Content Warning: Contains Claret wine and fresh meat. Read at your own risk. No seriously… I mean it.

What is a hero? Is it someone who has an extraordinary amount of fame? Is it someone with a special power that all others lack? Or is it actually someone who reaches out to help another no matter the cost to themselves?

Of course to me, the only answer was number three.

I was no hero. I had no desire to save another. The only reason I joined this little escapade was on a whim. I had no reason other than that. It was impossible for me to have such a reason.

“I’m no hero.” Ross said while running. His breathing remained calm as he ran full speed down the empty halls of the manor. He had already he grilled me for the location I found the note. Out of the two of us, he was the only one who knew where to go.

The Marquess continued to talk, “I had many people killed to get where I am today. For most of my life, I didn’t regret any action I had to take to gain power. I have burned people alive, slaughtered innocents, and broken the strongest of men. By all rights, I was not a good person.”

“If it weren’t for the kids, I would still be like that. Killing everyone that defied me. Killing all those that sought to use my power for their own. I’m a coward after all. I couldn’t let risks like that exist.”

Ross’ pace quickened even further. We were already at a pace that would have been impossible to maintain in reality.

“Would you believe me if I said a smile changed all that?” He looked over, expecting an answer.

I shook my head. A corrupt person can never change. Once you have dipped yourself into sin, you can never recover.

You didn’t think like that before.

You are only saying that to punish yourself.

“Of course,” Ross nodded, his gait slowing, a pained smile crossing his old features. “I wouldn’t expect you to believe me. Not you of all people. Someone as broken as you can’t picture a panacea in front of you. I was the same after all.”

“I don’t think anything is wrong with me.”

“That fact that you think that, proves that you are broken to a great degree.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I spat, “Wouldn’t that mean everyone is broken?”

“Care to find someone who is not?”

“Everyone is broken. We either try to fix ourselves as we proceed in our life or run away from the source of the problem and slowly crumble. I may already be at my breaking point, but that doesn’t mean I can’t save someone.”

Ross took a sharp right, and I followed right after. “This experiment was my own doing.” the man admitted. “I wanted enough power to protect these children’s homeland and all those that try their hardest to live within it.”

“...”

“This city is the boundary between the country and its death. A marquess’ rank is only higher than a count’s because they are tasked with protecting the country. It is my duty, to protect this land. As it stands now, this country will fall in a months time.”

Shouldn’t this idiot have an army?

“Don’t you have an army to fight against those threats?” I asked calmly.

His brow was covered in sweat as he continued to panic. He was obviously only talking to distract himself from what lay ahead.

“A battalion of soldiers couldn’t even take out a single soldier of theirs.”

Her voice whistled.

“So you were putting your soldiers through the experiment?” I asked. It didn’t make sense to me. If the experiment failed, wouldn’t he lose what fighting force he had?

The old marquess let out a light chuckle, his pace slowing for the barest of moments. “Do you take me for an idiot?”

“ -_-’ “

“I have a manor full of idiots that are supposed to protect this country and instead bicker amongst themselves. Why would I not use them instead? Did you not realize that the people leaving this place didn’t quit? They were used! I would rather use someone with no value to this country, someone who is obsessed with gaining power or undermining my own, then use someone that struggles to live.”

This man says terrifying things rather casually.

I nodded.

“Those kids are the last thing I would use in this experiment.”

He took another turn, this time leading us both down a set of stairs. At the bottom we met a fork, only now did the old man stop.

“Nobody was in the study, right?”

“Study?”

“The room you found the journal and note. We used it to monitor and research those kids in specialized environments.”

I nodded in affirmation. Nobody was in the room besides me and Auri. Even the cages were completely empty.

Ross took a deep breath. “Should be the storage room then.” Ross started to head right, returning back to his full sprint.

“Storage?” I asked.

