Seeing the majestic sight of cards in front of him, Theo’s eyes and mouth widened before he laughed.

  “Seriously! I can’t tell what’s reality or fiction anymore! Why can cards fly on their own, why can a person shape flaming spears…Hahaha, shit, or am I just going crazy on my own?”

  “Calm down, Theo. The real battle’s about to start.”

  “R-right. Uh, who wants to take the gun?”

  “I will. By the way, why did you stay here? Going with them will probably be safer.” Lucien said as he grabbed the gun, and handled it with familiarity. It was a high quality gun, fitting for a decently ranked Chaoswalker.

  ‘It’s not a Chaos Gun however, just a regular gun. Still, it’s enough for the worms.’

  “Huh? Didn’t you say it would be safer here?”

  “I meant only for me personally.”

  “...Well, shit. Too late for me I guess.”

  Lucien smiled.

  “Don’t worry. I can protect one person easily.”

  “Really, really glad to hear that! Counting on you. Hahaha, to be honest, I didn’t just stay here because I thought it would be safe or something like that but rather…This is all just so mystical, and kinda exciting, don’t you think? A brand new world, a mysterious, bizarre, and the supernatural…If I didn’t take this chance now, I don’t think I ever will come across something like this again.”

  “Better than college and studying, isn’t it?”

  “Hm? Ah, I don’t know about that…Hahaha, it’s more exciting though.”

  Lucien smiled bitterly at the excited face of Theo. As the Little Girl said, whether it is Chaos Entities like her, or humans, they all crave excitement in any shape or form…Of course, that source of excitement might not necessarily be a good thing.

  ‘If he knew, what I knew right now. He wouldn’t have that wide smile on his face.’

  But for now, there was no need for that sort of stuff. Lucien glanced back at the worm. Each time the man with the flaming body punched, a worm exploded into pieces. The worm tried biting him but they would be burned by the flames as they did.

  “Hahahaha! Come at me, you punk!”

  On the other side is two other people simply raining down fire spears from the side. While the most eye-catching one is definitely the Leader, hordes of cards flew, and sliced through the worm like a storm of blades, the countless worms bled, screamed, and was getting smaller bit by bit. Afraid, and mad, the worm’s body then gathered together, pulsing upwards.

  ‘That move is!’

  “Get ready!” Lucien shouted, his gun pointed at the worm. The thousands of worms congested together upwards before it exploded towards all directions. Some of the worms flew over to Lucien, and Theo. The latter panicked and screamed as a worm landed, and exploded next to him. However, Lucien was calm as he shot the worm’s body that headed towards him.

  “Whoa, impressive!”

  “Don’t lose your eyes, some of them aren’t bombs.” Lucien said. Around him, there were many worms that landed that were regular hand sized worms like the ones from earlier. Except, this time, they should be stronger since they are created directly by the main body.

  ‘Hence, they will be able to increase the corruption rate.’

  Lucien briefly glanced at the main body and the fight between the agents. There was a certain worm that was colored red unlike the other worms. In less than a few seconds, mini worms grew out of the red worm’s body before it expanded rapidly, turning into hand sized worms, and covering itself again with it.

  “Damn it, don’t let it regenerate!”

  Lucien turned away from them. They are able to handle that on their own. Most importantly, these worms are enough to Corrupt Lucien. Therefore he smiled. The worms surrounding Lucien lunged towards him and Theo. Their speed is even faster than the previous powerless worms, and at this rank, they are akin to a Rank 1 Chaos Entity, though on the far weaker side.

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  ‘And since they are on the weaker side of Rank 1, bullets will kill them instantly!’ Lucien smiled and shot down the ones aiming for his vitals, as for the worms that are not, Lucien let them bite him intentionally.

  His heart felt more and more pain passing by the second, his mind becoming foggy, and his brain hurt as if something was permeating through him. Corruption has begun, the worms outside, though made out of Chaos, didn’t have a high enough Chaos for Lucien to be corrupted. Fortunately, the worms here are high enough in Chaos, and what’s fortunate, the worm’s ability seems to be a low level corruption from its teeth.

  In his past life, he didn’t manage to escape, and had to fight off three of these worms. Now, they would be easy prey, but back then he couldn’t even fight against any one of them. So he got bitten, and fell to unconsciousness. When he woke up, he was already a Chaoswalker, and managed to survive and not turn into a Chaos Entity. He was lucky basically.

