The Dawn of the New World

"Wait oh my god, how could I be so stupid!" Hao Xuan punched the air upon realizing what he thought had happened.

"I didn't use the physique to 'Devour' it, that's why. It died so quickly that I didn't even have the chance, fuck me. I have to go for another one," he quickly moved to the side of the pile of left arms and found the second target.

This swine demon was bigger than the last and obviously stronger but it was the closest one so-

"It will do. But I can't use the same method as the last time, there won't be anything left to devour. Are there still any weapons that I can use?"

He was talking about the bunch of throw-away weapons that were saved within his storage space but after checking Baracus gave the bad news.

"Negative. But there are some spare raw materials that can be used to craft a simple weapon."

"Really? How long will that take?"

"Depends on the weapon."

"Keep it as simple as possible. Whatever you can make the fastest but make it blunt."

[ETA: 20 Standard Seconds]

"Good."

Hao Xuan slumped back down and used the time to check in on Grey but all he could see was Grey running through the forest at full speed. He couldn't make out much of anything nor feel what Grey was going through.

"I guess the turtle demon is still chasing him if he is running THAT fast. Keep it up for a little bit longer buddy!"

[Tool Construction Complete]

And the notification popped up right on time. Hao Xuan extended his hand expecting a crudely built club or something similar but what materialized in his hand got a well-deserved double-take.

"Phew, did you JUST make this? It looks so...cool."

There was no other way to put it. It was a one-handed hammer with a length just short of a meter.

The grip was made from some kind of rubber material which allowed for much greater hold. The handle was a mix of the same kind of rubber and an alloy leading all the way to the head. It was a sleek and rather simple design but one that made it appear very futuristic in his eyes. (Reference Image posted in Author's notes and discord)

Hao Xuan swung it around a couple of times and almost hit himself in the face.

"Woah, and it's light too. It feels even lighter when I move it around. But are you sure it can handle it? It may be weak but it's still a demon."

"Affirmative. This alloy was created from the remnants of a starship's hull that the Orcs pulled from deep space. It can withstand upwards of 110 psi without spiritual energy compromising the structural integrity."

"Aha, I knew there would be something. So basically I can't use any form of spiritual energy with it then."

"Affirmative."

"Well, here's to hoping I won't have to."

Hao Xuan tightened his grip around the hammer and took in a deep breath followed by three shallow ones to allow both his hearts to pump as much oxygen as possible to the rest of the body. He flexed every muscle group one by one and stretched as much as he possibly could before making his way to the swine demon.

Its face was buried deep into the mound of flesh and bone which was great for Hao Xuan. But when he got within ten meters of it another loud grunt came from the distance.

Hao Xuan stopped mid-stride, craning his neck to the side to see the hind limbs of another swine demon on the other side of the meat pile.

'There were two! Damnit, why didn't they show up on the map?!'

'The energy readings within the crater are suboptimal due to strong interference. The probability of error has risen by a factor of-'

'Shut it! Next time warn me before I go waltzing in, yea? What kind of genius AI are you?!'

Hao Xuan cursed him out a couple of times and moved to the side from where he could see the smaller Swine demon more clearly. But this put him right behind the big one which was less than ideal for what he had planned.

'Guess I'll get them both then.'

He closed the distance down to five meters from their backsides before rushing in at once. The plan was simple, land a fatal blow to the smaller one before it knows he is there and then a few more to the bigger one while it's confused.

But things seldom go as planned. Hao Xuan didn't notice the density of the black smoke had increased by threefold and much of it was sticking to his clothes.

[Blink!]

***

Authors Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ

___

Reference Image Link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6e/fb/0d/6efb0dc3a39864a3e6d84b078c4a275e.jpg

Shortened Image Link (case sensitive) : https://urlzs.com/C7ugh