“The manner in which a the ghoul uses ‘requiem’ requires a large amount of mana. Ghoul’s don’t naturally recover the mana, but instead use flesh and blood stolen from another life to replenish it. A ghoul’s existence is that of a thief, stealing the remnants of life from the corpses they eat. I had a storage prepared in order to keep a large amount of their meals prepared.”

“So what? You have a pantry filled with corpses?”

“Corpses rot. I can’t let such a stupid reason as smell be the reason this little experiment is found out.”

I went silent at the implications.

“We’re here” Ross whispered, stopping in front of a large door. Quickly shuffling through his pockets he brought out a small iron key. Sticking it into the lock and turning it, he violently swung the door open as soon as he heard the click.

Dead silence rang out as the door slammed against the wall. The sickening stench of bronze and iron clawed outward toward us. The old marquess’ jaw clenched as he strode into the room.

I followed him inside.

I could not comprehend what I was seeing. The room was once again filled with cages like the study, although the cages in this one weren’t empty. Bodies were ruptured and split open. The skeleton of a jaw was still loosely connected to a tongue. Someone’s intestines were wrapped around another’s leg.

Most of the corpses were wrecked beyond recognition. It was impossible to tell if the corpses were children or adults; they had all been desecrated to that degree.

Not a single corpse was showing signs of rot.

This mess was still fresh.

The large puddle of blood seeped toward me with it’s claws outstretched. Closer and closer it approached, trying to draw me in. Trying to cover me once again in that wretched red liquid. Trying to make me once again taste that horrible claret wine.

Only one of the cages currently had something still ‘whole’ inside it. Two children cuddled towards the far corner. As far as one could get away from the edge of the cage.

The cage was in the far recesses of the room, covered in shadow. If it weren’t for the sound of a child’s voice, I would not have thought them to be alive.

One step, two. Ross slowly walked toward the cage. His old hand outstretched, his eyes wide. “Are you… are you…alright?”

In a mere moment, his voice grew silent. His rather slow, zombie-like pace switched to a full out sprint. He rammed his body into the cage, stretching his hand inside. “You bastard!” he screamed, “You bastard!”

He yanked at the metal iron bars, trying to wrench the metal cage open. The entire cage shook under the force. But the door remained steady, remaining locked.

Why don’t you look at what your presence caused?

Why don’t you see the horrors your existence brings?

I stepped forward. My feet causing small ripples in the puddle of claret wine beneath me. ‘That’s right’, I told myself, ‘This is just spilled wine.’ I started to smile, the sweet smell of wine filled my nose. I took in a fanatical whiff, as I continued to walk forward.

Auri was leaning up against a boy. Her limbs outstretched, her eyes darkened. The boy behind her was currently pressing a knife against her wrist, causing a neat little fountain of claret wine to spill out from the little girl.

Eli kept the knife pressed up against her, slowly but surely draining the girls wine away.

“It hurts…” the girl whimpered, “Woss… Awair…. it hurts…”

The force of Ross shaking the cage suddenly increased, “Let her go you bastard! Let her go!”

“No.” Was the brother ghoul’s reply.

“I’m going to kill you!” Ross screamed, tearing himself away from the cage and scanning the wall behind him for the keys.

“You aren’t going to find it,” Eli called out.

Ross’ scowl deepened tearing through the numbered keys. I had slowly been approaching them, and now stood next to the metal container filled with the two children.

“She’s the last one, you know?” Eli said, rather calmly, “The other’s had been killed before you showed up.”

“Lies!” Ross spat.

“I’m not lying,” Eli said, drawing another line on the girls wrist with the knife, refreshing the spill of claret wine. “Each one they brought in was immediately infected with ‘Ghoul’s Lament’ by my sister.”

“...That’s a lie…”

“I thought you were supposed to be good at reading people?”

“...” Ross went silent, going back to tearing at the keys. Most likely looking for the one that corresponded with Eli and Auri’s cage.

You talk like he would be looking for a different key in this situation.

