Chapter 44 – Blackmail

 

…

“My emotion.” It tugged everyone's heart strings, especially Grumpy and other demons. They had longed to get even a single emotion. Yet this guy prepared himself to give it up.

Sarah and Ben recalled a saying. “A miracle of the Demon Race.”

“You are doing this because of your mother?”

The demon smiled, even nodding. They could see his iron conviction, though. His eyes shone and the words he spat sounded metals clanging or woods creaking.

“I don’t care about emotions. I’d long buried it deep in my heart. It was so painful, feeling your heart being shredded countless times. I love my mother so much and her dream is to become what we used to be.”

“But her emotions became her greatest weakness. Or should I say, ‘motherly instincts’. How laughable! Humans and Beasts categorized us like animals. Yet I couldn’t agree more. It was truly laughable. If she only saved herself instead of me, then it won’t be this hard.”

“Thus, this emotion is only a weakness that will fail me. It is better to sacrifice it!”

“Like an ice, encased with solid and thick cover. There is only coldness in here.” The demon tapped his chest. “I’m fortunate I trained in Ice Manipulation Demon Arts. With my mastery of my power and the ritual’s success, I will unleash a terrifying Evil Art—Ages of Ice Evil Art!”

“This is the creation of an Evil who is proficient with ice. And the Raja of all Fate Streams, she who controls fate, had agreed to lend this power for once!”

“It will create a huge ice power that will spread throughout this village. And with my power, I will manipulate it to become an ice stronghold, my clan’s. A Lobo Clan’s own stronghold!”

Alarm bells rang in humans’ mind. In Sarah’s knowledge, every stronghold could withstand an army siege. And a few strongholds had special abilities. From the looks of it, the thing he would create was the latter. Moreover, with an Evil’s help, it would shoot up in stronghold’s ranking.

The duo became afraid for County of Hopes and Dreams. They could read the future - the county would be in dire straits if two strongholds cornered it.

Even then, they also sympathized with Rollin. Their conviction seemed… lousier. They felt he was stronger and larger than them.

“I’m sorry. I called you blockhead and an idiot.” She reached for her fist. “You are a worthy opponent.”

The pulsating red color deepened and its intensity became frequent. Everyone could feel the increasing lethargic feeling. The villagers outside shook in their boots and dropped on the ground like flies.

“How do you plan to do that? It’s almost time’s up.” Rollin said, feeling confident.

But Sarah only smiled. “He’s here.”

“Hm?” Rollin turned around and saw a youth speeding up towards him.

At the same time, Sarah dashed onwards.

Rollin narrowed his eyes and immediately ordered his sculptures to block the two.

Ben also wanted to join, but Grumpy and others obstructed him.

“Aren’t you going to stop your leader?” Ben questioned in which they answered by the shake of their heads.

“He put everything to the line for our clan. Hence, it’s only right to help him to the end.”

“You’ll die.”

“Yes, and my clan will have a bright future.” Ben could see the satisfaction in the demons’ eyes. He knew there was no stopping this battle and could only try his best.

Thus, a three-prong battled emerged.

…

Tonyo didn’t like Porcius at all. He didn’t even feel amused by the latter’s clowning.

Fat, sweaty, lazy and with no ability; that guy had no redeeming feature whatsoever.

Yet, Aurora looked happy with him.

No. No, no! That wouldn’t happen! The gears of his mind roared as he came up with a plan. His menacing jaws flashed while his eyes glinted.

In that jungle called killing ground, he had been the fastest.

He may not be the strongest, but no one dared to pick a fight with him. Only he could hunt, only he could be the hunter or the predator. Tearing through walls of flesh, he had lived a very fulfilling life.

Roar!

But Tonyo felt something wrong in the atmosphere.

The man really got scared, but his expression accompanied by another.

Aurora’s face reddened. The duo fidgeted as if they did something wrong.

