The Lord of Rot

His thoughts were speeding - he could not think. One second he'd been in the wilderness and the other he was surrounded by the very thing he looked for. Their cheering voices only sounded in the same screech-like way as the insect-like creature that wished for battle before him. 

He stood in what looked to be an arena, people cheering in all directions for their own entertainment. He didn't know what they'd wanted from him, perhaps to fight against the creature--but looking at the creature, Konrad could only surmise they wanted him to eaten alive in front of them. 

But that wasn't going to happen - Konrad wouldn't let it happen. In the same way as always, Konrad leapt into the air by gathering potential energy in his legs, then snapping away with force into the air. He flew towards the horrible looking creature with the force then in his leg - he focused all of his strength towards it and then...

Bam! It slid of the chitinous surface and didn't do a single bit of damage. "Huh..." He was certain that he'd used all of his force. He was absolutely certain that he was strong enough to take another creature down -- after all, by now he had killed half a hundred beasts far scarier than this one -- that last thing might have been a lie even for him. 

Then he turned around mid air - - twisted his body around several rotations, forcing all of his body into his kick - which launched into the chitinous creature and... still, nothing would happen... 

... 

"What!" - - - Konrad wouldn't know what to do, only his leg would work against creatures like these, and it didn't even do any harm... Epsilon-1 would then launch a counterattack, striking one of its mandibles right against him whilst he was defenceless in the air. His breath left him and he yelled out, "Agh!" 

The mandible was as sharp as a blade and sliced a nasty wound across his chest - a kind of wound that would make many men bleed out in agony... but Konrad only felt a warmth that was similar to that of blood, but then the warmth faded - - the wound had closed completely. 

'I can't die, and I can't kill it. What am I supposed to do!' 

An image flashed in his head - a childhood memory, was his life flashing before his eyes? A beetle he saw before his eyes, a creature that had lived in one of the gardens of his housing. He would for no reason lift the beetle up, and like a feral child he would pull the scaly chitinous exoskeleton off of it, the surface was moveable! Beneath he saw a slimy mass of green blood and disgusting components... 

When Konrad was back to his battle, he had already subconsciously dodged all of the coordinated strikes of Epsilon-1, 'That must be it then! The scales are moveable, if I could twist one open, then I could strike it!' 

He took a deep breath in preparation for the move to come, 'Come here, come here...' He would be in a stand still, and the chitinous creature called upon by the name of Epsilon 1, bit with his horrible mandibles into the body of Konrad. His victory was assured, a joy only an insect could feel... 

But the human creature was slippery, as soon as the mandibles had clinched together, he would let his body fall to the ground - - then it would run to the side with all the force of his body, seeing one of the scales moving slightly, just slightly, then with all his power he would strike upwards with his foot - his toes first. 

A horrible crunch was heard as he broke all the bones in the top of his foot. But the force was worth it. A sticky greenish bluish slime poured out of the wound, 'Yes!' In excitement only a battle can produce a painful screech was heard - his foot would twist around, falling closer to the creature. 

The pain in his foot, the pain radiating from his neck - all of it was incomparable to the opportunity before him. His body falling towards the creature, he would turn that velocity right through his hand, putting has his effort into it. 

Falling with the punch, his hand would go straight through the opening, gushing with the horrible juices of the chitinous creature. A few blood curdling moments would go by, and then - - - boom! 

The look of disgust on the faces of the watchers were something unlike he'd ever seen. The stoic expressions of the Church Lords were his idea of human expression. How come they didn't find entertainment in this? They had cheered for Epsilon-1, and Epsilon-1 was in a thousand fleshy pieces, crawling towards him. 

It wasn't disgust - - it was disappointment, the fascination of the battle had faded. One said, "That was disgusting.", and another said, "That couldn't be a human.", "I hope the angel rips him apart." 

Then the gates of metal and wood would be raised. The gate had opened and he had survived. 

[ You have cleansed another rotting soul...] 

[ The God of Rot shows interest in you... ] 

"What in the...?" He went through the gates, and heard that he had been noticed by the very perpetrator of this world... The gate opened, and the "survivor" was allowed to leave... 

These were quarters for the "projects" - - - he could not see a single door, it was almost as though they had been teleported into this area. But all around him were other people, all of them in cages. 

At the very edge - furthest away he could see a cage which wasn't bare, it looked secluded and a tad bit bigger than the rest. He couldn't see into it like the rest of the cages. 'Was someone in there?'

Then he saw one cage which was open - - it wasn't told directly, but he could sense that this place was the one he should enter...

"New guy, eh? Fall for Aphaim's tricks, huh?" the man clicked with his tongue. "Everyone's naive in this world, but you killed the first guy. So welcome, I'm Viktor, another victim of rot..." 

...