It didn’t take long for Iron Teeth to make an appearance, crawling out from one of the large holes at the absolute back of the alley.
Harry inspected him closely; he looked malnourished, with a skinny sunken body and fur that looked like patchwork, filled with burses and patches of fur. Despite all this, the prominent white teeth in his mouth glinted dangerously in the dark alley, and his blue eyes shone with vigilance and confusion, which quickly cleared up as he locked onto Harry.
It was far too late by then, though. Harry had already blurred from the spot where he once stood, moving with insane speed towards a dazed Iron Teeth. A squeal of pain ripped itself from the rat’s mouth as Harry’s teeth and claws dug into him.
Iron Teeth reacted rapidly, snapping his mouth shut over where Harry’s paw was supposed to be, but he only snapped at the wind.
Harry danced around Iron Tooth like the wind with his newfound agility; he realized that, despite getting the jump on Iron Tooth, he didn’t do much damage with his initial attack and adapted accordingly, leveraging his amazing speed to compensate for his lackluster strength.
Iron Teeth was surprisingly tough, though, and was taking a lot more than Harry expected to go down.
The old rat was now mired in scars both large and small but was still clinging to life stubbornly, growing fiercer with each passing second, his blue eyes were now completely bloodshot and gleamed with unbridled rage and madness.
The battle instantly became harder as Iron Teeth fought without regard for his life, making him hard to predict and defend against. The rat’s head became unnaturally fast and snapped to wherever he moved smoothly as if Iron Teeth could now see and predict Harry’s movements easily.
Harry became even faster as he fully tapped into his agility, transforming into a deadly black blur that danced around Iron Teeth, clawing and biting away at his defenses until he was no more than a bleeding, bloody mess.
That was when the rat erupted with deadly strength and spirituality, lunging forward with deadly momentum, cleanly severing Harry’s left arm before ripping out a huge chunk of flesh from his unprotected neck.
Iron Teeth then used his remaining strength to look at the bleeding Harry and grinned viciously before collapsing into a pool of his blood, dead.
Harry’s world became one of pain and suffering, at least for a good second, until he felt the strange power within him flare up in response.
-Lethal Wound detected, HP triggered-
-1HP
HP: 0/1
Greenlight exploded around the wounded areas of Harry’s flesh, rapidly condensing into a brand new arm that gently attached itself to the mangled stump, fusing together with it perfectly before pouring into the other wounded areas, sealing them up perfectly.
It was a display of world-shattering, sea-draining, and heavenly power, one that left Harry’s mind blank and reeling.
He fully expected death to claim him right then and there, after a slow and painful bleedout.
It would seem life had other plans for him, though.
Harry wasted no time; word of the fight must’ve gotten out by now. Blallscrusher had eyes and ears everywhere, even in seemingly unimportant places or around unimportant things.
The rat positioned himself over the bleeding corpse of Iron Teeth and called upon his power. A twisted crimson mouth manifested over Harry, dripping with hate, greed, and envy. It ballooned in size before floating over the corpse, swallowing it in one big gulp before vanishing.
-Predation successful-
-Trait acquired: Iron Teeth (0)
+50 biomass
Power Harry couldn’t quite conceptualize washed over his body like a deluge of water, seeping into his head, teeth, and bones, subtly shifting them to manifest profound and new changes.
The rat’s teeth began to itch before going loose, dropping out a full second later. In their place grew new, gleaming ones that shone like polished iron and seemed to be imbued with the power of sharpness.
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They were perfectly aligned and fitted right in Harry’s mouth as if they’d been there his entire life.
The rat flicked his tongue against them, blinking at how sharp they felt. Harry didn’t feel like he was rubbing his tongue against natural teeth but rather rows of sharpened blades.
He didn’t want to delay, though, and shifted his attention back to slightlymashed alley, specifically at the entrance, and darted for it when he saw that it was clear, climbing up a wall overrun with vines and over a broken wooden window, vanishing from sight.
∞
A group of rats appeared within the alley Harry just left, they weren’t your average rats, though. They were significantly larger than the normal rats and had blood-red marks on their fur, another notable thing was the distinct lack of reproductive organs, as if they’d been surgically removed.
They rapidly checked the entire alley, seemingly searching for someone, chittering casually as they did before regrouping and casting one final glance at the now empty, slightlymashed alley and vanishing from sight into one of the large burrow holes.
∞
Harry darted through a massive, trash-filled alley. Wooden garbage bins were everywhere, filled with half-eaten fruits, bloodied clothes, suspiciously wrapped bags, and even other rats.
Harry ignored all of that and kept low, avoiding the notice of the feasting rats who were too busy stuffing their bellies to spare a glance at the alley’s entrance.
Harry couldn’t blame them; which rat in their right mind who wasn’t a member of the Ballcrusher gang would wander into their turf, a feeding ground at that?
It was insane, almost impossible, which was why there were so few guards stationed here and why they were oblivious to his presence despite his numerous slip-ups until Harry was right behind them, but it was far too late then.
The first one lost his head without knowing how, and the second one only managed to squeal briefly before her life was cut short.
