(POV Henri)
Seeing Bill now standing beside Chloe with a smile that was not his at all, a pure and hot rage exploded in Henri's chest.
He immediately stepped forward, the heavy thud of his boots echoing in the damp and cold basement.
Bill looked at him with an amused gaze, while Chloe, sensing the sudden tense change in the atmosphere, turned and was surprised to see Henri there.
Without a word, Henri roughly grabbed Bill's arm, his eyes blazing with anger. He dragged Bill away from Chloe, and Bill, with his arrogant smile still plastered on his face, didn't resist; instead, he followed casually as if enjoying the show.
Chloe could only stand silently watching them, her heart torn between chasing and separating them or staying put.
This confusion paralyzed her.
Once they were far enough, in another dark corner of the basement, Bill roughly released Henri's grip from his arm.
He held his own wrist, grimacing as if in pain, before looking back at Henri with his provocative smile.
Seeing that behavior, Henri's patience finally snapped. He swung his hand, intending to slap the face that now felt so foreign.
However, Bill caught his hand in mid-air with unnatural speed, his grip feeling so strong and cold like steel.
This made Henri even angrier.
He pulled his hand back and threw a punch, which Bill now returned.
With a roar more like a wounded beast than a human, Henri threw his first punch, a straight blow carrying all the burden of his pain and frustration.
However, Bill moved with unnatural speed. He easily dodged to the side, letting Henri's fist hit only empty air, then with the same casual motion, he countered by punching Henri's stomach with his elbow.
BLAM!
The air seemed forcibly wrenched from Henri's lungs.
He staggered back, coughing, a sharp pain exploding in his stomach, and he could feel the sour taste of bile rising in his throat.
Before he could recover, Bill attacked again. A right hook punch slammed into Henri's jaw with a horrifying cracking sound.
The world around Henri spun, black spots dancing before his eyes, and the metallic taste of warm blood immediately filled his mouth.
He fell to the cold and dirty stone floor, his head hitting hard.
Something inside Bill loomed over him, looking down with a condescending gaze, his vile smile never fading. "Is this all you've got?" he mocked, his voice so calm and full of disappointment.
"I thought you'd put up a fight."
The pain and humiliation felt like fire burning Henri's soul.
Amid his blurred vision, he saw the shadow of Chloe's pale and frightened face.
That was the only thing he needed!
With a stifled growl, he forced his screaming muscles to rise.
He spat blood from his mouth onto the floor, then resumed his shaky stance.
Henri continued attacking blindly, driven by rage and despair, but each of his punches felt slow and predictable to Bill.
Something inside Bill controlled the body easily, moving like a dancer, easily dodging, parrying, and countering each of Henri's attacks with precise and painful punches.
At that moment, a direct punch hit Henri's ribs, making him yelp in pain.
Another punch smashed his nose, sending him flying back and crashing into the damp stone wall.
However, every time he fell, every time the pain threatened to consume him, the shadow of Chloe's face reappeared in his mind, giving him the strength to rise again.
On the other hand, Bill seemed not to feel tired at all.
He continued raining punches on Henri, each attack accompanied by mocking small laughs.
He enjoyed this fight, enjoyed the pain and despair emanating from his opponent's eyes.
The floor around them was now wet with Henri's sweat and blood.
His body was full of bruises, his breathing ragged, and every movement felt like lifting a thousand-ton weight.
He knew he wouldn't last much longer. But he also knew he couldn't give up.
At that moment, he suddenly saw an opening!
After throwing a strong punch, Bill seemed slightly off guard, too confident in his victory that was already in sight!
With his last remaining strength, Henri ignored the pain tearing through his body and lunged forward.
Not with his fist, but with his entire body weight.
He crashed into Bill hard, making them both fall to the floor in an awkward position.
Bill fell to the dirty floor, and Henri, with ragged breaths, gave him no chance to rise.
They wrestled on the dirty floor, hitting each other with irregular but hateful punches.
Henri, now on top, no longer thought. He just punched, and kept punching. His already bloody and swollen fists slammed into Bill's face repeatedly, creating horrifying wet thud sounds.
He punched as if trying to destroy the demon inside, venting all his pain, anger, and sadness on the face that used to be his best friend's.
Finally, after an uncountable series of punches, Bill's body beneath him stopped struggling.
He lay limp, his face that had been arrogantly smiling now shattered and barely recognizable.
Henri, with ragged breaths and his body trembling violently, finally stopped.
He looked at his blood-smeared hands, then at Bill's face.
At that moment, the bandage on Bill's face tore from the punches, revealing the skin beneath that was smooth and fully healed without any trace of explosion wounds at all.
Only the marks from his punches were still visible and prominent!
Henri immediately stopped, his eyes widening in shock.
"You... how could you heal so fast?" he whispered, remembering how his friend's face was shattered and nearly showing bone moments ago.
Right at that moment, Bill, lying on the floor, suddenly sensed Chloe's approaching presence.
His battered face instantly changed to an expression of fear.
"Forgive me! Forgive me! I surrender!" he cried with a trembling voice.
Chloe, hearing the surrender, immediately ran and pushed Henri away from Bill.
She then knelt and hugged Bill affectionately while crying. "Are you okay, Bill?" she asked, her voice hoarse.
Bill gently stroked Chloe's face and nodded. "I'm okay now."
Seeing that, Henri, annoyed, was about to advance and punch him again.
