One Man Guild

(WARNING: Some curse words are not redacted here, that is no * (asterisk). This is because using the * heavily affects the mood of the writing in this chapter. Furthermore, some violent scenes will be portrayed, but not depicted in a gory sense.)

Empty.

Darkness.

Twinkling eyes.

A mischievous laugh.

He stared at the child, about to say something.

A child?

Fuzzy memories.

He felt it was going to say something important.

What?

He went closer.

The child smirked, its mouth opening.

"Ding-dong! Ding-dong!"

Wuji stirred awake.

"Ding-dong! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! ..."

His veins popped as he covered his ears with his pillow. The orc.h.e.s.tra of dings continued to play relentlessly, penetrating his feathery sanctuary.

He opened his eyes, bloodshot with killing intent. Ignoring the protests of his aching body, Wuji deliriously ran to the door.

"Who is it?" he growled. Opening the door, he was met with a bombardment of spit, his eyes closing shut as he gagged in disgust.

"Shut-in, you've got a package! I can't believe someone actually sent you something. And where's my rent?!" spat a grotesque woman, her face a moving mass of skin; a living creature of fat. The rest of her body had similar creatures, jiggling and moving around their plump host.

Ignoring the landlady, Wuji curtly grabbed the package from her enormous hands, quickly slamming the door shut with his {Spirit Power}. As he wiped away the slime from his face, the woman's shrill screeching made him shudder.

"How dare you shut the door in front- in front of me?! When I-"

Wuji frantically searched for his headset, putting it on. Soothing music drowned out the woman's hideous voice. Preserving his sanity, he sighed in relief. Although she had the keys, she would never be able to get in if he utilized his powers.

Yawning, he stretched out his sore body, rubbing his drowsy eyes. He hardly had any sleep last night. The meeting with the child- child? The god! That was it! Yes, it was the announcement for Transcendence that had resulted in a sleepless night. A week? He could hardly wait that long with Freedom!'s servers now closed.

Drumming his fingers across his chair's armrest as he waited for the computers to load, Wuji began thinking about VRS. Was that god really right? He had never fully tapped into his powers, sure, but it wasn't like he hadn't tried to. His control over objects depended on their mass- if he tried to pour his spirit through a huge object, such as a building, he would get a migraine. He had almost passed out once when he tried to stop a truck from hitting somebody. The experience discouraged any more testing of his powers beyond the scope of computers.

With the god's recommendation of VRS, he was hopeful that he could finally use the full potential of his powers- without getting a splitting headache. Unparalleled excitement coursed through him. How could he possibly wait?

The computer loaded up with a chime, interrupting his thoughts. The familiar Freedom! logo on his screen brought about a melancholic feeling; he realized that he would never be able to play Freedom! again. Feeling rather down, he turned off the computer. Wuji looked at the package he had received earlier. It was cube-shaped and rather small- about the size of a basketball.

All that was written on it was: "To Wang Wuji, From ImaGod." The rather unusual sender had made the landlady think that the package was sent by another weirdo and spared it no further thought. But if she knew what was really in it, she would've murdered Wuji and taken it for herself. Inside that package was an item that would cause a bloodbath.

He stuffed the sender tag in his pocket. Ripping the cover off, Wuji was left staring at a white cube with elliptical designs. What was this? Was it the VRS cabin? But… it was a little bit too small. He racked his brain on how exactly he was supposed to get it working. He poked it, soaked it, hit it, threw it, and even sat on it in frustration. After contemplating on his new chair, he thought about running his spirit power through the cube. It was a worth a try, right?

Praying that he wouldn't fall unconscious, Wuji's eyes lit up as they began emitting fine threads of green energy. He directed the spirit threads to the box, which began to consume the threads like an insatiable black hole.

"Shit! Don't take all of it!" Wuji cried out. He stopped the flow of spirit energy, closing his eyes as the threads began to dim away. The box made a terrifying roar in response. One of its elliptical designs began to glimmer as structures began to emerge around its lining. Wuji stared, horrified.

"-[\0| I{!)

{ {(! {0 {] {{[0 ]

!" It began making unidentifiable noises.

"Is that- teeth?!"

As if to answer his question, the structures finished molding into sharp, deadly points. Wuji gulped.

"All right… We- we can talk about this right?" he awkwardly smiled, backing away slowly.

Wuji quickly searched around for anything of use, but only found himself wishing that he had something besides gaming equipment. Cursing, he promised that he would obtain protective equipment, or even a weapon, if he somehow survived this. Using his spirit power to grab the chair, he threw it at a professional batter's speed, a flurry of black, red and gold that made his heart ache. That had been his gaming chair for over eight years.

The box stayed still even as the chair was about to make contact. Its mouth impossibly expanded, the entire chair disappearing into the dark abyss. Well, shit. Wuji ran, looking back at the box, still at the same location as before. Phew. The box, after all, was just a box. It wouldn't be able to move by itself. Of course, that's what he thought.

