Chapter 7:Evolve or perish

WHOOSH!!! BOOM!!!!

David gritted his teeth, clutching his emergency kit as he ran through the ruins, his heart pounded heavily, his body had been stained with blood,some his own, some not.

He ducked behind a fallen building,around him, he could hear the sound of gunfire and explosions and he could also hear the screams of dying people.

As he peeked around the corner of the building, his heart began racing with fear, the Xeridians were everywhere, his hands started trembling uncontrollably as he clutched his emergency kit.

As the Xeridians approached, his heart was pounding with fear, his mind was overwhelmed and full of thoughts about what to do next.

He tried to calm himself down but he could not help it. He took deep breaths trying to slow down his racing thoughts but his body seemed to have a mind of its own, his hands were shaking uncontrollably and his legs were crumbling.

Despite his best efforts he couldn't shake off the feeling of anxiety that had taken hold of him. He was nothing more than an insect waiting to be crushed.

The humans were attacked by the Xeridians and they had come without warning. The Xeridians are reptilian humanoid creatures, they possess emerald-green scaly skin and are covered in bio-metallic armor.

Their bio-metallic armor glinted ominiously in the moonlight as they moved towards the human army with ruthless precision and horrifying look on their faces.

His mind was flooded with worst-case scenarios that could befall him; being captured by the Xeridians, torture, and a slow, agonizing death.

He pushed the thoughts aside, focusing on his immediate surroundings and the task at hand 'Survival' which was his top priority, and he couldn't afford to let fear and anxiety hold him back.

He took a deep breath, steadying himself, and peered around the corner of the alleyway. The coast seemed clear, but he knew that could change in an instant. He gripped his rifle tightly, his senses on high alert, and began to move cautiously forward...

He spotted a group of human soldiers trying to make a stand, but they were vastly outnumbered. The Xeridians were cutting them down with ease.

They wielded energy weapons far beyond human comprehension, cutting down everything in their path, their energy weapons slicing through the human army frontline like they were paper.

The Xeridians attack was a precision strike, They moved with a chilling efficiency, cutting down anyone who dared to stand in their way.

The humans fought bravely, but they were no match for the Xeridians superior technology.

He knew he had to keep moving, The Xeridians would not stop until they had crushed every living human they could set their eyes on,they are heartless beings and they know no mercy. All they are after is to eradicate humanity to its last, take over earth and claim earth as their own.

He then took a deep breath, gripping his rifle tightly, and made a dash for the next available cover - a nearby alleyway.

As he ran towards the nearby alleyway, he could hear the sounds of the battle growing louder, the screams,gunfire and explosions blending together into a deafening cacophony. He dove into the alleyway, landing hard on the ground, and scrambled to his feet, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for any sign of the enemy.

He whirled around just in time, and to his greatest horror, he saw one of the creatures springing towards him with an unnatural burst of speed, "Damn it! This shit must have found me" he said to himself.

He tried escaping the view of the creature by running behind the rumble of the destroyed building to take cover,he layed low trying to stay hidden,but the creature had already found him. "Whoa! This is not looking good" he said, crawling away as the creature moved towards him.

He tried reaching out for his emergency kit but it was nowhere near him, he mistakenly dropped it on the ground while being under pressure to find cover, in order to stay hidden from the xeradian creature.

It was a little distance away from him but there was nothing he could do about it.

The creature was already leaping toward him, it stands at seven feet tall in height, as tall as a standard modern door. It also possessed emerald-green scaled skin glowing with pulsating energy veins,with its eyes glowing,

displaying an otherworldly intensity of dim yellow light.

His heart skipped a beat as he saw the creature launching itself towards him with lightning-fast speed, its razor-sharp claws outstretched and ready to strike.David barely had time to react before it swung its bladed arm.

SLASH! SLASH! agony exploded in his side as he was sent flying backward, crashing hard against the crumbling brick walls in the building .

David tried to get up but he couldn't,his limp wouldn't respond,he began crawling on the bare floor of the ruins full on jagged stones and razor-sharp rocks,pain searing through every nerves in his body, blood dripping from a deep wound in his torso, the creature's sharp claws had slashed him across his chest and pierced his side.

