The monster's blood poured from its ruined face as its eyes, which burned like coals and were filled with loathing, locked onto me from across the hall.

"Ddho hyoou knnow..." Its torn lips knitted back together with every word, "... who I am?!" The pale thing shot out of its throne and rushed down the dais on which its throne rested.

"Should I?"

"I was created by Vixis herself! I, her first and greatest creation! I, was by the Blooddrinker's side when she was struck down by that black-haired bitch!" A look of smug satisfaction crossed its face. "I nearly died that day. Only a fragment of my essence remained. Yet, after years of crawling through the muck of the Depths, I have clawed my way back from the bottom of this world and am ready to hunt every one of you pathetic mortals! I will release my mistress from her seal and be by her side once again, for I am—"

"I don't care." I assessed the distance between us. It was about ten paces.

"You... you what?!"

"I don't give a shit who made you. I don't care at all about your story. And I sure as hell don't give a single flying fuck what your name is. I'm just going to kill you." I cracked my neck. "Not only for all the people you murdered." I pointed at the bodies on the ground. "Not only to protect my loved ones stuck back in that dream we made," I pointed my thumb behind me. "But also, I'm going to do it for me. Because I deserve something today."

The monster's face went red, and it began sputtering.

I shook my arms out and worked my shoulders. "I'm really hoping you're strong right now, because I'm about to go hard, and I want you to be strong enough not to break when I do. So, are you strong?"

"I was hand-chosen to—"

I took a deep breath, sank into my legs, and lunged.

The world blurred, and I crossed the distance between us in an instant.

My sword whistled as it cut through the air. Just before it connected with the monster's neck, it turned to mist, causing my blade to cut through its form harmlessly before the monster's body reappeared.

With a cackle, its clawed hand raked forward, striking me in the center of the chest. Sparks flew as its black claws gouged furrows in my magical armor. The metal screamed. The smell of burnt copper filled the air.

But I felt no pain.

My armor held fast.

The monster's eyes opened in clear horror.

I grinned. "One hit. That's all you'll get." Grabbing it by the throat, I heaved, thrusting its entire body into the air.

I felt it grow lighter as its form blurred. It was trying to turn to mist again.

[Provoke]

As its skill was canceled and its head was forced to face me, the bones in its neck cracked under my fingers. Kicking and shrieking, it clawed at my arm, but my bracers held.

I raised my sword, pointed the pommel at its eye, and slammed downward.

Its eye erupted in a burst of pink, stinking goo.

Throwing it to the ground, I watched as it clutched at its ruined eye and looked around, searching for an exit strategy.

I wasn't about to give it one.

My knee connected with its face, throwing it backward onto the cold stone.

It hissed and slashed at me. The attack was wide. Inefficient.

I sidestepped the first slash, ducked under the second, and caught the third with my shield. With a flick of my wrist, I severed its arm at the elbow, my blade cutting clean through bone and sinew like it was paper. Its severed arm hit the floor with a wet thud.

The monster screamed and lashed out with its other hand, aiming for my throat, but I stepped into the attack, catching its elbow with my sword.

Another flick of my wrist, and another arm fell to the ground.

As it charged, I brought my shield up just as it tried to bite my face. Its fangs snapped an inch from my nose, but with a shove, I sent it stumbling backward. Before it could recover, I dashed in and caught its knee with my sword, severing the tendons that enabled it to stand upright. With a twist, my blade severed its entire leg at the knee.

Black blood sprayed across the dais floor.

The monster tried to catch itself on its throne but slipped on its own blood. Falling onto its bloody stump, it hissed as it clutched at the gaping, ruined stump of a thigh as torrents of blood poured through its pale fingers and pooled beneath its body.

"Told you. That was your only hit." I wiped my blade on its shoulder, staining its fine clothes with its own blood. The expensive cloth hissed as the black liquid soaked into it.

It looked up at me, its red eye blazing with hatred... and something else.

Fear.

It was afraid.

I stepped forward and kicked it in the chest. The monster, a vampire, I thought, though I didn't really care, toppled backward, its shoulders hitting the stone floor with a crack.

I was standing above the thing, blade high, heart empty. "You're done." Using every muscle in my body, I heaved, aiming for its neck.

Its red eyes opened wide as it let out a horrific screech, its body twisted as if it was in slow motion to protect its neck. All the while, its face was pure terror.

That made me smile.

It made me smile so fucking big.

