Human Ancestor

The jagged rock came faster than I could fully react. I twisted at the last moment, but the sharp edge still grazed me, cutting deep near my solar apex—where my core resided. A spray of blood followed, staining the water red. My chest burned as though a molten spike had been driven into it. I staggered in the river's depths, feeling the fragility of my core.

Cracked. No, worse—a small hole.

Panic clawed at my mind as I realized the severity of the wound. The mana that had been my lifeline now leaked out like sand slipping through my fingers. A cracked core meant death for most creatures. No matter how powerful one was, this was a final verdict. Blood mingled with the river as I felt my strength falter.

The river, my ever-loyal ally, surged around me, furious and wild. It lashed out at the stone giant with more fervor, battering it with currents sharper than any blade. It seemed almost... enraged that it hadn't been able to protect me. I could feel its grief in every ripple, its desperation to save me even as my vision blurred.

So this is how it feels to die... again.

I had smelled death before—my own death, sharp and acrid, like iron and rot. But this time, it felt colder. Final. My hands trembled as my body began to weaken, my mind slipping into that dark embrace once more.

But I did not regret this life.

I had lived true to my purpose. Every step, every moment, every painful decision—I had walked this path willingly. I'd worked toward my goals with everything I had. If death awaited me now, then it was a choice I had made along the way. I didn't fear it.

And yet, a flicker of pain remained. Not for my death, but for the vengeance I would leave unfulfilled.

My eyelids grew heavier, and my limbs slackened as I surrendered to the inevitable. A deep, all-encompassing silence began to take me. Until I heard it.

A squeak.

It was faint, but it sliced through the numbness wrapping around me. My sluggish thoughts struggled to make sense of it. Nibbles.

Through the haze, I saw him—his projection shimmering faintly before me. His small form looked at me with defiance, his tiny paws trembling. Tears glistened in his eyes, and he squeaked again, a sound that was equal parts desperation and sorrow.

"Nibbles..." I rasped, my voice barely audible.

He floated closer, his form flickering as though it might vanish at any moment. Then, with a determined squeak, he lunged forward and hugged me. His tiny body quivered, and I realized he was crying. His projection began to fade, dissolving like mist.

"No... don't..."

But he didn't listen. His core—small, bright, and vibrant—appeared in his projection, glowing with a light that was both warm and fierce. Before I could react, it began to merge with my own cracked core.

The pain hits me first, deep in my chest, as though my heart itself is being torn apart. It's not a physical wound; it's something far worse. The emotional weight, the suffocating grief, is like a stone lodged in my soul, pressing down so hard I can barely breathe. I clutch my chest, trying to hold myself together, but it feels impossible. I want to scream, to lash out, but my body refuses to cooperate. I can't even move properly, my limbs are shaking as if the very act of existing has become too much to bear.

It's then that I feel it—the realization slams into me with the force of a tidal wave. Nibbles... Nibbles is sacrificing himself. I had known it in some distant part of my mind, but the weight of it hadn't truly hit me until now. His core, his essence, is merging with mine. The process is slow, agonizingly so, but I can feel it. I can feel him fusing with me. It's painful. It's terrifying. But amidst the agony, I feel... I feel something else, something that I haven't felt in years. It's warmth. It's his warmth, flowing through me, patching the cracks in my soul.

And then, the tears come. I don't understand why, at first. My eyes blur with something I haven't allowed myself to feel in so long—grief. It's like my body betrays me, shedding tears despite the promise I made to never let them fall again. Green, pure, tinged with something deeper than sorrow. It's like my soul is crying, my very essence mourning for the small, loyal creature that has given up everything for me.

I've never let myself cry before. Never. Not since... Not since everything was taken from me. The agony of my past life, the suffering, the cruelty, the betrayal—it all resurfaces in that moment. Every time I've lost someone, every time I've been abandoned, every time I've been forced to let go... it's all here now, flooding me like a storm that has finally broken through the dam.

I feel my chest tighten, the pain radiating through every fiber of my being. It's not just physical—it's the loss, the guilt, the helplessness. Nibbles, my little companion, is giving up everything for me. And I... I didn't even have a chance to protect him.

