Chapter 33: Rebirth

"It works! the skin of the salamander doesn't burn!"

Ren held the cool feeling black leather in his hand, excited at the fact that it isn't burning, despite him using ignition on his hands. Taking out his knife, Ren moved to skin the rest of the salamander. *Skrrrrchh* *Squelch* As he tried his best to skin the salamander, Ren was disappointed that a huge portion of its hide was broken during its battles.

"This is enough for some pants, I think."

Holding up a large section of black, bloody salamander skin, Ren planned out his design. Since the usable hide was so scarce, a pair of shorts is probably the best option. Ren was confident in his sewing, since he had to learn it in his previous life. So the only piece missing was a needle, he has to make the "String" from the hide as well, because normal string would just burn.

After reaffirming his thoughts, Ren packed up his haul. *Clink, clink, clink* As the dozens of mana stones shifted around in his bag, Ren unconsciously smiled, knowing he won this competition. While Ren was walking back towards camp, Elios was still hunting.

"-That makes 19."

*Screeeee!!* A man sized wasp screamed it's last as Elios looked on with a sadistic smile, slowly pulling out his fist, maximizing the pain. When the bee stopped it's struggling, Elios threw the corpse aside, his hands clutching a green mana stone. Elios swiftly shook off the blood, then stored the mana stone into his bag.

As Elios put away his bag, he suddenly dashed into the forest. *WOOSH* Elios became a blur, speeding towards a shadow behind the trees. Just before Elios reached his target, he swiped his arm violently, sending an invisible blade that sliced the tree and the figure in half.

"And thats 20."

*Thump* *CRASH* When the tree and the figure dropped to the ground, Elios slowed down his movement. *Step, Step, Step.* Elios walked forward, trying to take a closer look. He didn't really see what kind of mutant it was, but it should be fine. Expecting a cleanly sliced mutant beast, Elios was opening his bag. *Ziiip* *Thump*

"No..."

As Elios saw the figure in the light, he dropped to his knees. What he killed wasn't a mutant beast, but a survivor, sliced cleanly in half. Elios watched the man in shock, he watched as the man took slow and laboured breaths, listened as the heartbeat grow weaker.

"No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, NONONONONONONONONONONO"

Elios looked down at the pool of red blood, disgust and horror filled his head. He didn't mean to do this, he thought it was an enemy. Leviathan's senses told him that, and that sense hasn't made a mistake yet, so why would he sense this mana-less human as a target? Elios broke down, immersed in his own thoughts of regret. But the more he despaired, the more a certain man came to mind.

"Ren..."

It's his fault, he was the reason why Elios was hunting mutants like crazy. This must also be why his senses made a mistake, he overused it in the past few hours. Yes, thats right, it was all Ren's fault. He was the one who caused this to happen, so why was Elios feeling all this guilt? This isn't fair... No, it isn't fair at all...

As Elios broke down, Leviathan stopped whispering into Elios's mind, smiling from ear to ear. This was the perfect development, it was all going according to Leviathan's plan. Closing his eyes, Leviathan felt the immense jealousy from Elios, basking in it's energy.

Convincing himself of his innocence, Elios stood back up, blood dripped from his hands and pants. With an indifferent look on his face, Elios cleaned himself meticulously. With each wipe of blood, Elios felt more and more jealousy towards Ren, who never had to experience this hell. *RIIIIIIP* As Elios finished his clean up, he brushed his silver and blond hair to the side, revealing one golden eye.

"Ahhhhhh... I knew you were the real deal Elios..."