Inside the box was a bracelet.

The kind that was big and bulky and could cover up your whole wrist. It was a big round creamy white bracelet that had a few jewels that looked like diamonds encrusted in it. The jewels sparkled like stars as they twinkled on and off.

The entire bracelet shone with a soft glow as compared to the previous blinding brilliance it gave off and there was a metallic luster on it. Overall it was very beautiful.

As soon as Arran saw it, his blood started flowing quickly and his heart was beating franticly as if he had just taken a hundred-mile jog. Arran felt like he always did whenever he had just finished an intense workout with his dad.

Arran was frozen for what seemed like a very long time which in reality was a very short few seconds but in that time, he saw a lot of things that baffled and confused him.

He saw scenes of raging battles filled with blood and slaughter, of wars being fought over and over again. Scenes of various mythical creatures like dragons whose roars could shake the world and phoenixes soaring across the skies.

There were also scenes of the birth and destruction of stars and the birth of countless innumerable races as well as the spark that lit the fires of civilization for those races.

All these images flashed rapidly across his mind and Arran was feeling very overwhelmed, finding it hard to pull away from them.

It was not until he heard a very loud voice that contained laughter and mockery entered his ears that the images were broken.

The voice had a very strong and compelling power that shocked Arran's mind down to the very core of his being. If it were not for Arran's powerful spirit that allowed him to pull away from his stunned state, he would have been directly turned into an idiot.

"Hmm."

"Hahaha, I'm surprised that an ant from the lower realms would have a strong enough spirit to avoid being be turned stupid by the sound of my mere voice."

"Well I guess it is to be expected from the person who could find this supreme treasure and still be able to resist its spiritual influence," the stranger said.

Following these words, the space around Arran started distorting and a tear in space could be seen breaking out and out of this tear in space some distance away from Arran, a figure that was completely covered in thick dark shadows stepped out.

As soon as the figure appeared, the space in the surrounding ten kilometers was completely covered in total darkness.

It was like an apocalyptic scene where a total blackout had suddenly occurred with the only speck of light coming from the bracelet in Arran's hand. This darkness spread panic into the citizens in these ten kilometers who were awaiting the coming of the new year.

Everywhere the shadows passed, the people that came in contact with it collapsed and there were signs of mutations occurring in some of them that led to feral carnage as people ran mad and engaged in frenzied slaughter.

Outside the dome of shadows, those that were witness to this could not help but panic as no one could understand what it was that was going on inside.

Arran was completely stunned by what he was seeing but strangely enough, he was not scared. He who was very confident in his experience and knowledge in the world, if someone were to ask him to list some of the most confusing and perplexing things that he had experienced, then this would definitely be at the top of the list.

Seeing Arran's reaction, the shadowy figure was puzzled and said.

"Mortal, you don't seem very frightened."

"Is it that my presence is not terrifying enough or are the lower realms just filled ignorant ants that do not know how to fear a superior being when they are in front of one and kneel."

Saying so a powerful force spread out and with the figure at the center, everything in the surrounding few hundred meters from him had a compelling pressure that pressed Arran into the floor.

Arran was pressed so tightly against the floor that he was finding it impossible to move his body but even so, in this situation, he still managed to raise his head…though with painful effort, to look at the figure, trying to pierce through the veil of shadows and see the creature within.

Arran's mind was filled with doubts and there were a lot of confusions and questions clouding his mind at this moment.

Arran had never expected that opening the box that his parents left behind for him would lead to such an earth-shaking phenomenon and would in turn attract such a terrifying entity.

Yes, Arran was very aware of what a terrifying entity was before him at this moment because any being that can force a person to the ground like this without so much as touching them, had to be very terrifying and powerful.

No amount of his valued experience could prepare him for anything like this.

But even so, Arran did not panic not because he was fearless in the face of danger but because he knew that there was no use in doing so. Certainly, someone as powerful as this entity could kill him as easily as it is would to kill a bug.

Arran could only wait calmly to see what it was that could draw its attention and what it would do.

Kasack was very irritated.

