Chapter 38: The Ugly

  (Perspective of the Ugly)

  When I touched the hilt of that sword, Pandora, the world didn't just stop. I felt as if a cold hook had embedded itself in my navel and violently yanked me from reality.

  Colors vanished, sounds melted into white noise, then... absolute stillness. I was flying, or rather floating, in a sky that wasn't just black, but "nothingness" itself. Oily, heavy, and suffocating.

  And from behind me, from every direction, there was laughter. Deep laughter, echoing in my rocky bones like the grinding of giant millstones. I looked at myself. I had returned to my old form. My ugly, rocky form as Piner.

  Yehehehe...

  The voice was incredibly close, and its scent... the smell of burning sulfur and pungent, ancient incense. "He died... he died..." "Delicious... delicious..." "His revenge was delicious, with the taste of old blood."

  Then he appeared before me. He was an emperor from hell. Sitting on a flying carpet woven from threads of darkness and pure gold, floating on hot air currents. His head was massive and bald, the color of polished lapis lazuli, topped with a gigantic turban of silk the color of a bloody sunset. At its center was a ruby the size of a fist, pulsating with a faint light like a dying heart. His ivory fangs protruded, hooked like daggers, gleaming with the moisture of his saliva. He wore extravagant clothing: an open brocade cloak embroidered with gold and silver threads depicting screaming faces, and wide trousers of threaded silk. On every one of his long-clawed fingers rested a ring studded with a jewel that trapped colored smoke inside. His eyes were not mere embers; they were pools of liquid fire, lacking pupils, staring directly into my soul. And behind his massive back were wings, thin and transparent like a dragonfly's, but with edges as sharp as diamond blades. They moved, creating a light breeze that carried the scent of exotic spices and death.

  He laughed like a genie released from its bottle, his broad chest shaking. Yehehehe... Yehehehe... "You are contracted with the servant of Corvus? Prometheus? Strange. Your scent is a mix of rot." "Your contract has been paid... was it paid with a soul other than your own?" Yehehehe... entertaining... entertaining.

  His massive face drew closer to me. I felt the heat of his sulfurous breath lashing my rocky face. "Delicious... you look delicious." I felt his long, red, viscous tongue slide from between his fangs and lick my face. It felt rough like shark skin, hot as fire, and left behind a layer of sickening saliva. "I want to taste you... I want to taste your despair." "Will you become my sword? The sword of Danhash, demon of the 34th rank." "Take the power of Pandora... and burn whoever you wish to burn... and take your revenge on whoever you wish to take revenge upon."

  I thought to myself, as his saliva dripped from me. I want to burn the world. I want chaos. I want to kill Morito. I want to hear the screams of every fox that dared to insult me. But... I have a mission. I must find "Emotions".

  I looked into his fiery eyes, and tried to keep my voice steady: "I want your sword. I want to taste your emotions."

  His laughter paused for a moment. "!!"

  I continued: "But I must live. I must not die. And I will not die before I accomplish my mission." I extended my rocky hand toward him: "I will not pay a price. You will give me your power without a price."

  Yehehehehe... Yehehehe... He resumed laughing with even greater madness, shaking the black sky. "It seems the taste of Corvus's servant isn't as bad as I expected. You are brazen." Yehehe... you will take my sword. "But you will pay a price... and fear not... the price will be paid after you taste what you wish to taste." "For who am I to prevent the tasting of the most delicious meals?"

  Then... Without any warning. Chk. He plunged his long, sharp claw directly into my rocky chest. It wasn't normal pain; it was a feeling of violation. I felt the coldness piercing my very being. I saw gray blood—my essence—flowing from the wound.

  "But I didn't agree to the contract!" I screamed, my voice coming out hoarse. Yehehehe... there is no need for you to accept... for the contract is nothing but a plate that I already own.

  He withdrew his claw slowly, savoring the sound of it scraping against my stone. Yehehehe... I will see you on the day I taste you. "As for now... I will take you to a place where you can ripen."

  The ground opened beneath me. A vortex of darkness swallowed me. I fell. Blood streaming from me, and the laughter chasing me.

  I opened my eyes. I was falling from a clear blue sky. The wind whistling in my ears. "What??? Does that demon want to kill me to taste me quickly?!"

  I manipulated the wind. I formed an air cushion beneath me. I descended calmly, my small feet touching the ground gently. Where am I? I looked around. I am in a field of roses. White and red flowers stretching as far as the eye can see, their fragrant scent so overwhelmingly strong it induced nausea after the stench of sulfur. I know this field well. This is the rose field just beyond Mount Ryu.

  I felt an energy near me. A familiar... and painful energy. A cold, empty energy, like the energy of a dead star in a desolate cosmos. The energy of a starless sky. Clara. She was beside me, amidst the flowers.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  (I apologize to you, Danhash... for you only wanted to taste his screams, just as I want to... thank you, for letting me know that he is alive).

  When she saw me, she gasped. Her eyes widened in pure terror. "Dream?!" she screamed with a trembling voice. "Didn't you die?! How?!"

  How, I wonder, did she know it was me? Even though my body had become more beautiful than the sky, my skin as pure as milk, my eyes like shining stars, and my golden hair gleaming in the sun. My sword, Pandora, is small in my hand, but its heavy purple aura reeks of ancient blood and the desire to burn the world. I am shorter than her now, as small in size as a child. Could it be that my hatred for her flows from me like a black river, masking my beauty?

  "No... impossible... how are you alive? No... no..." She collapsed to the ground, among the flowers, and began to cry. She covered her face with her hands. "Oh my... are you the reason? I am sorry... I am sorry."

