After swallowing every single one of them, the lizard's ravenously hungry stomach is about to be satisfied, and it begins to be slower and calmer in its slaughtering of unlucky slaves.
However, out of almost twenty of them, only one slave is left unscratched, others have been either eaten alive, beaten, crushed to death, or got their heads sliced while attempting to escape.
The last one standing is no other than Shuku himself, yet unlike others who are dreaded for their lives, Shuku approaches the lizard with no hesitation and nothing to lose.
"Hey, Bitch! Why don't you pick someone who can fight!"
In response to the call, the lizard turns its head to Shuku. As it does, a rock hits its eyes, and Shuku gives the lizard a middle finger.
Although the lizard doesn't understand the meaning of the middle finger, the rock hitting its eyes really pissed it off, as a result, it began chasing after Shuku with its terrifying speed.
"Yeah, that's it! Come to me you big stupid reptile!!"
And he started sprinting as fast as he could.
Meanwhile, the superior who decided to stay to "discipline" the slaves, laughed at Shuku's strategy, thinking that it was just another hopeless attempt to stop this cold-blooded beast.
That is until...
"Wait, where are you going?"
Something's off. He should be distracting the lizard or something, but why is Shuku, the desperate slave running full speed towards him, with the lizard hot on his heels?
"Don't run at here! Go away! GO AWAY!!"Shuku continued to dash at him, bringing the lizard behind him, even though he heard every single word, the superior received no response.
Continuing to yell, and with Shuku still not stopping as he runs with the lizard, the superior begins to realize this is part of Shuku's plan. It's not about killing the lizard; it's about getting the lizard to kill him—the one the slaves hate the most. So, he could escape with his head still attached.
As soon as he recognized this, the superior immediately pulled out his final card, the one that always gets the job done.
"Grrr!!! Slave Collar, Activate!"
...
"Activate! I SAID ACTIVATE!!"
He ensures his voice is loud enough for the collar to receive the signal and start spinning. Yet, despite using all his strength to scream, the thing stays motionless, and Shuku is getting closer with the lizard.
Shuku himself also heard the command clearly, and he smiles slightly as he know that his idea, has finally worked.
"Why isn't it working!"
"That's because I'm not your slave you dumbass!!"
That's what Shuku figured out, the slave collar only reacts and follows the commands of its master, and since the King was the one giving Shuku this "present" himself, (to make sure that he will have full control of Shuku if he is going to be revenged in the future), the collar only reacts to the King's command.
Understanding his master card is useless, the superior himself is now the one desperate, trying to stop Shuku from leading the giant lizard toward him.
"Stop!! Don't run here or I'll kill you!"
"You have a sword, what are so you afraid of?!"
Negotiations have failed. The superior quickly takes out his sword and swings it at Shuku as he is just meters away. Seeing the sword coming, Shuku slides down through the superior's crotch to get past him.
His quick movement shocked the superior and temporarily paralyzed as the lizard stood on its four feet in front of him with its long mouth and tongue along with the saliva.
With fear and anxiety filling his mind, he became immobile as the giant beast approached.
"NO NO NO, HELP-"
Without a second thought, the lizard just puts him in its mouth. The boss begins his journey into the lizard's stomach, joining the unlucky slaves he had previously laughed at.
While the lizard struggles to swallow a body full of metals, Shuku, with nothing else in his way, confidently approaches the sword that fell on the ground
As he grabs and raises the sword in the air, a sense of victory and fearlessness goes through him.
"This is so much better!"
Now, his fear is gone with the new weapon he just gained, but he still has some skepticism about his decision to fight the lizard head-on. With his way out cleared, Shuku could just run and leave the dungeon for his life. However, he figures the lizard could follow him outside.
So sooner or later, he'll have to kill it, but as he thinks about it, going outside is probably even worse.
Because Shuku is totally unfamiliar with this place, he doesn't know where he is, where to go, and whether there are other dangerous creatures out there like this one.
And what if other humans found him? What would they do to him if they found a stray slave with this obvious collar? Would they execute him for running away? Or would they just throw him back into the never-ending life of hard labor?
Either way, there's no good ending for him. So, he considered a lot before conducting the plan, and his decision? Is to take a bet into this thing called the Blood Blade that Sylvar told him about.
This could be his only solution, betting on this legendary weapon that no one have touched or even seen before, is still better than living a certain slavery life, until he dies.
The lizard took a while to swallow, but once it was done, Shuku was ready to make his move and decided to strike first.
"GAAHHH!!!"
He charged at the lizard with the sword, aiming to slice off its legs.
SHISH!!
The lizard, with its left leg slashed by the sharp sword, started jumping and writhing in pain. Shuku, feeling invincible, believed he could win the fight, until...
"What... the... fuck?!"
The slash on the lizard's leg healed itself. Shuku stood there, shocked and bewildered, watching the wide cut slowly close up, and the blood stopped flowing in a matter of seconds.
