23 First Battle.
Void Creature, the being that suddenly invaded the planet a millennia ago, its voracious nature, devoured any resource the planet had ever given. Ore, wood, plants, and living things couldn't escape its stomach.
The only saving line that the Void Creature didn't devour was the water source. Even though water itself was abundant in nature, some even said that a body of water is even more enormous than land.
One thing is sure: whenever a Void creature appears, regular humans or living things with instinct must prioritize their own well-being, abandon what they do to save their own lives and flee the scene.
However, that rule couldn't be applied to Resonators regardless of what power and abilities they have. It seemed cruel, but that's precisely why becoming a Resonator is akin to a curse for those with weak hearts. Because they don't have any freedom to choose when facing situations like Cain did. They must fight.
After the rubbles that buried its body were removed by its limb, in front of him stood a four-handed being, all his hands acting as legs, but the limbs were much longer than human feet. In between its hands sprouted many tentacles, some of which had been cut off and charred.
Like some four-legged animal, the body is long, covered in charred grey-ash fur with no heads or tails. There is only a horizontal slit where the mouth is, adorned with sharp and pointy teeth with vicious liquid dripping. Cain also notices many open wounds oozing with blue fluid.
Despite its wounded body, when it noticed a living thing in front of it, the void Creature shrieked, which made Cain have to cover his ears for the disturbing, shrill voice it had. Suddenly, from the back of its body, it burst forth another tiny limb before it turned to wings.
With a flap of its wing, the Creature ascends to the air, hovering while still facing Cain with its mouth smirking in glee.
'Ukh, to think the void creature was this disturbing in appearance'. While Cain was grumbling.
*Woof!
Noir jumped and slammed its head to push Cain from his place, and the two barely dodged the incoming strike of the Creature. After being hit, Cain began to realize his dire situation.
The Creature missed its target and slammed its mouth head-on into a tree. However, to Cain's horror, instead of getting injured, the Creature began to crack open its mouth wide, letting its pointed teeth sink into the tree trunk and begin to chomp it.
Each time it chewed, the hard trunk kept getting demolished. This made an unpleasant noise for Cain to hear, which gave him chills.
Cain began to scan his perimeter, trying to use everything in place to kill the being in front of him. He looked toward his partner, who kept growling.
'There is no way I would go back toward the marketplace, so that leaves me to!'. He turned to his side toward the park's inner place, which was still covered by overgrown trees.
{Brother!}
*{Woof!}
[Link activated]
[Summoning Soul Armament]
With a wave of his hand, the black cloth took a piece of rubble before Cain threw it toward the Void Creature to get its attention. 'Crash'. The ruble shattered into a fine powder, and it succeeded in attracting the Creature's attention.
From the vision of the Creature, who saw a heat signal that was moving, its instinct began to kick in, and it started to abandon the tasteless tree in its mouth and change focus to the heat signature.
"Good!".
Again, Cain took several rubbles and threw the things toward the Creature, only to be given a cold shoulder. When the Creature had enough, it flapped its wings while also opening its slit mouth wide, prompting Cain to see the inner mouth of the things.
'Groos!'. He leaped to the side, entering the dark and cool place filled with shadows.
"Silent Step!".
Cain's body glows for a second before the sound of his footsteps disappears. Every time he kicks the ground, there is no rattling or even a rustling sound from the stepped grass; it is completely nihil.
However, those things have no point in front of the void Creature that could detect heat, not sound. His back bumped into another tree before Cain jumped higher and then began to swing using the black cloth.
*Woof!
Noir suddenly appeared beside him the moment Cain stepped foot on the ground. Darkness began to sprout from beneath their shadow, cloaking both bodies before he felt a familiar feeling of being cut from the world.
Before Cain could act, Noir bit his pants, telling him to stay where he was.
{What is the matter?}
*{Woof!}
From the shadow beneath the tree, a single black cloth manifested before it crumpled itself into a round spool. A moment later, the spool hit the body of the Creature, who began to enjoy chewing a trunk with unpleasant crunching that echoed in his ears.
