Khiiiik!
The abysmal monster shrieked again, making the air and earth tremble in fear.
Yuto gripped his sword hilt, swallowing hard. He still couldn't believe such a terrifying creature could exist in this world.
"Get ready!"
Suddenly, the words from the man beside him drew his attention.
The controlled monsters were acting strangely. Their bodies trembled as the light of consciousness flickered in their eyes.
They writhed, and then, before Yuto's very eyes, the monsters faced each other.
'What is it!?'
In an instant, the surrounding atmosphere became thick with the foul smell of blood and a haunting silence.
One of the goblin monsters raised its club and struck another goblin in front of it.
Crack!
A gut-wrenching sound echoed, followed by a roar from a beast-like monster that opened its maw and bit the neck of a goblin beside it.
From there, a symphony of chaos erupted. Monsters against monsters killed each other, turning the battlefield into an ominous slaughter.
Yuto and the man stood still, their eyes wide as tension gripped their minds.
"What's happening?"
His brow twitched at the man beside him.
The thick miasma aura danced in the air, and it all flew northward, entering the mouth of the approaching abysmal monster.
'It's absorbing miasma?'
The boy's thoughts accelerated, and one answer emerged from his gathered knowledge.
"Don't tell me!?"
Without waiting for anyone, Yuto's body vanished like smoke and appeared dozens of meters away, approaching the abysmal monster.
"Hey, what are you...!?"
The man shouted and followed Yuto from behind. With a single stride, the man reached Yuto's side, his eyes full of questions.
"That monster is absorbing all the miasma!"
"I see."
Hearing Yuto's words, the man nodded and poured his aura into his silver spear.
Silver light overflowed the land, as if a holy power was eroding the miasma in the atmosphere, albeit slightly.
However, his movement caused the abysmal monster to focus on them and stop its absorption.
Yuto refused to be outdone, imbuing his sword with his thick crimson aura, reflecting ferocity.
He did this not without reason; by depleting the energy in his dantian, Yuto could slightly absorb the abysmal monster's share of power in the air, preventing it from getting stronger.
Even though it was a risky move for him.
Getting closer, Yuto realized how tall the monster was. Not only because of its centipede-like body, but its humanoid body was also elongated.
A silver star soared, carrying its majestic spear. Meanwhile, the red light continued to tread the land, leaving black shadows.
The man thrust his spear, but the black legs from the monster's back moved and formed a cage that held off the spear's attack.
Yuto flooded all his major meridians and shot forward like an arrow. He arrived beneath its long belly in a few steps, covered by a hard, glossy exoskeleton that screamed bad omen.
Veins bulged on his right hand, and Yuto concentrated most of his demonic energy into his sword.
"Break!"
Yuto swung his sword horizontally. Sparks flew, his hand numb from the hardness of the monster's skin.
But his eyes narrowed when he saw a single crack on its skin.
"It worked!?"
A large shadow loomed over him as he looked up to see a sharp, lance-like leg stabbing right down at him.
'So fast!'
The boy gritted his teeth, barely dodging the attack, and appeared a few meters from his spot.
He glanced down and sighed in relief, finding no wounds. However, a chill gripped his spine.
"Dodge, kid!"
His eyes shifted upwards and saw the monster's wide, vertical mouth, filled with serrated, shark-like teeth, spewing black fluid.
Instinctively, he stomped the ground so hard and jumped from his spot. The black fluid landed on the ground, causing steam to rise as the earth melted.
'It had an acid breath.'
Yuto raised his face and saw the man fending off eight attacks from all directions with his spear.
Clang! Clang!
The battle displayed above was on a different level. Yuto could only watch with wide eyes.
Every attack was swift; he couldn't even blink, afraid of missing their movements.
Sparks scattered, and every spear tip clashed precisely with the sharp black spider legs that sprouted from the monster's back.
It wasn't just about speed; the technique and accuracy in every attack far surpassed Yuto's current abilities.
The boy gritted his teeth, looking ahead, realizing that the abysmal monster was focused on the spearman.
He inhaled the dark air around him, converting it into Demonic energy that strengthened his body.
Perhaps because he was close to the source, the Demonic energy in his dantian flared viciously.
Heat spread throughout his body, and it almost burned away his consciousness if the blue Qi hadn't protected his head.
'Let's do this!'
His body disappeared like a ghost several times and appeared right in front of its centipede-like body.
The boy's red eyes reflected the crack, then he poured half of his power into his sword.
"Haa!"
At that moment, Yuto's consciousness faded, and he saw the world's colors turn gray. Time seemed to stop as he received a whisper from his own consciousness.
{Hey, why are you pushing so hard to protect others? This isn't like you at all.}
A mocking tone echoed in his ears, and before he knew it, Yuto stood in endless darkness.
In front of him, space distorted, then spewed demonic energy that spread and formed a figure of his past self.
A skinny boy with short black hair and a below-average face, different from his current self.
{Have you forgotten? The world has abandoned you, so why are you fighting so hard for them?}
Memories of the past resurfaced, showing him being trampled, oppressed, beaten, and doused with foul-smelling water from mop remnants.
One doubt began to arise in his heart.
'You're right. Why should I do all this stuff?'
{Right, the better option is to let the monster kill all those monsters and the people in that town so you can harvest their mana and miasma to raise your cultivation level.}
'...'
Yuto's mouth remained shut. For some reason, he couldn't simply refute that statement. Perhaps, deep down, he wished for that, too.
{Forget everyone and become yourself. As the true successor of the Heavenly Demon.}
'...'
{And when the time comes, you'll exact revenge on Elias's family and your former fiancé!}
'You're right.'
His past self grinned, then walked closer. But when they stood face to face, Yuto, inside Elias's body, grabbed the shadow's throat.
{W-Why?}
'I agree with you, especially about revenge and the rest, but...'
Yuto's crimson eyes flashed. The blue Qi in his dantian burned, not with power, but the memories of Marni's smiling figure, Shery's cheerful laugh, and Gonzo's silly behaviour.
Those small fragments crashed with the dark past Yuto still carried within him.
'I'll not become a monster like you told me to! I have sworn to repay kindness with a hundred kindnesses and evil with a thousand evils!'
Yuto's old body slowly faded and entered his current body as he snapped back to reality, facing the abysmal monster.
His right hand clenched the hilt tightly, and the stream of aura from his body and sword turned solid.
'Break for me!'
Yuto swung his sword, and without any hindrance, 'crash', its exoskeleton shattered, revealing black, twitching flesh inside.
Khiiiik!
An ear-splitting roar erupted from above; it shook Yuto's ears and consciousness.
The abysmal monster blew the spearman far away. Then, instead of focusing on Yuto, the monster faced the sky and spewed a black lake.
Judging by its range, that acidic fluid could reach as far as twenty meters.
Meanwhile, the boy Netherworld Step could only carry him a dozen meters.
"Damn it!"
To make matters worse, Yuto accidentally expended all his energy in that last attack, so he froze.
"Kid!?"
The man couldn't arrive in time, just as Yuto braced himself for the worst. A massive darkness emerged from the shadow behind him, letting out a familiar bestial cry.
"Rawr!"
"You!?"
Uninvited, the Phantom Jaguar suddenly arrived on the battlefield. Hence, its appearance was to exact revenge on Yuto, or something else.