At that moment, he suddenly realized, he couldn't win. Not with this sword, not in this situation, and not in this place. He should have run when he had the chance.
What could he do if this beast had the magic to just heal every injury it got from him? How could he fight a monster that could kill him, but will never be killed?
Yet, rather than being regretful of what he could have done, he needs to focus on what he can do right now, that is to fight or at least survive from this giant monster.
Just as the lizard began to calm down when it's wound closed, Shuku decided to charge in and do another hit.
"Shit."
The lizard reacted too fast; before Shuku could land another hit, it turned around, gains momentum, swing and smash its hard tail at him.
The tail's strong force hit Shuku on his ribs, tossing him meters away and causing him to drop the sword. As he landed, his legs ended up in the wrong posture, and the impact resulted in his leg breaking sideways.
"AARRGGGHHHH!!!"
After that, he rolled on the ground from the inertia for a few more rounds, ending up with a broken leg and scars and peels on his skin.
Just a few seconds after landing, he didn't feel a thing, no pain, no itch, nothing, because his body is still in shock. Only after he fully conscious of what happened to himself did an immense amount of pain and terror begin to flood in.
"Oh my god! OH MY GOD! MY LEGS!!!"
His leg was broken sideways, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't feel it, nor could he control it at all. Even the slightest movement made him feel so much pain that he wanted to scream.
But that's not all, the pain from all the peeled skin when he made contact with the rusty and stony ground is also kicking in.
"ARGHHHH!!!!"
The pain, combined with the broken leg and the numbness and shock his body was experiencing, rendered him almost completely immobile. As the lizard saw its prey agonizing and unable to run for his life, it approached slowly and relaxed, knowing that the dessert could no longer fight back.
"No no NO!!! Don't COME HERE!! GO AWAY!!!"
His leg wouldn't move, and even if it did, it would be incredibly painful. So, he used his also injured hands to crawl weakly away, as far from the approaching lizard as possible, trying his best to postpone his inevitable fate for as long as possible.
"Why did it turn out this way?!! Why?! WHY?!!"
He yelled into the empty air, with nobody there to hear his complaints. For as long as he could remember, he had always been alone since the beginning. His parents were gone when he was just a little kid, and his younger sibling was also gone a while before he got here.
And every time he got bullied, except for Nozomi, who just tried to resolve things in a temporal way, he was by himself in every suffering and torment. Others have looked but didn't bother to help, even if they wanted to help, they were too scared to do so. Even when he cried, no one was there to ease him.
Now, as he's about to die, there's not a single person here to mourn, to cry, or even to pity him.
Loneliness, fear, and anger are the only emotions he felt as death slowly approached from behind.
"What have I done to deserve all of this?! I just wanted to live like a normal person!"
He couldn't understand it, and up till now, he still doesn't get, the reason behind all of this.
There's a saying that goes, "You reap what you sow." But what has he sown to reap this? What bad deeds has he done in this life, or even in the life before he was born, to end up with a life that's almost like a living hell itself?
All he wanted right now was an explanation for all the terrible things fate made him endure. He wanted to know that at least his sufferings had a meaning, and if he had to die, he didn't want it to be for nothing or something meaningless.
Yet, the response to him was just dead silence, except for the sound of approaching footsteps that shook the ground.
"What have I done to get this?! What have I-"
"D̴̲͍͖̮͇̟̞̬͚̤͕̮̐̾̆͌̎͛͋̈́͊͑̈̽̐Ơ̴̤̠̱͊̌͊͂̀͝ ̴̻̘̳̯̈́Y̷̢̫͙̰̬͑̓͋͌͂͋̌͆̚͝O̸͔̩̰̦͕̘̐̅̍U̶̡͕̭͉̤̟̝̜͚̜̜͓̤͌̄͋͛́̍̔̓͜͝ ̷̢̨̫̝̙̹̞̞͎͈̼͌̾͐̀̊̏͗͠͠W̵̝͈̪̔̐͑Ą̷̨̗͍̯̦̤̭̗̰̗͉̳̰̎͜N̸͔̩͘T̷̡̗̔̆͐̿̽̏̽͊̑̕͠ ̸̢̩̮̟̘̣̱̟͍̉̑̀͛̄̽̔̿̉̏͜͝P̴̲̼͚͗́̈́͋͆̏̑͆̓͘͝Ö̷́͑̏͝ͅW̸͙͍̤͖͚͍͙̱̙͊̒͋̈́͗̔̔́̈́͝E̶̯̼̠̻͕̤̹̤̺̖̺̻͓̿̂̚ͅR̷̳͛͗̌̎͒̈́́̊͝?̵̩̞͑̿̇̏͛̍̕̕!̵̛̭̮͉̳͚͉̺̥̗͉̰͂̅͒̓̈͗͆̾̈́̈́͗̚"
"Huh?!"
