2: UNKNOWN MONSTER

Hero immediately bows down and splits to avoid the tentacles attacking him. Peitho ran away and hid beside the room gasping for air when she saw how the monster's tentacles caused damage to their apartment. "Peitho, take my bag and run. Hide at the trash bin first and wait for me there. Don’t ever get out of there until you don’t hear my signal. I will knock five times, do you hear me?" Hero stated as he kept on walking backward taking the dagger from his hips.

"But what about you, Brother?" Peitho asks worriedly while taking the heavy bag but still manages to carry it.

"Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself. Now go!" Hero yelled and dashed towards the monster preventing it from attacking Peitho by leaning it against the wall. Peitho immediately ran away and followed her brother's order.

Hero was pushed away to the hallway giving him a scratch that came from a sharp metal on the ground causing him to moan in pain and let the blood flow through. 'This body isn't used to deep wounds yet,' he thought to himself.

He stood up and looked at the monster keeping on staring at him. He twisted the dagger and dashed towards it but the monster teleported behind his back and gave him a blow making him vomit blood. He lifted his head and held the monster's hands pulling it towards him and gave him a headbutt making the monster out of balance. He kicked his neck but it was hard as a rock. The monster held his leg and twisted his body heavily dropping his body on the ground almost breaking his bones and causing him to feel pain.

"Sh.t," Hero cursed but stood up immediately when he saw the monster's hand that was about to punch him. He slid his leg at the side keeping himself balanced as he looked at the monster still staring at him blankly. It tilted his head which emerged its mouth, ears, and nose. As the monster was looking at him, its mouth began to smile creepily causing Hero to raise his body hair causing him to take a step back. The monster's aura was keeping him scared as hell. He clicks his tongue and speaks. "What kind of monster is this? This is the first time I saw a monster like him!" he exclaimed as tightened his grip on his dagger.

The monster began to run as fast as lightning making his eyes widen. He couldn't able to avoid the monster's attack making his left hand cut, his blood splashing around the area and to his body and face. He cried out loud because of the pain that the monster caused him. He lost one hand which made him have a difficult time fighting against the monster.

Hero faces the monster and glares at it while the blood from his cut hand drips on the ground. He can still feel the pain and doesn't have enough time to stop the bleeding. From his perspective, the monster in front of him is different and is like the man he fought in his past life. He wouldn't be able to defeat it unless he swallowed a purple gem in order to be able to catch up with its power. Let alone an ordinary man to fight him won't survive.

"No," he speaks and makes a proper stance glaring at the monster. "Even with just one hand, I will defeat you," he added as he pointed his dagger at the monster who still kept on smiling creepily at him.

"You can’t defeat me." Hero's eyes widen when he hears it speak. It speaks! That means the monster is one of the unknown monsters he fought in his first life whose body is covered with marks and scratches and who really looks like a human. The monster's voice was big and every word he says give terror to Hero's body. "You have a remarkable skill and body. I want you to become my new vessel," the monster added making Hero confused.

"New vessel? What are you?" he asked while using the time to stop the bleeding from his hands with a white shirt he saw on the ground.

"Humans like you won't be able to understand our origin, the gods bestowed us powers to invade your world, to make you our vessels, become our servants, and food to our soldiers," the monster replied and that's when Hero finished putting the white shirt in his hand to assist his hand from bleeding. He just keeps on glaring at the monster while biting the dagger. 'I already know that. That monster I fought in my past life also told me that,' he thought to himself.

"I am not letting you do that in my body," Hero stated and made a proper stance indicating he was already prepared to attack the monster.

"You think you can fight against me with your one hand, human?" the monster speaks and quickly lets out her dark aura and its eyes become even darker. The monster makes a standing sprint stance ready to run toward Hero and its nails become longer and sharper. It let out his sharp fangs still smiling creepily.

One second after, the two sprints toward each other, Hero swings his dagger to cut his chest but the monster was able to avoid it, it swings his hand to smack Hero's head but he also quickly avoids it. The strength that the monster to smack Hero's head damaged their neighborhood's whole room. Hero immediately goes down and kicks the monster's leg making it off balance which makes Hero grin as he finally knows one of its weaknesses. The monster immediately stands properly and dashes towards Hero making him swing his dagger and cut the monster's hand making it scream and creak in pain.

He was able to know the monster's weakness! If the monster uses his legs to sprint, his hands will be weakened and if the monster uses its hands, its legs will be weakened. He grinned when he saw the monster with one hand as well like him. "Now, we're twins. Don't you like it? Does it feel good? To have one hand?" Hero teases the monster. The monster glared and gritted his teeth out of anger making it sprint again towards him but immediately uses his hands causing Hero not to avoid the impact, his arms swollen because of the smack that the monster gave him.

He screamed in rage and unleashed a slew of tentacles from its body, glaring at him. "I will kill you," it declared, attacking him with its tentacles. Hero immediately rolled to the ground to avoid the attack. He stood up, sliding his body side to side as the monster continued to punch him. He fell to the ground, balancing himself with one hand and biting his dagger. He kicked the monster's feet, knocking it off balance, and dropped to the ground. The monster lay on the ground, Hero quickly got up and stabbed the monster in the heart, but what's more surprising is that the monster also released his tentacles, giving Hero's body holes, and making him vomit blood.

"Fvck you," Hero cursed and stabbed the monster deep down making the monster's heartbeat gradually vanish. Using one hand, the monster takes the black gem from his body and speaks.

"Who told you I am gonna be killed? I still have an option to live. That is to use your body." The monster quickly put his black gem on Hero's body making his body regenerate and the holes in his body gone. Hero screamed when he felt something extraordinary pain after the monster put his gem on his body.

The monster's body gradually became malnourished, resembling that of a child, with wide-open eyes and mouth. Since the monster's vessel was destroyed, he transferred to Hero's body, causing his eyes to turn black and his body to become significantly stronger than before. He screamed in agony as the black gem attempted to control his body but the vessel refused, causing some conflict. If Hero fails to tame the gem from his body, his body will explode and he will die.

Hero scratched his body with his sharp fingernails, causing wounds and bleeding. Hero is still screaming, trying to keep the gem from controlling his body. "Stop!" he yelled, falling to the ground and opening his pitch black eyes. Hero couldn't see anymore because the monster's gem was blocking all of his senses. "You can't take over my body!" he yelled again, helping himself to stand and walk down the hallway.

Because the vessel did not allow the monster to control his body, the source of the gem was about to explode. Hero's body turns violet, and he runs out of breath, slowing down and eventually falling to the ground. He can no longer speak. Cannot move. Cannot breathe.

'I am the only one who has control over my body!' Hero thought to himself as he kneeled on the ground, screaming in pain as the gem attempted to burn his body and prepared to explode. He took his dagger on the ground and speaks. 'I won't let myself die.' And he slice the palm of his hand causing it to bleed using his dagger.