Liu Yang tilted his head, his grin sharp.
"I don't like you," he wishpered in his ears.
His hand twisted fast and the neck of the last hunter snapped with a loud crack. The body fell down on the ground with a thud, the sword slipped from his hand and hit the stone floor with a sharp sound.
He did not look back. He walked slowly, step by step. The cave was dark now, the torch had already rolled away on the ground and its fire was gone. Only black around, nothing but the sound of his foot hitting the stone.
He came to the other two hunters. They were still there on the ground.
Their chest went up and down fast, pulling air like they were drowning. Their mouth open, blood coming out slow with their pale face.
"You damn… demon…" one said, blood dripping from his lips. His eyes were shaking but still trying to glare.
The other one held his ribs, his breath broken. "Wait… wait till our leader comes. You think you strong? When he comes… you will die… you will scream…"
The first one pushed on his elbow, trying to sit, his mouth open with blood on his teeth. "Zhū Mó Lián will crush you. He will make you beg. You will crawl like dog before him…"
Liu Yang sat down slowly, but not like he was weak. He dropped into the ground with one knee up, his arm resting on it, his body leaning a little forward.
Liu Yang sat down slow, heavy, not like someone weak but like someone done with everything. One knee came up, his arm resting on it, his body leaning forward a little.
His other hand crossed through his hair, fingers sliding from the front to the back, slow and rough.
His head tilted down at first, then he lifted his eyes, sharp and dark, staring at them like he was searching for an answer that wasn't there.
He sighed, long.
"I am tired. So tired."
His eyes went down. His voice was low too.
"Demon. Orc. Ogre. Goblin. We all look different than humans." His hand pulled his hair more. "So tell me… is that why you kill us? Just because we don't look like you?"
He sighed again, soft and heavy.
"Tell me…"
"I want to understand… what's the reason? Why? Why do humans want demons dead?"
His eyes searched their faces, like he was digging for an answer.
But all he got was spit. One of the hunters spat right at the ground near his feet, his lip curled, his teeth showing.
"Reason? Hah… goddess is the only reason. She's everything. You demons are trash."
The second one coughed blood, his body shaking, but he still sneered, his eyes red.
"We kill you to grow stronger. To level up. That's all."
The first one laughed rough, the sound broken.
"You're nothing… nothing but meat. Born so we can cut you down and rise higher. That's the only worth you got."
Liu Yang's lips moved, it was deep, old, heavy, like it had been sleeping for too long.
"Pathetic… so pathetic."
His head tilted down. His eyes glowed black, sharp, burning like black flames. His shoulders shook once as he breathed in slow.
"All for level up? All for your selfish growth? Is that all life means to you?"
He spat the words like they were poison his teeth showing grinding.
"You trample, you kill, you cut down lives that are not yours. You rip apart creation that was never yours to own… and you dare call it strength."
His fingers curled tight into fists his arms stiff like stone.
"Every time… the same answer. Every time I asked your kind why. Why do you kill what was given life? Why do you destroy what you cannot make? And always… always… the same answer."
He stepped forward his shadow stretched wide even though there was no torch his aura made it stretch bigger and bigger.
"Because you want to grow stronger. Because you want amusement. Because you see others as tools, as stepping stones. That is your reason? That is all?"
His head lifted, and the weight in his eyes pressed like a blade.
"You disgust me. You always disgusted me. The selfishness of humans knows no end. Your greed, your hunger, it is filth."
His hands curled behind his back, tight. His voice dropped low, shaking with rage held in chains.
"You were sprouts born of soil not your own. You were children walking in a world you did not build. And yet you take. Always take. Always killing what is not yours."
He raised his hand, slowly, his fingers clenching into a fist. The cave seemed to shrink around it.
"You call that leveling up? I call it rot. I call it sin."
His breath hissed out, long and sharp.
"And now… I will show you what it truly means… to grow stronger."
The hand opened, palm flat. His lips moved, cold and final.
"This is my creation."
Then he snapped his fingers. The sound cracked through the cave like thunder.
[???? Unknown Source has left the Host Body.]
[Host Soul will return to its vessel in 5 seconds…]