I Level Up by Killing Gods

Tainted Air.

The type that plauged with a foulness so potent it kept to the skin and invaded the lungs.

Blight slipped its corrupt fumes into everything—air, water, even the soil. The Streets? cracked and littered with refuse, the buildings no more than memories crumbling as they clung to the fact it was once a district that thrived.

Kael's eyes looked to the horizon, past the ruins and decay, where the force fields of the protected cities were.

Their flow reminded him of a paradise just out of reach.

Within those walls, air was clean, the streets were unsullied.

Etherion flowed, growth and vitality promoted by it. Kael had heard stories of how the rich lived there, the suffering that plagued the outskirts did not touch them.

He had never been close to the force field, but he'd seen the Lightforged who passed through it.

Figures in armor, gripping weapons infused with Etherion. They were said to be protectors, hunting the Ravagers and keeping the cities safe.

But to Kael and most in the outskirts, they were nothing more than symbols of inequality. The poor toiled in the Blight while the Lightforged basked in Etherion's blessings.

Kael crouched behind an overturned cart, eyes scanning the street ahead. He adjusted the tattered cloak wrapped around his wiry frame, doing his best to shield himself from the biting cold.

His stomach growled like it did so often, the pangs this time however, were sharper than usual.

Days had passed since his last decent meal. He eyed the scraps of bread on a broken windowsill just across the street. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep him moving for another day.

He bolted forward, his bare feet silent on grime-covered ground. He grabbed the bread, stuffing it into his cloak, but the sound of movement stopped him.

"Oi! That's ours!"

Kael turned, his heart sunk as two men shot from the shadows. Both were taller and heavier, their clothes barely covering their scarred and muscular frames.

"Hand it over, rat," one growled, stepping closer.

Kael fell backward, his heart dropping. He could run, but he sure as hell wasn't fast enough. He could fight, but his body was weak, malnourished.

"Didn't hear me?" The man stepped foward, grabbing Kael by the arm and yanking him forward. The bread fell from his cloak, landing in the dirt.

Kael struggled, pain, sharp throbbing in his head. Images flashed in his mind—a battlefield covered in blood, a figure clad in radiant energy, and a sword larger than anything he could imagine.

The pain forced him to his knees, and he clutched his head, gasping for breath.

"What's wrong with him?" the second man muttered, hesitating.

Kael was all but certain too. The flashes came and went, leaving him disoriented and weak. They made no sense, but they always felt… familiar.

"Doesn't matter. Grab the bread and—"

The ground trembled at that moment, cutting the man off mid-sentence.

The tremor became stronger quickly, the floor cracking beneath Kael's feet. The two men fled, their bread forgotten, but Kael remained frozen.

Ahead, the air sparked, distorting like ripples through water. A low whirr moved through the air, it grew louder and more grating.

Then, with a roar, the ground split open, and a gaping void tore into reality. Dark energy spilled from the breach, warping everything it touched.

Kael stepped back stumbling, shielding his eyes as a monstrous form emerged.

The creature simply put, was a nightmare—its body a mix of twisting limbs and sharp edges, it had eyes glowing with green sickly light.

Its entire form oozing Blight, the air around it turning toxic.

Kael's chest tightened, his breaths came out shallow and uneven. His legs refused to move, his body frozen as the creature turned its gaze toward him.

For a moment, something passed his mind—a memory of facing creatures like this before. He didn't know how or why, but the feeling was there, faint yet present.

The Ravager let out an ear-splitting roar, tendrils surged forward.

Kael braced himself, his mind screaming for his body to move.

And then—

A flash of light cut through the air.

The creature screeched, one of its limbs had been severed so cleanly that Kael's eyes could barely track what had happened.

A boy, looking around seventeen, stood between Kael and the monster.

His hair was short...wild, his figure covered in an armored suite with faint lines of Etherion running across it. A sword, glowing slightly, rested in his hand.

"You okay?" the boy asked, sparing Kael a quick glance over his shoulder.

Before Kael could respond, the boy's attention snapped back to the creature. He burst forward, moving with speed Kael couldn't believe, his blade slicing through flesh as he met the Ravager head-on.

Then from the streets shadows, his squad emerged—four in total.

They were armed, their movements felt almost synchronized as they surrounded the creature.

Kael could only watch in silence as the squad worked, lashing precise and devastating strikes at the monster.

Etherion bled from their weapons, slicing through the Ravager's flesh with ease. The monster roared, thrashing in frustration, but it was no use.

Within moments, the battle was over. The Ravager let out a gurgling cry as the boy leapt into the air, driving his sword through its core.

The creature collapsed, its terrifying form dissolving into ash-like particles that swirled into the air.

One of the squad members crouched beside the remains, reaching into the ash to pull something out. A glowing orb, flicking dimly with light—the Ravager's soul core.

"Nice," one of them said, tossing the core up and catching it. "If we clear this Void Breach, we can one-up Marvis's squad in the rankings."

The boy who had first stepped in nodded, his blade resting on his shoulder. "Yeah, let's make it quick."

Kael stared. The squad didn't even glance back at him. They had totally forgotten his existence.

Their attention shifted to the Void Breach—the rift that remained where the creature had came. Without hesitating, they stepped forward as it sucked them in, their bodies disappearing into the breach one by one.

The last to enter was the boy.

He paused for a moment, his eyes staying on the glowing crack in space before stepping in and vanishing from sight.

Kael stood without moving, silence settling over the street again.

The bread he had fought so hard to claim left on the ground. He bent down to pick it up, clutching it in his hands.

But then, a flicker of sorts surrounded his body, like the distortion of heat on hot days.

Kael blinked, confusion and fear rising as the flicker got stronger.

"what…" he muttered, clutching the bread as his hands began to fade in and out of view.

The Void Breach grew, its energy latched onto him.

Kael tried to resist, his legs digging into the ground, but it was pointless.

The last thing he saw before being pulled in was the bread, falling to the ground once more.