Global Devourer: I Survive by Slaughtering Beasts

The sky did not turn black when the world ended. It turned a sickening, glowing purple.

Heavy purple drops smashed against the thick glass of the St. Jude University library. Every drop smelled like rotten copper and old blood. Kai wiped sweat from his eyes, his arms burning with pain as he shoved another heavy wooden desk against the front doors.

He was nineteen years old, wearing a torn delivery worker shirt and worn-out sneakers. While other students spent their weekends partying with their parents' money, Kai worked three part-time jobs just to pay his tuition and buy food. He knew what hard work meant. He knew what sweat felt like. But right now, his body was completely exhausted.

Outside those wooden doors, the world had turned into a nightmare.

Just two hours ago, the purple rain started falling. Anyone caught in the rain without cover began to twist and scream. Their skin ripped open, their eyes turned milk-white, and their teeth grew into long, sharp needles. They were not human anymore. They were flesh-eating monsters, driven by a wild hunger to tear living bodies apart.

"Faster, Kai! Put your back into it, you lazy trash!"

The sharp voice came from behind him. Brandon stood near the main staircase, holding a shiny baseball bat. Brandon was the son of a rich real estate tycoon. He wore a designer leather jacket and expensive watch, looking like he was hosting a party instead of fighting for his life. Even in the middle of the apocalypse, Brandon did not lift a single heavy object. He just shouted orders.

"I am doing my best, Brandon," Kai said, his voice raspy. He pushed a heavy steel bookshelf into place, locking the main entrance tight. "The bottom floor is sealed for now. We need to check the back exits."

"Do not talk back to me," Brandon spat, stepping closer with a cold sneer on his face. "You are only here because I let you stay. A poor scholarship kid like you should be glad you can serve us. If it was not for my money funding this campus club, you would be dead on the street."

Kai squeezed his fists tight until his knuckles turned white, but he forced himself to stay quiet. He looked over at the sofa near the stairs. Sitting there was Sarah, his girlfriend of two years. Kai had worked extra night shifts just to buy her a necklace for her birthday last month. He had skipped meals so she could have nice clothes.

"Sarah," Kai said softly, reaching out his hand. "Are you okay? Did you get any fresh water?"

Sarah did not even look at his hand. She pulled her legs up on the sofa and looked at Kai's dirty shirt with pure disgust.

"Stay away from me, Kai," Sarah said, her voice dripping with poison. "Look at you. You are covered in filth and mud. You look disgusting. Why are you always so useless? Look at Brandon. He organized everything while you just drag heavy furniture around like a brainless animal."

Kai felt a sharp stab in his chest. "I drag the furniture to keep us alive, Sarah. I am fighting to protect you."

Sarah laughed bitterly, leaning closer to Brandon. Brandon naturally slid his arm around her waist, pulling her tight against his side. Sarah did not pull away. She leaned her head on Brandon's shoulder, giving Kai a mockingly sweet smile.

"Protect me?" Sarah sneered. "With what? Your empty bank account? Brandon has three luxury cars and a mansion with concrete walls. He has real power. You are just a poor boy who delivers food. Once we get out of here, Brandon is taking me to his family bunker. You are just holding us down."

Brandon grinned, squeezing Sarah's waist while staring down at Kai like he was a bug under his shoe. "You heard her, trash. A girl like Sarah belongs with a real man who has status. Once this little storm passes, you go back to the gutter where you belong."

Before Kai could speak, a terrifying sound echoed through the library hall.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The heavy oak doors at the front entrance shook violently. Splintered wood flew into the air. Through the cracks, dozens of glowing red eyes appeared in the purple mist. Long, gray fingers with razor-sharp claws reached through the broken wood, snapping wildly.

"They are breaking through!" one of the male students screamed, falling backward in horror.

"The barricade is falling!" another girl shrieked.

The horde of mutated beasts hit the doors with immense force. The heavy steel bookshelf Kai had just pushed began to slide back. The wood snapped like dry twigs. Three mutated beasts squeezed through the gap. They looked like giant wolf-zombies, their mouths split open into four jaw parts, dripping black slime onto the floor.

"Fall back to the upper floor!" Brandon yelled, his face turning pale with fear.

He grabbed Sarah's hand and ran toward the iron security gate that led to the second-floor stairwell. The rest of the students scrambled behind him like frightened rats, pushing each other out of the way to reach the gate first.

Kai did not run away. He grabbed a heavy iron pipe from the broken desk and stood his ground near the front door, smashing the first beast across its snout to buy time for the others to get behind the security gate. The impact vibrated up his arms, but he knocked the creature back.

"Hurry!" Kai shouted, swinging the pipe again to clear a path. "Get inside the gate! I will lock it behind us!"

Kai backed up quickly, keeping his iron pipe raised. He reached the security gate just as the last student ran inside. But when Kai reached out to step through the iron door, a hand slammed the heavy grid shut right in his face.

Kai froze. Through the iron bars, he saw Brandon holding the key, locking the padlocks tight from the inside.

"Brandon! What are you doing?!" Kai yelled, banging his hand on the iron bars. "Unlock the gate! Let me in!"

"There is no room for you, poor boy," Brandon said, a cruel grin spreading across his face.

"Brandon, please!" Kai turned his eyes to Sarah, who stood right behind Brandon. "Sarah! Tell him to open the gate! I saved your lives down there!"

Sarah looked at Kai with cold, unfeeling eyes. She crossed her arms and sneered.

"If we open the gate, those monsters will follow you inside," Sarah said smoothly, without a single trace of pity in her voice. "Someone has to stay outside and distract them so Brandon and I can escape through the roof. Your life is worthless anyway, Kai. Just do one last useful thing and die for us."

"Sarah!" Kai screamed in disbelief. Two years of love, two years of sacrifice, wiped away in a single second.

Brandon grabbed a heavy iron bar from the side wall and jammed it through Kai's arms, shoving Kai violently backward.

Kai lost his footing. He flew off the stairs platform, crashing hard onto the blood-soaked marble floor below. The heavy fall knocked the air out of his lungs. Before he could stand up, the front doors exploded completely.

A wave of five mutated beasts leaped over the ruined barricade, their red eyes fixed entirely on Kai.

Kai rolled across the cold floor, his heart hammering against his ribs. Pain shot through his spine, but his hands tightened around the broken iron pipe. He looked up just in time to see Brandon and Sarah watching him from the high balcony above, laughing as they turned their backs to run toward the upper roof.

"I will kill you..." Kai gasped out, blood dripping down his forehead. "If I survive this... I will tear you both to pieces..."

The lead beast, a seven-foot monster with exposed muscle and razor-sharp teeth, pounced through the air. It slammed its heavy body right on top of Kai, pinning his chest down to the bloody pavement.

Kai raised his iron pipe to shield his face, but the monster snapped the pipe in half with one bite of its massive jaws. The stench of death filled Kai's nose. The beast opened its wide, dripping maw and slammed its snout down toward Kai's throat.

Kai thrashed frantically, driving the jagged edge of the broken pipe directly up into the bottom of the beast's chin with all the strength left in his body.

Black blood erupted over Kai's face. The monster roared in pain, but its momentum did not stop.

As the beast's long teeth sank deep into Kai's left shoulder, ripping through flesh and bone, a bright crimson interface flashed directly before Kai's eyes with a chilling mechanical chime:

[Demon-God Extraction System Initialized. Target Killed. Extracting Attributes?]