What? Do you think he wants to lock himself in one of those iron monstrosities?

I clicked my tongue. “Eli, what the hell is going on here?”

The boy shrugged, “I would explain, but this is harder than it seems.” He drew a line across Auri’s other wrist.

“DON’T DO THAT TO HER!” Ross screamed, once again stretching his arm through the iron cage. His arm was too short and couldn’t reach them. He could only watch as Eli occasionally created a fresh spout of claret wine on Auri’s limbs.

“...It hurts… It hurts…” Auri’s voice grew more faint.

Eli held up his free hand, the one not grasping the knife. In it he held a pair of iron keys. “Now I need you both to shut up, so I can explain quickly. I don’t want to add another death to my sister’s kill count. She’s too young for that.”

“W-what…” Ross mumbled.

“I said to shut up,” Eli repeated while sneering, “I don’t have the time for this. And neither does this girl!”

Both Ross and I nodded.

“This isn’t the cage I was originally locked in. Both of you should know that. I wasn’t even allowed to leave the cage in that other room for the three weeks my sister and I were here. You wanted to use me as a bargaining chip to control my sister, so it didn’t matter if I was fed.”

Ross nodded.

“Wise decision on your part. Keeping a ghoul in check, even a half fed one is normally a bad idea. When we eat, we are far stronger than this flimsy metal cage.” He cut another gash on the young girl, this time she didn’t so much as shudder in pain. Auri must have already fainted from the loss of wine or the extreme pain. “You guys didn’t keep track of how much you were feeding my sister.”

Eli twiddled the knife in his hand, continuing to speak monotonously, “She slowly grew stronger. It may have been true that it takes a large amount of energy to use our ‘Ghoul’s Lament’ but you didn’t know how much. A little acting here and there, is enough to allow my sister to recover her strength. Tonight…” He raised his arms, the warm red knife glinting in the candlelight from the hallway, “Is the night she had eaten enough to strike back.”

I unconsciously gulped.

“I would have been content to merely escape with her. She, however, didn’t feel the same, which is why this happened.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Eli pointed at Ross with the knife, “That idiot inadvertently showed my sister a way to kill everyone she came across, then gave her motive to use it.”

Ross was silent and didn’t say anything.

Eli brought the knife down once again, slicing into the side of Auri’s neck. “When she had rescued me from that cage, she noticed the state I was in. She absolutely needed to punish those that caused this.” The brother ghoul stared at the old marquess, “You should never piss off a female ghoul. All of them are a bit crazy when it comes to the one they love. Even familial love is enough to send them off to the deep end. She lost her ability to distinguish who she should hate and who she should pity. Seeing me hurt was enough to send her off the deep end. She started to bite and infect everyone she came across.”

Eli took a deep breath, “I had two options: rushing out to stop her knowing I would fail or staying here and trying to prolong the death of this child.”

“Prolong the death…?” I asked.

“Ghoul’s Lament. No, what you humans would call the ‘Requiem.’ is forcing the abilities of a ghoul on a human body.”

“...?”

Eli continued to explain, “A ghoul is a corpse, so our bodies are constantly falling apart. We have a passive skill to repair the body. This skill, although suitable for repairing our constantly failing bodies, has a harsh and unnatural reaction on those of the living.”

Ross was still eerily quiet, staring at Eli with his mouth hanging open. Eli swept the dagger across Auri’s wrist, once again revealing a fresh spurt of claret wine.

“Instead of the body repairing itself, it goes into overproduction of its cells. Among those cells, the blood cells are hit the hardest. They are produced at an alarming rate. In a matter of minutes, the body can no longer handle the pressure and…” Eli’s mouth curled into a smile, “they pop.”

“Are… you saying Auri is going to die?” Ross yelled, “I-is this is all my fault?”

“Yes.”

Don’t forget, you’re also at fault, Aren.

If you weren’t here, none of this would have happened.

Eli broke out into laughter, “She isn’t going to die. Not yet at least.”