His authority manifested a second later, gobbling them up in one gulp.
-Predation successful-
-Trait acquired: Adrenal Burst (0)
+100 Biomass
Harry blinked, he never expected a trait to come from this harvest; special traits were rare things and often manifested without rhyme or reason, or spiritual convergence.
Still, he was extremely grateful; he’d managed to acquire three useful traits in a single day after awakening his authority.
Harry felt like that was good progress, but the rat wasn’t done yet; the day was young, and the territory of Ballcrusher was vast. His superficial hunting wouldn’t go unnoticed, but it wasn’t that unusual for a few rats to go missing occasionally.
Harry planned to do some real damage eventually but he was too weak right now and hardly had any game-changing traits. [Iron Teeth] and [Iron Stomach] were useful for survival and were excellent utility traits but the only one that complimented his fighting style was [Adrenal Burst] which would provide a boost to his agility temporarily, allowing for faster and more vicious attacks.
[Iron Teeth] could be used too, but that required great strength to be used in combat, along with a good amount of vitality to truly bring out its effectiveness. Iron Teeth was a tank in his prime and had terrifying strength and defense, which made him quite feared.
It made Harry consider the fragility of life and power; it required no small amount of effort to maintain and gain true power but a stray wind could topple everything within mere moments. That wasn’t the type of power Harry sought, what he wanted was real power, fundamental power that couldn’t be toppled over or taken away at a moment's notice.
He leaped off the wooden bin and onto the slick floor of the massive, unnamed alley before triggering his newly acquired trait.
-Trait: Adrenal Burst (0) activated-
-50 STAM
+10 AGI (TEMP)
Harry’s fur rippled with invisible waves of raw power as the trait activated, filling him with surging strength that eclipsed anything he could’ve possibly conceptualized. It surged into his paws, body, and spine, then brain and eyes, filling them with an explosive power that didn’t conform to the laws of this world.
Harry burst into motion, vanishing from the spot where he once stood and reappearing at the end of the alley before vanishing once more as he rushed into the busy street ahead of him. Blurring through the legs of hundreds of busy humans, moving with the swiftness of a cheetah and the grace of the wind.
Normally, Harry wouldn’t have dared to do such a thing, but with his upgraded speed, it was truly effortless; most of those he passed couldn’t even react until he was five or six meters away from them, only then could their brain catch up and process that something just blurred passed them.
It was far too late then, though. Harry was just too fast, and he took delight in it. That was when tragedy struck; the explosive power within him suddenly dried up as the trait deactivated, leaving Harry stranded and dazed on the other side of the busy street, mere meters away from his goal, right beside a sitting fruit vendor.
He was a tall, burly man with clearly defined muscles, a sharp and imposing jawline, and a polished, shiny head that glinted in the sun. He wore a clean blue robe with matching sandals and had eyes that glinted with hidden danger and controlled viciousness.
His eyes snapped onto Harry the instant he slowed down, and a murderous light filled them.
“Filthy vermin!” He shouted and burst into motion, moving so fast that Harry barely had any time to react before he felt a foot made of solid steel slam into him, sending him flying into the air and hurtling towards a wooden trash bin in the far corners of the alley.
Harry crashed into it with so much force that it cracked, immediately spewing blood from his mouth. Pain assaulted him brutally, but he forced through it and steadied himself while peaking out from underneath the pile of trash and wood that had fallen on him.
What Harry saw made his heart leap into his chest; it was the fruit vendor, walking toward him causally with rolled-up sleeves and a sharp, glinting blade, and eyes as cold as ice.
Ignoring the pain, Harry activated his [Adrenal Burst] trait and vanished from the spot he once was and started with all his might, becoming a black blur that vanished into the dark corners of the unknown alley, leaving the fruit vendor stunned and rooted in place.
Even though Harry knew he lost him he didn’t stop running and made his way through numerous alleys, big and small before heading home.
The damage wasn’t external, and apart from a caved-in section of his chest, it was really hard to tell that he’d been injured. It was hell on earth for Harry, though; he felt as if needles were flowing in his bloodstream, and his head spun while he walked. The rat had no idea how he managed to reach home in such a sorry state.
The last thing he recalled was reaching for the bed before passing out.
∞
Harry found himself in a strange, desolate world; harsh dry winds raced across the cracked landscape, filling the air with a strange black dust that glowed slightly. There were no trees or varied terrain, it was all flat and uniform as far as his eyes could see.
Above him were even greater oddities; the sky was blood-red and were dotted with massive crimson clouds. Further above that was a man so large that it didn’t make sense to try and estimate how large he was, his height seemed infinite, always growing yet Harry could see him perfectly.
He was dressed in a suit of medieval armor decorated with colorful drawings and inscriptions of many moving worlds and the sun. He wasn’t moving, though, and that was because he was dead, impaled by the sun.
Golden blood flowed from the wound like a massive river, so large and powerful that it flowed outside of time, within its realm of reality.
Suddenly, the river paused and shifted in Harry’s direction, then he woke up.
