Lord of the Karmic Fate

Raven took five full steps backward before he decided to slightly lower his posture with his left leg extended behind his body and his right leg gently bent forward. His torso was also bent forward a little while his right hand was in front of his body and his left hand just a bit behind him.

At this moment, he looked just like an athlete before the start of a sprint, waiting for the signal to sound.

"Come one... Believe in it... You can do it... What is the worst thing that could happen to you if you fail, huh?" Raven muttered quietly to comfort himself, even moving his body to and fro in one place to boost his confidence.

Then, once his faith in himself that he could achieve the seemingly impossible increased and reached an acceptable level, he didn't waste a second and pressed his feet firmly against the solid ground, resulting in it sinking below his feet scarcely.

Whoosh!

Bam!

With a momentum that in the past would have been impossible for him to achive, Raven dashed forward and once he was just a single meter away from the tree he quickly jumped, placed a foot on the tree's trunk, and kicked himself into the opposite direction with all the strength he could muster.

'It all comes down to this!' Raven thought with clenched teeth as he watched how he was soaring through the air about two meters above the ground and used his Moon Rabbit Slippers to jump once more in mid-air just before his descent could have started.

And to his greatest happiness and joy, the moment he hopped for a second time, he had no trouble at all reaching the other tree despite it being five to seven meters away from the other one!

In the past, Raven was 100% sure he wouldn't have been able to jump more than three meters from one place to another, much less five or more! Yet, almost as if by magic, with his slippers and these Avatar Traits, he was somehow able to achieve the impossible!

Raven wished to howl toward the moon from pure joy, but knowing way too well he was just getting started and what consequences will he end up with if he lets his excitement get over his head he kept his focus.

'It's here.' just before reaching the second tree, Raven quickly pushed his shoulders to the right, allowing him to turn around during mid-flight. Then, once he was facing the direction where the first tree was, he extended his legs and flexed his feet.

Bam!

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Raven's face turned slightly ugly from the pain when he crashed into the tree, but as he has already expected this to happen he just ignored the pain and with a powerful and fast stomp on the tree's surface he kicked himself back into the air once again.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!...

Jumping in empty air, turning around during mid-flight, reducing impact with his leg, stomping on the tree, and bouncing back into the air once again...

Raven repeated these steps without rest like some kind of superhuman, quickly reaching the top and achieving a feat that until now should have been impossible to accomplish!

"I... I really have... done it...?" Pulling himself up onto a branch that was thick enough to accommodate even an adult human without breaking, Raven rested the weight of his body on the tree's trunk and placed one leg on either side of the branch to make sure he won't fall.

"Nah... This should be impossible." Raven mumbled with disbelief and took a glance downward, only to regret that decision in the next second.

All the blood from his face vanished and his body turned into jelly. He could even swear that if it were not for him sitting perfectly balanced on the branch he definitely would have fallen by now!

"We are pretty high up, huh? This tree is definitely above fifty meters, could be even sixty if you ask me!"

As Raven forced himself to avert his gaze from the sight below and instead concentrate tried to focus on the scenery in front of him, suddenly a somewhat familiar voice appeared from beside him, causing his body to uncontrollably flinch.

Unknown since when, but on the branch just a single meter beside Raven a young man sat, his leg swinging beside the branch casually. His back, just like Raven's, was against the tree's trunk but his gaze instead of looking panicked or pale was full of awe and amusement.

For god's sake, he even smirked unconcernedly, ignoring the fact that he was just a push away from falling into his demise!

'This again... Just when did he get up here? I didn't notice him at all!'

No... It was not about detecting him or not, but just since when was he up here? Raven could swear on his life that when he looked up even before starting jumping from tree to tree this guy was not up here!

Thinking about this, Raven slowly couldn't help but think that the weak guy on his side was either a skilled and talented assassin with an insane ability to climb on trees or just simply was a professional magician who could vanish and appear whenever and wherever he wanted.

Or even worse, perhaps...

"Perhaps he is a... ghost?" Raven blurted out slowly, causing the guy to shift his attention at him with a raised brow, looking at him rather puzzled.