The Creature shot its mouth back, stiffening Cain's body and preparing himself to flee. However, to his surprise, the Creature, only swaying its mouth left and right, couldn't determine where the disturbance had come from.
{It couldn't see us?}
A disturbing crack echoed in the surrounding place, prompting Cain to look to the source and see the Void Creature had used its tentacles to twist a tree trunk and let its mouth do the rest.
Because the tree was so thick and grown, the creaking and rustling sound when the leaves and bark clashed reverberated in the place before a tremor ran through his feet, raising a cloud of dust.
The Creature, which had lost its main prey, could now only enjoy the tree trunk, which had lost half of its body. Using its sharp teeth, the creature nudges the trunk's edge, sharpening it.
*{Woof!}
{Hm, What?}
Noir nudges Cain's leg to get his attention, and when it gets his attention. Noir began to cancel its darkness magic and barked to attract the Creature's attention.
As the Creature jerked its mouth toward Noir this time, it let out a shrill shriek that pierced his eardrums.
*Grrr! Noir starts to run in circles.
After finally seeing another heat signal, the Creature lunged forward, unaware that another tree was blocking his front. Because of that, it crashed head-on with a thud, letting several leaves fall.
*Woof!
Another bark gains its attention, but when it almost jumps, Cain, from behind, stretches his black cloth and grabs the Creature's backhands. It halted from its place, but upon noticing another heat signal with a more significant response, the Creature changed its course.
From under the shadows, another black cloth wrapped around the Creature's other hand, halting it in place.
*Woof!
With a single bark from Noir, Cain received its meaning in a single glance. He jumped from his place, and when he was in the air, Noir wrapped multiple layers of black cloth around its body, taking away the Creature's freedom.
As he was in mid-air, Cain twisted his hand upward and, using the momentum of the fall, swung his hand and let the void Creature in his hand get thrown away. Then slammed into a couple of tree trunks, knocking it down.
'Still not enough!'. Cain clenched his hands until his veins were visible. He shortened the black cloth in his hands and began to swing the thing in his grasp, slamming it toward the tree or the ground a couple of times until he found a perfect spot to end the battle.
In front of him, there is a tree trunk that the void Creature had destroyed, its thick trunk was pointed upward because of its biting and twisting using its tentacles. 'This is the end!'.
Once again, Cain jumped upward, letting the Creature carry along with his momentum, and when he thought he was in a perfect spot, he swung it down in a single motion. Then, the crushed body of the Creature crashed into the pointy tip of the crushed trunk. It pierced through its body, letting out a fountain of blue blood spurting from his black cloth.
[Link deactivated]
[Resonator Progress up +25%]
[Guardian Beast Progress up +15%]
After seeing the translucent blue panel before his eyes, Cain loosened the tension in his muscles, and his feet lost their strength, causing him to flop to the ground. He struggled to contain the unexplained feeling that was boiling in his chest.
For the first time, he fought a Void creature and came out victorious, a feat nearly impossible for a boy his age. On the other hand, he is proud and happy that he could kill the thing that has been haunting humanity for a long time, but at the same time, he is afraid.
Afraid of how long he could maintain this winning streak ever since he was awakened as a resonator. First, he was winning because of the right environment and a slight opportunity created from underestimating him.
As for today, it was just a coincidence he could win because the bombardment of the military unit had wounded the Void Creature itself; he just needed to finish it in its weakened state. However, 'What kind of situation will be on the frontlines later?'.
*Woof!
Cain's body flinched after hearing his partner solemnly bark beside him. He broke into a smile and patted the dog's head, telling him that he was alright. 'Paa!' he slapped his cheek so hard it echoed in the place.
The stinging pain that burned his cheek reminded him of how stupid and weak his mentality was. 'Get a grip, stupid! Don't let yourself falter with just this kind of thing!'. Cain exhaled every doubt and uncertainty inside his heart and stared at the blue sky above.
"I need to train and study hard to overcome my weakness!".