The hawk moved its right wing to the side.
SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!
Shang's body was pierced by seven long needles, his body now being pinned to the ground.
Blood flew out of Shang's mouth as several of his organs had been destroyed.
'That was so fast! I would have maybe been able to evade two of them.'
'But it shot seven!'
This was an insurmountable difference in power.
Even if Shang had tried his best, five of the huge needles would have still nailed him to the ground.
Shang's body tried to heal with Mana, but some kind of destructive force in the needles was preventing every form of healing.
Clink!
The hawk had landed on one of the needles and was looking into Shang's eyes.
There were no emotions in the hawk's eyes.
Shang was prey.
Predators didn't feel a connection to their prey.
Prey was only food.
Shang looked into the hawk's eyes.
The last thing Shang saw was the hawk's beak rapidly becoming bigger and bigger in his vision.
And then, it was over.
The hawk had pecked a hole through Shang's head.
This wasn't anything special.
This was simply a beast killing something.
Silence.
Suddenly, Shang's eyes shot open, and he took a deep breath.
Shang didn't think or say anything while simply looking at the sky.
The last moment before his death continuously replayed in his head.
This feeling…
It was indescribable.
It was a mixture of terror, shock, denial, and finality.
If put into words, this feeling would only be a loud shout of "No, please-".
It was a deeply seated fear in every living being.
This feeling wasn't like when someone decided to end their life. When someone decided to end their life, they were still in control, and they were the ones trying to end it.
This was a feeling of someone else having the ultimate power over you.
You will forever sleep because they want you to.
There was nothing you could do.
There was no control.
All the money in the world, all the power in the world, all the begging in the world wouldn't help you.
There was nothing you could do.
You are helpless.
This was how Shang had felt in his last moment.
It was terrifying.
The end of his journey.
The end of all his goals.
Everything he looked forward to would never reappear again.
Light and joy, taken.
A life, ended.
Clink!
Shang felt something metallic touch his right hand.
"Are you alright?" Sword's voice appeared in Shang's mind.
Shang took a deep breath and slowly sat up.
Then, Shang looked at his left shoulder.
His arm was back.
Most of Shang's anxiety left him, and he left out a long sigh.
"I'm fine," he said as he stood up.
"Are you sure?" Sword asked.
For a while, Shang didn't answer.
"I never want to feel this feeling again," he said.
"Is it so bad?" Sword asked.
"Yes," Shang answered.
"Could you describe it to me?" Sword asked.
Shang looked at Sword for a bit and looked away again.
"It's the epitome of helplessness."
"It is the opposite of power."
"It is the opposite of control."
Shang's eyes narrowed.
"I never want to feel this helpless again!" he said with conviction.
At that moment, two wheels appeared in Shang's vision.
"Well done, participant!" the mechanical female voice said. "You have earned eight points in the beast category!"
"Are you ready for the warrior category?"
Shang looked at the two wheels.
This time, there were no funny pictures on the wheels.
One wheel showed different weapons, while the other showed colors.
Shang was pretty sure that the colors represented different Affinities.
However, Shang was surprised that there were so many different colors!
There were probably over 25!
Together with all the Mixed Affinities, Shang barely knew thirteen!
'Sure enough, this world is far bigger than anyone in this place realizes,' Shang thought.
The Affinities on the wheel had different sizes.
The biggest ones were red, brown, green, and blue, which obviously represented fire, earth, wind, and water.
The second biggest ones were light-blue, silver, and grey, which represented ice, lightning, and metal.
After that came several different pictures with mixed colors.
Shang only recognized some of them.
One of them was blue on one side and black on the other. There was a slight purple sheen in the middle. Shang guessed that this represented the Poison Affinity.
One was red on one side and icy blue on the other. In the middle was a green sheen. This probably represented the Temperature Affinity.
However, there were several more of these mixed colors.
After that came two pure colors again.
White and black.
These obviously represented the Darkness and Light Affinities.
However, that still wasn't the end.
It was very difficult for Shang to see it, but he could swear there were even smaller colors, which meant that there were even rarer Affinities.
Apparently, Light and Darkness were not the rarest Affinities in the world.
However, these colors were so tiny that Shang could not even truly see them.
In essence, Shang only saw a thin, black line since they were so small.
These Affinities were probably extremely rare, even when looking at the entire world.
However, Shang only thought about these Affinities for a little bit.
His mind was still occupied with the feeling of death.
It was just so strange, intense, and indescribable.
"I'm ready," Shang said absentmindedly.
Then, the wheels began to spin.
"Level one: Weak Initial General Stage warrior."
Shang barely heard the voice as his mind tried to process the feeling of death.
The weapon wheel stopped at the image of a sword and shield.
Shang only looked at the ground, absentmindedly. He was thinking about something, but he wasn't sure what he was thinking about.
The Affinity wheel stopped at the Earth Affinity.
Shang didn't look at it.
After a short burst of light, a man appeared in the distance. He had long, brown hair, and he carried a sword and shield. He looked healthy and clean-shaven.
His posture looked relaxed.
The jester lifted his hand and hit the bell.
The man opened his eyes and looked at Shang.
Then, he readied his weapons in a scared manner.
He obviously wasn't confident in his own power.
When the jester had hit the bell, Shang looked at his opponent.
For a while, the two only looked at each other.
'This strange feeling that I never want to feel again is something I force on other people.'
Shang began to walk toward his enemy.
'When I kill them, they are feeling the same thing. They realize that they will never see their loved ones again.'
Shang took more steps as the man only hid behind his shield.
'The epitome of helplessness and losing control. This is something I inflict on others.'
Shang stepped closer.
'I am so scared of this feeling, and I feel terror just by thinking about it.'
Shang lifted his sword as the man struck forward with his sword.
Shang sidestepped the stab, and he now stood directly in front of his opponent.
And then, Shang vertically bisected the man's head.
The corpse collapsed to the ground, and Shang only looked at it as the cheering erupted again.
'But I have to do it.'
The corpse vanished, and the two wheels returned.
Shang narrowed his eyes.
'My goal is more important than their feelings!'
And the wheel began to violently spin again.
