Was weakness truly such a crime?
Soaring through the air, keeping hold over a noose, Riley Woods used his phone, tracking down the nearest prison.
It's fine if I kill them. It's better for them to die than these children. And then, once I kill everyone here, I'll kill more, and more, and more of those worthless servants.
Having been shown time and time and time again how weak he was, he had resolved himself to grow stronger. Not by utilizing his ability to its full potential and making use of its combos, or by training or by learning how to actually fight—he determined it himself that murder was the only answer.
It was a big city; the prison was a maximum security one, and the prison generally had plenty of people in it. If he could kill every prisoner inside, then surely he would gain strength.
A twisted grin curving across his cheeks, drowned out by tears, Riley obeyed his killing intent.
—
Very clearly, something had breached the perimeters of the maximum security prison. Tracking it down with the motion sensors, the men outside wielding rifles, they had found a peculiar sight.
—A small, human figure flying through the air.
Readying their shots, they were caught off guard by the sheer speed of his movements. Akin to a car moving down the highway, the flight severely outpaced human running speeds, rendering any potential shots meaningless.
Still, they had to do something, thus warning their security teams that there was an intruder on the premises, and a likely dangerous one at that.
Riley, flying over the fences, landed atop the roof of the prison. Summoning [Bleeding] and quickly cutting open through the dense wall as if it was tofu, Riley landed inside, seeing the rows of cells.
If there was anything Ted had managed to teach him, other than his own weakness, it was undoubtedly the fragility of the human body in the face of the world.
Humans would die over hitting a curb, they would die over a baseball hit to the head, they would die going down a flight of stairs.
Summoning [Hanging], Riley provided himself a "partner in crime," so to speak. With the snap of his fingers, the noose flew around the cells as he would get to work.
"—All lives are valuable." Forsaking that line of thinking, Riley went cell to cell, ripping down the bars and going inside, grabbing hold of the human beings inside and killing them. With [Hanging], the rope would tighten around their neck and launch at full speed across the cell, instantly snapping their spines.
As the screams of the paralyzed and fearful prisoners rang through the air, it was soon drowned out by blaring alarms.
Armed forces moved in wearing riot gear and armed with powerful, fearsome guns. Riley, on the second floor of the cells, clicked his tongue at the sight.
You all must be good people. Right? That… No. I hear guards mistreat prisoners. Then, die.
Immediately justifying it to himself, Riley summoned [Crashing] in the air due to his high altitude, causing the car to crush the leading forces. Then, turning away and covering his ears, Riley detonated [Crashing], obliterating all of the men within a 30 feet radius, and injuring those behind.
Continuing, Riley moved quickly, ripping off doors and unleashing punches and kicks to the skull strong enough to blow their skulls apart as if struck by a shotgun.
—The more he killed, the stronger he felt. His body rapidly growing in strength and power, Riley tested out the newfound might, summoning multiple Methods at once.
Now with two [Hanging]'s, the work on the second floor was rapidly increasing. Ripping off the door handle, Riley came across a man in his cell, huddled up in a corner and looking up at him in terror.
"W-w-wait! Wait, don't—"
Lumbering over, Riley raised his boot, bringing it down to instantly crush the human being's life from the world.
For once, he paused. Looking at the horrible sight, that of a human being's [Death], Riley's stomach began to churn. The colors of red and pink, the fleshy texture, accompanied with the scent of blood and organs—it made him gag.
Within his body, the curse of Ghira and the disgust at the sight waged war upon each other. However, of course, Ghira was winning.
"Marvelous. My, oh my—even I did not expect this."
Balling up his fists, Riley clicked his tongue, looking up.
"Shut up. You shut your fucking mouth. Don't act like you have any idea what's going on. Don't speak so pretentiously, you stupid, worthless fuck."
"You truly are a human being—the way your speech shifts—yes, I like that. Haha! So much for 'All lives matter,' right? Not that I mind."
You stupid bastard… you're just trying to talk me out of it. But I won't let you. I won't.
Riley, too foolish—or rather, unwilling to accept—that Ghira was giving earnest praise, moved out of the cell, and continued his massacre.