Ross was shaking with an unreadable emotion as he stared into the iron cage. I couldn’t be sure if it was anger toward himself, fear toward Auri’s current situation, or hatred toward the ghoul that had cursed her this way.

“I wouldn’t be wasting my time draining this girl’s blood if I felt she was beyond saving. There is still something you can do to keep her amongst the living. You would have to hurry though; the rate she is producing blood is only going to increase. It won’t be too long before she ends up ‘popping’ like the rest of them.”

“W-what do I have to do?” Ross cried, bringing himself up against the metal cage.

“You need to continue to drain this girl’s blood while me and that hero over there go and get the cure.”

“What do you need to get?” Ross asked.

Eli grimaced, “I won’t be telling you that.”

“Why?”

“If I told you, you might still try to kill me out of anger. You aren’t an idiot. You know that the best way to hurt my sister is to kill me. I need a lil’ bit of insurance to keep me and my sister alive.”

“...” The Marquess didn’t say anything. It seemed Eli had hit the nail on the head.

Eli made one last knife thrust, making a fresh spurt of wine, before standing up and unlocking the cage from within. He spun the knife in his hand to grip the blade, and handed it over to the old man.

“Don’t worry about severing an artery,” the boy said simply, “the injuries would end up healing in a few minutes anyway. Make a new incision whenever her veins start to swell. Try to keep the bleeding at the bare minimum to keep the body from striving to recover. The more her body tells her to produce and heal, the faster she is going to die.”

Eli grabbed my hand and dragged me forward, away from the trembling old man. Ross’ jaw was tightened to the point it seemed like it would pop off, his eyes closed into small slits as he gently waved the knife up and down.

“He’ll calm down in a bit,” Eli whispered to me, “but we should leave.”

We left Ross and headed farther into the room, exiting out another doorway. It led into a long hallway that lacked in the usual armor adornments. Since we had headed underground, there was no longer the occasional window to bring light into the room, instead the entire walkway was lit with dim lamps. The walls and floor were covered in cold stone that seemed to reverberate a cold chill.

The person who made this manor must have had a thing for really dim lighting. Maybe Ross prefered to use dim long lasting candles instead of the bright ones he would have to change frequently.

“This room is connected to two others via an empty hallway.” Eli explained, “My sister told me the format of our little prison so I have a rough understanding of where we are.”

“And also where we need to go?” I asked.

The boy nodded, “We are going after my sister. She can use her ghoul traits to cure the girl. We don’t have to worry about her being in any side rooms as there is only one large room at the end of the hall.”

“Can’t you cure her instead?” I asked.

“No.”

“Why?”

“The so-called cure is an antivenom. The only one that even has a chance of curing that girl is my sister.” Eli pulled something out of his pocket, holding it out to me. “Want some?”

“What is it?”

“Someone’s tongue.”

“...”

“Your loss.” He shrugged and tossed it in his mouth. I could hear the squirting of wine every time he brought his jaw down. He glanced up at my face for a second before speaking again, “Don’t look at me like that... my body is too weak to run properly right now. Forgive me for eating a little in front of you, even if it’s bad manners. I need to recover.”

Eli paused for a moment and looked up at me, “I was expecting more of a reaction. Most people would be freaking out from visiting a room like that. That old man is a perfect example...”

I shrugged, giving him a small smile in return. “Is there anything I should be reacting to?” Sure my quest to save them is getting sidetracked so he can save another, but that isn’t worth stressing about is it?

The brother ghoul’s curious gaze suddenly became fearful. He turned forward, quickening his pace. It was almost as if he wanted to get away from me.

Eli was no longer shedding the white powder every time he moved. His skin, although still frightfully pale, was no longer falling apart. At this distance, I could finally notice the dark spots under his eyes. He looked as if he hadn’t slept at all during the time he had been staying in the manor.

