Fight to the death

27.08.2034

After a long run without any monster, Ben paid close attention to a street.

The street seemed void of any life. Corpses littered on the ground. They seemed to have tried to run from something.

This in itself was strange. A monster would normally only have time to kill a human one at one, but here the corpses were so near to each other.

It was like the monster only took a few seconds for each human.

The cause of death seemed to be decapitation and crushing of the head.

Quite a macaber sight, but Ben had similar memories, so it didn't paralyse him.

Just as Ben was about inspecting the corpses, a movement was perceived from a close building. The creature that came out was different.

It had a human-like body with dark green skin colour. Its face was different.

Big sharp teeth could be seen. Its eyes were a strong green and yellow.

It's facial features seemed quite threatening.

The air suddenly felt like it became colder, the tension augmented. Two predators were facing each other, ready to kill the other. Any other person would have been paralysed from fear.

Without any warning both moved at their highest speed. After a collision, Ben took more distance. Ben was clearly sweating, the feeling of death was looming. The enemy was stronger and even a tiny bit faster. Any second and Ben could have lost his life.

They exchanged a few other moves, thanks to his amazing body control, Ben was still alive.

How long would he last? 3 more moves? 4? He was taking a beating without countering.

If this continued, Ben would die? Ben distanced himself from the enemy and threw a sonic bomb. Having blocked his ears, Ben was looking at his enemy suffering.

Should he run? Attack? Shout for help?

´No! This is an opportunity. I have to become stronger. I can kill him. I just have to surpass myself. What did they say in the anime? Yeah, if you want to surpass your limit... PLus Ultra!!!´

Having readied his mind to fight, Ben injected himself with a solution with minerals, sugar and other helpful substances. His adrenalin was so high. His body wanted to flee, but his mind wanted to fight. At the end of the day, the body is just a tool for the mind.

With a large smile on his face, Ben looked at his adversary like he was just a prey.

After his rebirth, Ben lost his mindset and fighting experience.

You are the product of your decision.

Ben was just his younger-self with the memories of his older-self. You may be almost the same person, if you have the same memories, but his body wasn't adapted to fighting.

In Ben's mind a metaphoric switch was triggered. Ben's perception was changed abruptly. He didn't feel cold any more, he only felt heat. Energy was pumped in his muscles.

His enemy coming back to his senses also felt the changes. The humanoid felt threatened by Ben, it was like he just fighted a baby dragon and now the father woke up and hunted him down.

While Ben was thinking how to attack, the monster was calming down.

His intelligence may be low compared to humans, but he was more than able to understand what was happening.

*´Prey is the same. No reason to fear. He smells more delicious than the other prey. I want to eat. I will eat it. And then I will eat the other.´ (*= it means to speak/think in another language then Ben)

Both started to fight again, but this time it was an exchange of blows. Ben lost his fear and pain, they became no more a hindrance in the fight.

The fight was looking much more balanced. They may not be equal in their stats, but Ben was able to anticipate his enemy.

What would decide the winner could be any slight mistake made by one of them. Having both realised that, they just fighted harder, the fear of dying was not in their mind.

You fight till you die! Ben had already accepted this fact.

The exchange was like a constant melody of whistle and sound of collision.

Both fighters were coming to their end, a mix of theirs and their enemy's stained the battle ground and their bodies.

Ben had at best enough strength to use one more vision of slow motion, but he didn't know where to attack. It would be his last strong attack. Till now, Ben's attack didn't cause any fatale damage, the hard outer covering of his enemy was only deformed by his strikes and some cuts.

A realisation came to Ben. Almost all parts of the frontal cover were damaged, but at the place where the gallbladder would be in a human body, there was not any damage.

A grin formed on Ben's cold face. Ben used the vision of slow motion, deflecting all the attacks coming, Ben roared, while taking a large step to his enemy.

Everything was so slow for Ben, at that moment Ben was hesitating how to strike.

In the end, he followed his instincts. His hand wasn't curled as a fist, but as a knife hand.

Nobody would have striked like that. Ben's knife hand was aimed to the middle of the non-damaged cover.

The moment his hand collided with the cover Ben was positively surprised.

His hand was sinking in the body with almost no resistance. The penetration had slowed the knife hand down, but after that it still moved until his wrist wasn't visible.

The enemy seemed enraged and was just about to kill Ben with his strong arms.

As Ben pulled out his hand from the body, the enemy slowed down, a stinking dark-blue liquid came out of the hole.

Life faded away in a matter of seconds.

There was only a man with a corpse on a deserted street. What Ben was now feeling wasn't hapiness like what you would think. No happiness. Maybe relief. Regret, no.

Still killing somebody with higher intelligence was different. It felt like killing a human.

But the sad difference is that humans would have to anger him greatly before being on his kill-list. Intelligent monsters were a threat for humanity and had to be eliminated.

Killing would slowly become an emotionless chore...a job, a task. Its like cleaning fish or butchering chickens...you stop thinking about it. It was thrilling to fight for Ben, but not the act of killing itself.

Ben wanted to throw up, but he calmed himself down. If he threw up in the middle of a battlefield, his chances to survive would greatly decrease.

´Level up!´

Ben took the corpse across his shoulder and walked slowly to a supermarket he saw on his way.

On the way, cortisol was being released, which broke down his adrenaline and provided the body with additional energy by releasing glucose and fatty acids from the liver.

Ben was beginning to feel his body aching. He was in a pitiful state.