MHA Paragon

Twin geysers of blood soared into the air as Kenji's daggers sunk into the buck's neck, though its hide put up a fair amount of resistance, far more than Kenji was expecting. But even with buckets worth of its lifeblood spilling onto the ground, the Dread Beast didn't flag.

Kenji watched as a dangerous glint appeared in the buck's remaining eye, and its horns began to glow with verdant green light. Kenji and Styx disengaged from the buck, with Styx taking off into the sky while Kenji let go of his knives and leaped back, soaring far higher than one would expect, as if his body was lighter than a feather.

The extra distance was needed as the buck let out a pitched bellow, and the light gathering around its antlers exploded outwards in a wave of indiscriminate destruction, tearing up the ground and sending stones flying as it advanced. Fortunately for Kenji, the wave lost its momentum rather quickly, but as the light faded, he realized that the attack's destructive power wasn't its true purpose. 

Standing in a ring of scorched earth, the Buck glared defiantly at Kenji, its hide now covered in thick crystalline armor that glowed with green light. The armor also extended to Buck's antlers, but it was utilized more as a weapon, with razor-sharp points and an edge that gleamed threateningly. 

Kenji summoned another set of daggers into his hands but didn't move in to attack. The crystalline armor covering the Buck practically buckled in the space around it, thick with fundamental laws, which surged as the Buck threw its head into the air before stomping on the ground with its two front hooves. 

The earth trembled as a network of glowing green fracture lines raced across the ground, expanding outwards in a cone. Kenji was forced to brace as the violent tremors threatened to throw him off balance. Still, he almost immediately regretted it as the glowing line suddenly lit up, nearly blinding Kenji with their radiance. 

An instant later, countless spires of razor-sharp crystals exploded from the ground, spearing nearly ten feet up into the air with a haunting chime that made Kenji's ears ring painfully. Jumping into the air, Kenji soared above the emerald spikes as they chased him into the air, fortunately stopping just as Kenji reached the apex of his leap. 

Just then, Kenji felt a dangerous ripple pass through the space surrounding him, and his head shot up to look at the buck, who glared at Kenji with its one remaining eye as it fired a crystal spike the length of his arm from between its antlers. 

In the blink of an eye, the crystal steak pierced through the air and arrived in front of Kenji, still suspended in midair, with no way to maneuver himself or dodge the speeding bullet. 

With a screech, Styx swooped down from the sky, claws extended as Kenji's hand shot into the air and wrapped around the vulture's scaled feet, which latched onto Kenji's armor. Then, a single flap of Styx's massive wings sent them rocketing into the sky, leaving the crystal spike to pass harmlessly beneath them. 

The buck bellowed in frustration, annoyed that it had yet to vanquish its two ambushers as another spike condensed between its antlers, planning to snipe the duo out of the skies. Seeing this, Kenji let go of Styx and plummeted through the air.

Another spike rushed up to stop Kenji, but his robe suddenly flared out, halting his descent momentarily and avoiding the spike. Another bellow echoed through the air, and another spike began to form, but Kenji had gotten close enough to carry out his plan. 

Kenji snapped, sending a ring of purple light through the air, activating the two daggers embedded in the buck's neck that had been grown over by its armor. A malevolent purple light suddenly drowned out the green glow, and the buck glanced down just in time for the two daggers to explode. 

The monster's bellow of agony was drowned out by the blast of the explosion as its crystalline armor fragmented and shattered into pieces. Fresh blood bathed the earth as two deep gouges appeared around where the daggers had been in the buck's hide. And while it was unlikely the creature would have survived long with such a grievous injury, Kenji didn't hesitate to plunge a dagger into the Buck's remaining eye as he crashed into the beast from above. 

For a moment, the Buck shuddered and swayed unsteadily on its six legs before it collapsed to the ground with a loud thud and lay motionless. The moment the corpse hit the ground, the remaining herd scattered, fleeing in all directions with its leader and primary protector gone for good. 

Though Kenji didn't spare them a glance, all he could think about was the mind-bending hunger threatening to claw its way from his body. Seeing no reason to hold it back, Kenji threw open his robes, exposing the leather armor bench that retreated as Kenji's skin split apart. 

A sea of blackened chains erupted into existence, clawing at the air as if to seek revenge before quickly focusing on the still-warm corpse in front of Kenji. With glee, the chains descended on the body, wrapping around every inch of exposed skin until nothing but metal remained. The body began to shrink, becoming a mere fraction of its usual size, just small enough to fit through the portal in Kenji's torso that closed with a snap as the chains retreated with their meal. 

Kenji grunted as he felt the corpse unravel its corporal matter in direct conflict with the miniature dimension of nonexistence that was present inside him. But Kenji wasn't interested in the buck's flesh. He wanted something far more filling. Stepping into his soul, Kenji stared at the mote of purple light floating in the abyss, all that remained of the beast he had defeated, 'Alpha Particles.' 

Suddenly, with a screech, Styx appeared in the abyss of Kenji's soul and lunged at the condensed particles, only to be swarmed by chains that encircled the bird, restraining it to a sphere once more. 

'Greedy bastard,' Kenji muttered before looking away from Styx, who was struggling uselessly against his bonds. Like all Abyssal creatures, including Kenji himself, Styx fed off of Alpha particles, consuming the building blocks of universal laws to grow stronger. Though such a small amount was barely a drop in the bucket, Kenji could tell by feeling alone that a being like Zurx could most likely consume entire galaxies and still hunger for more. 

However, that didn't mean his harvest from the crystalline Buck was useless, 'Let's see what's biting.' 

Reaching out, Kenji grabbed the sphere and shattered it, scattering the fine purple particles in a wide area as they began to float through the abyss. For a moment, nothing happened, but then Kenji felt the tiniest ripple in space, and he looked down just as a tiny grub-like creature emerged. 

The creature had no eye that Kenji could make out, but its face was surrounded by several overlapping teeth that gleamed like obsidian, matching its dusky purple flesh. Crawling across the ground, the grub was barely half a foot long with tiny feet that dragged its ill-suited body at a snail's pace. 

Reaching down, Kenji picked up the grub, which squirmed helplessly in his grasp, and tried to nip at his fingers, 'I guess I need better bait to attract the big ones.' 

Kenji snorted before capturing the grub, encasing it in a ball of chains, and leaving it to float in the abyss, 'Though hopefully, you'll grow up to be something useful in the future.'