Chapter 9- Devil (Part 3)
'What… the fuck?' Kamine held his breath as he tried to close his ears. The sound of a human being eaten so brutally wasn't the most pleasant thing to listen to. He felt his bones shuddering in fear. That monster had caught one of them and would probably go in for a second serving and even a third one.
'What should I do?! What should I…' His eyes suddenly fell on a particular place and a wide smile appeared on his face. There, a big hole was created in the wall that was only visible from his angle.
'It seems to be busy with these fools here! I have a chance!' He reckoned in his head.
Since the monster's hand was already extending inside again searching for another prey, Kamine can use that time to escape.
Peeking at the group behind him, they were all stuck to the corners, trying to make their bodies as small as possible. None of them saw that hole.
'Good! This is really good! It's actually perfect.'
Without any hesitation, Kamine snuck toward the hole and then quickly jumped through it. Coincidentally, the monster smashed the ground with its hands again at the same time which made him fall on his stomach instead of his feet.
"Ugh! Fuck!" Murmuring secretly, he looked up. Right above him was what seemed to be the lower half of the monster. Its deathly skinny yet also huge legs that were at least the height of several full adults were lunged into the house walls, digging deep into them. Its eerily pale white skin was also even more strikingly white than the normal nightmare creatures.
Luckily for him, even that hard fall didn't seem to catch its attention so he was basically a free man.
'But, where are the other monsters?' He noticed that suspiciously, every other creature was nowhere to be found.
The place was desolate and dark yet also eerily loud with the destruction the huge monster was doing. The swarm of monsters that followed them till that point was nowhere to be seen.
Looking around him, Kamine felt a chill run down his spine.
'I need to get out of here first.' He decided not to overthink the matter when he was clearly still in danger. All it took was for the monster to twist his neck and look down.
'Maybe they were scared by the presence of their king so they ran away.'
Shaking his head, Kamine grinned and started walking away secretly, making sure he doesn't make a sound. His aim was to reach the walls. Behind him, the screams of terror echoed loudly in the sky along with the spine-chilling sounds of bones breaking and flesh being torn off.
As he walked a few meters, making it farther and farther away from the house, he saw a silhouette standing around a corner, hiding under the shadows of the moonless night. His small frame was concerning and his weak constitution only made it even worse. However, for Kamine, seeing that person, Kamine grinned widely.
'That shitty brat is alive?' He thought.
"Oh, Akio? You found a way to run away?" He asked as he hid his cruel thoughts and tried to act amicably.
However, the shadowy figure didn't respond at all.
'This shitty fucker! Ignoring me?! I will definitely turn your fucking bones into dust when I catch you!!' Kamine thought as a hint of madness flashed through his eyes. Not even for a second did he think about how easily he was planning his own son's death. In his head, he already considers Akio as the reason for all his misfortunes. Killing that brat will finally free him from those restraints so he could fly in the sky, free.
"Akio? Are you ok? Why aren't you answering?" He called again.
Yet, no answer came from Akio. This made Kamine feel more and more suspicious. As much as he hated this son of his, he at least knew him very well and this attitude of his was never there. In fact, whenever Kamine called for him, he would always get a reaction. Whether it was fear, anger or hatred didn't matter, a reaction is still a reaction.
'Did he lose his mind because of fear?' He thought.
Clicking his tongue, he approached Akio quickly. The weird behavior of the kid unnerved him to no extent. He just had a bad hunch that something was wrong… very wrong.
"How did you escape? I didn't see anyone exit the house before that thing appeared." He spoke again as he finally reached a distance close enough to finally see his expression. However, the moment his eyes fell on Akio's face, he froze in his place.
He could barely comprehend what he was seeing. Those eyes, the eyes of the boy that he raised for the past 15 years were different. The hopeless look he always had was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in those pupils were some feelings he had never thought could exist in Akio.
Hatred, anger, and most importantly… a lust for blood.
"Can you tell me one thing, father?" Akio finally spoke.
It was the first time in Akio's whole life that he said 'father' to Kamine. Yet, that word only carried deep sarcasm and disdain.
"Why have you never treated me decently, huh? Why did you try to destroy me? Did I ever do something that requires punishment? Did I ever sin? Did I do anything that 'destroyed your life'?" He asked one question after the other, each one uttered in the calmest, chillingly slow manner.
Kamine's face contorted violently as he stepped back. Akio also stepped one step forward with his working leg.
"Did you know… During all these years, I learned many useful things because of your torture. If I get injured, the injury would usually take two to three days to get infected. The deeper the injury, the quicker the infection. If I break a bone, it takes weeks and weeks for it to heal. If I get hungry, it takes 4 days for me to completely succumb to the famish and die. If I'm thirsty, it takes two days for me to die from thirst. I learned all of that with each experiment. I was pushed to the limit every single day so that you can buy those pills."
As he talked, Akio stepped forward again, closing the distance between them.
'I need to run away!' Kamine thoughts as he looked around him, panic-stricken in his eyes. He had sensed the weird atmosphere that was building up. He felt it, the scent of death getting more and more pronounced the more he stayed motionless. The kid wasn't joking, he was intending to kill him.
This honed sense of his
However, even if he decided to run away, where to? The only way is either to go back to where he came from or to continue forward. But, behind him, the monster was wreaking havoc and destroying everything in front of it. If he ran back, he was sure to be seen by that abomination.
The only choice left was to run ahead. This choice was the most viable one since all he had to do was get rid of Akio.
'Why am I even scared of a trouble child like him? I'm an adult for fuck sake!' Quickly realizing how stupid he was acting, a twisted grin appeared on his face.
"Yes! It's all your mistake! You are nothing but rotten, disgusting trash that deserves to live in hell and rot in it! In fact, everyone in these slums deserves to rot in the deepest parts of hell! None of you shall see salvation! You are all cursed I say, cursed!!"
"I see…" Akio didn't show much change in his facial expressions as he merely nodded his head.
"I'm, on the other hand, completely different. I was thrown here because of sheer luck! Yes, it's all because it was a trial for me before Holem finally accepts me! How could I not see that for all these years? All I had to do was to pass the test and then I will finally be able to achieve all my dreams! I'm special! I was born special, unlike you lowly trash!" Extending his arms, Kamine said in a crazed manner. His eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets. Hell, even the thought of escaping didn't become his priority anymore.
"You are… Insane." Akio murmured with a dark tone.
"Insane?! Is having a bigger dream insanity for you? Well, it's expected. What do you know about dreams, Akio?! What do you know about them, huh? You lived your whole life like a fucking animal. Only eating, drinking, and shitting! You have no right to criticize my ambitions."
Pointing at Akio, Kamine spat out harsh words effortlessly.
"You have no dreams, no desire, nothing! You have absolutely nothing! What can a piece of crap like you understand about ambitions?!"
He then smirked and continued.
"Oh, I know the answer… It's 'absolutely fucking nothing'."