Chapter 1: No Escape
"Is this it?" The voice of a man sliced through the silence that smothered the planet, edged with disdain. "You know, from the way the Primordial hyped up this galaxy, its Renegades, its oh-so-grand defenders, I figured you'd be tougher."
A man with dark, flowing hair and icy blue eyes hovered above the gruesome slaughter below him, gripping a young Renegade by his left ankle. The Renegade was stuck dangling upside down, his crimson hair streaked with blood, his face battered, and his chest torn open. Below them sprawled a wasteland of carnage and horror. Bodies were piled together like broken dolls, organs were Strewn across the ground, and pools of blood were present across the entire planet. The air reeked of copper and rot, almost dense enough to choke on.
The floating man, Ronin, was a reincarnator who had come to this planet with a single mission: kill every living thing on it. He had succeeded, and admirably so.
What was a reincarnator you ask?. They were the chosen, souls blessed by the Primordial with extraordinary, fathomless powers after being plucked from mediocre lives on a planet called Earth. After death, their souls were handpicked by the Primordial and brought here following a brief audience with the entity. He granted them special abilities—or "golden fingers," as Ronin liked to call them.
The people of this universe were undoubtedly evil, blasphemers who had strayed from the path of salvation. No matter how kind and caring they seemed, they couldn't be trusted. After all, a being beyond their comprehension had declared it so. Why would he lie? His words were undoubtedly the truth.
Ronin's worldview was solidified further with the Renegades, sinners who hunted righteous reincarnators like him. In this new life, he'd gained everything he ever craved: power to seize anything he desired, an endless supply of women to toy with before purging them due to their sadly evil nature. His past life as a bullied weakling beaten to death paled in comparison. Wiping out evil felt natural when asked.
"Guess it was all noise. Either that or this planet is just the bottom of the barrel." Ronin snickered, Jostling the last Renegade on this planet. droplets of blood fell, splattering the ruin below. "Tsk, how Underwhelming. I'm done here." With a sharp flick of his wrist, he moved to hurl the Renegade aside, only for a hand to seize his own, ironclad and unyielding
"What!?"
The Renegade's right boot crashed into his jaw with bone snapping force, shattering it. Teeth sprayed through the air as his scream tore out, mangled and wet.
"Ahhh! Myh jahww! Yohu brokhe my jahww!" He flailed, plummeting, his voice a wet slur as his tongue flopped uselessly..
The earth trembled with a deafening explosion as they crashed down, rubble blasting outward in all directions. Ronin slammed into jagged stone, agony ripping through his body as the Renegade had twisted mid fall, using him as a human shield.
Coughing, he clawed at the debris, spitting blood. "Damn iht! Whaht the heht was that?!"
He struggled to push himself up—then froze.
The Renegade's right hand was still clamped around him, unyielding as a vice.
"Finally," the Renegade rasped, his voice a low, icy whisper. "I caught you."
He rose from the dust, a figure of blood and menace. His Crimson hair hung in clumps, framing his emerald eyes that burned with fierce and unrelenting hatred. His chest wound throbbed, the torn flesh knitting itself back together—slow at first, then faster, until the skin sealed shut as if the wound had never been there.
Blood slicked his body, a testament to the damage he had suffered for what felt like hours, yet he stood tall, unbroken.
Ronin stared in disbelief, his free hand clutching his ruined jaw. "How arhe you sthill alihve?!" He'd driven his fist through that chest, shattered that skull against stone. The Renegade had been a corpse hanging by a thread.
A faint smirk tugged at the Renegade's lips. "Not your concern."
All his wounds were gone now, erased, leaving only his smeared blood and torn clothes as proof of the damage he had received. He took a slow step forward, his boots grinding against gravel. "You're fast, extremely fast. But it's not just speed. The moment you move, you arrive at your destination instantly, with zero time passing."
"It's a broken ability if I've ever seen one." The Renegade's voice was calm, almost amused. "If you were smart enough, you could wipe out every Renegade in this galaxy within days."
He stepped closer, his eyes smoldering like embers "But like every other Reincarnator, you get only one PRIME ability. Along with that, you have flight, some passable durability and resistance, and the ability to breathe in space." His smirk deepened. "Your Prime ability is instantaneous speed... at least that's what it seems like at first."
Ronin flinched.
"During that instant when you run, you can tear through almost anything like paper," the Renegade continued. "That's because your ability generates a field around you, letting you move as if you were disconnected from the flow of time, making everything that isn't easier to break apart. At least, that's my guess from watching you fight."