Tonyo didn’t know how he left. He only knew something happening in his chest.

Lost, he ambled across the county. Until he arrived where the special feeling happened.

She was just an ugly woman who had no knowledge of the world. The only thing she had experienced was to be coop with her daily problems.

Why did he do that back then, by the way?

Then it struck him like a lightning. He stared at his blurry reflection in the water. His hideous face remained straight. But his eyes had ripples in it.

I am not ‘it’ anymore, the monster thought.

I’m… a man.

It should be a strange feeling, bitter and also sweet. And yet, Tonyo felt helpless. But he still wanted to try.

“Humans won’t be able to appreciate a human and a Beast together unless… I obtain a Transformation Art.”

Tonyo became resolute. He would journey to the ends of the lands if needed be.

Right after he arrived at the gate, he met Porcius though. Beside him stood a few suspicious individuals with covered faces. They spoke in low voices, which gave Tonyo a foreboding.

Growl.

Porcius flinched, turning around to see Aurora’s pet. He put on a foolish smile and dismissed the individuals.

“Hi.” The fellow greeted, but Tonyo didn’t have any of that. He stared at the fat bastard with suspicion and warning. Porcius only smiled, which Tonyo didn’t know if he had gotten his meaning. Thus, he gave the former a menacing hiss.

When the fatso left, Tonyo couldn’t decide if he should tell it to Aurora or not. Only this time Tonyo felt unlucky: he was too different to normal Beasts.

He couldn’t speak.

The Beast scratched the ground but only to shook his head. He judged to settle first his problem so he could come back earlier.

He went first to Snake Clan, which was nearer. The guards didn’t let him though, so he had to infiltrate the Snake World. However, the snake Experts and Masters easily discovered him because of his heat signature. Tonyo cursed while running across the world before departing from it.

Next, he went to County of Golden Sunrise, where the Eagle Clan and Eagle World located nearby. Though, he got knocked back by a plethora of air units. This should have been the longest time someone chased him.

Come to think of it, Tonyo complained to himself, I’m the hunter! Why I’m being hunted?!

The last he went to was the Tiger World, which was situated in Mountains of Hopes. Although the Tiger Clan respectfully rejected him, this only meant his goal wasn’t finished yet.

But he knew it was the last because his ears caught a terrifying news.

By the time he came back to County of Waterfalls and Pilgrimage, everything was in chaos.

…

Blood painted Ben’s vision. His legs already turned into jelly. And he could only hear a deafening noise. But he still stood. He didn’t have courage to do so. What he knew was to fulfill the whispers he was hearing.

“I don’t want to lose.” He didn’t recognize the voice, but he felt it was the only guide he had. Like a light at end of the tunnel.

Grumpy huffed, feeling the sapped strength from his arms and legs. Looking around, his subordinates seemed beaten too. Next, he peeked at the human muttering before him. Although, they hardly got hit, their opponent’s stamina and stubbornness defeated them.

Grumpy wobbled. Ben must have felt him moved because he also struggled to step forward. Both of them readied their arms and flung it towards one another.

Peng.

“I don’t want to lose.”

Peng.

“I don’t want to lose.”

Bang. Two figures collapsed. This time, both of them couldn’t lift a finger. Their chest bobbed up as they laid on all fours. Everything quietened down then.

Suddenly, the sound of snoring rang.

Grumpy peeked at the boy once again.

“Annoying brat.” Recovering some strength, the demon crawled towards him. He scanned the boy until he memorized his face.

“You kept muttering till I thought my ears are failing me.” Grumpy looked down at his ankle. Printed on it was a red mark in the hand's shape.

“Emotion, huh? You wanted to save your friends until unconsciousness. If such emotion could make you do all your best, then what moves Rollin? I don’t know emotion. But I know he’s in pain. He is only doing what is best for us, so forgive me.”

“I won’t kill you. You will die if the ritual is successful. And you will live if your friends are successful. And for proving our battle, I will stay in the sidelines. Just like what you are doing right now.”

