new mutated soulless' chest.

The imposing grade three soulless let out a roar that caused the hairs on the back of Noah's neck to stand on end as it charged towards the injured man before he could react.

The man appeared to not notice the naked giant storming towards him as he continued to stumble forwards. Until the creature picked him up in both hands towards its drooling eager maw filled with jagged teeth.

"No!" Noah refused to sit idly by and watch this heroic man die after all he went through to save his family.

Before he could do anything, Rachel appeared from thin air striking with her ornate hunting knife into the creatures back. The demonic creature's skin tore apart from the inside, spreading in either direction. Any cut created by the knife would activate an unknown ability, widening the inflicted wounds. The huge mutated soulless let out a cry of pain as it dropped the heroic man to the ground, still limply holding the baby. The baby was thankfully still alive, making a fuss.

The giant turned to face the puny threat that had appeared from nowhere. When it moved towards Rachel, she had vanished again to appear at the man's side to crouch down to pick up the baby from his grasp.

The almost-dead man let out a beautiful, peaceful smile towards the sky as a radiant golden beam of light broke through the fiery clouds. The resplendent beam of light landed upon the three of them, causing the lifeforce beneath the man's skin to respond. The red light spread to the surface of his skin, becoming entwined with gold.

[Feat of bravery witnessed.]

[Rite of Heroism beginning.]

The heroic man's lifeforce began to transform. The glow beneath his skin took shape into swirling, intricately-complex, dancing patterns. Becoming more intense and refined as the iridescent light was released in waves from the man's body towards Rachel and the crying baby.

[Dying wish: transferring Rite of Heroism to designated qualified substitute.]

The soundless voice inside his head informed him as the simple, pink light beneath Rachel's skin began to become infused with gold, undergoing changes similar to the heroic man before. As the man tightly gripped onto her ankle with a death grip, there was a radiant smile of victory forming on his face as he released a death rattle.

[Rite of Heroism complete.]

"Go!" The heroic man commanded Rachel as he released her ankle.

Rachel didn't hesitate as the shining incandescent beam of light from the sky narrowed as the fiery clouds repaired the break. Rachel took one glance towards Noah, then the grade three soulless as her lifeforce began to spread under her exposed skin centring outward from her chest.

Rachel's lifeforce had changed, becoming infinitely complex while darker in colour, almost to the point of being black. In an instant, the glow overtook her. This time there was no symbol above her head as she once again vanished as her [Blink] ability activated.

The heroic man glared at the approaching grade three soulless that had been held at bay by the radiant beam of light from earlier. The creature's damage caused by Noah's [Wind Blade] ability had already entirely healed, the wounds caused by Rachel's unknown knife ability rapidly healing as the creature closed in on the gravely/mortally wounded man.

Noah felt a compelling sense of dread as he felt the premonition of death. He watched the dying heroic man lay flat then begin to gather energy. The intricate, complex lifeforce beneath the man's skin had become blindingly bright.

Noah couldn't look directly at the man any longer. He shielded his eyes from the glare. A moment later, the man unleashed an ear-piercing scream filled with pain, hate, and defiance towards the demonic creatures that took his family from him.

"[Inferno]!" The dying man roared out defiantly.

A fountain of flames burst into the fiery-clouds above, towards the origin of the beam of light earlier.

Noah never had the chance to see if the tower of fire ever reached its target. He was hit with a strong wind causing him to pierce his sword into the ground as he was driven to his knees.

His newfound [Battle Instinct] ability kicked into overdrive. Warning him that he likely wouldn't be able to survive, even with the combined might of his so far impenetrable [Spirit Armor] ability along with his ethereal spirit arms shielded in front of himself. Futilely granting him an extra layer of defence in an attempt to prevent the fire that would shortly overtake him.

Noah let out a roar of his own as the [Inferno] ability arrived. He prayed to whatever god was listening that he could somehow survive the blast. Something unexpected happened next. The ocean of flames that threatened to burn him to a crisp parted like the red sea, forming a wall of fire to either side of him. Incinerating the surrounding soulless until nothing remained.

***

When what felt like an eternity had passed, the endless seas of fire died down. In a one hundred meter radius surrounding the now lifeless body of the heroic man, Noah stood alone.

The ground was stained black with the earth molten-hot in places. Outside of the one hundred meters, there were countless charred black corpses of soulless. They had been roasted from standing too close to the wave of heat that radiated from the man.

His abilities deactivated as he patted at a small flame that had appeared briefly on his clothing after a cinder landed on his shirt from the ash in the air.

Noah took this moment of peace to solemnly approach the unmoving body of the heroic man. Crouching at his side, he closed the man's remaining eye before remembering what the merchant in the Store told him about corpses that still have a crystal that will transform into a soulless.

He turned the man onto his side before letting out an unwilling sigh. He took the sword to slice a vertical slit as respectfully as possible into the back of the man's neck. He instantly found the heroic man's crystal. It was different from the black origin crystals he had seen belonging to the soulless.

As it released a wave of intense red light that contained gold swirling through it in complex patterns, similar to the man's previously enhanced lifeforce. Noah pried the heroic origin crystal out as efficiently as he could.

Noah rolled the man flat before cutting a square of cloth from the man's clothing to carefully wrap the crystal. He placed the origin crystal inside his [Zero-Space Dimension Ring]. He then repositioned the man's detached arm to on top of his chest, crossing his other hand on top to hold it in place. He gathered the surrounding ash to pile on top of the heroic man, forming a shallow grave.

He climbed to his feet, preparing to leave this small sanctuary of peace amidst the carnage to rejoin the chaos. As he walked toward the waiting horde, a light gust of wind blew against the makeshift grave. Unnoticed, the breeze partially revealed the face of the nameless heroic man. The man's face appeared intact as he seemed to be peacefully sleeping with no regrets.