"Ghost? No, I am a human and I even have a name, Felix." Felix said but soon he looked at his hands and body before adding with an awkward smile, "Though, if we consider just how frighteningly white my skin truly is, it is not an exaggeration to say I am something close to a ghost, yeah."

Raven opened his mouth to say something, only to find with surprise he couldn't as no words came out even after a full minute.

"Well, don't feel so shocked." Felix lowered his hands, resting one on his bent knee while leaving the other one hanging down, "Just like how you had your way to reach the top of this tree, I had mine too."

"Yeah, but..." Raven wished to ask a question when suddenly Felix placed his left index finger before his lips and pointed downward. Even his face turned slightly grave, something that caused his presence to become slightly heavier.

Raven followed Felix's finger and just as he thought, the grotesque-looking creature finally seemed to arrive. Although the fog was dense and he could hardly take out its appearance, the tall and thin frame of it with its long limbs easily helped Raven to confirm it.

Raven watched silently how the creature walked left and right, seemingly in search of him before it suddenly snapped its head toward a specific direction and dashed into the distance.

"Sigh... That was close..." Raven let out a sigh of relief before he frowned and contemplated out loud, "But why did it dash away so fast?"

"To collect another soul."

"Huh?" Raven was shaken, but it was not even a second later when suddenly a shrill and bone-piercing scream traveled through the forest, reaching the spot where he was.

'...'

Raven looked toward the direction from where the scream just came from and quickly realized that it was the exact same location where the creature has vanished to.

"And... There goes another one." Felix said calmly, his face rather indifferent at this very moment.

Raven opened his mouth to say something, only to end up closing it and deciding not to say anything. Even a fool would understand what Felix meant by those words of his, and although he didn't wish to accept it, sometimes the best thing was to accept reality.

"Just what the hell is happening?" was what Raven could ask after ten full minutes of silence as he was simply too confused and lost to raise another question.

Yeah, although he has accepted reality no matter how impossible it seemed to be, he still struggled to get used to it. Like, people were dying by a creature before he only saw in horror videos, one even losing his life before his very eyes!

He definitely needs a little more time before he can adapt to all this hell completely, that was for sure.

Felix, on the other hand, just hummed quietly and said, "I was in a hospital when this... Deity, as she called herself, brought me with the rest into this presumed Realm Game without any hint or whatsoever."

"Huh? Wait... You... have been given no choice at the start at all?" a deep frown appeared on Raven's face when he heard the words Felix said, confusion taking over his mind.

Felix was brought into the Realm Game without any signal or hint? What about him then? Why was he given a choice by the magic panel at the start?

"Choice?" this time it was Felix's turn to look puzzled before raising a brow and telling, "I don't know what choice you are talking about, but I, and if my guess is correct everyone else too, was teleported into this Realm Game outside of our free will."

Then, as if remembering something he sighed and continued, "One moment I was inside the hospital on my bed, happily chatting with my mother, then the next... Bam! I found myself in this horror world where people get slain by a strange creature from some kind of horror movie!"

Raven was ready to ask something when he was forced silent by a sudden movement in the distance, hence attracting his gaze toward that specific direction.

Felix obviously noticed this and quickly followed his gaze and watched as a young girl with dirty high school clothes ran through the forest continuously looking back over her small shoulder with a panicked and terror-filled face.

"Sigh... Poor girl... May God give her a painless death." Felix let out a sorrowful sigh as he tilted his head gently against the tree's trunk and closed his eyes.

And not even a breath later he said those words, under the widened eyes of Raven, the tall creature emerged from the fog like a phantom, and with a fast swing of its long and bony arm, it beheaded the little girl.

There was no scream, no explosion, nothing. The only thing that was heard was the heavy sound of the little girl's head and body falling onto the ground, the former showing terror while the latter becoming lifeless once and for all!

Raven inhaled a mouthful of cold air when he saw this, however, it was not even a second before his eyes widened and his whole body tensed up as if he was just frozen into an ice sculpture.

'You must be fucking kidding me, right?' Raven cursed in his heart and with a pale face slowly shifted his gaze just slightly beside the little girl's corpse.

And just as he thought, the creature was indeed looking in his direction, staring straight up at him from below!