…

“Shit! Hurry!” Jed and Sarah could feel the drastic decreased in temperature.

The walls, the ceiling, everything in their vision becoming frozen. In addition, the night had already overtaken the day and its chilly winds further sped up the process.

Jed could bypass the sculptures with ease. But every time he did, a few arrows shot with precision. Thus, he could only let go of each opportunity. With these alone, both he and Sarah figured how strong the demon Rollin.

“It’s impossible that controlling these sculptures and shooting arrows doesn’t take a toll on him.” Sarah snarled.

Jed said while sprinting. “But we can’t wait till he’s exhausted. The Evil Art will activate soon.”

“So, it’s now or never!”

Sarah crouched, resembling a gorilla. Then, her figure blurred and rammed a sculpture head on. The latter exploded into crystalline fragments.

Rollin frowned. He could only control ten sculptures and each he created took a lot of World’s Energy. Then, he would use these ten sculptures to drown his opponent till they couldn’t fight back. If someone managed to get pass them, he would stay in the distance while shooting ice arrows. This had been his usual strategy. Even Sarah fell prey into it before.

But currently, Jed’s addition proved to be troublesome.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t face with several numbers. Yet Jed’s and Sarah’s synergy seemed very tight.

While Sarah continued her bulldozing, Jed used that moment to slip. He still had one chance to use his triple speed and was only waiting for the right moment.

“…”

“All humans, demons, and Beasts followed the same equation. The same philosophy. The law of the jungle or whose fist is the strongest. Perchance, people will disagree. I disagreed too. Back when I was young.”

“I am changed man now. The view of weakness is surreal. Too unreasonable.”

“Ha!”

“I’m weak.” The leader of caravan laughed like a deranged maniac. “I’m weak, thus, my entire family deserved to die! Because I’m too fucking weak!”

“Now, I longed for strength more than any others!”

“But I don’t have any chance now.”

“The only thing I can do… is to pass the already small torch of mine to someone else. But no one has the same hatred as mine. Most of them give up and many buckled from fear.”

“HAHAHAH! After all, who won’t fear someone as fucking cautious as him!”

“He is a monster. And only a monster could defeat him. A monster born from feeding on every bone and flesh.”

“I tried to become a monster. Yet, I only became a small monster. Too small to be noticed.”

“And then I met you.” The man’s eyes became intense. “Your hatred isn’t visible. You sheltered and buried deep, deep at the recesses of your heart.”

“Do you know who told that old man in Pendragon clan? That’s right, its me.”

“I planned you to come here to this forsaken village.”

Jed delved into silence. Although he could remember what he said next, everything became faint and foggy to him. The noise, the surroundings, only waking up after the man concluded his speech.

“Thus, I will hand it to you the responsibility of killing me. Become what you supposed to be. Let yourself become a monster!”

Jed closed his eyes. The breath he took stirred the way his swing moved. That very instant. One head falling to the ground. And that maniacal face, still imprinted on his decapitated head.

He caught that instant - the sense of becoming a monster.

He arrived at the miraculous phenomenon. In his subconscious mind, he could dodge every ball shooting at him with ease.

This time the arrows replaced the balls. His feet tapped the floor with a screech and his speed became faster. Every muscle fiber screamed as if lightning was flowing through his veins. And then everything erupted as his arm swooshed in fluid motion.

Pshk. An arm bounced off.

Rollin grunted, but he suddenly looked behind him. With a scalp tingling, a fist made of flame shot towards him with unbelievable might! He shivered as apprehension enveloped his heart!

“No!!!”

“Fire Fist!”

Bang!

…

Sarah had been contemplating about her move. How could she decrease the strain of using Faso? Also, increasing its strength?

Experimenting, she fused it with her copied arts. First, her muscles pumped. Then she crouched, mimicking the gorilla. And last infused the Faso in her hand.