  ‘Now I don’t need such luck. Nor do I need to fall to unconsciousness.’ Lucien thought before he shot some of the worms that headed towards Theo. The latter’s eyes widened before he moved again, brandishing his knife towards the other approaching worms. Surprisingly, though his knife skills sucked, his physical abilities were very high, enough to make up for his lacking skills. With his prowess, and the occasional help from Lucien, Theo managed to not get bitten by even one worm.

  “Impressive. Were you an athlete of some sort?”

  “Hahaha, I was a basketball athlete but ever since I was a kid, my physical abilities have always been top class…Can’t say the same for my skills though. But holy shit, are you okay? Your veins are purple!”

  Lucien shot the remaining worms on his body, and looked at his right hand. His veins colored purple, and stood out amongst his white skin. Lucien smiled.

  “Don’t worry, this is fine.”

  “How could you be fi-”

  Just then Lucien shot towards a worm that lunged at Theo, right near the latter’s body. Theo felt chills due to how close the gunshot was.

  “It is fine. Please don’t worry about it.” Lucien said with a smile, and emotionless eyes. Theo flinched and forced himself to smile.

  “R-right…I guess you are, haha.”

  Theo said before he focused back on defending himself. He didn’t say this to Lucien but back then one of the reasons he chose to stay, though excitement, the feeling of wanting to know about the bizarre, and mysterious world played apart, the majority was the feeling of intimidation and safety by sticking through with Lucien.

  Theo had felt it, for some reason, he instinctively thought of Lucien as being far scarier than the agent lady he saw back then. Not due to his strength, but the feeling. If he stuck with such a strong person, wouldn’t he absolutely survive? Especially with such a strong person helping him.

  Ever since in the past, Theo was quite dull in a few things, but his instincts are absolutely not a part of what’s dull about him. He always had trusted his instincts in the past, and succeeded. Even more so during a life and death situation like right now.

  As he fought, and fought with his knife, and Lucien’s help until the last worm was killed. A big scream spread out from behind. Lucien, and Theo looked back. The red worm, which was presumably the main body, plopped down to the ground, bleeding all over, its body charred, and tons of cards stuck through its body.

  ‘Since the main body is a real Rank 3 instead of a clone. It’s body should be much tougher than the weak, fluffy body of the regular worms…But it is still a Rank 3 and is no match for a group of Rank 4 and Rank 3.’

  Lucien then felt his vision shaking. His arm slightly convulsing, and heart constricting sending out massive pain. However, Lucien’s face seemed quite serene, and he simply sat down and closed his eyes. The headaches in his mind grew, as noises around him echoed, yet he ignored them, and felt around his body. The corruption of Chaos Energy went, and spread all over his body, and he simply let it be. After the veins, and heart had been corrupted, something was forming right next to his heart.

  As if thousands of needles are piercing through him, intense pain focused on that particular place. Sweat covered Lucien’s body but he endured. His head turned lightheaded, almost falling to consciousness but he endured. Pain is fine. It is a key to growth.

  With a deep breath, Lucien focused, and endured. Soon enough, a core formed right next to his heart. This was the Chaoswalker’s source of power, the Chaos Core. The pain then started receding, and Lucien could feel a familiar sensation. The sensation of a foreign power, the power of Chaos, a power that differs from reality, humanity, and Order! Though it was a foreign sensation to others, for Lucien, it’s akin to receiving back a heart he lost in the past. It was that familiar.

  ‘Good, good. Everything went well including the awakening.’ Lucien smiled.

  Although there were some accidents, and some unexpected things. Lucien successfully awakened naturally as a Chaoswalker. He then closed his eyes and checked his Chaos Core.

  The Chaos Core was shaped like a ball of dark purple with four walls surrounding it. The land inside the Chaos Core was completely empty which is understandable since Lucien had no Seeds.

  Since Lucien had just awakened, it meant he was currently Rank 1. The color of Chaos he has is the most unrefined, and weakest version of Chaos Energy which is colored dark purple. He was also still in the Initial Stage which is the weakest out of all stages, ranging from Initial, Middle, Upper, and Peak Stage. These symbolizes the four walls surrounding the Chaos Energy.

  And to break through to the next stage means completely destroying these walls, letting the Chaos Energy expand, and refine itself as the walls recover again in the next rank or stage.

  ‘But that’s still a long time. To break through to the next stage is never easy after all, for now…’ Lucien opened his eyes.

  ‘Let’s act as if I don’t know anythi-’

  Suddenly, something inside of Lucien wiggled.

  ‘What the-?’

  Lucien felt it. Something was forming inside of his Chaos Core. Then, extreme pain which far surpassed the previous overcame him.