As my blade came down on its neck, Vengeance burned white-hot in my heart. My blade flashed, cutting through its neck as if it were nothing.

The vampire blinked at me once, twice. "What did you—"

Mid-sentence, its head fell off its shoulders.

"Fucking loser."

The head bounced once, then nearly tumbled down the steps toward the corpse pile. Stomping on its face before it could, I heard a terrible hissing sound and smelled a metallic, sulfurous smell coming from my left side. Looking down, I saw that my sword was bubbling and melting wherever the vampire's black blood stained the blade. In seconds, the metal became warped and pitted, and it began crumbling away.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Throwing the ruined blade away, I reached down and grabbed the monster's long black hair. Pulling its head up so it could face me in its final moments, I reveled in a bitter, hollow satisfaction at its demise. However, when its eyes moved, locking on mine, I felt true, overwhelming joy.

It was still alive.

I needed more. I needed much, much more.

As our eyes met, I saw that its eye had regenerated and lips were working, forming soundless words, but I had no idea what it was saying.

Nor did I care.

I pulled its head close and growled, "I didn't leave everything I've ever wanted behind to be disappointed by you. So put yourself back together and fight me. Because I'm going to tear you apart again and again until I'm satisfied."

For the first time in what felt like years, I heard a familiar booming voice echo inside my soul.

DESTROY ALL WHO WOULD TAKE WHAT IS YOURS. THAT IS THE RIGHT OF THE STRONG.

"Shut up." I didn't give a single shit about Him right now. "I'm coming for you next, bastard."

The Dark Lord's laughter echoed in my mind, but He said nothing more.

"Are you dead, or do you have some fight left in you?"

The vampire's lips stopped moving. Instead, it grinned, its long canines glinting in the dim light as it did. Beneath me, its body twitched, then shifted. Pressing its hands to the floor, it pushed itself upright as tendrils of blood reached from the neck toward it.

Throwing the head toward its body, I watched as it caught the severed appendage in its pale, clawed hands and placed it on the bleeding stump. Seconds later, they fused once again, and the vampire began chuckling.

"That was good. You're faster than I thought you'd b—"

[Provoke]

Against its will, its entire body was thrown toward me.

With everything I had, I reared back, and with years of training behind my fist, I struck the monster with everything I had. As my arm cut through the air, something new flared to life in my mind.

[Stoneshatter]

My glowing fist caught it directly between the eyes.

Its head exploded.

Black blood coated my arm. My chest. My face. My armor smoldered but didn't melt. My skin stung but didn't burn.

Wobbling on its feet, the vampire's body shuddered for a moment, then fell to its knees and slumped onto its chest, landing on its dais with absolutely no dignity.

"Huh." I looked down at my hand. Squeezed it into a fist. I felt different.

Pulling my character sheet up in my mind, I scanned my classes.

Alex Clark, American Human Fighter of the Shield 43

American (1

★)

: [Lead the Free]

Fighter (9

★):

[A Good Fight]

Guardian (1

★) [Protect the Weak]

Monk (

4

★) [Still the Heart]

Human (0

★)

: [Jack of All Trades]

Shield (11

★)

: [In Enduring, Grow Strong]

"Monk, huh?" Countless moments from the artificial past I'd experienced flooded into my mind. Nearly eight years had gone by in the other world. I'd lived a whole life. And during it, I'd done much. I could see it all in my mind. All the training. All the hard work. The blood, sweat, and tears. I'd trained endlessly in the other world. Worked every day to be the best I could be. Tried to do everything right.

And what did it get me?

A new class?

That wasn't a fair trade.

Stella's face flashed in my mind.

She was always at my side... Every second of the way, she was there.

And now she was gone.

I looked down at the twitching monster beneath my feet. The whole time, this bastard was waiting to feed on us. He wanted us to be happy, but for what? So we'd taste better?

I saw red.

"Get up."

No response.

"GET! UP!" My heart pounded in my ears as I grabbed the monster by the collar and the groin and hoisted it into the air. Rushing to its massive, jagged stone throne, I heaved, sending its body hurtling through the air.

Its head reformed an instant before it struck the throne, giving it just enough time to shriek before what sounded like every bone in its body shattered.

The throne erupted in a hail of rocks, filling the air with dust as the remnants of the vampire's throne tumbled down the dais, along with its ruined body. When the body tumbled to a stop, its black blood immediately began inching its way toward its master, the way mercury floated back together when it was separated.