—
Each time the guards would come out, he would summon [Crashing] and, with his strength, hurl it over towards them and detonate it at their position.
Increasing the work-load to four active participants, Riley and three [Hanging]s, he moved throughout the prison, smashing open the keycard activated doors and clearing the entirety of it in a matter of minutes.
—Within five minutes and thirteen seconds, over one-thousand prisoners had been killed.
…
"...Riley?"
Glancing at a boy, a young girl with pink hair stared forward. Surrounded by girls her age, whom she had hid with during the lockdown, Kara saw a bloodied boy having returned to school as the students were escorted out.
Of course, covered in blood, he was inspected by the police. Yet, even as they exchanged passing glances, she looked into his eyes, and felt it.
His formerly light-brown-colored eyes, they had become black. And, sensing the murderous aura surrounding all killers, she almost gagged as a result.
—Unmistakably, his soul had been submerged in black.
…
Two tragedies had struck the area, but only one of them was widely covered by the news.
Early Monday morning, ten students were killed inside of a school.
In the following days, Nina had been detained, but was not charged or convicted of any crimes, being labeled as self defense for the protection of others under reasonable circumstances due to the sheer amount of blood on the ground.
Riley Woods had been examined, and with no injuries found, he was sent home freely. Arriving back at his apartment complex, he stood outside, looking up at the large building.
"Ah…"
Movement. Hearing footsteps behind him, Riley turned around, seeing Kara approaching him. Her pink hair blowing in the wind, she looked at him with a serious gaze, her eyes narrowed.
"Riley… What happened to you? Why are your eyes like that? And why is your bloodlust so easily discernable?"
Servants of the Forgotten King were each given their own bloodlust—the manifestation of their love for Ghira, formed through their actions which showed their loyalty.
Riley, due to his inexperience, was unable to perceive the bloodlust of others unless they willingly projected it out to himself, and his own was particularly miniscule.
But now, as Kara could easily tell, his bloodlust was overwhelming.
"Oh? Ah… I don't know, I don't know."
Looking down, his black eyes staring at the ground as a small smile crept upon his face, he began to laugh. Laughing, chuckling, he was undeniably feeling joy.
"It's just that, well, what's the point… in fighting against it?"
Sniffling, as he continued to softly laugh, Riley staggered over to Kara, reaching out his arms. Unexpectedly wrapping them around her shoulders and body, Riley continued in his dance of weeping and laughter.
"I… I hurt a lot of people. I killed so many people. It felt good… it felt good."
Looking up, Riley's dark eyes stared deeply into hers.
"That's why… that's why, once I kill every servant in the world, I'll kill myself. Isn't that just the right thing to do?"
"Hk. Riley, what are you…"
This man was not Riley Woods. There was no doubt in her mind. She gently shoved him back, and stepped away from him, her eyes narrowed.
"That's not… Riley, what happened to saving people? No, rather, what happened to there being 'other options?' You talked me out of it, and now you're saying that everything—all of this, is leading up to your suicide?"
Snickering, Riley nodded his head, wiping his glossy eyes.
"Yep. That's right. It's really… it's the only answer, isn't it?"
"..."
Offended. Her expression seething with anger, Kara was unfathomably offended, her fists clenched tight to the point of her knuckles burning white.
"You… Then, then… What was this all for…?!"
Grabbing his collar, effortlessly lifting him up to her gaze, her grit fangs bared towards him, not obscuring her wrath.
"RILEY, YOU IDIOT!"
Winding her arm back, she slapped him across the face. The stinging ran across his cheek, as she dropped him to the concrete ground, looming over him.
"You, you fucking… why, why, then why!?"
Her cheeks puffy, she wept. Her voice breaking, the betrayal was clearly evident.
"You said—that day, you said that you wanted to explore other options. For once—for once in all my years of being a servant, I thought that maybe, just maybe, there was hope. For once… and yet, now you're telling me it was all worthless!?"
Laying on the ground, supporting his torso with his elbow, Riley held his cheek, the pain encompassing it in its entirety.
"..."