As we continued to run down the hallway, the smell of claret wine behind us finally started to fade away. The pulsation of my heart prodded heavily between my eyes. I could feel something tug at me, trying to free itself.

“I’m worried about my sister.” The little boy whispered.

Isn’t she the one attacking people?

“I don’t care if she is the one attacking people, I can’t help but worry. What if she comes across someone stronger than her? What if she is tricked into following them home? I don’t want anyone else to have my sister.”

His final words couldn’t help but make me wonder why people can’t see their own insanity.

Well, that’s ironic.

“Shut up.” I muttered.

“...” Eli went silent.

I sighed, “I didn’t mean you.”

He took another step away from me, his gaze drifting up toward the ceiling. Eli must have been the one who wanted to rush off the most, but his own constitution was forcing him to travel at such a slow pace. He started to talk, almost as if to keep his heart in check. He once again told the tale of A Ghoul’s Lament.

The story he started the first time I met him. The love story about a traveler and a ghoul.

“You see, the village couldn’t accept the confession of that man. They couldn’t accept the fact that someone could fall in love with a monster. They thought the reason he could love her was because he didn’t know the truth about what she was. So they did the one thing they thought would be best, they told the man about the truth.”

Eli looked forward, chuckling to himself, “No one expected the man to stay with her. They expected him to kill her out of spite for making him feel false love to a monster. The girl had thought the same.”

What happened?” The voice asked.

“What happened?” I asked for her sake.

Eli continued, “The man was an odd fellow and a traveller. He had seen mountains of fire, seas of gold, and castles of ice. He had seen things that no other man could hope to imagine; he had even met people that should have long since died.

“Yes, this man was an odd fellow. So odd, in fact, he could fall in love with a monster.”

The voice in my head gave a sigh of relief.

“So this is a happy story after all?” I asked.

Hey! No spoilers!

Eli gave a small smile, “For some it could be considered a happy ending.”

I swallowed.

“The two were in love. They didn’t care for the divide between their species. They continued to love each other no matter the troubles that plagued them.

“For nine months, the village treated them with silent disdain, but nothing beyond that. They weren’t so stupid to risk their lives over the atrocity of a man falling for a monster.” Eli took a deep breath, “However, something started to change.”

“The girl had normally collected a corpse or two once every three months; but lately, she had started to gather them at increasing frequency. At first it had increased to a month between meals, then every two weeks. It wasn’t long before every week another corpse had been dug up from the nearby cemetery.

“You see, the village couldn’t stand the thought of a monster desecrating their loved ones. They finally acted to remove the blight that was the girl.”

“Wait.” I interrupted, “Why only get mad about that now? She had been eating their corpses for awhile now hasn’t she?”

“Some versions say she had dug up the corpse of the mayor’s daughter. Other versions say it had just been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Which is true? No idea.”

I nodded in understanding.

The young boy started to speak again, “The village sent ten of their strongest men to kill the two lovers. They had thought to spare the man if he gave up, but no such option would be presented to the girl..

“When they had reached the ghoul’s house where the lovers stayed, they were greeted with an unexpected sight.

Eli had a smile on his face. “The ghoul had given birth to another. A happy father gently rocked the child in his arms, the mother leaning gently on the father’s shoulder.

“The first and strongest of the ten spoke to the traveller, having been the quickest to gather his wits. The words that slowly dribbled from his mouth were enough to set the traveler’s eyes ablaze. Even unarmed, the man was once an adventurer that had seen the secrets this world had to offer. He would fight to protect his loved ones.

“He had chased the ten men deep into the woods, but they had fled before he could harm a single one. It wasn’t until he heard his wife’s scream, that he realized his mistake. He could dodge a hundred sword strikes from a hundred men, but the same couldn’t be said for his newborn child and her mother, especially since she was weak from her recent birth.”

Wasn’t this story supposed to be about ghoul’s lament? Why is the ghoul the one who ends up dying?

