A wild roar blasted out from the portal as an 8 foot tall hunched over humanoid with four arms, two of which were pincers like those of an insect, and the other two scaled and clawed like some sort of lizard. They had a roughly shaped humanoid head, if not a bit oblong as it spread wide like some sort of elaborate head dress. Veins could be seen spread over their head, connected to a bulbous protrusion on it, they had two eyes thankfully, but the piercing yellow gaze was definitely not something to feel relieved about.

Cole turned around swiftly and started scrambling over chairs and people, it was total chaos, and with how large this bloody arena was, it would take forever to find an exit, and even if he did find one, with the amount of people struggling to get through, they would all be sitting ducks for the aliens heading their way. He was placed a little higher than most on the bleachers, and he was able to notice a wide support beam that ran the entire length of the coliseum. But it wasn’t just the beam he noticed, it was the metal walkway above it, and a bright red and green door that read service entrance.

It wasn’t just luck that helped him locate the exit, with how big this place was, in case of emergencies, a lot of easily accessible exits would have been made. The workers would need a way to move about unseen, and a service entrance above all of the spectators seemed like the way to go. Cole affirmed his choice and scrambled over the head of a teenager, he could not be more than fifteen, but at the moment Cole could not bring himself to care as someone crashed into another besides him.

At first he thought it was someone with a little bit more desperation than him, but instinct saved him as a chitinous scythe with a gleaming silver edge came streaking down. He jumped forwards, leaving the head of the teenager in the way as the alien took it off with one clean sweep. For a moment it was extremely visceral, blood splurted out as his head came to a stop under one of the seats.

“Bobby!” .

That was incredibly stupid, but not a scenario Cole couldn’t bring himself to appreciate. The girlfriend or perhaps was she his sister drew the alien’s attention, enough for Cole to escape… but then there was a change. The body of the teenager glowed briefly, and in its place was an amber colored jewel. And perhaps it would have been better for Cole to just move on, his chances of survival if he could get to his service entrance would be secure, but greed and perhaps a little bit of carelessness from everything that he has gone through in recent memory pushed him.

And it was a choice that pretty much changed the course of his life as turned around and deftly picked up the Prism. The girlfriend or sister, or perhaps she was his mom was already in the hands of the alien, her eyes open wide in shock as she looked at Cole, pleading for help, but all she got was a view of his back as the Nijat drove its scythe and claws in and out of her body at regular intervals, like it was some symphony of sexual madness, it’s hulking form shaking with each thrust.

Cole ignored the looks of horror that some people sent his way, but his one choice of going back to pick up the Prism seemed to have ignited a fire in some people, as one friend… or perhaps they weren’t friends, dragged someone back and smashed his head into the edge of a seat. It was a shocking event, one that gave everyone around pause as the startled cry of the person being murdered kept them rooted in place while the would be or rather the murderer did his grim job with a wild smirk on his face. When the light of despawn faded away, and the killer had a prism in hand with his clothes covered in blood, he chuckled, and then turned his gaze towards the crowds and the still moving away Cole, unfortunately, so too did the alien.

It took one massive leap, crushing the people Cole had tried to put between him and it. Another swipe, but this time there was no time to dodge, so Cole did the next best thing and pulled the woman in front of him backwards, her yellow dress ripping in the process and exposing her cream colored bra. The scythe split her in two, causing the alien to over extend enough for Cole to scale its hulking body and deliver a power knee strike under its jaw that pushed it backwards then down on its ass in a dazed state.

[<>Unlocked Knowledge: Martial Arts Master! +30 to Dexterity, +15 to Perception<>]

[<>Dexterity Stat Is Now Bronze III. Perception Stat Is Now Bronze II<>]

Knowledge was a welcomed aspect of Titan Rising that many people sought after, even more than prisms and the skills they could give. Depending on what knowledge you manage to unlock, you would receive bonus stats, and be able to utilize said knowledge at the same level of mastery you have outside the game, or by the rarity of the knowledge unlocked. They’re not skills, more like traits, and they only give one time bonuses of stats. Apart from that they were just somewhat fancy passive skills, but in the end they gave edges where skills failed, and helped one live in the game without the need to be solely driven to explore, clear dungeons or hunt monsters. Plus the knowledge would also affect the final class he would get, so it wasn’t too bad of a knowledge to unlock.

Cole left the dazed Alien behind, making sure to pick up the Prism of the woman that was just killed. He barely made it five steps when he felt something crash into him. He stumbled over a few chairs with the indestructible prisms in his chest pocket, driving themselves into his ribs with how hard they were and taking his breath away. But that was not the height of the pain as he felt even more pain when the alien, a much smaller version of the one that he had just attacked, and quite lithe and supine took a bite out of his shoulder.

“Arghhhh!”

For the first time in a long time, Cole had to scream out in pain. But this alien wasn’t letting go, instead he began to feel a drain as sucking sounds with the occasional slurps was head from the creature on his shoulder. Cole was so shocked that he could not even stop himself from asking out loud to the alien, or perhaps it was just an attempt for him to make sense of what the fuck was happening to him right now.

“You’re eating me?”

It was a stark realization, and from that realization anger burst forth, Cole was never one to lay over in a fight, especially when he was damn good at it. And it was not as if he particularly enjoyed violence, as far as his life was concerned he was actually quite a swell guy once you got to know him. Quiet, composed, kind to a very detrimental fault, and also very opinionated and that too to a fault. But he was good at hurting people, physically and perhaps maybe emotionally, it was what the family had trained him for, a way for him to survive as they made their god forsaken foray into the Earth’s criminal underworld, even when trying to get onboard with the Space Guilds.

But going down memory lane was not what was required right now, Cole wanted and needed to live. He bent forwards utilizing his weight and mostly that of the alien on his shoulder to throw it forwards. It was latched on pretty tightly to his shoulders, causing an extra amount of pain in the process, but that didn’t stop him from grabbing the head of the alien and dragging it down to the ground. It was ugly, with a mouth that looked like a lampreys, ringed with fangs and glistening with his blood. Cole did not stand on ceremony as he began to rain down sure debilitating and very devastating strikes onto the face of the alien, his anger in full swing, inundated with every punch he threw.

“How. Dare. You. Eat. Me! It. Is. I. Who. Will. Eat. You!”

And with that said, he bent down and grabbed a hold of the Alien’s neck with his teeth, and in a scene that shocked those who saw it, the first Alien included, Cole ripped into the alien’s throat, taking big gulps of its tangy silver blood, and roaring out in anger as he pulled back and smashed it’s skull to the ground, spraying alien brain matter all over his body. Almost instantly there was a flash with a grey prism left behind while a notification popped up, but Cole was not done, as he moved to the side with ease, ignoring his bleeding shoulder as the hulking Nijat Alien had gone after him.

It has already been established that these aliens were only just fearsome looking in appearance and somewhat fast. They were squishy, a good enough hit would rock them, and perhaps there were stronger versions of them around, but it was definitely not this lot right here. And while he wanted to escape, he was done running like some sort of pussy and scrambling about like sheep, he was done living his life without a definite say in it. So yeah the real world is fucked up and it has hurt him countless times, but he would never! Never allow the same thing to be said for Titan Rising’s final event, he would not be weak and bend, not when the whole world was watching.

“Fuck you!” he screamed out loud as he threw a punch with all of his power at the bulbous spot on the alien’s head, he would take the fight to them.