'So, should we just attack him while he is transforming?' the voice asked.
"You crazy, we can't do that. That would be rude."
He snorted, one shoulder hitching. His grin was lazy, amused.
'How so? Please explain.'
"Ok, think of it this way. You're in the bathroom, right? Just starting your business, and someone bangs on the door telling you to come out before you're finished. The concept is the same."
'The concept is nowhere near the same. One is messing with your peace, while the other is trying to kill you,' the voice snapped.
"Nah, same concept." He shrugged. Even he knew it wasn't, but he wasn't about to admit he was wrong; it would only make his inner voice cocky.
'So we are basically going to watch him transform into a terrifying beast and do nothing?'
"Exactly." He sounded almost fond.
'Are you out of your mind? What if we lose because of that?'
"You got me there. Aren't you curious what he would look like?"
'Kinda.'
He leaned forward, eyes bright with something sharp and animal. This was not just a fight for revenge, but to prove his father wrong, that he was not weak.
While he muttered to himself, his father's transformation neared its end. The man's frame twisted grotesquely, his arm growing twice its size, maybe more, and to even out the weight his body bulked as well, muscles piling onto muscles. His jaw cracked with a sickening snap. Teeth pushed long and jagged, a beast's maw ready to crush through bone.
Specifically his, because of the way he looked at him while letting out a guttural growl.
The beast lunged, closing the distance faster than the eyes could follow. Its sharp claws gleamed under the silver moonlight as it ripped across his chest, sending him hurtling through the field like a rag doll.
Bracing himself, he plunged his daggers into the ground to regain his balance.
'You deserved that.'
"Ha, if I didn't leap back just in time, he would have torn through my ribs."
[Limitless Activated: You have taken damage. Your body grows stronger.]
Those words echoed in his head, and it was not the regular voice in his head. Then the stinging in his chest dulled. And when he glanced down, it put a smile on his face.
Something unnatural was happening. The deep slash he had endured slowly stitched itself back together, leaving behind nothing but smooth skin as if he had never been struck.
"Oh, this is interesting."
Because he couldn't consume shards, his body could only get stronger when it was hurt, but he still felt pain.
'Watch out, he is coming.'
The beast's claw cut through the air, reaching for his head. He twisted aside, grabbed its massive arm, and drove him into the ground with a brutal slam. His foot followed, a merciless kick that sent the beast hurling away, creating distance.
"How did you manage to survive the well? I even blocked all the exits."
That wonderful combo did absolutely nothing. He got up and stretched like he had just received a full-body massage.
"You know, a lot of hate kept me moving, and now I'm here to kill you."
"You think you can kill someone whose core has reached the Ascended rank? And an experienced fighter?"
"You can rank up a core? How?"
"Wait… did you only recently awaken?" The beast-man burst out laughing. "You're still as pathetic as that day. You awakened four years too late, and the only thing you have is regeneration."
He shot forward, driving his knee into his father's gut, then followed up with a barrage of punches to his face, each strike sharper than the last, until the impact hurled him through the forest.
The beast burst from the forest, claws slashing with a furious expression. He dropped low, then drove an uppercut into its jaw, sending the creature flying backward.
He leapt up and came crashing down on its chest, pinning him. His eyes bore into the beast with a dark expression, forcing him to taste a fraction of what he once endured.
"Tell me, old man… how does it feel to be on the other side? You, looking up at me."
Baring his jagged teeth, trying to shake him off, the beast swiped. He kicked to the side, but then he felt something rushing toward him, fast.
He tilted his head to the side as an arrow flew past. He noticed it came from the direction of the main house, but the figure had already moved.
A moment later, more dropped out of the sky. He ran for cover, but the arrows followed him, like they were locked onto him.
He called the Black Knight. It rose out of his shadow and cut them all down.
More rained down, this time almost hundreds, and at the same moment his father lunged forward. He met his father head-on, their steel colliding, while the Knight cut through the arrows, shielding him as well.
Clenching his teeth in frustration, he cursed not being able to track the bearer of the arrows. Even for the Ebony Knight, it was becoming too difficult to shield him from the barrage of arrows.
And to make things more complicated, the arrows were made of something he could not place, and his Knight would not last long enough to adapt.
Seeing no other option, he sent the Black Knight back, so it could recover. Not sure if it would ever return if it died, and he was not willing to risk that.
To make things worse, his beautiful daggers seemed ineffective against the beast's tough skin. So he was forced to trade blows—nothing like throwing hands with your old man.
As they traded blow for blow, some of the arrows managed to find him, although none of them were lethal.
Nonetheless, his body grew stronger with every hit. Yet his regeneration lagged, slower each time. Soon several of his wounds reopened, drenching his new pair of attire in crimson blood.
But it could be worse. Because of his father's enormous size, it was getting harder to see him, so fewer arrows flew his way. Then it hit him. She could only make her arrows follow what she saw.
But he noticed a bit too late. The beast grabbed him by the face, tightened its grip like it was about to crush his skull, and those blank eyes said he would.
Out of desperation, he called the already wounded Knight, and it brought its sword down. He had two options: either be cut down, or release him and block the strike.
And he chose none of the above. With a sharp motion, he hurled him upward, straight into the storm of arrows rushing to meet him.
At that instant, she stood there watching with a smile, certain she had gotten him. But a thick smoke burst out, blanketing the sky in white.
The Knight shot up from the shadows again. With all his strength, he hurled him toward her direction, cutting through the arrows in his path. His father only realized too late what was happening.
The boost from the Knight helped, and from there he never lost sight of her. Every time she let her arrows loose, a simple smoke bomb was enough to break her aim.
Cutting them down one by one wasn't difficult. The problem came when they swarmed all at once. He figured she could fire off one to two hundred arrows before needing to recharge. And the material she used… it was the same as that robed woman's.
Before she knew it, he closed the distance, his father raging just behind him. He hurled a dagger at her. It hissed past, grazing her cheek. At the same instant, his father's claw came down, and he caught it with his other blade.
Seconds later, his mother's scream cut the night as she fell from the roof of the house. He had struck her with Erevos, leaving her paralyzed. In that blink of a moment, his father lost focus. He kicked him in the jaw and moved toward his mother, cutting her throat. The beast man caught her midair. She gave her beloved husband one last look, as he stood coated in his wife's blood.
A jagged, hollow laugh tore out of him as he loomed above the house he was born in. Blood streamed from his eyes and body.
"One down. One more to go."
His father's glare cut deep, voice rough with hate.
"If she hadn't stopped me from ending you that day, this never would have happened."
His eyes held nothing. When he spoke, the words came flat, emptied of life.
"She wanted me alive so my death would be slow. Painful. She did it to torture me for failing. But I was nice enough to give her a quick death. You are welcome."
He lunged at him, but he only smiled. In that moment, the little snake was already on the beast-man's body. She had managed to sneak onto him when they collided earlier.
Just as his father was about to reach him, her fangs sank deep. The bite immobilized him instantly, freezing him for only a few seconds, but it was enough.
The boy drove his blade through his father's mouth and swiped, tearing through.
With his last breath, as the poison spread faster, his father tried to say something. But he did not turn around. Even though this was what he wanted, the fire inside was gone, replaced with something different, an ache in his heart.
He looked at the small snake.
"Why am I crying? No… why are we crying? This was supposed to make me happy, but it didn't. It only made me feel more alone. Empty."
"Why?" he whispered.
Even his inner self stayed silent, sharing the same hollow ache.
Seeing her master's sorrow, the tiny snake flicked her tongue across the bloody tear and nuzzled against his cheek.
"Let's leave this place."