Almost to answer her question Eli replied, “The girl was still alive when he returned. Their hours-old child was missing as if it had been nothing but an illusion. The girl was bleeding heavily, arrows covering nearly every inch of her flesh.

“Even in this state she still smiled toward the man. Her eyes could no longer see him, but she wished for her smile to at least reach him once more.

“You see, this man was an odd fellow and a traveller. He had seen things no other man could imagine. Spoken to people long since dead. And most of all, he had learned all there is to know about his wife. He knew that a ghoul was a corpse that mimicked the living. He knew that a ghoul could recover from such an injury as long as they had enough mana to do so.

“And most of all… he knew where that mana came from. He opened her mouth and placed his forearm in her maw, knowing full well her body’s desire to live would take care of the rest.

“The girl awoke to the man gently cradling her in what was left of his arms. Countless bites and tears across the surface of his body. His eyes were closed, and a smile was painfully attached to his face.

“His body was already starting to turn cold.

“No one could survive being torn apart like that. She was the one to tear apart the man she loved. She may not have been conscious of her actions. But she was the one who ended up killing him.”

Eli started to laugh, “The ghoul lamented her existence. She lamented the fact that she had ever met the man. For if she had never existed, they would never have met and he would have continued to travel. He would have continued to live.”

But that’s not the end of the story, right?

“But that’s not the end of the story, right?” I mimed the voice.

He looked up at me, a pained smile crossing his features, “She bit him.”

“Wasn’t that the reason he died?”

“No.” Eli shook his head. “Not that kind of bite. In order to save the man she loved, she tried to turn him into a ghoul. You see, there are two types of ways a ghoul can reproduce. One is by giving birth to a living person’s child. And the other is to force what you call ‘requiem’ on a corpse.”

Eli started to laugh, “The spell worked at the cost of most of her lifespan. She managed to bring the man back… for a few minutes at least. The man breathing once more, finally managed to meet her eyes. All she could see was pain in his features.

“He screamed and screamed. A human body was never meant to repair itself in such a manner. Each cell in his body strived to do something they weren’t trained to do.”

“Did the ‘requiem’ fail?”

“No, it succeeded.” Eli said nonchalantly.

“Then…”

“He couldn’t stand the pain and took his own life.”

What?

Wasn’t this guy supposed to be super strong and amazing?

And he took his own life?

Eli continued, “The only way to use ghoul’s lament is through the use of an inhuman amount of mana. With nothing to spare, she had to use her lifeforce instead. In her last few minutes of life, she watched the man she loved suffer and ultimately kill himself in front of her”

That’s horrible.

“That,” Eli said, “Is why it is called ‘Ghoul’s Lament’ and not ‘Requiem’ among my kind. And why this experiment was destined to fail from the beginning. Resurrecting a dead person caused enough pain and they are half numb to it. If that was ever tried on a living person… the pain would make even the strongest keel over.”

Aren, don’t go trying to get superpowers okay? Sounds like it may hurt…

“Like hell I’ll do that!” I roared.

With a suspicious glint in his eye, Eli asked, “Who are you talking to?”

“Well uh…”

We both suddenly stopped walking, having noticed a shadow in the distance slumped up against the wall. Both of us were unarmed, so we were careful to approach it. I recognized the figure in an instant.

Poor Lauren…

One of the kids that I had been playing with not even a day before was currently huddled up against the cold stone wall. It was the manipulative little girl that had been messing with Ross and leading the other kids around. The little girl’s body shook and convulsed constantly, a white froth escaping from her mouth.

“Another failure, huh?” Someone else said, farther down the hall. Both me and Eli had been so caught up seeing Lauren’s condition that neither of us had noticed his approach.

I was really starting to hate that rat-like grin.

Ranthus stood before us fully armored, a brown bag swung over his shoulder. The bag twisted and moved violently as if something was inside. Ranthus sighed, “Well at least that failed experiment managed to take the edge off the female ghoul. How many did that thing infect before it even started to slow down? Maybe I should torture it a few times so it learns to be obedient.” The last part was obviously directed at us.