"Your body isn't naturally fast, you rely entirely on your ability being active. If you don't activate it in time, even an average Red Mornan could kill you with a lucky hit."
"Physically, you're strong, but not by much. You're about as strong a blue Mornan. Compared to most of the Renegades that were stationed on this planet... You'd be nothing".
Rage twisted in Ronin's gut as he stared at the Renegade in disbelief. He'd never feared an enemy in this new life, since his speed made him untouchable. But now, for the first time since his reincarnation… he felt vulnerable.
The Renegade's smirk widened as he took another step closer, his boots grinding against the rubble.
"Of course, everything I've said so far wouldn't be that bad of a weakness… unless someone holds onto you when your ability is deactivated." His grip tightened ever so slightly. "Because then, if you turned it on, I'd be in your field. And I'd be moving just as fast as you."
Panic flared in Ronin's eyes as his Instinct took over.
In a blink, he vanished, a blur of motion, reappearing leagues away, deep within a jungle of glowing vines. Corpses littered the ground, remnants of his rampage across the planet. Naturally no time had passed. To him, distance meant nothing.
But something was wrong.
The weight was still there.
His stomach twisted as he turned.... and there he was.
The Renegade stood unscathed, still gripping him, shielded by the same force that protected Ronin mid-transit..
"No…" Ronin breathed.
The Renegade's smirk stretched wider. "Now then, let's have some fun."
Then the beating began.
A fist slammed into Ronin's gut, folding him in half. His breath left him in a strangled "Gahh!" before he flickered away. Mountains rose around him, jagged and cold.The Renegade was still there, still clutching his arm, still relentless.
Ronin thrashed, trying to break free, but a knee crashed into his ribs, snapping them like dry twigs. He blurred again, appearing in a desert this time, but nothing changed, the next punch crushed his cheek, bone splintering under the impact.
He ran again and again. Wild, desperate, frenzied.
Ocean cliffs, ruined streets, a storm-lashed plateau. But no matter how far he jumped, how fast he fled, the Renegade clung to him like a shadow.
And with every stop came pain.
A kick shattered his shin. A fist pulped his nose. Blood sprayed in thick arcs, painting the air as he stumbled through each frantic jump. "Shtop iht!" he slurred, his voice raw and shallow.
The Renegade only grinned, he was a cold, merciless thing. His fist fell like a hammer, relentless and methodical.
Ronin's body crumbled. His jaw hung loose, shattered beyond repair. His chest caved inward, ribs ground to powder. He wasn't thinking anymore, there was no strategy, no plan. Just blind, animal instinct telling him to Run and to survive.
Plains stretched wide, a forest of black thorns, a canyon where night reigned.
But with every desperate leap, the Renegade was still there, holding on. Beating him.
Breaking him.
Tearing him apart, piece by piece.
"Pleahse…" The plea was a wet gurgle, drowned in blood. He flickered again, getting weaker and slower each time, until he finally stopped.
He was back on familiar grounds.
The last place he had struck, the beginning of his downfall. Corpses sprawled before him, the same heaps he had made. His legs buckled, dumping him into the muck. He clawed at it, fingers trembling. "Nho… nho…"
His body was wrecked, swollen, split, barely holding together. Speed couldn't save him now.
The Renegade knelt beside him, breath steady, emerald eyes cold and unblinking. Blood streaked his face, but he remained whole, untouched by exhaustion.
A hand wrapped around Ronin's throat, lifting him up with ease, like a broken toy. His head lolled, blue eyes dim, pleading through the haze.
The Renegade studied him, his expression unreadable. "I guess even Primordials make mistakes. He should've picked someone smarter."
Ronin couldn't comprehend it. He was the chosen one. Blessed. Invincible.
How had this happened?
How could he lose to evil like this?
Surely, he'd survive… right?
Surely they'd be some divine intervention.. right?
The Renegade's fist drew back.
Ronin twitched, a last feeble jerk, before the blow fell.
Bone cracked as his skull caved in and his brain matter burst in a wet spray.
His body went limp.
In an instant, Ronin's life was extinguished.
The Renegade let the corpse drop.
Ronin's body hit the ground with a dull thud, settling among the very corpses he had created.
For a moment, the Renegade stood still, shaking blood from his knuckles, his gaze sweeping over the carnage.
"Damn it." The words were low, edged with frustration and something darker.
He cast one last glance at Ronin's lifeless form, then spat on it.
His boots crunching over rubble and remains as he strode off to alert his higher ups about his current situation.
It had only taken Ronin 4 hours to wipe out this planet, but now the massacre was finally over.