Reaching Elia

After enduring all this 'unimaginable' ordeal, Nathan calmed his chaotic mind.

The first thought in his mind was of his aunt. He, at the moment, had realized one thing: whatever had happened to him, he had become strong- more powerful than an ordinary man could ever be even after absorbing a Universe Force Crystal.

Both his classes screamed power and authority to him.

He instinctively felt as if he were destined to rule over everything. Though he did not fully understand what was happening, he knew the first thing he needed to do was to get to his aunt.

Nathan ran out of the alley. The street was in total chaos—people screamed in fright, and abarations roamed the streets. Bloodied human bodies littered the roads, having been killed in gruesome ways, while only a few brave souls fought against the creatures.

Nathan paid no heed to the bloodshed and ran toward his aunt's place. It would have taken almost an hour if he had run continuously.

He had barely taken a few steps when an abaration noticed him and blocked his path. This abaration looked like the previous abaration in its appearance but was bare-handed and swung its arms wildly toward Nathan's face.

But to Nathan, the creature was as slow as an ant. He sidestepped to avoid the claw, and before the creature could react, Nathan slashed with his dagger. The head of the abaration was severed, and the creature slumped to the ground. Nathan then made another gash on its chest and pulled out a crystal. In moments, the Universe Force within the crystal was absorbed by Nathan.

Seeing Nathan kill an abaration so effortlessly, many people called for help while some tried to follow him.

Nathan ignored them all and spotted a car with a dead body in the passenger seat. Quick on his feet, he reached the car.

Another abaration attacked him from behind just as he was about to open the door, but Nathan dodged it, killed the creature, and absorbed another crystal.

Nathan pulled the lifeless body from the passenger seat whose heart had been pierced, and started the car. He pressed the pedal and sped toward his aunt's location.

People were frantically running on the roads. Dead bodies lay everywhere, but Nathan focused on his destination and drove as fast as he could.

He crushed a few abarations with his car that tried to block his way, but before he could reach the destination, the engine of the car had been completely destroyed.

Thankfully, he had almost reached the building where his aunt lived. Getting out of the car, Nathan sprinted toward the building.

His aunt lived in a single-room flat on the fourth floor of an old building. This part of the city was like a slum and not very safe, but with his expenses increasing as he attended college, Elia could only afford this.

Nathan ran inside the building, his heart pounding with fear. On the staircase, he killed three more abarations before reaching the fourth floor.

At his aunt's door, Nathan banged hard, fear evident in his eyes, "Aunt… it's me. Are you in there?"

His heart pounded as silence followed. After a few tense moments, an anxious voice sounded from inside, "Nathan, is it you?"

Relieved to hear her voice, Nathan replied, "Yes, Aunt, open the gate. It's me."

The wooden gate of the flat was immediately unbolted.

"Come inside, quick," Elia said as she pulled him inside.

Nathan quickly stepped inside, and Elia locked the gate behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Elia shouted as she turned around.

Nathan did not wait for her words; he pulled Elia into a deep hug. Taken aback by Nathan's reaction, Elia soon wrapped her arms around him.

It took several minutes for them to separate. Elia blushed a deep red in embarrassment.

Elia was a 35-year-old woman with black hair and brown eyes. She stood at a height of 5 feet 8 inches and even at her age, she was extremely beautiful; though the toll of years of hard work was beginning to show on her body.

"What is all this happening, Nathan?" she asked after few moments of silence.

Nathan shook his head. "I do not know. I only know that to survive, you need to kill those creatures… those abarations."

Elia nodded and asked with a frightful expression, "What do we do?"

Nathan did not answer immediately; instead, he took a Force Crystal from his pocket.

Elia's eyes widened. "Is this the Force Crystal the message talked about?"

Nathan nodded in response.

"Where did you get this?" she asked.

"I killed one," Nathan replied.

Elia's eyes widened further, but she remained silent. From her window, she had seen the chaos outside and realized that Nathan must have killed several of these creatures to reach her.

"Absorb it," Nathan said.

Elia immediately shook her head, "No. You should absorb it."

Nathan remained adamant as he pushed the crystal toward her, "I have absorbed a few already. You absorb this one."

Elia looked at Nathan for a few seconds before ultimately taking it. Unlike Nathan, who absorbed the crystal in a second, Elia took around a minute.

"Do you feel anything?" Nathan asked.

"I feel stronger," Elia replied thoughtfully. "I also feel something changing near my heart."

"It is your Universe Force Crystal forming," Nathan clarified.

"What do we do now?" Elia asked again.

Although her question was worrisome, she felt relieved knowing that Nathan was with her and now, even if death greeted her, she would not have much to complain. It was not like as if she had been living a very luxurious or extravagant life.

Nathan appeared thoughtful as he answered after few moments, "We need to leave this place."

"With the way these abarations are acting, they will soon attack the buildings," he added. "This building is old and will easily crumble. We need to go somewhere else."

"But before leaving, we must reach Level 1," Nathan said, implying that they needed to grow stronger before venturing further and for that they needed more crystals.

Understanding his implication, Elia immediately responded, "I will come with you."

Nathan shook his head in denial. "No. You cannot kill a Level 1 abaration alone."

"While, it is very easy for me to handle them," he added. "I will go alone."

Elia gave him a dead look, but knowing that Nathan was resolute, she sighed deeply and did not insist further.

"Do not worry, I will remain near the building," he assured her as he left the flat.

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[Please add the book to your collection and send some power stones.]