Chapter 53 - 51

EX Story: The Ape King’s Ascension Part II

'Their connection was gone…'

That was the first thing that the Future Ape King had noticed after waking up. And because he also remembered what had happened before, he blacked out, the Future Ape King couldn’t possibly deny the fact that his master died at that time. But after meeting face to face with that human and realizing how powerless he currently was, even his d.e.s.i.r.e for revenge was snuffed out and he fell into the pits of despair. After all, he came to the realization that even if he somehow succeeded to escape and kill that human, there was just no way that he could bring back all of those that he lost.

'All of it was gone. Forever out of his reach. Never again would he feel that same warmth. Never again would he return to that time.' All these thoughts ate away at his mind.

Honestly, the Future Ape King didn’t even know how much time had passed. And while all those thoughts were swirling into his head, some human guards had come into his cage and forcefully brought him out. But because he was lacking any form of d.e.s.i.r.e, he didn’t try to resist nor fight back. The next thing he knew, his ears were ringing with the sounds of enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.

As light slowly returned into the Future Ape King’s eyes, he saw something solid flying towards the right side of his head. In that instant, danger signals rang into his head and his right arm automatically moved to protect his head.

But probably because he moved out of pure instinct without any real intent behind, the blow wasn’t fully blocked and the Future Ape King was sent rolling into the ground. Then, with a high-pitched sound still ringing into his ears, the Future Ape King tried to stand. Unfortunately, his arm was severely damaged from that attack, and so it failed to support the weight of his body causing him to fall back down.

Taking advantage of that chance, a human rushed towards the Future Ape King. And while holding a mace with both of his hands, the human raised it up above his head and swung it down with all his might.

Confused at his own actions, the Future Ape King gazed at his hands while repeatedly asking the question why. And strangely enough, every single time he was attacked, the Future Ape King’s body never failed to react. Sometimes he would dodge, and when it was impossible to avoid an attack, he would instead block. Though obviously, each and every single one of his movements were sluggish. This was probably due to the fact that there was no clear intent behind those movements. As a result, the injuries in the Future Ape King’s body were slowly piling up. But even then, it was still clear to see that it was only thanks to those movements that the Future Ape King was still alive. In fact, it almost seemed like each and every movement was done with that exact purpose in mind. No, that might actually be the case.

It was then that from the very depths of his consciousness, the Future Ape King heard his master’s words.

'Live… At the very least, you need to survive…'

Upon hearing that, the Future Ape King’s eyes lit up. And for the very first time during the match, the Future Ape King launched a counter-attack.

*BOOM!!*

A dull sound reverberated through the colosseum as Future Ape King’s fist landed on his opponent’s weapon. Surprisingly, the human managed to react in time and successfully block that attack using his mace. Despite that, the human was still sent flying backwards after receiving the full brunt impact of that punch.

Then, while the human was still trying to recover, the Future Ape King focused his mind and once again searched for the missing connection. But no matter how much he tried, the Future Ape King didn’t find what he was looking for. Instead, what he found was a trace. No, it wasn’t a trace; it was a remnant. And within that remnant was his master’s final message. In short, it was his master’s last will.

“Hello partner, looks like you are alive and well! Now, I am pretty sure that you’re quite confused with this turn of events, but don’t worry, I will now explain so, listen carefu—”

In the midst of listening to that message, the Future Ape King’s concentration was suddenly interrupted when the human launched a surprise attack.

Being in the point-blank range when that wave of bloodl.u.s.t was unleashed, the human who was in the midst making his follow-up attack faltered. As a result, his form became feeble and sluggish effectively diminishing both the power and speed of his swing. And in that instant, without even breaking a sweat, the Future Ape King caught that attack.

With a small creaking sound, the Future Ape King tightened his grip into the mace then forcefully pulled it close. Naturally, the human who didn’t want to let go was also pulled along only to receive a kick straight into his stomach. Because of that, the human crumbled into his knees and unconsciously let go his weapon. Then, while looking down at his opponent, the Future Ape King swiftly adjusted the mace in his hand and made a fast and sharp horizontal swing.

*CRASH!!*

Accompanied by the sounds of breaking bones, the human was sent flying and tumbling into the ground. Though surprisingly enough, the human actually managed to barely block that attack though he broke both of his arms in the process.

While letting out a weak groan, the human forced his body to stand. But in that moment, before he even managed to move his legs, the human felt a cold and chilling sensation crawling down his spine. As a result, he became unable to move as if something had frozen his body stiff.

“Guh…” It was only then that humans sensed the source of that dreadful aura. To be more specific, the source was currently standing right in front of him.

Probably as a result of his terror and confusion, the human unconsciously lifted his head up. And in there, he saw a monster with an ominous glowing-eyes looking down at his small and insignificant figure. Then while growling like an angry beast, the monster bared its grinding fangs as if showing off its deep seething rage.

At that moment, the human was completely taken over by fear. As a result, even during that time when the monster was slowly raising up its mace, the human could only watch while shivering in absolute horror. Of course, the human was completely aware that it would be the end of him once that mace was brought down. But because he somehow viewed the monster before him as the physical manifestation of death, his mind in its entirety had long since given up. And well, he wasn’t wrong in thinking things like that. After all, even if he resisted, he would only be delaying the inevitable.

Then, as he watched the reaper’s hand inching towards his soul, the human saw his face being reflected in the monster’s eyes. And in that instant, as his life was flashing before his eyes, a single regretful thought surfaced in his mind.

'Ahh… Freedom is out of my reach after a—'

Unfortunately, without ever finishing that thought, the mace of death was brought down from up above. And as a plethora of blood was spilled all over the place, the wretched human fell and died with a splat.

***

After witnessing the brutal end of that battle, the whole colosseum was briefly covered in complete silence. But after a single clap resounded, it slowly began to spread all around until the entire place was finally filled with cheers of celebration and praise.

Despite that, the Future Ape King didn’t show any kind of response. And the reason for that was actually simple; 'now that the pest was gone, he could finally focus on listening to his master’s message.' But since the battle was finally over, the Future Ape King failed to realize that it was about time for him to be sent back into his cell. That was why before he even managed to start searching for the message once again, the collar in the Future Ape King’s neck suddenly shined and his entire body was assaulted by a powerful shock.

“GRAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

As the Future Ape King roared, the shining collar released an electric current and it crawled all over the Future Ape King body. And when it was finally done, the Future Ape King collapsed on the ground with smoke coming out from his body.

“Grr…” While letting out a weak growl, the Future Ape King used the last bit of his strength and tried to move his body. Unfortunately, all his efforts were in vain because the electric shock had completely numbed and immobilized his body by that point. But, before his consciousness faded, the Future Ape King saw something at the end of his vision.

[Congratulations, individual {Unnamed} has awakened.]