"Good. Keep coming back."

I wanted a weapon. Something to skewer it with. Whipping around, I searched for anything sharp and pointy. The hall was filled with gold and finery, but few weapons. However, glinting in the fingers of the dead dwarf woman was a sword.

"That'll do."

Rushing down the steps, I ripped her blade from her cold, dead fingers and held it up in the glowstone light. It was a black blade, just like the one I'd taken from Galden. Just like the one that had harmed one of the Scions of the Dark Lord. And if it could hurt one of them, it could definitely hurt some shitty vampire.

I looked at the blade more closely.

This one... This blade...

I liked it.

Its balance was perfect. Its blade was smooth. Its hilt was comfortable. This weapon was far superior to the other, far more beaten-up weapon I'd gotten from Tinker Town.

And I was going to use it to tear this monster apart.

Have you... chosen... to become... my hand?

The blade's raspy voice, similar to the one I'd heard back at Khadrel's manor, echoed in my mind.

"What do you offer?"

Suffering to those who oppose you.

Vengeance upon those who harm you.

Power against those who would chain you.

All of this, I offer you.

The vampire began twitching at the bottom of the dais. It was pulling back together again, and faster this time.

"Show me what you can do. Prove to me that I should claim you as my own."

All I am... I offer... to you...

[Flamewreath]

[Lesser Ability Boost]

The black blade flared with black energy, and purple-red flames erupted along its edge.

Just as the vampire wobbled to its feet, I charged.

The world blurred once again.

In an instant, I was beside the thing, my blade's flames roaring as they cut through the air as I aimed for its throat.

An instant before the black blade struck it, the monster laughed and turned into a shadow, disappearing. Then, on the far side of the room, its voice echoed from the shadows.

"This has been a fun game, but I'm growing tired of it now. I'll enjoy devouring all that you are."

Turning, I saw something move behind a pillar on the far side of the room. With a heave, I crossed the gap and swung, but the shadow faded just before my blade struck.

"I'll savor every drop of that chosen blood pouring through your veins." It was back on the right side of the room.

I charged, nearly cutting it in half this time, but it vanished again before I could.

"And know, little chosen, that when you're gone..." It said directly behind me.

Whirling, I watched as its smiling face dissolved into mist.

"I'll torment your women."

I cut to my side and felt as I passed through its body just as it turned to mist.

"Slowly. Painfully." It whispered in my other ear.

The flames sizzled on its flesh before it vanished.

"And then I'll make them mine." The monster's hot breath was on my neck.

[Iron Skin]

Its fangs bit into my metallic skin and shattered. It shrieked as its black blood poured onto my pauldron, causing my shirt to sizzle as its blood soaked through the chinks in my armor and reached the clothing beneath.

Whirling, I saw that the vampire was trying to backpedal away from me, blood pouring from its mouth with every step. When it saw me looking at it, its formed blurred as it tried fading away again, but it was too slow. Far, far too slow.

[Provoke]

My skill halted its skill and movement for just long enough.

With a mighty slash, I carved a furrow from its shoulder to its hip.

Coagulated blood poured from its ruined skin, creating a smoking, stinking pool under its feet as its body burned. The vampire began shaking violently as it clawed at its skin, trying and failing to keep its innards from falling out, but wherever its fingers touched the purplish flames devouring its skin, they blackened and smoked on the burning, sputtering, curling flesh of its torso.

As its burning flesh continued to wilt and wither, its red eyes met mine, and it hissed. "I have not spent countless years devouring rats and insects to be felled now by some... some nobody!" The vampire's intestines fell out of its ruined stomach with a loud slorp.

"You're all talk." I raised my sword. "Just die."

It pointed a clawed finger back toward where its throne had been and screamed, "Arise and fight for your lord and master!" before it burst into a squeaking pile of burning rats, which scattered in every direction.

Before I could chase them down, I began hearing sounds behind me. There was the scrape of metal on stone. The creaking and cracking of still joints. There was a wet, sucking sound as something spilled onto the ground.

Turning, I saw them rise.

Dozens of bodies, all of them scattered across the throne room floor, twitched and jerked as black tendrils snaked from the shrieking rats that ran about and flowed into the corpses' mouths, their eyes, their wounds. One by one, they stood, their eyes glowing the same burning red as the vampire's.

The last to rise was the dwarf woman. When she finally stood, her eyes opened, and she gazed at me with blood-red orbs filled with murderous intent.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.