System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 49: Broken Shackle & A Small Reunion

As the sharp pain in his abdomen began to intensify, Damon’s consciousness was pulled back to the present.

His eyes snapped open with a large gasp as he wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"Damon? Damon!" Kitsune, who was already by his side, waiting patiently to see if the plan he told her earlier was going to work, moved closer.

There was a look of genuine concern across her face.

But Damon couldn’t reply.

He gritted his teeth, forcing in sharp, painful breaths until the pain slowly began to subside.

’I failed...?’

As the realisation slowly began to dawn on him, he quickly summoned his status, expecting the worst.

But as the status screen appeared, his eyes widened.

[Ability: Bloodthirst(Broken)]

[Type: Passive]

[Description: (Ability is unavailable while broken) Every hit on an opponent which results in blood applies a stack of Bloodthirst(Max 5). Each stack grants +2% strength against that opponent.]

To his surprise, the ability was still there, just broken.

Instead of dwelling on making an error, Damon quickly realised that as long as it said broken and as long as it was there, it could be fixed.

It was only once he closed his status window that Damon noticed the Kitsune sitting next to him with a concerned look he hadn’t seen before.

"I’m okay," he finally replied before telling her exactly what happened.

She listened carefully, her expression changed with each sentence, thoughtful frowns at some, while a complete surprise at others. Her exaggerated reactions made Damon’s realisation of the nature of his unique ability to access the threads even deeper.

’Whatever it is, it seems far more complicated than I first thought...’

Once he finished telling her everything, Kitsune took a minute of pause to digest the information.

Then she suddenly spoke in a tone laced with concern.

"Damon, you need to be careful. You barely learned to use mana, something like this... if what you’re saying is true, then a single pull at a wrong thread could kill you."

He could tell there was genuine concern in her words. One that he hadn’t seen before. But there was also something else, a hint of doubt. Despite knowing what he was saying was true from their connection, the girl seemed hesitant to even consider such things to be possible.

A mere human weaving the power of evolution was beyond any sense of reason she had.

Damon would probably not believe it either. If he hadn’t seen it, if he hadn’t been there, if he hadn’t tugged at those threads, then he would most certainly be as doubtful as she was.

"I know," he finally replied with a slow nod.

Although he already wanted to go back in there, try to fix his broken ability, his mana was already running on fumes.

A few minutes of Absolute Comprehension were enough to drain it all.

Besides, there was another matter that required all his attention, one that would most certainly result in his death if he just sat idly around.

The world quest.

The penalty for failure was death, and the ticking timer put on that quest was a very real reminder of that.

It was time he finally made some progress toward it.

"Get ready," he began, turning toward Kitsune who sat closely beside him, "In an hour, we’ll head for the Citadel."

***

An hour passed in the blink of an eye... a very exhausted eye.

Damon spent the whole sixty minutes resting, letting his mana replenish as much as it could before it was time to leave.

It was far from enough to refill all of it; in fact, it was still well below its halfway mark, but for now, it would have to do.

He felt that he wasted enough time sitting around. Although he was mostly an indoor person before the Apocalypse, ever since it began, he has enjoyed being outside more. Secluded places felt like traps in this new world, and he would never let himself live it down if he got caught lacking while resting.

Besides, the walks throughout the city were mostly uneventful, so he would have plenty of time to replenish mana before they were faced with some real threats, at least according to Damon.

And of course, he was wrong.

***

"Get back, get back, dammit!" Jax, leader of the scouting group, shouted toward his scattered companions.

One archer already lay lifelessly on the ground, while another fired arrow after arrow at the oversized beast going rampant through the street.

It was enormous. While standing on four limbs, it was two meters tall and broader than a truck. Each limb was coated with fire, and each claw was the size of a greatsword.

Artheus, tank of the group, barely hung on. His heavy armour was already torn apart, and his blood decorated the street in long streaks. The only reason he was still standing alive was the healer of the group, Victor.

His growth was most definitely the largest among the people from Central Station. Ever since a person he considered his only friend, Damon, left, he told himself he had to get stronger so as not to be a dead weight.

And he did just that.

Being the only healer in the group meant he had to work day and night to keep everyone alive.

He moved swiftly between the beast’s attacks, healing everyone around him while avoiding its claws.

But despite that growth, against a beast of this size and strength, a scouting group of this size had met their match.

With another massive leap, the creature sent Artheus into the nearby building, knocking him completely unconscious.

Then, its two crimson eyes moved to Victor, who stood against the brick wall with no room to escape.

The monster ignored the arrows coming at it, its gaze locked onto its next prey.

Then, from the monster’s shadow, a figure stepped forward.

Before anyone could even see the face, a dark jian blade whistled through the air.

The oversized evolved fire hound had no time to react before its head dropped from its torso.

It was only once the monster’s body collapsed to the ground that Victor realised who stood before him.

"D-Damon?"