It was lacking. It couldn’t be any worse.

Thus, she kept experimenting while fighting… until she arrived with a set of movement.

By this time, Ben had woken up only to his eyes widened. He saw Sarah’s arm enlarged, before performing a familiar stance. Next, her fist turned ablaze and accumulated until it became fiery red. And shortly after, a familiar figure superimposed over her. The figure used a dagger to make an extraordinary stab.

“Unlucky Stab?”

But the name she uttered was different.

“Fire Fist.” Then a fist formed from the fire made its appearance.

Boom!

Other demons also woke up. And alongside with Ben, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The attack blasted three sculptures into smithereens! Even the ceiling and walls got affected by the impact!

But the attack didn’t end yet as it hit Rollin, pushing him all the way to the exit!

The demon vomited a lot of blood. He witnessed his severed arm turned into cinders. What worst was the crack in the large spell circle! And then he saw Sarah looking over it!

“Stop! Noooo!” But it was too late.

Crack. The large spell circle fragmented, accompanying it was a pair of cracked eyes. A maddened expression appeared on Rollin’s face.

Everyone could sense the ritual lost its power. The frozen power earlier melted whilst the pulsating red receded until it turned into a faint red color.

The trio sighed in relief. Even the demons exhaled. They didn’t know if they felt fortunate to live or sad about their clan’s dim fate.

Sarah couldn’t help but feel exhilarated. As if a wondrous door opened for her, as she stared at her fist and the result she did. However, a wave of exhaustion emerged from the depths of her soul.

“Hm? I’m using my longevity to execute this power? I ended up in square one, huh? It really pushes me to the abyss!”

“By the way, what do I call this? A Fire Fist Combat Art? Or Fire Fist Spell Art?”

“But I feel… there are more of it! I will create more fist powers and develop a brand-new Combat or Spell Art!” She started chuckling.

Exhausted, but her stamina got drain many times and grown accustomed to it. She could still do a basic thing such as killing a weakened opponent. Hence, she quickly sauntered towards Rollin.

But then, they heard a voice which sounded like it came from the pits of hell.

“I have your kid, Monster. I know you are in there, waiting to act in the last second.”

“But I won’t let you! Let’s have a trade instead! I’ll give him back, but you need to kill these three! Not a lousy deal for someone like you, isn’t it?!”

“If you don’t”, a blade of ice appeared in Rollin’s hand, “I’ll kill him.”

Bang. A flashed of lightning illuminated their faces from a hole in the ceiling. Thunder roared as a vague figure appeared. And when they saw its face, everyone couldn’t control their shudder.

No wind, no rain appeared. Only the rumbling of thunder reverberated. And on that monochromatic scene, a silhouette emerged under a flash of light. The scar on its face twitched, resembling the heart of pulsation. Its eyes shone, the crooked whiskers trembled, and a low howl exited from its ferocious mouth.

Bang. A heavy air suffused everywhere. A deadly silence ensued. And within that stillness, a set of words broken freed everyone’s reverie.

“The monster is here.” One demon gulped. They had once tried to hunt this thing before, but it took them down within seconds.

The monster moved, drifting like a phantom of the night. Everyone became alert, even the demons. They could hear a swooshing and a faint figure landed beside Sarah.

The latter narrowed her eyes, but a fast paw already smacked her face.

Tumbling back, she tried to unleash a kick, but she felt a presence above her. The monster attacked her with a bang and she coughed out blood in the process.

Ben and Jed moved at the same time. Though the former staggered and almost fell to his butt.

“Why is the world spinning around?”

Jed wanted to intervene, but Rollin got him. Ting. The boy frowned, trying to maneuver between their exchanged. His knife slashed, making the demon bleed. The latter came back, however.

But this wasn’t the source of Jed’s frown. Jed expected him to be furious or become insane. Not the calm he had right now. Thus, he couldn’t help but spoke to this demon Rollin. “Why are you still struggling?”

