Chef in the Apocalypse

"Third option?" Garu raised his eyebrow, a hint of confusion.

It was only after a moment that he seemingly understood. Colin, Heath and the others tensed up, expecting the terrifying being to blow his lid and start attacking everything in the surroundings.

However, things took a different turn.

"I almost forgot that you humans lack intelligence." He said, chastising himself inwardly for forgetting something that was so obvious.

"There are only two options." He then held up two fingers, even slowing down his speech as he explained further like he was talking to children.

"Mmph." Colin covered his mouth, stopping the laugh that threatened to come out to the surface. Perhaps his nerves were so taut that such a scene had caused him to lose his composure.

However, he was not the only one to laugh. Victor threw his head back and laughed heartily, as if he had heard the best joke in the world.

The surrounding army were dead silent. They feared drawing any attention to themselves from either party, lest they become collateral damage.

After his laughter died down, Victor cast his gaze back at Garu, yet there was no more amusement visible in his features.

"You seem to underestimate us humans. What makes you so confident that you can beat us all?" He questioned in a deep and unyielding tone.

Victor’s bad habit had reared its head once more. The stronger the enemy he faced, the more fired up he would get. Even Colin, who was a battle maniac, would have to fold in comparison to him.

No matter how many times he had been beaten by Jayce, he would always challenge him with the same confident and battle-hungry expression. This was likely the reason as to why he could increase his strength with such a solid foundation in such a short amount of time.

Being looked down upon only stoked his warrior spirit, making his palms itch with anticipation.

Now it was Garu’s turn to laugh. He let out a slight chuckle, finding the whole scene to be ridiculous.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you? You may have more warriors, but they are like mere ants in front of my Core Formation realm. You should at least know this much even with your slow wit."

Garu continued to make fun of and belittle Victor and the human race. While the human army was filled with trepidation, there was only so much that people could take.

Being constantly shat on by an invader after they had been fighting valiantly left a sour taste in their mouth. Soon enough, the warriors began to speak up their displeasure.

"Shut your mouth Grimace! If anyone is dense its your mom!" Agni was the first to speak up, throwing out an insult instantly.

"Yeah, and what’s up with those horns? Was your mother a goat or something?"

"HAHA!" Peels of laughter rang out through the human army at those words. Creating a light hearted atmosphere despite the immense danger they were in.

Garu tilted his head in confusion. He wasn’t sure what a goat was, however he could understand that it was most definitely an insult that was directed at him. The laughter afterwards was indicative enough.

His face turned into a frown as he tried to look for the one who spoke the words, however there were too many people. Not having come across humans before, he had trouble identifying anyone.

Anger creeped into his heart, causing his muscles to quiver.

Victor felt that an attack was imminent, so he decided to take the initiative. He burst forward with great speed, wanting to catch the enemy off guard and prevent him from killing everyone in the surroundings.

Despite his willingness to fight, he knew that no one here was a match for Garu. The best case scenario was to hope and pray that Jayce could defeat the other Core Formation enemy and come and help.

However, Victor was way too experienced to let his worry show on his face.

Garu did not even react as Victor closed the distance, he was as unmovable as an old oak tree. When he felt a slash coming from a tricky angle from below, he merely lifted his lower right arm and parried it with his hand.

The sound of metal clashing rang out as Victor was thrown back by the casual movement of the four armed alien. He felt a tremor run up his arm, giving him an idea of just how tough this guys skin was.

Garu lifted his hand, a frown forming on his face a moment later, seeing a small cut at the scene.

"Where did you get a heavenly treasure from?"

He was genuinely curious. Heavenly treasures only appeared once a world have fully ascended into a higher plain. Whereas Earth was still currently in the midst of its evolution.

However, Victor did not answer his question, choosing to rush back in instead.

Without a word, Garu summoned four short swords into each one of his hands. It was as if he had finally started to take his enemy seriously, or perhaps he had just grown tired of the status quo.

Victor’s slashes were sharp and concise, always coming from unpredictable angles. Yet Garu easily parried the attacks, meeting them with confidence and unparalleled strength.

If his sword was not a heavenly treasure, it would have broken a thousand times over by now, yet that did little to assuage Victor’s worries.

He could easily tell that he was outmatched in speed and power and there was nothing that he could do to bridge the gap. He debated whether to call on Colin and Heath, as well as some of Jayce’s other party members, but he quickly discarded that idea.

They would probably just get in his way before dying miserably.

A grin appeared on Garu’s face as he continued to nonchalantly block all of Victor’s blows.

"Now that you’ve shown me your combat abilities, I want you as a disciple even more." Garu said, his eyes gleaning.

With a heavy hand, he slashed out at Victor’s weapon, forcing him to drop it to the ground in front of him. Yet instead of rushing in to deliver a crucial blow, he kicked the sword back over to Victor, motioning for him to collect it.

"Good good, I definitely have a impeccable vision. You have a solid foundation, good potential and your battle hunger is insatiable." Garu sang his praises, yet he was actually giving himself a pat on the back.

Victor merely looked at him as if he was crazy, before picking up his sword from the ground and gripping it tightly. Their situation was not looking good.

He could feel Colin’s gaze drilling into the back of his head, as if awaiting a word to jump in. However, he knew that if he turned around now, the Colin would take it as an invitation to join the battle.

So Victor ignored Jayce’s right hand man and was about to dive back into the fight, but was stopped by Garu’s voice.

"How about I make another deal?" Garu intoned, a small smile creeping onto the side of his lips.

Victor gripped the hilt of his short sword after hearing those words. He had a gut feeling that he was not going to like the next words out of this guys mouth. And sure enough, he was right.

"I will give you another chance to become my disciple. However... If you decline, I will kill someone here every 10 seconds until you change your mind."

Victor shook his head, this changed nothing. Garu would kill everyone here regardless of if he became his disciple or not, therefore accepting his terms would not change anything.

Seeing Victor shake his head, Garu’s smile widened even more.

"I bet you’re thinking that I’ll kill these people either way, so what is the point?" He let out a slight chuckle.

Victors eyes widened, a hint of suspicion climbing onto his face. If he knew this information, then what was the point in talking in the first place?

"It’s probably easier if I show you."

Garu lifted one of his arms which held a short sword. It suddenly disappeared, replaced by a blood-red banner.

The sound of ghoulish screams suddenly assaulted the battlefield, followed by the pungent scent of blood. The people in the surroundings were forced to cover their noses due tot he sudden situation.

As his eyes laid upon the banner, Victor’s face warped in disgust. There was something really off about the blood-red banner that Garu had just summoned.

Without saying another word, Garu threw one of the remaining 3 swords into the crowd of humans. The sword flew through the air in the blink of an eye, forcing its way through an unfortunate mans skull and reaping his life instantly.

Everyone looked over in shock as the man fell backwards, never to get up again.

However, the next thing that happened caused them immense shock and torment.

A ghostly figure arose from the body of the now deceased human warrior. It floated into the air before letting out a shriek. In the next moment, the ghostly apparition was forcefully dragged by something invisible towards Garu.

And then, before anyone could say a word, the apparition was sucked into the banner which glowed in a dark radiance in response.

"Hahaha! See? I told you it would be easier if I showed you." Garu said gleefully, turning his attention to the banner and stroking it gently.

Victor’s face fell and his expression darkened. "Did you just absorb his soul?" He asked with a deep tone.

"Bingo!"