  Anger ignited in my chest. I screamed at her, my childish voice carrying the tone of a monster: "Shouldn't you, Clara, apologize to the one you betrayed? Your husband standing right in front of you?! You betrayed him for animals!!" "Didn't you feel my love for you?!" "Didn't you feel how I looked at you?!" "Didn't I call you: The woman more beautiful than the stars?!" "Why did you leave me again?! Why!!"

  She replied between sobs, her voice muffled: "I am sorry..."

  Suddenly. The air pressure in the field changed. Someone was walking. Walking and walking, yet you couldn't feel his energy because of how overwhelming it was. As if a "vacuum" was walking, swallowing the existence around it. A dragon walking on a land of flowers. Morito.

  He stopped behind her. His long shadow covered us. He said in a calm voice, deep and heavy as a mountain: "Do not apologize, Kage. For no one in this world deserves an apology." "Stand up." "And look at the face of the one you fear." "Then look at the face of the one who protects you... from the ugliness... from the beauty of this world."

  I turned to him. Anger blinded me. I saw his calm face that betrayed no emotion. "Morito! Do not interfere again!" "Do you think yourself virtuous now because you protect the traitor and the foxes you killed with your own hands by leaving them to their fate?!" "The eternal guardian of Nippon? You guard nothing but your so-called honor!" "Go back to your hole with your sake!" "You who lacks the courage to even speak the name he gave himself... you don't even deserve to be the scabbard for my sword." "If I kill you and you rise from the dirt to be reborn, I will kill you again, and I will repeat this cycle every time you are reborn." "Because you do not deserve... to be an Oni who kissed a lover!"

  He looked at me coldly. His dragon eyes did not blink. He didn't draw his sword. He didn't even assume a fighting stance. Extremely slowly, and with absolute contempt, he unfastened his sword belt. And I heard the faint click as he placed his legendary sword on the ground among the flowers. He said, in a voice entirely devoid of interest: "My sword... wait for me here."

  Then... He vanished. I didn't see him move. I didn't hear his footsteps. He was just a "vacuum" in front of me, and suddenly that vacuum was directly in front of me, filling my entire field of vision. I gripped Pandora and raised it, screaming as I tried to hide my terror: "I will cut you! I am not afraid of you!"

  But... this new body, beautiful and weak, betrayed me. It couldn't even resist. It couldn't even perceive the threat.

  Bam! It wasn't a sword. It was his bare hand. A single strike with the edge of his hand (Shuto) directly to the center of my small chest. It wasn't a strike meant to kill a warrior; it was a strike meant to discipline an insolent child.

  I felt my ribcage cave inward. The air was knocked out of my lungs all at once. A sharp ringing filled my ears. I flew backward and hit the ground hard, tumbling among the flowers that were instantly stained by the blood escaping my mouth. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and throat. I tried to breathe, but my chest was burning as if a hot coal had been placed inside it.

  "It hurts..." I whispered, my voice coming out like the whimper of a child. "It hurts..." Hot tears began to fall from my beautiful eyes, burning my cheeks. "Am I going to die now?" "I don't want to die... dying is scary."

  I started crying out loud, hysterical, terrified weeping. "It hurts... this hurts so much." I tried to grasp my sword, Pandora, to shield myself with it. But it... Yehehehehe... It started laughing. I felt the vibrations of its gloating laughter in the hilt. It was laughing at me. My sword was laughing at my crying and enjoying my pain.

  "I'm scared... Hong Min... help me!" I screamed, calling out names from another world. "Hong Min!" "Cairo!" "Anyone!" "It hurts... the pain... the pain."

  I looked at Clara through my tears. She was standing there, watching me in horror. I extended my small, trembling, bloodstained hand toward her. "Clara... help me... it hurts." "I'm sorry... help me." "I'm in pain... it hurts... the blood hurts... my chest hurts... my heart is burning... help me!"

  She stood up. She walked slowly, hesitant steps on the grass, until she reached me. I thought she would embrace me. I thought she would save me. But she... Fell to her knees in front of me. And raised her hand. Bam! A weak punch to my shoulder. Bam! Another punch to my aching chest.

  She started hitting me while crying, her tears falling onto my face. "It hurts... Clara, this hurts... I'm in pain... don't you love me?" She stopped hitting me, grabbed me by the shoulders, and shook me violently as she screamed in my face, her voice tearing reality apart:

  "I am not Clara!!" "Look at my face!! Look at my face!!" "I am Kage!!" "I am Kage!!" "The maid Kage... the fox Kage... Kage!" "My name is Kage... the name my mother gave me before she died!" "Look at my face! Look!"

  I wiped the tears and blood from my eyes, and looked at her face. I stared at the features I used to adore. And I saw her... truly. She wasn't Clara, the woman more beautiful than the adornment of the sky. She wasn't Aline, the bright sun of the sky. And she wasn't anyone dear to my burning heart.

  She was Kage. Just a frightened, weeping, deeply flawed character. A woman in my data who was irrelevant. Just a side character not even worth mentioning.

  "Scary..." I whispered, terror filling my being far more than the pain of the strike. "I'm scared..." This reality is terrifying.

  I pushed her away from me with a strength I didn't know I possessed in this small body. And I stood up, swaying. And I started to run. I ran madly, stumbling in the flowers, falling, and getting back up again. I want to escape. I don't want to see her face, which is not the face of my wife. I am terrified of Morito standing there like a statue of death. He is terrifying... too strong. I don't want to hear the gloating laughter from my sword. I don't want to stay here.

  I feel my heart shattering into a thousand pieces—not from love, but from being utterly lost. I am scared. I ran toward the darkness of my own heart, screaming inwardly: "My friends... where are you?" "And you, whom I thought was my wife..." "And my dear star... will you come one day to relieve me from the pain of my escape? Or are you, too... just another Kage?"