Chapter 14: A world within the soul (2)
There were many ways to support protagonists.
Just by taking inspiration from the romance books he loved to read by the evening, Benjamin could think of at least three ways. Anyone would have deemed those ways correct, including Benjamin.
Lacking in the romance department he may have been, Benjamin understood that only a scant few women would develop a favorable image of someone literally beating a sense into them.
He'd left a good impression on Estelle before starting the hard way with her… but Moon wasn't in a proper state to have a conversation, let alone to listen to anyone.
Given his experiences, however, Benjamin believed a rough hand was often better than warm words. In his case, a hard-as-nails feet.
"How do I get you to fight me, though?" Benjamin mused aloud, "Should I steal a few preys of yours?"
Looking at him only because she had conveniently revealed her front to him after returning to her position, Moon hadn't been interested in him in the slightest. It could have been because he was not a demi-human or at least someone Moon never saw in her life.
He was like an unforeseen variable.
Henceforth, Benjamin believed he'd to enter a contest with the muddled wolf woman and compete against her to kill as many clones of the same man as possible, which would get her attention.
That said, before those clones appeared, Benjamin whipped hands out of his pockets and blitzed at Moon to see whether she had a defensive mechanism…
…which she did, but not one that worked in his favor.
Tensing those beautiful thighs, Moon avoided his kick and silently breezed through the lake of blood, then perched herself a few meters away from Benjamin. Her clouded eyes weren't interested in him.
'I am not sure how souls work… but I should think of me having limited stamina. Chasing after her is wrong only because there has to be another soul lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to assail me. I can't waste too much time and energy…' Benjamin thought while smiling at Moon's blurred eyes.
Whether he had succeeded in showcasing interest 'only' in her, Benjamin couldn't tell, but he hoped that another existence within her had swallowed the bait.
The existence of the same origins as the one dwelling within Estelle must have been the cause of those armies of clones, which had been enough to give Moon moments of fake respite.
Now, his goal was to see whether Moon would think of him as an enemy if he were to steal her prey. His only hope was that she would turn her swords against him, luring out another presence.
When the army of clones flanked them both, Benjamin moved a step quicker than Moon and was the first to strike the clone's face. The strength behind his muscles, the perfect weight control, and his technique had yanked the head off, increasing the count of the trophies of the horrifying crimson lake.
The man's body plunged into it shortly after.
Before the natural plunging sound happened, however, Benjamin switched legs and made a half-circular move, beheading another clone before nimbly reversing the trajectory of his leg to decapitate the third clone.
First to move though he may have been, Moon's dual sword-wielding and her higher range allowed her to kill many more enemies in a short frame of time. She was also familiar with the man's movements, which helped her cause.
Upon returning to her initial position, she had, however, glanced at Benjamin with clear indignation before having her feelings once again snatched by killing intent toward her stepbrother.
'The old me would have complained about lack of skills, probably,' Benjamin commented inwardly as he strolled toward the middle of the lake from which he would decide his other move.
His steps resounded in the mansion as he didn't have the skill to be a silent menace like Moon.
A few heads were also in his way, but Benjamin was never that considerate man to begin with, meaning he kicked them off his road.
That was when one of the heads rolled off the mansion's threshold and was about to set sail onto a new adventure.
BANG!
Moon appeared above the decimated head like a ghost, switched the grip of her sword, and vertically lowered it, impaling the head. The strength behind her move, however, spelled disaster, and the head exploded into pieces so small that only a small puddle of blood was left in its place.
Moon returned to her spot and waited for another wave of clones.
Benjamin curved his lips, "Being an asshole comes with such advantages."
Had he been one of those nicest side characters, perhaps he would have told Moon to not dirty herself with so many heads and blood and would have tried to move the heads away from the mansion. Which would have resulted in him getting a similar development.
That would, however, sacrifice so much time by a pointless one-sided conversation that such a move had never ever crossed Benjamin's mind.
He was fine with himself being an asshole. People like him learned the hard way in the orphanage.
"I had a football dream, you see," Benjamin said while sneaking his toes below the head. He tossed the head up and made a direct shot so perfect that a certain egoist would have broadly smiled at him.
The head flew faster than an arrow toward the opened door.
Once it touched some fresh air, however, Moon was hanging above it with a killing intent so deep she had two red moons instead of eyes, and she impaled another head to smithereens.
Benjamin wasn't done.
With his childhood dream of being a football star rekindled in such an appealing scene, Benjamin began kicking the heads out of the mansion. No remorse whatsoever found a way to his heart.
Things were fine and dandy, however much he shot into the goal.
Even if he were outside the soul world and in a real world with real people threatening to take his life, Benjamin wouldn't feel any remorse or doubts about killing them and doing what had to be done…
…for crushing people even in virtual worlds couldn't have been more genuine. He grew accustomed to the world of losers and victors.
Unaware of his thoughts, Moon kept destroying the heads zooming her way.
Before long, she no longer felt like playing the game…
Standing on the mansion's threshold, Moon turned around and faced Benjamin, with the moonlight of the soul world descending onto her to showcase who was the protagonist here. Basking in it, her clouded eyes and their killing intent had finally reflected Benjamin's face.
Benjamin sneered, "A goalkeeper is here."