Shadow Monarch: Heroines Could Hear My Thoughts?!

Chapter 38- Dancing With Death (Part 2)

*Swish*

With a swipe of her claw-like nails, Rin's head was closer than ever to ending up flying off his shoulders. At that exact moment, time seemed to stop as Rin watched the end of his life approaching him. For some reason, no matter how much he tried to move or dodge he couldn't do that at all.

His mind screamed for him to try and dodge or he would die, yet all he could do was watch how everything was about to end.

[Host!] The system shouted in his head.

But, even that didn't make him budge at all. Somehow, Rin sensed himself enter a dazed state he had never felt before. Everything around him moved in a very slow manner while his body was the only thing unaffected.

'Why is that?' He asked himself.

[You aren't meant to fear anything, Rin.] A deep voice spoke in his head out of nowhere. But, even though Rin should've been surprised by it, he didn't question it. It was as if it was the natural course of things in this situation.

'Really?'

[You obtained my powers by fate so you are destined to be the one to provoke fear in others. You aren't the prey, Rin… you are the hunter.]

'Why?'

[We are special, Rin. We can't feel or act like lowly beings. We can't be weak.]

'Pfft! What a load of bullshit.' Rin chuckled.

Inside his head, he could clearly gaze at them… the same eyes that he saw when he awakened. He didn't feel anything from them except amusement.

'You talk about ruling this and not fearing that. Just shut the hell up! I don't need to listen to your words that sound like what every protagonist in bad novels hears when they are about to get a weird surge of power out of nowhere. Plot armor working its wonders after all.' He shook his head with a sigh and then glared at the eyes coldly.

'I don't want to be a perfect being. I don't fucking want to rule anything or do whatever you want me to. I have your powers now so I'm the one in control. You are gone! Dead! Give it up.'

[You are making a mistake, Rin.]

'I did a bunch of those in my life. Another one added to them won't change things. I have my own fucking will. My feelings are also mine, dumbass.' His eyes turned a degree colder as he yelled his true feelings.

[You will waste those powers!]

'So what if I wasted them? They are mine now. I have already decided what my goals and dreams are.'

[How dare you?!] The voice boomed in his head like lightning. The anger and frustration in the entity's voice were immeasurable.

'Blah, blah… Yeah, I'm listening. Anyway, this is the end of our conversation. I will give you a warning. Either you leave me and my loved ones alone or I will personally make sure to dig your grave, pull you out, revive your ass and then torture you to death again!'

[You insolent fool! Do you know the consequences of what you're saying?! You are going to ruin everything!]

'I don't care… I will do what I see fit. I am not a pushover, bastard. I will have my own fate in my own fucking hands!'

Coincidentally, Rin's eyes started glowing ominously outside.

[Berserk skill has been activated!]

[All stats have been increased by one full rank!]

[The host will lose 40% of his sanity!]

[Shadow Manipulation has leveled up!]

*Swish*

Instinctively, Rin's hand moved in and clashed with the claws. Embers of fire flickered left and right as the two clashed violently.

"Die! Die! Die! Die!" The demon shouted as she tried to overpower Rin.

However, the latter didn't reply and merely looked deep into her eyes with his widened gaze. His horrifying glowing eyes stared deep into her soul. Coupled with an eerily neutral expression, Rin looked uncomparably different. Even his previously calm aura was now so chaotic that even his own family won't be able to recognize him at all.

*Swish* *Clang*

The two simultaneously pulled and clashed again. The flickers of light along with the aftershock of each hit messed up the whole hall and destroyed whatever was left intact there.

'What is wrong with him?!' Lina thought as she kept slashing left and right with her full power.

She never thought this stupidly weak human could actually go head-to-head with her and even be equal to her.

As she thought so, Rin quickly changed his approach and jumped back. Then, in a flawless manner, he vanished inside his shadow. His body was engulfed in darkness and his eyes closed for a moment. The feeling was weird but he wasn't in a good enough state of mind to actually sense it properly.

As if he was driven by instinct, his body moved inside the darkness for a few seconds before he jumped back up, appearing behind the demon. His dagger stabbed toward Lina's back.

"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" A loud scream of pain echoed in the whole mansion.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" Swinging her claws, Lina sliced Rin's arm at the last second before he escaped.

Blood trickled down his clothes and soaked them even wetter. Yet, his expression didn't change at all. It was as if he lost all sense of everything around him except the battle.

Instead, he quickly dissapeared into the shadow again. Because of his sudden level-up for the skill, his control over the skill increased dramatically.

At first, such a thing was possible but still very hard and consumed a huge amount of mana. But, the level-up coupled with the berserker's skill that increased his mana pool by a whole rank made him capable of using it pretty freely.

'Where did he go? Where will he attack from?!' Lina looked around her restlessly as she waited for him to appear again.

*Swish*

'From under me!!' Lina quickly used both of her hands to hack Rin before he could stab her with the dagger.

Yet, much to her shock, the only thing that appeared was a dagger… Her closed eyes could be seen widening up under that layer of skin that covered them.

'A decoy?!!'

Much to her shock, Rin used the dagger as a trap and used that moment of shock as a good opportunity. His body reappeared from behind with the other dagger already on the move to slice her back. He focused on that spot as he knew it was the weakest part of her body with the least defense.

"Dammit!! Dammit!! Dammit!!! You absolute trash! I will definitely end your life in the worst way possible! I will send you to the deepest parts of hell!!" Lina screeched from the pain as she grabbed Rin's broken arm.

Then, she swiftly swung him around and threw him in the air. After that, she used that moment to jump after him and pierce him with her claws.

Rin was in a bad spot, not only from the fact that he had lost his balance but also because of the damage inflicted on his broken arm. Previously, his arm turned blue in color because of the trauma inflicted on his bones but now was now basically not any better than a bloody mess of flesh and bones.

However, not even that pulled a reaction out of his blank face. He had no idea that this should be a horrible situation nor did he even consider his chances of survival.

*Swish*

Instead, his whole mind was solely focused on the battle, it was the type of focus that made him incapable of thinking of anything else. His mind was not there to make him act like a human but more like a killing machine focused on destruction.

That was the effect of the berserker's skill, it was a tool to create battle monsters that could only live on top of the corpses of their prey. Berserkers weren't meant to be humans, they weren't meant to be sane creatures. They are creatures of death and blood. Pain and suffering didn't matter to them… The only thing that mattered was to end the lives of everything in front of them.

"This is the end!!" Lina shouted as a wicked smile filled her disgusting face. Slitting the air, she aimed for Rin's head.

Then, in a split second, a mere insignificant moment that even the demon ignored completely, was more than enough for Rin to do something out of this world. A move that even the craziest of humans would never even consider.

*Swish*

"WHA-" Lina couldn't believe her eyes, she couldn't even utter a single word at what she saw.

A demon that could literally rip her own flesh and turn it into creatures that fight for her was completely and utterly shocked at the sight.

'Is he even… human?' She asked in her head as her vision was covered completely by a crimson liquid.

(A//N: Cliffhanger is back baby. He is going ham one chapter after the other. How long is going to continue for? Jokes aside, how do you rate this chapter out of 10? I enjoyed writing it so much!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it is. Let's all keep it up :)