"YOU BASTARD! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!"
Kicking him in the side, causing a break in his ribs, Kara sent his body rolling over, still barely able to hold herself back from killing him.
"WHY?! Then, if it all amounts to suicide in the end—what was the fucking point to any of this!? If it's all the same, why?! WHY DID YOU MAKE ME LIVE HERE, WHY DID YOU OPEN YOUR ARMS UP, WHY, WHYWHYWHY!?"
Holding her clothes, needing something to grab, her labored breaths choked out between her sobs.
"You… you were the only person in my life who actually tried to see anything in me. You knew the depths of my evil, and you didn't turn your hand away. So… why? It just… it doesn't make sense, it's so… so confusing."
Wiping her eyes, Kara towered over his injured body, Riley clutching his side in pain.
"I threw away everything for you. I killed my brother for you, I abstained from murder for a bit, I became an enemy of the only people in this world who could understand me the most—I even betrayed the king who gave me the strength to escape my torment—all of it, everything, it was all for YOU. And now… and now…"
Unable to mutter even a word of respite, Riley healed his broken bones and slowly tried to climb to his feet.
"...I… I'm sorry," he weakly muttered, looking at her with his pitch-black abyss. "I… I thought… I thought there was hope. I really did. I wanted to believe that there was another option, I wanted to believe that it wasn't hopeless, I wanted to… to believe in a brighter future."
Not daring to look at the sky, where the stars amongst the darkness were, nor out to the world, where humanity was, or down, where there was the planet itself—his gaze was focused upon her sorrow.
"...But, I don't think I can believe in that. Not anymore. I don't… I don't think I can believe in happiness. Not when I'm like this."
He had once told her that, no matter what, he would be there for her. He had told her that his home was open for her. He had promised her that she was going to be okay.
Lies. All of it.
Her face silently shifting from despair, into a blank, cold expression, Kara looked down. Then, a soft smile appeared on her lips.
"...Is that so?"
"Living itself is the source of pain," she had once thought.
Hearing her despair, the mindset she had built up for years, confirmed by the man who had originally preached otherwise, Kara smiled.
Without a word, Kara walked away from the apartment, spurred on by Riley's weakness.
…
Riley Woods was a meek teenager born into a loving home.
His early years were marked by the last consistent patches of happiness, as he grew up next to a kind-hearted girl, Nina. Admiring her for her kindness and sociable personality, he had wished to embody those traits for himself, taking on a kinder approach to others.
Yet, at the age of nine, he fell into a slump. For reasons he himself could no longer understand, he deeply considered suicide as an escape, and had attempted to act on it. He failed.
Enduring through the years, there were multiple periods of joy, which typically lasted for a few months before he once more fell into despair. Living long enough to recognize the pattern, he himself realized that his life truly did feel like a continuing cycle of sadness and happiness—with the sorrow greatly outweighing the joy.
Having considered suicide from such a young age, he repeatedly counted on his own death. Dead at the age of ten, at the age of eleven, twelve, thirteen—and every year after that.
This habitual pattern of suicidal expectations for his future led to him being unable to perceive any kind of future for himself whatsoever. College, the military, jobs, he did not ever envision himself actually being able to reach that future.
His birthday in a few months, he was rapidly approaching adulthood. The future was closing in on him, the burdens of reality which he had never been able to envision ever actually facing off against were starting to weigh heavy on his mind.
Having been chosen by the Forgotten King to be his servant, to kill and hurt others—he had initially struggled against it. Defeating servant after servant, trying to protect others, he had failed. In that horrible failure in which he was more powerless than ever before, he warped himself. Brute-forcing his way to power, he had lost the ideals which made life worth living to him.
The rapidly approaching, terrifying reality that slowly compressed his neck as if strangling him, the newfound curse which had turned him into a murderer, the weakness of his body in the struggle against evil, and the habitual suicidal ideation which made it an option he clung to in the first place.
For these reasons, he had decided. This time, as a reality… —No. This time, it would be reality.
Once he killed the servants of Ghira, he would finally act on the thoughts which had plagued him for his entire life.