Suddenly, a mysterious voice emerged. Shuku was confused; he didn't hear any sound, nor did he see anybody else around. The mysterious voice sounded distorted, eerie, and almost inaudible. He didn't even know if it was the voice of a human.
Somehow, he could still understand it, and it seemed like the voice was coming from nowhere but his head.
"D̴̲͍͖̮͇̟̞̬͚̤͕̮̐̾̆͌̎͛͋̈́͊͑̈̽̐Ơ̴̤̠̱͊̌͊͂̀͝ ̴̻̘̳̯̈́Y̷̢̫͙̰̬͑̓͋͌͂͋̌͆̚͝O̸͔̩̰̦͕̘̐̅̍U̶̡͕̭͉̤̟̝̜͚̜̜͓̤͌̄͋͛́̍̔̓͜͝ ̷̢̨̫̝̙̹̞̞͎͈̼͌̾͐̀̊̏͗͠͠W̵̝͈̪̔̐͑Ą̷̨̗͍̯̦̤̭̗̰̗͉̳̰̎͜N̸͔̩͘T̷̡̗̔̆͐̿̽̏̽͊̑̕͠ ̸̢̩̮̟̘̣̱̟͍̉̑̀͛̄̽̔̿̉̏͜͝P̴̲̼͚͗́̈́͋͆̏̑͆̓͘͝Ö̷́͑̏͝ͅW̸͙͍̤͖͚͍͙̱̙͊̒͋̈́͗̔̔́̈́͝E̶̯̼̠̻͕̤̹̤̺̖̺̻͓̿̂̚ͅR̷̳͛͗̌̎͒̈́́̊͝?̵̩̞͑̿̇̏͛̍̕̕!̵̛̭̮͉̳͚͉̺̥̗͉̰͂̅͒̓̈͗͆̾̈́̈́͗̚" It repeats.
"Who- who is it? Who are you?!"
"Ī̴̡̬͍̬̲̰̞̝̅͐͆̓͗̏̇̔̀͐͂̊͜͠ ̸̩̭̲̪̻̝͈̠̭̱̋̂͊͆͑̿̆́ͅŞ̴͔͔̰̩̹̖͖͈̠̩̻̗̓̓͌̌̀̈́̋͜͝͝Ą̵̡̩̳̤̮̠̩͙̟̭̙̈́̃̃̾̈́͘̕͘͝Ị̵̢̬͉͐̄̌̄̾̃͗̕͘̕Ḑ̶̋̾̀,̸̧̧̭͉̜̫͓̲̼̩̳̪͇͉̆̈̉͛͝ ̴̨̗̱̤͉̱̗͓̤̙͛͋͛̿͂̆̊͂̓̾̕͠͝͝ͅDO YOU WANT POWER?!" Suddenly, the voice got clearer and clearer until it was revealed to be the voice of a man.
As Shuku quickly grasped what the voice just said, he immediately answered it, attempting to cling to any last hopes he had.
"YES!! ANYTHING! I will do anything if I can get out of here!"
"EVEN IF THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES?"
"YES! Anything!" He shouts. "I'm Tired of being weak and helpless, whatever strong powers you have, just give it to me! Give me your POWERS!!"
...
"GOOD, I'LL GIVE YOU MY POWERS. IN ONE CONDITION."
"What?"
"MY POWERS ARE NOT FOR THE WEAK, OR THE ONES WITH TOO MUCH HUMANITY IN THEM. AND YOU, HAVE TOO MUCH HUMANITY.
IN ORDER FOR MY POWERS TO WORK, I WILL NEED TO TAKE AWAY YOUR HUMAN PART, YOUR MORALS AND YOUR KINDNESS. IF YOU DON'T AGREE, THEN I CAN'T GIVE IT TO YOU."
Hearing this, Shuku hesitated. Accepting the voice's offers meant he might turn into a heartless person, caring only about himself and not others, just like his bullies.
But then, he quickly remembered what landed him in this mess. Sure, the bullies were the main reason for his sufferings, but he also had some faults himself.
Instead of finding a way out on his own, he depended on others to rescue him from the bullies. Instead of standing up and fighting back, he chose to endure the torment day by day. Rather than going all out against the bullies just once, he compromised by listening to Nozomi, and that's what brought him to this place.
His bullies were wrong, but he wasn't right either. His kindness and hesitation only prolonged his suffering until this point. He had been too passive, waiting for a savior that would never come. Now, he finally understood that he's the only one who could save himself.
After a short moment of thinking, he made his decision.
"Whatever! You can take away my humanity or morals, whatever! I don't need those anyway! They never helped me in my hard times! They only make me weak and vulnerable to the stronger ones, they are the reason why I was here! Please! Just take what you want and GIVE ME MY POWERS!!"