Seeing as the ant before himself was still looking at him with those calm eyes that looked as if nothing could ever faze them, he had the urge to pluck them out before erasing his very existence. So without further ado, he said,

"Mortal, I commend your courage for being able to keep calm before the presence of this great one but unfortunately I do not have the time to appreciate you and would have to take what it is that I am here for. Now be on your way."

Saying so, the pressure on Arran increased tremendously.

Kasack was trying to crush him into a pool of blood and bones.

It was at this time that there was an intense reaction from the bracelet that had been softly glowing ever since Kasack showed up. It gave off a very bright light and following this, the pressure over Arran disappeared completing.

Arran noticing this immediately sprang up like a bolt of lightning and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.

Kasack was stunned and by the time he could get back to himself, Arran was already a hundred meters away from him.

Roaring furiously Kasack said out loud, "don't think that just because you got rid of my pressure you can get away from me."

"An ant-like existence such as yourself is not worth my time because it would not even take more than a thought to get rid of you."

"Very well, I have a little bit of time and will play with you to give you a taste of despair."

Saying so he raised his voice so that it reached all the corners of the space in his dark domain.

"Come out everyone. There is food to be had."

"It's time to hunt."

As soon his words fell, all around the domain, countless amounts of shadows rose up from every corner of the domain. They came in various shapes and forms and they all had very hideous appearances. They all rushed forward like a massive flood of shadows and tried to drown Arran to feast on his flesh and drink his blood.

Arran took a quick look behind him before releasing another burst of energy as he renewed his efforts in escaping.

He was not just running haphazardly but was using the soft glow of the bracelet that was still in the box all this time to illuminate the way in front of him.

Arran quickly left the park and made his way to a major roadway in order to use the cars that were scattered along the road to try to lose the shadows in this concrete jungle.

Unfortunately, there were just too many shadows coming after him coupled with the already frenzied humans that were engaging in mass slaughter… attacking everything that was in sight…  it was almost impossible to lose all of them, and while it might seem that the light of the bracelet was deterring them from attacking with all their might, the sheer number of them made it so that the wounds on Arran were continuously piling up and it would only be a matter of time before he would succumb to his wounds and be exhausted.

It was only a matter of time before everything would end and as expected, Arran was so exhausted that he could not go on any further and fell down on the ground with the box and the bracelet slipped out of it.

All along Kasack was looking on with a sneer on his face as he watched Arran struggle to stay alive.

Even now, in this situation where others would have already given up hope, even as Arran was sprawled on the ground, he was still trying very hard to stay alive. The look on Arran's face as he struggled in the face of death, was like a drug to the system as Kasack derived pleasure from this.

Arran, at this moment where death was almost certain, still looked around desperately trying to find a way to survive.

It was at this moment that his eyes fell on the bracelet that had fallen out of the box.

For some reason, his body compelled him to reach out and grab it. Arran knew that at this moment the bracelet would be his only hope of surviving this. He knew this because he knew that there would be no way his parents would leave him something that would be a danger to him.

Without any time to hesitate, Arran reached out and grabbed it.

Pain, the first thing he felt was the pain. A very intense pain that made him feel like he was being torn apart. His body felt like it was splitting into many tiny pieces and those tiny pieces were also splitting into tiny atoms.

Along with the pain, there came a sense of power. His body was filling up with immense power that he felt like he could smash a mountain to pieces and split the earth in two. The power was filling up his body so fast that he felt like he was going to explode and he needed to release all this energy.

"Arrrgh"

That was the only way he knew to release all his energy and he also jumped onto the shadowy creatures and started a slaughter in the streets.

Kasack, seeing Arran start a slaughter, was very surprised by the sudden development and decided to immediately take action himself.

With a wave of his hand, a mass of dark energy flew until it hit Arran who was killing everything that came into his sights.

Arran, after being hit head-on by Kasack, flew for a dozen meters and crashed on the ground spewing blood from his mouth. He was flooded with another wave of pain and his body was covered with blood.

Arran, whose vision was going red with pain and only had Kasack in his sight at this point, felt his back start to tear up as he felt something protruding out of him.

Glancing behind him, Arran was very shocked to find out that he had started to grow wings at some point in time.

It was not only Arran who was shocked because Kasack was also surprised by this new development.

Compared to them, the shadows had fewer concerns and were only frenziedly attacking Arran.