Destruction was spread all around me. There were people running, burning. Amidst it all, people completely unknown to this land broke in. Luoris. Broken buildings, shattered as Rumie crashed through all of them. My kick- no the kick belonging to this skeletal body was unbelievably devastating.
It was hard to believe that she survived after receiving such an attack. But I could feel it. Her presence.
On the other side, a kilometre away I could sense Vivi fighting off some people. Both of them were alive, and with Vivi there I didn't need to worry about their safety.
After the building had settled down over me, I put all my strength into my wings. Grunting. Despite lacking the means to, a voice came out of my throat. It was bizarre, but I was powerful.
"Har...deni...ng." My wings turned solid and with an increased amount of effort, I pushed through the rubble. The things I could feel were in sight now. The grey sky and the musty town.
And in the skylight, I saw the two women under me- the only family of mine, that had forsaken me for some petty cash. So I felt rage again. This flurry of emotions was making me go insane. But unlike the time with Luno, I had an outlet now.
My rage could leave my body.
I released the hardening and got up pushing the stone around myself. Then slowly started walking out of the building with my visible femurs. On my way, I came across a box that those two had let go of.
Honestly, I couldn't care much about anything. At this point, my life had lost meaning. Grabbing the Uln worth my life and throwing it at the two ladies. Their livelihoods were destroyed with the eaterie gone, this much would at the very least keep them alive.
"Don't die." I whispered.
Those were my final words to them. By the time I felt their gaze finally hit me, I was meters away from preparing myself for a battle against the invaders.
'How do I even fight so many people?'
[ Summoning available. ] Liu's voice rang in my head.
'Huh? What summo- Ah.'
At that moment I recalled all the 'unable to summon' messages.
[ Prepared to summon. Does the Daemon accept? ]
She was talking about one message that appeared after every time I killed a beast. I thought I'd be more excited to see it in action, but I guess everything simply seemed black and white to me now.
"Sure."
.
.
.
Then Rain, but it only felt like it. The sky was covered with smoke and nothing else. The clear morning was thick with fog yet not a single possibility of precipitation. I had emerged from the smoke and had become the centre of attention.
My reflection was clear to me, I was a monster. And their eyes reflected that too. Fear, and the need to defend themselves. I was not frightening enough to scare them off, but I was frightening enough that they immediately made me their main target.
'My head feels like it's going to explode. Wait do I even have a head right now?'
A drop of blood slowly trickled down my ulna and reached my fingertip. It grew in size until it was the size of a marble and then fell.
The fall was silent as if the world had stopped to acknowledge some sort of anomaly.
'Plip.'
A quaint sound.
As soon as it touched the ground, the world disappeared. Caved in. Expanded out. I was standing atop a pool of blood. It was silent. More silent than my sleep. Silent as if there was no one remaining who was capable of drawing a breath. As if the battle had already ended.
And then there was sound again. Sound of water being waded through. Like the time I was walking across my rice field before lunch.
The surface was getting pulled up in bulges.
Then shortly heads started to rise. Pink muscles, black bones, pointed limbs and glowing blood, in every bit of gore there were statures of beasts all around me.
Rabbits, hogs, boars, and two moose.
My consciousness swiped and I was brought back to the horrifying townscape, but this time even more horrifying with the beasts now stationed around me.
"Kill all the guild members."
I thought I would doubt it. The first time I killed men was because they were doing something inhumane. But this time I was killing people I didn't even care to judge them. Humans were beneath me. I don't know when my way of thought changed.
Maybe it was when I could think quicker than I was able to. Maybe it was because my intelligence increased. Maybe it was the voice in my head or the one who controlled my body momentarily. Maybe it was because the three people I respected most left me.
If the ones I trusted were so bad, it could only mean that the others were way worse.
I need not look out for their lives. The maybes would only continue growing. From this point onwards it was just a mindless wade forward. Without a goal. It was a tragedy, indeed.
Nevertheless, as soon as I issued my command and the beasts surrounding me marched into the surroundings.
The town got engulfed by more intense havoc and screams of dying men reverberated. And amidst all this chaos I found my prey.
Without sparing the slightest of time I moved in front of her. Through the rubble, the buildings, there were remnants of a pub surrounding her. My wings broke out in speed so fast that I could feel rings form around me.
Covering almost a kilometre in mere tens of seconds. My speed was unbelievable even to me. I had to use my wings in the other motion to stop my momentum. A huge gust of wind blew right in Rumie's face as her eyes looked up in spite and fear.
She was taken aback by my sudden appearance yet again, but not trembling yet.
'How uncouth.'