Chapter 51: Lucky Bastard
A/N: Warning to my wonderful readers, the next few Chapters will be in third person.
The beast lunged, claws slicing through the air where Sebastian had been a moment before. He moved like water smooth, unhurried, almost lazy, but every step carried lethal precision.
His black coat fluttered as he sidestepped another swipe, eyes glinting faintly blue. The monster roared in frustration, its massive arm crashing into the ground, shaking the dirt loose from the crimson trees.
Sebastian raised his hand, the glass blade humming in his grip.
’Too slow.’
Dark mana surged from his fingertips, crawling along the sword’s edge like veins of black lightning. The moment the beast charged again, Sebastian swung once.
The air itself seemed to split.
The blade didn’t need to touch the creature, the wave of Death Mana that exploded from the tip did the work. It struck the monster square in the chest, and a sizzling sound filled the air. The creature’s snarl turned into a strangled howl as black cracks spiderwebbed across its body.
Then it started to decay.
Its flesh peeled away, muscles rotting in real time, bones turning gray before collapsing into dust. The stench of death hung heavy for a heartbeat before the wind carried it away.
Sacha’s voice echoed softly from within the blade. "Papa’s scary when he’s serious."
Sebastian exhaled, letting the corrupted mana fade from his arm. The once-monstrous figure before him was now nothing more than a pile of fine ash, glowing faintly blue before dispersing completely.
The drone behind him beeped twice. A notification appeared on his wrist card.
Points gained: +25.
’E-rank monster. Not bad for a warm-up.’
He twirled the sword in his hand and let Sacha’s form fade, her small white body rematerializing in his arms. She blinked her bright blue eyes up at him, proud and beaming.
"Papa strong!" she said with a grin that showed her tiny fangs.
Sebastian chuckled softly, brushing a hand through her fur.
"Of course I am," he said. "Can’t have my daughter thinking her old man’s weak, can I?"
She purred in response, curling up against his chest as he glanced toward the deeper part of the forest where the real hunt would begin.
’If this is how easy E-ranks are,’ he thought, a grin tugging at his lips, ’then I’m going to need something much bigger to make this fun.’
The forest was quiet again or it was, until the bushes behind Sebastian rustled violently.
He turned his head slightly, watching as three more of those same beasts emerged, each one hulking and snarling, black saliva dripping from their fanged maws. Their red eyes gleamed like coals in the half-light, focused entirely on him.
’Guess the last one had friends.’
{Lucky you,} Bastard muttered lazily. {More things to dismember.}
Sebastian rolled his shoulders, tightening his grip on Sacha’s hilt, who had just gone back to her sword form. "You ready, little one?"
From within the blade, her voice echoed, faint but eager. ’Sacha is always ready, Papa.’
A faint pulse ran through the sword, blue at first, then fading into black as Sebastian’s mana poured in. The crystalline edge shimmered with darkness, tiny veins of corrupted energy crawling through its surface like spider cracks.
The first monster howled and charged.
Sebastian didn’t move until the very last second. Then, like a ghost, he stepped aside, twisting his wrist. The sword’s edge traced a single elegant curve through the air, and the creature’s arm came off cleanly.
The wound didn’t bleed. It boiled.
Thick black veins spread from the cut, racing up its shoulder like wildfire. Flesh blistered, shriveled, and began to peel away, the corruption eating it alive. The beast screamed, the sound guttural and broken, as its arm dissolved into a heap of bubbling gore.
Sebastian’s eyes stayed cold.
’Death isn’t just decay,’ he thought. ’It’s everything that follows after.’
The other two beasts lunged at once. One from the right, one from behind.
Sebastian’s feet shifted in a blur. He pivoted smoothly, slashing upward in a spiral motion. Black mana surged outward, forming a crescent-shaped arc of corruption that carved through the second beast’s chest. Its ribs cracked open like dry wood, and the stench of rotting meat filled the air instantly.
The third managed to graze his shoulder with its claw. A shallow cut barely worth noting, but enough to make him frown.
’Sloppy.’
{Tsk, tsk, Sebastian,} Bastard teased. {Getting overconfident and forgetting you’re still mortal.}
’Shut up.’
He turned, eyes glowing golden, and exhaled a long, steady breath that turned the very air around him heavy. His mana flared outward, rippling through the ground. The grass beneath his feet blackened instantly.
The corrupted energy gathered around Sacha’s blade until it dripped, liquid death in motion.
Sebastian stepped forward and swung once horizontally, effortlessly, and both remaining monsters screamed as their limbs began to fall away, one by one.
He didn’t need speed anymore. He didn’t need strength. The poison did the rest.
Every cut he made spread black veins through their flesh, rotting it from the inside out. The beasts convulsed violently, blood spraying in dark arcs as their bodies caved in. Steam rose from where their corrupted blood touched the ground.
Sacha’s voice echoed softly from within the blade, trembling with something between awe and unease. ’Papa... Sacha feels them dying.’
Sebastian’s expression didn’t change. ’That’s because you’re part of me. You feel what I make.’
’It’s... scary,’ she whispered.
He hesitated for a moment, then whispered back, ’I know.’
The last beast fell, twitching once before collapsing into the spreading pool of black decay. Its body crumbled into gray dust, leaving behind only the faint shimmer of mana fragments in the air.
A heavy silence filled the forest afterwards. Thick. The kind that only came after something alive stopped being alive.
Sebastian lifted the blade and gave it a small twirl, shaking off the remnants of dark mana that still clung to the edge. The black mist scattered, dissolving into nothing.
{You’re getting better at this,} Bastard said. {A few months ago, you’d have hesitated before killing anything that looked vaguely human. Now you don’t even blink. I’m proud of you, really. It’s touching.}
’You’re annoying.’
{And you’re efficient. I think we make a great team.}
Sebastian ignored him and looked around. The ground was littered with melted patches of earth and faintly glowing blue dust, the remnants of what used to be monsters.
He raised Sacha slightly, and the sword pulsed once in response.
’Sacha... you okay?’
’I’m okay,’ she said softly. ’Papa fought beautifully. But Sacha thinks Papa might be... a little scary.’
That drew a small smirk from him. "You’ll get used to it."
She purred faintly, her voice shy but warm. ’Sacha will try.’
Sebastian looked ahead, deeper into the strange crimson woods, where the air shimmered with mana and the scent of blood hung thick. The drone buzzed softly behind him, recording it all, the silent witness to a massacre.
’Three down,’ he thought, adjusting his grip on the hilt. ’And it’s only been ten minutes.’
His reflection flickered faintly in the glass blade eyes cold, lips curved in faint amusement.
’Let’s make this island ours.’