It was as if the living carnation of terror itself had descended upon the village. Like a black blur of death, Gray sliced and slashed through the villagers, rupturing their innards before draining them dry leaving only sludges of human waste and mutilated corpse paste behind. None were spared, not the women nor the children, Gray slaughtered them all in cold blood, all the while he hid a smile under his hood.

{Enough, if you continue you’ll go into a blood frenzy,} warned the specter, though Gray was too concentrated on the carnage to pay it any mind. With every fallen victim his blood meter would get closer to reaching critical level, and he could feel his mind slowly slipping, but at the same time, he felt a rush unlike any he had ever had before.

A few of the villagers began begging him to spare them, realizing that worshipping a heretic was better than death, but at that point, Gray was already shrouded in the insanity of mindless butchery.

One of the villagers bowed before him with teary eyes, asking that their child be spared. Though the words that came out of his mouth were lost to Gray’s ears. To him, it was as if the whole world were silent, as if he were about to ascend, ascend to what exactly he had no idea. But Gray liked the feeling, with every kill he told himself “just a little bit more.” So how could he? How could he spare one of his precious kills?

Gray sliced the man’s lower jaw off before thrusting his blade into the man’s stomach, activating his sword's [Earth shatter] ability. The man’s insides ruptured out of his body, sending intestines and viscera into the air. A chunk of the man’s guts splattered onto Gray’s face, its warmth like a warm towel to his skin.

[『Bloodlust Mode』 activated. Blood lust has reached critical level. Warning, excessive use of this mode exponentially increases the blood price toll. A sacrifice must be offered before the blood lust expires or the full toll will be paid by the user.]

After hearing the notification, everything became jumbled. His memories became incoherent chunks of death and pleasure, the only thing he could still clearly differentiate was the voice at the very back of his mind that kept whispering  “just a little more”. However, in the end, he never ascended, it seemed that there were merely not enough villagers for him to reach whatever climax he was hoping to. After realizing that there were no more victims left, Gray passed out. The toll of his 『Bloodlust Mode』finally taking an effect on him.

Tesse healed him a few moments after he passed out, before being knocked unconscious by the feedback from her healing. When Gray awoke he felt a strong craving for more violence, if it wasn’t for the specter pulling him out of his zombie-like daze he would’ve marched on in search for more.

{Stop. If you go off in this state you’ll be found out and slaughtered. This is why I warned you against killing them all. You can’t control your urges yet, you should avoid going into that bloodlust mode,} warned the specter.

{What? What was that? Why am I- what’s going on. What have you done to me?} Though Gray had always been in love with the idea of inflicting pain, it had always been a sort of voluntary interest rather than a need. But now it felt like it was something hardwired to his brain, it felt like if he didn’t run rampant and cause wide-scale annihilation he would perish.

{I haven’t done anything to you. Your mind is merely adjusting to the changes made to your body. A human turned demon, a demon halved specter. There is a lot going on within you, and the billions of our brethren tethered to your soul aren’t helping your psyche either. It’s already an anomaly that you are still sane, though that is the reason we chose you.}

{Fuck this, I can’t think straight.} Though Gray tried to clear up his mind, it still felt foggy. A vast contrast from how clear it had been a while ago when he was on his rampage, he was sure that a few more cries from his tormented victims would help him, but the specter was right.

If he stayed around too long, he would eventually be found out. After all, he had just wiped out an entire settlement.

{I can worry about this later, I have to get to Axiel first,} decided Gray, before picking Tesse up and strapping her unconscious body to his horse.

“Where is tha-“ He was about to say before he spotted the cub eating villager's remains a few yards away. When it noticed that Gray was staring at it, it tried pulling the corpse that it was feeding on behind one of the houses.

“Get over here,” he ordered, before appearing beside it.

*Neow* It meowed in protest as Gray tried pulling it off the corpse.

“Fuck around-“ as he said this he thrust his sword into the corpse’s chest cavity –“and get fucked,” he finished off before activating [Earth shatter] and blasting the corpse to mince.

The cub stood still, and obediently let go of its treat, shivering slightly as Gray picked it up.

“No more detours,” he mumbled to himself before placing the cub on Tesse’s lap. After tying Tesse’s horse to his, he went on his way.

As Gray rushed through the forest he couldn’t help but feel that something was watching him, though the presence was faint, it felt like he was being followed. Though after taking a few detours and trying to fake out his assailer, he realized that it was probably just a side effect of his healing psyche.

“Great, now I’m paranoid,” he mumbled under his breath, before relaxing a bit more and continuing his journey.

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[System Information]

[Affinity]

The affinity stat determines how certain individuals or factions will interact with the user. Just like on earth, individuals tend to behave more favorably to those they like as compared to those they dislike. Some factions require a minimum amount of affinity before joining their ranks.

Affinity can be the difference between gaining a precious skill and dying a painful death.

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