Kaelen didn't even turn around, instead he brought out a manifestation but before he was able to there was a pressure on his left side and before it could register he was thrown across the room
"Gah...!"
He spat out a mouthful of blood, his back aching as he fell forwards from the cracked wall
Before he could come too fully his ringing ears picked up the sounds of gunshots, numerous gunshots that were going of in close range
'He failed the trial...!'
The facts registered
Kaelen ground his teeth and pushed himself up
The creature was growling, drool was falling from its mouth that seemed to have more teeth than anything should, its form was dog-like but mixed with human features, resembling something akin to a werewolf.
It was preparing to move forwards to attack the policemen who were moving backwards slowly still firing shots.
The bullets were not going to do much against an Awakened Nightmare Creature though so Kaelen took it onto himself.
He smiled and began to run towards it, the sparks that were around his arms coalesced into his swords before it had fully manifested though the creature had swung its muscular clawed hand at his head and Kaelen watched as the air seemed to tear as if the slashes were carried forwards
He smiled bending backwards as if performing limbo
The slashes continued forwards and the broken wall that he was thrown into suddenly gained five new claw marks that seemed to cut deep.
Kaelen straightened himself and brought his hand up, the Light Sword had manifested in his left hand already and he brought it town in a diagonal slash
The residual heat from the contained light seared the flesh of the creature cutting a deep gash into its ribs
Since the Light Sword was so large he was still a distance away so he spun and the Dark Sword that was in his right hand moved in a similar motion to the first just upwards rather than down.
The blade cut into his neck and now with the manifestation successfully being wrapped around his arm, this time the manifestation had not taken on the form as an element acting solely as a physical enhancer
There was a short sound that echoed like a zipper being moved
[You have slain an Awakened Devil: Hollow Hound.]
[A Fragment of your true power returns.]
The Spell had announced his successful kill of the creature. This was good, very good - he would be able to see how the attribute [Worlds Blessings] affected the amount of essence he had gained and other things as well
But there was the other thing that he had wanted to check as well
His Flaw
Kaelen had not heard the announcement of the kill because his mind had come to a stand still, as if it had been overloaded or as if it crashed
There were memories that flooded his mind,
Not his memories, memories of a boy
A young boy roughly sixteen years old playing in the forest before hearing the call of his mother. He returned home and had supper with his family.
A loving family.
Then Kaelen watched the boy grow into a young man and find love, he watched it blossom as he had children with this women.
Then he watched the mans bright soul turn black
He watched as the corruption consumed him, changed him, ate his mind
Kaelen watched as the man, now beast devoured his children, as he ripped his wife to shreds along with his parents and siblings.
He watched the creature stalk the forest and kill any human that came through.
Then he watched another young man, sixteen years old as well be caught by the creature as he was drinking water, his blood staining that water shortly after.
And then, he watched as it set his eyes on him and how it met its end at his hands
That was his flaw
That was what Kaelen's flaw was going to make him experience every time he killed something. His mind overloaded by hundreds of years of memories in a single second.
But it didn't end there
No of course not, after all
He had seen the seed of corruption bloom in the mans soul, and as a result he had been exposed to its influence.
Unlike Nephis who's soul sea was a magnificent ocean of blazing flame that simply burnt the corruption that tried to touch her soul away before it even manifested
Kaelen's [Flames of Profanity] was not as efficient or painless
The corruption bloomed within his soul and his own protection against its influence surged directly burning his soul in a substance that seemed to be even more vile than the corruption
The pain was like being burned alive but worse. He had experienced that one already, this one however was searing his very soul.
The entire process, the whole time that he had been disorientated lasted five seconds at most and yet Kaelen felt like it lasted a life time
Which it did.
How odd it was, having the body of a sixteen year old but already having experiences ranging in the centuries
Kaelen felt his eyes glaze over for a second as he fell forwards but thankfully he had managed to catch himself.
His head felt like it was spinning as he gritted his teeth refusing to scream
The police officers had registered that the creature was dead had turned towards him, the closest one seeing how Kaelen was holding his head and gritting his teeth
"Hey what's wrong are you okay?" He moved over and reached out
Kaelen opened his mouth and exhaled, hot air escaping as he panted
"Perfectly... fine." He managed to squeeze out.
'This is going to be... horrible to deal with.' He thought
He walked to the creature and slashed twice at its body and he saw them, four glowing shards - Awakened
He pulled them out and shoved them into the satchel
"Where are your sleeping quarters...?"
He asked
"Second floor." The elder man said looking at the corpse
"Wake me up when the Awakened comes tomorrow."
He moved to the second floor.