Wuji's eyes twitched in disbelief as the elliptical designs at its sides extended into cylindrical tubes, emanating blue light. It became a three-legged cube with a mouth full of sharp teeth. What the hell did that god send him?

It began walking towards him, its mouth a toothy grin. Crap! He had to run. He was already at the door, even if the box had ten legs it wouldn't be able to catch up to him. He grabbed the handle, ready to escape.

"Wuji, I'm coming for my rent! And for earlier- you'd better be ready for my... my punishment."

Wuji g.r.o.a.n.e.d, hearing the familiar voice, sickening his stomach. Of all times, now?!

"You can't escape this time," the landlady whispered, a loud roaring sound filling Wuji's ears.

Using his spirit power, he looked past the door. Shit, she was already here! And what was she holding? A chainsaw?! What. The. F.u.c.k.

Chuckling, the landlady had been prepared this time. She had been tired of being unable to open Wuji's door, no matter how many times she changed the handle. She giggled as disturbing thoughts pervaded her mind- of all the things she would do, oh she had so much planned for Wuji. The landlady was also known as the cursed demon, infamous for luring and doing horrific things to young men- who committed suicide after the experience. At least, the ones who survived did.

Looking at his options, Wuji felt like he was the luckiest man in the world. He could choose between getting eaten by a box monster or having a fat hag with a chainsaw make him wish he had never born. Wuji nodded, this was a great situation to be in. Ah, F*ck. Who was he kidding?

He stared at the approaching box, only a few seconds away, the roaring of the chainsaw behind the door. Swearing under his breath, Wuji used his spirit power to try and push back the box, but as he expected, it just absorbed it. However, it did manage to occupy the box-creature for a while, taking its time to devour the energy. Wuji sighed in relief, but then flinched as he felt the door behind him begin to splinter, the wood cracking.

"Wuji...If you don't open this door, then you'll have to pay for it. With your body."

Chills ran down his spine. What could he do? Wuji took a deep breath. He needed to calm down, there was always a way out. Deep breaths. That was it, just deep bre- OW! He winced in pain as he felt a splinter break his delicate skin.

Rubbing his arm, he suddenly came across an idea. He grabbed some of the wooden splinters. If the box wanted spirit energy, then items imbued with it over many years would be able to satiate its appetite. After all, this was not the first time he had locked the door using spirit energy. He might as well try- he had no other ideas.

"Landlady?"

'Wuji- you've finally decided to come out? I knew you'd change your mind if I used a chainsaw."

"Oh, yes, I really do quite love it. Why- why don't you come in?"

Wuji shut off his spirit power completely. The door began creaking as it fell over, its previous support gone.

"Wuji, I have you now!" The woman m.o.a.n.e.d, a perverted expression on her face.

She sluggishly moved, her fat jostling around; a truly nefarious sight. Wuji looked away, bile going up his throat. The box-creature, angry again with its loss of food, looked ahead at this newcomer, seeming to blame it for its loss of food. It began moving but stopped. The creature stared at the spirit-infused wood and the chainsaw. The landlady, finally noticing it, screamed in horror.

"AHHH! What the hell is that?!" She tried to back away, but her body made her crawl at a snail's pace.

As her screams filled the air, Wuji took this opportunity to carefully sneak away, hiding behind his computers.

"You- you stay away!" threatened the landlady, tightly gripping her chainsaw as she waved it at the box-creature. It went out of its trance, moving towards the woman, whose action proved to only encourage the box, not to dissuade it. It probably thought that she was trying to give it food.

"AHH!" She hit the box, which roared in anger. Its mouth began to grow in size, its large, deadly teeth dripping a viscous, clear liquid.

"AHH! AH! AHHH-" The landlady, along with the chainsaw, disappeared into the thing's mouth.

Holy shit! Behind the computers, Wuji's body shook in terror. The box began consuming the splinters and pieces of wood laying around, and after no more was left, it laid down.

"Gurrp!" The box made a burping sound. Its tubes began to retract back inside, and the teeth disappeared. It looked exactly like a harmless box again- although Wuji would never assume that for the rest of his life. It made a humming sound as a cold, emotionless voice rang out.

"Owner confirmed: Wang Wuji. Spirit Potential: ??????? Spirit Type: [Limitless Soul]"

"Owner Grading: C-

Reasoning: Superior spirit energy, but stingy with food."

His eyes began twitching, but even after noticing the box's change in behavior, Wuji was wary and wouldn't go closer- it might eat him up after all.

After waiting about twenty minutes, Wuji sighed in relief. It seemed it was full now. As he sat down, his face quickly contorted- he had almost died! F*ck! When I meet that god again, I swear I'll-I'll... Muttering underneath his breath, he went near the box.

It made no reaction.

He poked at it.

Suddenly, its elliptical design expanded.

"Oh sh*t!" Wuji yelled, s.u.c.k.e.d into the abyss.