64 Chapter 64
"You must've really been hungry, look at you go!" Was I always like this? What a man I've become.
The restaurant was well put together with many people in site, brown walls, tile floors. It's a nice little place, mom use to make burgers just as good as these. "Brings me back."
"Void you talk too much, you know that?" I guess I was pretty chatty when I was younger.
"There is definitely magic flowing throughout this whole world Aruno, so if you're worried if people are looking at us weird tell them it's communication magic."
"Not a bad idea Void, you are pretty smart after all-"
"I am you after all Aruno."
"That- that is true as-well. So Void speaking of mom.. she's probably on this world too.."
"Aruno, don't start getting funny ideas now- she's more than capable of taking care of herself. We have a goal and that is to get strong enough to kill whomever poses a threat to our family."
"You.. you are right Void, I shouldn't get sidetracked by that. Let's go hunting then shall we." Leaving the restaurant with the sky now cloudy, pushing through the people on the sidewalk.
Alleyway to alleyway, Aruno looks for prey. The power he so called craves, it lead him away to the mountains sensing a vulgar force.
"Straight then down that hole Aruno, it's coming from there. It smells awful, ew what is that thing?" Looks like a demon and a bug tried to mate, what an ugly site. Two arms, four legs, claws, tail, four green eyes, grey skin.
"That's- definitely unsettling, I've killed uglier creatures before." Durandal now summoned to my hand thunking hitting the soaked ground. Splash!
The moment the blade hit the ground with a metallic thunk, the creature's head snapped toward him.
Its four sickly green eyes blinked out of sync, mandibles twitching with wet hunger. It didn't screech it chattered, low and sharp, like bones grinding under pressure.
"Here it comes," Aruno muttered.
It lunged.
Aruno sidestepped, dragging Durandal upward in a vertical arc. Sparks flew as the edge scraped its chitinous shoulder — but it didn't even flinch.
"You're holding back," Void whispered. "You feel it too, don't you? The hesitation in your wrist."
"I'm not holding back—" Aruno growled aloud, ducking beneath a swipe of the creature's claws.
"Oh really? Then why aren't you aiming for its head?"
The creature spun, tail whipping out like a blade. Aruno blocked just barely. The impact rattled up his arms and into his chest. He staggered back, boots scraping across damp stone.
"Because you're thinking too much," Void, louder now, voice creeping through his skull like a storm under his skin.
"Shut up." Aruno kicked off the wall, blade dragging behind him in a low swing that cleaved one of the beast's legs off.
It shrieked finally black blood spraying across the stoney walls. The smell burned like acid.
"You remember that one man back then, the one with the wife and the kid. The one you gutted without blinking?"
Aruno's foot slipped in the muck, and the next claw tore across his shoulder. Pain bloomed sharp and hot.
"Don't bring that up now."
"Why not?" Void laughed, mock-gentle. "It was one of our best kills."
Aruno roared, grabbing the creature by its remaining foreleg and slamming it into the wall. Stone cracked. It lashed out again — caught him in the ribs this time. Blood in his mouth.
"You're not focused," Void whispered, suddenly calm. "Because you're trying to be something you're not."
Durandal crackled — dark lightning dancing along the edge. Aruno's pupils shrank. He could hear it — the sword singing.
"Shut. Up."
He drove Durandal into the creatures chest through flesh, through bone, through its core. It wailed, limbs convulsing, green eyes exploding one by one with popping bursts of ichor.
He didn't stop. Not even when it stopped moving.
Slash.
Stab.
Slash.
Stab.
The silence after was deafening.
Aruno stood over its twitching corpse, shoulders rising and falling, blood — his and the creature's — dripping from his hands.
Void exhaled.
"Well," he said, softly now, "maybe you're finally starting to remember who the hell you are!"
Aruno's breath came in ragged bursts. Every inhale scraped his lungs. His hands trembled, Durandal still clutched in a white knuckled grip, the blade dripping with black ichor.
The creature was dead. It had to be.
But Aruno wasn't calm.
Not even close.
His chest heaved like it was about to collapse under the weight of the rage still simmering inside.
"Happy now?" he growled between gasps. "Was that what you wanted?"
Void's voice slithered through his thoughts, deceptively quiet. "I wanted you alive. You're the one who turned savage."
"You pushed me," Aruno snapped, stepping away from the twitching corpse. "You kept talking. Kept digging. Reminding me."
"Reminding you of the truth," Void murmured, almost tender. "You're not a savior. You're not a leader. You're a blade. And blades don't apologize."
"I'm not that person anymore!" Aruno snarled, slamming Durandal into the stone beside him. The impact echoed through the empty alley, splintering the stone like a thunderclap.
"You say that, but the way you fought just now? You didn't hold back. You didn't think. You didn't even flinch."
"I made that kill to survive," Aruno muttered.
"To protect yourself?"
"To protect them."
Void laughing not cruelly, just knowingly. "That's always your reason, huh? 'Them.' 'Her.' 'SERENIA!' But you know what I think?"
Aruno said nothing.
Void's voice dropped lower. "I think you liked it. The violence. The fear. The clarity it gave you. I think, for a second, you didn't care about the reason at all. You just wanted to win."
The silence that followed was long, heavy — only the soft sizzle of Durandal burning off blood filled the air.
"…Does that scare you?" Void asked.
Aruno looked down at his trembling hand, fingers still clenched around the hilt.
"No," he said at last, voice hoarse. "But it should."
"Remember Aruno, this is the whole point. The return of The Ghost, you are going to become that brutal person without hesitation, you must understand that now!"