However, at that moment, Chloe immediately stared at him with a sharp gaze full of hatred.
"Get out of here, demon!" Her eyes narrowed.
Hearing those words, Henri froze instantly, his heart feeling like it was squeezed to pieces.
He meant to save her, but now he was considered the villain.
As he looked at Chloe's face again, he finally understood.
His love had been rejected.
With a shattered feeling, he bit his lip. Henri turned his face away, turned around, and clenched his fists.
He walked, then ran away from them in silence, taking the gold coin from his pocket. 'If only I hadn't taken this coin, would all this not have happened?' he thought, wanting to blame something for his tragic fate.
But in the end, he could only hate everything: himself, this fate, and this cruel world.
"I hope everything is destroyed," he whispered to the night wind, before finally throwing the gold coin into the air.
The coin fell to the ground with a soft clink, glowing briefly, then dimming.
***
(POV Chloe)
Meanwhile, Chloe stared at Henri's receding back until it was no longer visible, before finally sighing and panic-strickenly looking back at Bill's battered face.
She gently touched the wounded part, only to make Bill scream in pain as if his wound was so severe.
"Forgive me!" Chloe exclaimed.
"It's okay, it's okay," Bill replied, slowly raising his hand and gently touching Chloe's cheek.
The girl didn't resist; instead, she let Bill stroke her cheek, her face slightly flushed.
The atmosphere between them became awkward. They stared at each other for several minutes amid the silence of the basement smelling of damp soil.
Before then, Bill took the initiative, bringing his lips closer to Chloe's.
Chloe didn't resist; instead, she closed her eyes, waiting for the moment.
After a few minutes that felt so long, they pulled back with flushed faces, staring at each other in silence.
"I love you," Bill whispered, then turned his face away as if shy.
I've completed my contract, he said inwardly.
At that moment, his eyes caught an object hanging on the dark wall: a small hanging censer made of blackened silver, adorned with faint carvings of bones and skulls.
His eyes immediately widened. Briefly, his memories flooded into his mind, making him shudder instantly.
Right after the words "I love you" were spoken, the censer began emitting thin unscented dark purple smoke. The bone carvings on its surface emitted a dim light, and though silent, it released a captivating psychic "song."
He suddenly narrowed his eyes, sensing hundreds of creatures from out there beginning to move closer.
***
(POV Charles)
At that moment, Charles, who had just been about to draw his sword from the void to face the horde surrounding him, suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes.
The undead around him instantly behaved strangely.
They simultaneously no longer faced him, but toward one same direction!
Not long after, they suddenly started running fast, ignoring Charles's presence as if he had never been there!
Charles stared at them in confusion. Silent and without commenting.
But not long after, he noticed one undead that was following the horde suddenly tripped over its own decayed foot and fell with a pitiful thud.
Charles stared at it curiously before finally drawing his sword, its sharp blade gleaming dimly under the moonlight.
The undead, sensing his movement, immediately turned toward Charles, its head spinning with a bone-cracking sound that made hair stand on end.
Upon closer look, this undead was different from the others. It wore remnants of a luxurious silk dress and a queen's crown tilted and mud-stained on its tangled and whitened hair.
Its face, though ruined by decay, still retained traces of beauty.
It was the undead queen!
At that moment, the undead that looked like the queen darted forward, its movement not stiff and dragging like other undead, but fast and graceful like a dancer.
Its long and blackened claws swung, aiming for Charles's eyes with surprising speed.
Charles, thinking he would face a slow enemy, was taken aback by the queen's agility.
He had to continuously jump back, his sword working hard to parry each claw attack coming from unexpected angles.
The queen made no sound, only a soft hiss escaping her blackened lips each time she attacked, her cloudy eyes staring at Charles with pure hatred.
Damn!
Charles parried an attack aimed at his neck, then kicked an old wooden barrel toward the queen to create distance.
The queen moved with a horrifying grace, her torn dress dancing around her as she lunged again.
As the queen swung her arm, he didn't parry it; instead, he ducked, letting the claw pass a few inches above his head.
In that position, he swung his sword horizontally, aiming for the queen's exposed arm.
He decided no longer to defend!
At that moment, his sword blade slashed cleanly, severing the arm right at the elbow. No blood came out, only thick black fluid dripping from the wound.
The queen screamed, a shrill cry full of anger, and jumped back. However, what was more horrifying was that the severed arm didn't fall lifeless to the ground.
The arm landed on the stone road, and its rotting fingers began to move, crawling quickly like a terrifying spider.
Charles stared at it in disgust for a moment, before a strange and crazy idea crossed his mind.
Quickly, he stepped on the arm, stopping its movement, then picked it up with the tip of his sword and carefully stored it in his inventory.
'This will be a nice souvenir for Furina,' he thought with a crooked smile.
After that, he immediately shifted his gaze to the direction where the undead horde had gone earlier.
Not long after, he noticed the undead, the queen, whose arm had been severed, immediately turned and fled, ignoring him just like the others did.
He was actually surprised for failing to kill the undead. But what's done is done.
At that moment, he just narrowed his eyes. "Something big... might be about to happen."
***
A/N: This story is getting weirder... but it will end soon. Uh, I can't wait to finish this weird Vol. 2!
Btw, I'm still expecting comments!
If you want to read the 7 advanced chapters with a faster update frequency than the webnovel, you can read it on my patreon whose link is below:
https://www.pâtreon.com/Junxt
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