The Trickster

Trapped beneath the wolf's massive fist, Leon ground his teeth. He had blocked right as the wolf lunged earlier. The fist was hovering over him a few inches above.

'Damn it! My arms... they will rip off!' Leon lamented.

He summoned every energy in him. And pushed his arms upward. That shift changed the monster's position, which allowed him to roll away to the other side.

Bham!

The wolf's blow hammered the ground. The spot shattered, raising dust into the air.

Leon was already on his feet the moment the wolf faced him again.

This cruel, ominous experience made his chest tighten. It did, even more, now that the beast had him cornered.

His heart hammered against his chest with great force.

"Damn it! There's no..."

Swoosh!

Before he could complete his statement, the beast blurred. In the next second, it was already inches from him. Its bony yet strong limbs dragged Leon off the ground. Then, it flung him left, his back impacting wooden cubes stacked one on top of the other.

"Gah!"

Leon cried out as his body thrashed on the cold floor. The cubes crashed down like a landslide, their jagged edges jabbing into his backbones.

He ground his teeth, clenching sand in his fist. Tears streaked from his eyes, his face fixed close to the floor.

"How do I fight back? I have no strength in me. I CAN'T even stand to face it..."

The next moment, the beast reappeared close and lifted him. Leon's terrified eyes looked down. There it stood on its two legs, its scaly black skin dull against the neon sky.

He screamed out, "Stop! Help! Help me!---"

Yet, the wolf didn't hesitate before yanking his body into the air. Leon's heavy cries faded more and more as his body travelled.

None of the strengths he possesses had ever been of significant use. Nor do they worth mentioning. But the one Leon could keep on condemning for the rest of his life was being good at calling out for help.

Smash!

Leon's body rolled down, very close to a large piece of rock. Right away, its sharp-pointed edge slammed against his temple...

A numb feeling washed across his head. Blood rushed down so much that one side of the rock was completely painted red.

He winced weakly, "Hngh... uh... not... not like this...."

He attempted to rise to his feet. But he dropped to the ground, his back leaning on the rock. Leon couldn't move whatsoever. Too weak and destroyed to do so.

"... The wolf," he muttered, his sight getting blurry, "... it's coming. It's coming for me. Is this really it? Am I just meant to die like a dog in the dirt?"

The air grew thicker. It moved faster. Meanwhile, the Chrono Wolf dashed towards him with the speed of light. Azure colourations flickered in its skeletal part; it had turned on its fours.

It moved like a typical leopard.

Leon shifted his body with urgency, moving back and forth. To at least get away from that spot. But it was as though something had glued him down.

Would he die like this?

He ground his teeth. He rested the back of his head on the rock and stared at the sky. Tears streaked down his face. He mumbled,

"Recreating my world using the system... am I worthy of such a responsibility? Ascendants can't even do that..."

Meanwhile, his left hand was on his lap, while he hid the other one behind him.

YAHHH!

The wolf snarled. Violently, it dug its claws into Leon's chest. Leon's cry faded through the ruins.

Sooner than the agony could settle, the wolf squeezed him between its paws.

The two bony parts raised him into the air before the wolf's enlarged mouth.

That was when Leon opened his eyes. To a maw revealing razor-sharp teeth, which had mucur on them.

Leon swallowed.

His eyes lit up with a profound determination. "I have been waiting for this moment!"

With a loud scream, he revealed his right hand - he was holding tightly to a long rod.

A second not slipping by, Leon drove it into the creature's serpentine eyes. The rod pierced in a soft, yet cruel manner.

The monster snarled. 

Leon roared, pushing the metal forward. For a heartbeat, it resisted. Then, with a sickening squelch, it plunged deep into the wolf's serpentine eye. A jet of blood splattered across his face, burning his skin with its heat.

Leon screamed out, "Die!!!"

He held the rod with a firm grip. As a matter of fact, he twisted it to cause greater damage.

A few seconds ago....

When the wolf approached Leon, he had held on to the metal. This was the first material he had seen recently upon waking in this world. He thought he could make great use of it.

His notion had been that... sometimes, determining a winner isn't actually about skills or possessions. But an active mind.

Leon knew this could be the riskiest and most beneficial choice he had left. So, he must give it his all in spite of being on the verge of collapse.

However, if the wolf remains alive after this...

"Ah!" the monster made a deep sound of pain.

Leon strained his ears and wrinkled his nose. Lucky as it may seem, the monster released him from its grip.

Leon rolled off its close range in an instant.

He grunted out of the pain of tightened bones.

Shooting his sight forward, his eyes grew wider.

The monster was coming straight at him again!

"Damn it! After all that...?"

It got faster than he could see.

And gave Leon a perfect kick in the stomach.

Wham!

Blood gushed out of his mouth. An unseen force dragged him some metres backwards. His back hitting against a pale pink iron door brought him to a halt....

'I can't go on any more...!'

Right then, the tall shadow loomed over him. The wolf snarled with a ferocious intensity; Leon's eardrum would tear away. Then, it landed punches on him.

Clobber, clobber, clobber!!!

The blows kept on coming. Leon couldn't even figure out if he was alive any more.

The Chrono Wolf hit him everywhere in a violent manner. His bones crushed under the impact. He groaned, whimpered, and even screamed out. But the sprouting of his own blood muffled his tone. At a particular moment, the wolf raised its fist very high.

Leon saw it in a blur; something thick covered part of his sight.

Without warning, the fist tore the air downwards. It jabbed the centre of Leon's chest.

Wham!

"Purr!"

Leon gasped like a dying animal exhausting its last breath.

Then, the creature stopped. It pulled the rod out of its eye, gritting its teeth in agony. Leon made weak sounds like hiccupping.

His entirety was like a void on the verge of going blank.

But he saw the monster turning towards the left-hand side.

'This is around that funhouse...' he thought, his reaction sluggish and dragged.

Then, with the last consciousness in him, he extended his leg in the wolf's path. That was when everything went dark for him, exhausting his last breath.

He could only leave everything to causality.

...

In one sudden moment, the Chrono Wolf tripped over Leon's extended leg. Its body dropped downwards. And unfortunately, its head was right towards the bent metal in the wall. The one Leon had clenched minutes ago.

The metal pierced the center of its head...

.....

At Leon's level, the red screen appeared.

[Congratulations! You have completed your first mission.]

[You have received a new title, "The Trickster". Without any strength whatsoever, you killed the Chrono Wolf by mere tricks.]

[You will get your rewards shortly...]