“How did you defeat him?” But the demon questioned him instead. Rollin scrutinized the boy for the first time.

Jed got taken aback, but he understood. He didn’t answer though, which thrown the demon into a spiral of confusion.

Rollin only took this as confirmation and became concerned. After all, the guy Jed defeated was a genuine Grandmaster. Nonetheless, he suppressed his fears and fought the human with all he had.

However, he got defeated after a few exchanges. He didn’t have enough knowledge in close combat and could only feel helpless blocking the boy’s attacks. Moreover, he got injured by Sarah’s Fire Fist, turning almost his insides to mush. Only willpower made him stand up and fight.

Jed didn’t have time to slay him, though. The former could see his teammates’ situation and immediately went to help. Their condition was far from promising.

This time, the monster released his killing intent and seemed bent on killing them.

Sarah groaned. A large wound appeared on her dainty chin. Although she didn’t appreciate physical beauty, the fact she got wounded without being able to fight back was too frustrating for her.

She almost let go of her reservation and used Fire Fist repeatedly until it hit. But she knew doing so became based on luck. In the first place, would she have enough life to use it unbridled? She didn’t know.

Ben also grew nervous. This should be the third time he felt death was beside him. He knew he was only a punching bag since the start of his journey, but he remained proud of his body. But this time, it had inflicted his proud body with visible thin wounds. Like a chopping board, continued to be hack and slash until scratches had formed.

In fact, Ben got most of the attacks because he still didn’t know how to respond against fast opponents and at the same time, he had to shield his team mates from it.

Surprisingly, the demons helped them. Thus, the trio didn’t notice Rollin’s escape. Only Tonyo did, because he had his eyes locked on to that guy. But the demons had good teamwork and prevented him from leaving.

Nonetheless, they could only use their bodies to block the attacks.

All of them defended their fatal body parts. This was the only they could do as they waited for the monster to tire out.

“This monster has an amazing endurance,” Jed spoke. “Its techniques are topnotch, mixing Arts to speed up and normal speed in a unique rhythm.”

Sarah continued. “This helps him to attack and counter at the same time. We are fortunate it doesn’t plan to kill us before. Beasts are really a genius in combat. With this alone, we will tire to death before it.”

“So, what do we do?” Ben huffed as his stamina was all-time low.

“Taunt it. It might become careless. Probably” Even they knew how impossible their thoughts. Both Jed and Sarah glanced at each other before nodding. “You do it, Ben.”

“Why me?” Ben’s teeth clattered.

“You are from the market so you have more experience in cursing others.” This made Ben rolled his eyes. For god’s sake, it only been recent when he first learned to curse. But he hardened his heart and started remembering about what words the aunties in the market had said.

“Yawaka!”

“Poop eater!”

“Fuck you, bastard!”

“Get out whore, you are infecting everyone with HIV!”

Three dot lines appeared on everyone’s mind. But the boy didn’t notice their reactions and even felt exhilarated. Like an open vent, his fart-like words became raining arrows and saliva became fountain showers, spitting shit whilst entering their stainless ears.

“Mother fucker!”

“Or motherfucker? Anyway, your mother doesn’t love you!”

“What is the rhyme of mother? Father!”

“One more. What is the rhyme of mother? Monster!”

“HAHAHA. Are you the boy’s pet? Because you can’t be his lover!”

“Monster! Monster! Ahh Monster!”

What they didn’t expect was his words were very effective.

“…”

“Monster! You are a monster! No one will ever love you.”

Everyone turned disgusted, as if they had swallowed a fly when they saw him. Humans scorned him from being too hideous while he faced racism from Beasts Race just because there was no a squirrel Beasts ever. Demons felt greedy when they knew about him.

He couldn’t heave or vent his frustration. Alone, with sadness and bitterness as his companions.

There was no one to accept him… until she appeared.

…