My heart aches, my whole body shaking with the force of it. I thought I had gotten used to loss, that I had become numb to it. But this... this is different. It's raw. It's real. And it hurts in ways that no wound could ever match.

But then something changes. A flicker, a spark that shifts deep inside me. It starts in my gut and works its way out, rising like a fire that refuses to be extinguished. The grief is still there, still pressing down on me like a vice, but now, in its wake, something else is growing—something darker. Anger. Raw, primal fury. It surges up from the depths of my soul, filling every crack, every corner of my being. It's like a dam breaking. Like a flood of rage that has been waiting to break free for so long.

You took him from me.

The thought comes unbidden, yet it feels like a part of me. I can't stop it. I can't hold it back. My fists clench, my body trembling with the force of my anger. I want to lash out, to hurt the ones who took everything from me, to make them feel the same way I do. My eyes burn, not with tears, but with something darker, deeper.

My core... it's different now. I feel it. It's no longer the fragile thing it once was. It pulses with power—wild, untamed power. The sacrifice of Nibbles has shattered something deep inside me, something that had been holding me back. I've broken through my limits. I can feel it—I've ranked up. From {E-} to {E+}. Two minor ranks shattered in an instant, breaking the ceiling that had once confined me. My core feels different now. It's stronger. But it's also fragile, as though it might crack under the weight of the power I've unleashed.

My body is humming with energy, with rage, with something I can't quite name. It's like my entire being is vibrating with it. My mind is no longer calm and calculating. There's no room for reason now. There's only the rage. It clouds my thoughts, pushing everything else aside. I can feel the energy coursing through me, through my veins, my bones. It feels as though I could tear through the world itself with this power.

I raise my hand, trembling with the force of my emotions. The green liquid, the tears still flowing freely from my eyes, begins to move. It swirls around me, as if it's alive, responding to the rage pouring off me. The water—my element—responds with a fury all its own, intensifying with every beat of my heart. The current strengthens, builds, coils like a serpent ready to strike.

I don't think. I don't plan. I just act. My body moves on its own, guided by the force of the power I can barely control. I call upon my mastery over water, over life, and I merge them together. I form a spear—no, a weapon of raw energy, a swirling vortex of water, infused with the essence of my grief, my rage, my pain. It feels like an extension of myself, like it's a part of me that I can control.

The spear forms in my hand, enormous and pulsing with energy. I can feel the air around it crackle with power, the space itself bending under its weight. I don't hesitate. I don't think. I throw it. The spear of water, of my essence, shoots forward with the force of a thunderclap. The sound rips through the air like a crack of lightning, and then it strikes.

The stone giant doesn't even have time to react. The spear plunges into its eye, its weak point, with an explosion of power so intense it sends shockwaves through the air. The giant crumbles, its stone body shattered into fragments, scattered like dust.

For a moment, there's silence. The world stills, the echoes of the explosion fading into the distance.

But then, I feel it. The pressure in my core. The strain. The cracks in my core deepen, spreading further, and I know. I know I've pushed myself too far. I've unleashed too much. The mana in my body drains faster than I can replenish it, and my body begins to collapse under the weight of the energy I've spent.

I fall to my knees, my body trembling with exhaustion. The power, the anger, the grief—they all fade away, leaving me with nothing but the wreckage of my own body. My core is cracked, fragile. It feels as though it might shatter, and I know that I'm on the brink of total collapse.

I was falling.

The gate loomed below, its monstrous pull dragging me toward its boundless abyss. My vision dimmed, but I forced myself to act. I reached into my spatial ring with the last shred of my mental strength, securing the master-ranked core from the stone giant. My hand brushed against two other cores—those of the shadow wolves—and I instinctively grabbed them as well, and ate the shadow wolves cores.

{Evolution is being commenced.}

The system's voice echoed faintly in my mind, but I was too far gone to process its meaning.

As consciousness slipped away, I felt the cold embrace of the abyss. Darkness swallowed me whole, and for the first time in a long while, I let it take me.