"HAHA!"
Standing up, Riley loomed over the broken body of his opponent. Finally, the others were able to get solid attacks off. Those with knives slashed at him, those unarmed unleashed sloppy strikes upon him, and many used their abilities to hurt or weaken him.
But, in spite of all of that—,
"Ah. How… lovely."
Softly speaking his gratitude into the world, Riley unleashed an overwhelmingly powerful overhand right, using his added gravity and his own ability to amplify the force. His knuckles felt as if they had cracked from the force of punching, and yet it was a pleasure.
"Ah… I don't want the helmet anymore~"
Tucking in his chin, he charged forward and smashed the motorcycle helmet into the nose of a servant, destroying both in the process. As the helmet received an overwhelming impact, Riley roared with laughter; without exaggeration, there were tears in his eyes.
Grappling, he grabbed ahold of their sleeves and swept the servant off their feet. Falling with them, Riley leapt headfirst, smashing his helmet down and further pressing his victim's nose into their skull.
"AH! EEP! HOW FRIGHTENING, SCARY, TERRIBLE! OH NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"
Wasting no time, he bashed the helmet twice into their head, eventually cracking it so badly that it quite literally split in two, falling off the sides of his face.
"AAA~AAA~~AAA~~~! I LOVE YOUU, I LOVE YOUUUUU~~! DAI–SUKIIIIII!!!"
His mouth agape, Riley pulled down the mask and cleaved into his opponent's throat, ripping out their Adam's Apple with his teeth and spitting it back into their mouth. The entirety of the servants rushed over, and Riley leapt into the air.
"Blegh, bleghbleghblegh~! YUCKY! BLOOD IS YUCKY! MM, PEANUT BUTTER YUMMMY! AHAHA, HAHAHA, AHA, AAAAAA~~HHHH~~~! NINA WOULD TASTE LOVELY!!! OF COURSE! YES SHE WOULD! I'D GO LIKE 'AGHHLLLLLL' IN HER! TEE-HEE! B-BUT DON'T TELL HER I SAID THAT! SHE'D SMACK ME FOR THAT, HAHA!"
Stumbling around, shoving all ten fingernails into his mouth, he whimpered, nibbling on himself until blood poured out.
"MMm, mm, yes, she'd taste lovely… I want to eat her, I want to eat her. I'd—I'd go, a-ahah, haha, I'd—er, hehe, I bet she'd taste like honey. Honey, yes, she'd taste like honey… or fish? I LOVE FISH! AHAHA, L-LIKE A, LIKE, LIKE A—KEEGHEEH!!"
Making a joke only he would understand, his hands wrung an invisible neck, and then he spread two fingers in a V shape over his mouth, looking up and licking at the air.
—The result of dozens of overwhelming Bloodlust, the impact of Ghira's presence, was eviscerating his psyche.
To which, the servants, in earnest, stopped fighting. Softly snickering amongst themselves, they looked at their opponent, as he drunkenly stumbled around.
"...This was our opponent? He reminds me of my uncle on New Years."
"Do we even really need to fight him? I feel like, at this point… yeah, if we told him we'd buy him some cigarettes and a shitty Budweiser, he'd join us."
"Yeah… or, we could beat his ass, as revenge for him wasting all of our time, making us think he was some grand monster… when in reality, he turned out to just be some drunk, stumbling idiot?"
"Sure, we can do that."
"—A-aahh, no, no, nononono, mmgh~! W-waittt!!" Riley moaned, his voice cracking.
[Hanging] wrapped around his wrist and pulled him over to the wall, keeping him restrained. Riley's eyes rolled into the back of his head, his knees gave out, and a soft whimper escaped his throat.
"...I don't even want to unpack that," Scott said, an unamused expression. "Is he faking, or is it… ah, wait! Is it because of Bloodlust?"
Each servant here had killed at least five-hundred people in the month they had to prepare. In doing so, their Bloodlust skyrocketed, their aura emanating from them. And, with mental instability a symptom of the Bloodlust, it was the obvious answer.
Perhaps a bit too obvious.
"Regardless, let's play with him."
It was in their nature, after all. As servants, they wished to amuse their king. Riley, who was the most gourmet feast in all the lands, was no exception.
Without mercy, they rushed him down.
Surrounded on all fronts, Riley swung wildly, having his sternum broken with a swift punch from a skillless servant, who laughed as his body was sent flying into the air from the force.
Smashing through the glass of an office, Riley stumbled to his feet.
"A-aahh, ghhh, hgh, mm… STOOOOPPP!"
Screaming at them, Riley summoned [Bleeding] and began to swing wildly. The cowards backed off, even Scott, who had the greatest advantage against [Bleeding], was wary of its power.
"KAHAHAHA! YES, YES! SHOUT IT! MY NAME IS RILEY WOODS, A SPLENDID NAME, A FITTING NAME, THE NAME OF THE ONE AND ONLY STAR OF THIS WORLD!"
No longer was he a Failed Star. Rather,
"...I'm the only Star."
Hidden inside an alleyway, there was the one and only—the protagonist of this world, Riley Woods.
"Yes, that's how it must be, isn't it? From the beginning, I was meant to be the star of Ghira's show. Then, have I not taken that role? Am I not the protagonist? Am I not the singular driving force which shapes this world, its actions, its scenery and drama? Yes; where I go, the scene changes."
Standing still, his chest broken and difficult to breathe, Riley began to ascend. Floating into the air, hoisted up by his hips, Riley slowly rose into the night sky. His obscured lips, hidden beneath the mask, merely smiled.