David began to bleed,losing a lot of blood. As he struggled to crawl on the bare floor he was exhausted and out of breath,he gasped.

Due to the impact,he was sustaining severe Internal injuries and bleeding, he also had bruises on his skin and a lot of blood were oozing out from his mouth, chest and his head, the creature's sharp claws had injured him so badly and has was losing a lot of blood,his body was shutting down his vision blurred,he was at the verge of death.

The Xeridian warrior loomed over him, raising its plasma blade for the final strike.

'This is it,' David thought. 'This is how I die.'

The blade came down ....

Then....A pulse of blinding blue light erupted from his chest.

Time seemed to freeze.The Xeridian staggered back, its golden eyes flickering in confusion. David's body convulsed as foreign energy coursed through his veins, rewriting his very existence at a molecular level on that spot.

A strange, synthetic voice echoed in his mind. Data,symbols and algorithms beyond human understanding flooded his brain.

His chest emitting blue blinding radiance,his wounds instantly healed,his strength surged, his senses sharpened.

David gasped as he stood, the pain completely gone. He clenched his fists, feeling raw power vibrating beneath his skin.

The Xeridian snarled, lunging ,he started heading towards David,attempting to slash him again .

SLASH! SLASH!

This time, David moved with incredible speed and inhuman reflexes ,he dodged the attack faster than ever. His instincts took over his hands glowing with crackling energy and with a single strike, he drove his fist into the creature's chest.

BOOM!!!!

The creature exploded into a burst of light and gore, its scaled armored body disintegrating like sand in the wind.

it suddenly and forcefully burst apart, releasing a massive amount of energy, with

splattering of blood and flesh.

The creature's body, which was protected by scaly armored skin, was completely broken down and destroyed.A messy and gruesome mixture of blood, flesh, and other bodily fluids splattered and scattered around.

David stood in silence staring at his hand in confusion and also at the creature which was lying flat on the bare floor, to his greatest surprise, the creature was dead.

"What… the hell…?" His heart racing upon witnessing what just happened, He was so Confused, he stumbled backward,this can't be,how did i do that?..it was impossible,he thought to himself.

As soon as he said those words,he heard a synthetic voice and a status screen appeared before his eyes,the words written on it weren't in any language that he had seen before,nevertheless for some reason,he felt like he could understand it.

[You just defeated a Tier 1 Xeridian youngling]

[10 xeradian scale gained] (XS)

[20 xeradian core gained] (XC)

[50 Experience point gained] (XP)

[Congratulation,You are now a level 1 Youngling hunter]

"Whoa! What does this mean" He couldn't believe his own eyes, his mind was flooded with questions and his eyes were fixed on the status and also on the creature that just collapsed.Then after some time the status vanished leaving him in confusion.

"What was that?".....his voice shaking with confusion. He tried to process what he just witnessed, but his brain couldn't keep up.

"Am I dreaming or something?"

He felt like he was in a nightmare, and he couldn't wake up. He couldn't just fathom any possible way that could have happened.

The only answer that came to his mind that moment was that he already had superpowers,but he was finding it difficult to believe because the world was a neutral world,and nobody had superpowers,

He has never seen anything like that before in his whole existence of living nor has he ever heard rumours of people with superpowers, he only watched them in movies.

Then after a while, he decided to move away from the scene before another Xeridian creature will spot him and tear him apart,

The Xeradians possessed an exceptional sense of smell and hearing, allowing them to detect people with ease and also pinpoint their exact location.

He might not be this lucky again if he ran into another one. As he began to move,he immediately started to feel a painful sensation in his head, at the same time,his body suddenly felt weak.

He tried to ignore the weakness and the pain he was feeling, thinking he could endure it.

But as he kept moving, the pain became stronger until he could no longer move .. it was as if his body was preventing him from moving.

Not again!! He lamented...He just wanted to find a safe place to hide until the war could subside, but his body won't allow him.

The pain was overwhelming, and he felt like he was losing control of his own body, his body suddenly became weak and his vision began to blur.

He tried calling out for help but there was nobody around him, David's vision was fading.

Suddenly.....everything went black, then he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.