"——Star of the World, Riley Woods."
Declaring his name and self-proprietary title, he descended upon the world.
"Once more, I have been unleashed upon the world."
Hearing nothing but gibberish, the servants rushed him down. From all sides, Riley was assaulted. Yet, he fought on regardless. His weight had been removed, and he was able to move at full speed.
As he was directly attacked from behind and to the side, he focused on the ground. Delivering nasty elbows, which tore apart his opponent's face, then shifting angles to focus on other servants, Riley threw leg kicks, [Falling] induced shin-strikes which inflicted overwhelming pain and nerve damage to those who were assaulted.
"Motherfucker, why isn't he going down!?" One servant shouted, finally grabbing Riley and pulling him away. Digging his feet into the earth, he hoisted up the youth and suplexed him onto concrete—though it resulted in minimal damage.
Climbing to his feet, bursting with energy, Riley's blood-soaked expression brimmed with joy visible through the fabric.
This sturdy body was one in which he had worked tirelessly for. He had trained for the sole, express purpose of gaining strength and size—with or without Ghira's murderous amplifications, he was a heap of muscle akin to a meatball due to his short stature.
"Scream my name~"
A downpour of offensive strikes rained down upon him. With the tempest of steel, uncouth strikes assailed his flesh—and yet, it was hardly anything new.
He had taken hits from people much stronger than him before. Even if it hurt, it was nothing new, and thus nothing to cry about.
Punches, kicks. Those were all the strikes the untrained could throw. They did not know how to make use of their overwhelming strength gap, and Riley was able to tense his muscles to reduce the damage.
In such close proximity, Riley used [Bleeding], slashing wildly and drawing sizable amounts of blood. In his drunken state, he instinctively aimed for the carotid and radial arteries. And, as he drunkenly stumbled to the ground, collapsing to the floor, he raised his knife and slashed at his opponent's inner thigh, causing overwhelming blood to pour out from them.
He tried to stand, but was kicked—sent hurtling towards the other servants who had surrounded him, and swung for their necks, slicing them and spraying their blood greatly.
In truth, among all present, there were only two with a significant advantage in regards to healing.
The first, no doubt, was Scott. A favorite of the Forgotten King, he had explicitly amped up his regenerative ability to such an unreasonable standard that it would be difficult for Riley to truly ever kill him.
If there was even a single drop of blood that he consumed, whether it be through his hands or mouth, he would be able to regenerate an entirely removed arm. Such was the extent of his "training."
And, the second, was Riley Woods himself. Having trained with low oxygen via a hypoxia mask, whilst having performed HIIT, his body had adapted to a lack of oxygen intake, forcing itself to create more oxygen in the blood and adapt—adapting far beyond what ordinary humans could ever achieve.
As Riley maniacally laughed and slashed at people, only to have them drive their fists into his gut, or stab him from behind with their own abilities, he was managing to create torrents of blood.
Even in his initial fight against Scott, having killed no people, [Bleeding] had been enough to paint the walls red after having struck the throat. Subsequently, even now, he was rapidly reducing the general blood-supply of the hordes.
He was making them weaker. He was making them less sound in mind. He was inflicting annoying pain upon them, further stirring up their anger and desire to torment him.
And, upon slashing one servant in the neck, spilling their blood—
"Fucking…"
Hardly able to get even one word out, the servant slammed his fist into Riley's nose. Sending his head snapping back, the punch was performed with rage; angrily twisting his waist and pushing his arm out, the punch broke Riley's nose, as he screamed and did several spins in mid-air.
Crashing into a brick wall, shattering through it, Riley collapsed to the ground, wailing.
"AHHH! GHK, GHK, KH, NOOO! N-NI… EGH, F-FUH, H-HUA, AHH… S-STAR! STAR! STAR OF, OF THE, OF——hk…"
The servant and his many allies leapt upwards, shattering through the brick wall on their own, as they surrounded and approached Riley.
"Look at him. Is he crying?"
A servant took out their phone and shined the light upon him. Tears streamed down Riley's face, as his deteriorating mind responded only to the pain of a broken nose.
"M-muh, hu, uuh…"
"Kgh, haha," someone laughed, grabbing Riley's balaclava and lifting it off of his face. Scott moved directly to the front of the line, looking down and getting a fist-full of Riley's hair, lifting him up.
"My, what long hair you've got," Scott complimented, looking him over. "Yes, it's quite girly, isn't it? But your face—you've definitely made some improvements here. It's decently different from what I remember, how impressive."
Scott snickered, and with his thumb and index finger, grabbed Riley's nose. "Op, op, well? One, two, three!"
On the count of three, Scott tore off Riley's nose like wet tissue paper. The blood poured out, and Riley screamed in pain, crying and thrashing around like a baby.
"Hahaha! Wow… it's fun, seriously. Look, look! Got your nose! I've got your nose!"
"A-aagh, ghh, AAHHH!"
"Hah!" Scott laughed, gently turning his head towards the other servants to see their reactions. He looked bac—
"—Ah?"
In an instant, a blade had been jammed through the skull and into the brain. Utilizing the blade's omni-sharpness, it glided downwards through the body, creating a curved line and targeting a variety of areas.
First, having been planted into the brain. Then dragged down and outwards from the neck, slicing the carotid, before re-entering through the collarbone and directly slashing down through the heart, continuing downwards and exiting from one leg's inner thigh through the entirety of another leg, dismembering the vampire.
One great, bloody line.