Eli’s fists were clenched as he faced the fully armored knight.

Ranthus’ laughed. “Does the starving little ghoul boy want to join its sister in the sack? I’m sure she would enjoy the company.”

The sack continued to squirm.

The stare between the ghoul and the guard was only accompanied by the sounds of whimpers and convulsions of Lauren against the stone floor. It was horrifying to see the child formerly so full of life in that state.

You aren’t going to help the girl?

You already know what you are supposed to do to save her.

I turned to face Lauren, but was stopped by Eli. Keeping his gaze on Ranthus, Eli spoke to me, “Don’t approach her. Draining her blood right now would only end up killing her.”

He’s lying.

You know what you need to do, right?

Stab that girl with a knife.

You know you want to...

I gritted my teeth, grateful that I didn’t have a knife in my possession.

“You talk about saving that girl, when the fault lies with you monsters she ended up this way.” Ranthus snickered, “Not like us humans could use ‘Requiem’ ourselves.”

Eli stepped forward, “My sister did nothing wrong! It was you bastards that forced her to do all this.”

“Forced?” The guard laughed, “That may have been true when it was in the cage. But everything in that room, all the death that is happening right now is no one’s fault but its own.”

“That’s a lie!” A cute voice screamed, “I only bit all the bad men that tried to hurt me and my brother! I only bi-”

Ranthus swung the bag off his shoulder, slamming it into the stone wall. A large crack appeared where the sack had hit. “What did I tell you about speaking. Just be glad you are more durable than a human. I might end up killing you before you end up listening to me.”

Lauren started to whimper as her convulsions increased.

With his free arm, Ranthus unsheathed a large broadsword from his hip. “This brat bites both villains and allies alike. If I’m not mistaken she was even friends with that other failed experiment.”

She bit more than just those that harmed her brother and her.

Yet why is she saying otherwise?

Eli must have reached the same conclusion. His eyes narrowed into slits, before once again resuming a fierce glare. “You’re trying to trick me.”

“Oh? Why do you say that?”

Eli shrugged, a small emotionless smile finally crossing his features, “I’m not going to bother to explain, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t care who she bit anyway. You see, you hurt my sister. You really hurt my sister. And for that I’m going to kill you.”

The brother jumped forward, sending a roundhouse punch toward Ranthus face. If it weren’t for the seriousness of the situation it would have looked childish. Eli was a currently nothing but a starving kid. A starving kid that was trying to fight against a fully armored adult with his bare hands. The kid didn’t stand a chance.

Ranthus must have thought the same, letting Eli approach him. The strike was so slow that the guard would have had no problem dodging. In a show of power, it looked like Ranthus wasn’t even going to bother to move.

A glint from the candlelight appeared near Eli’s hand and Ranthus suddenly skated backward, albeit slowly. A thin red line appeared as fresh claret wine spilled down from the guardsman’s cheek. Ranthus laughed. “So you were hiding a weapon. If I let my guard down anymore than I had, I might have actually been killed there.”

“Tch.” Eli currently held on to a small knife. He was using both his small hands to grasp the hilt, the knife visibly shook as the little boy stared down his opponent.

Where did he get a weapon?

Did you already forget? He had a knife in the other room.

What’s to say he didn’t find one more?

Ranthus held his own broadsword easily with one hand. Elle’s sack once again nonchalantly tossed over his shoulder.

Eli lunged forward, forcing the blade of the knife forward. Almost as if to treat it like a game, Ranthus swung the flat end of the sword against the boy, literally sending him flying into the wall.

“‘bout ready to give up monster?”

“Go to hell, maybe someone there might actually like having you around.”

“Sorry, I have something to do. I won’t be taking a vacation to visit you anytime soon.” Ranthus smiled.

“And what is that?” Eli asked, dodging another swipe of the broadsword and sending another strike of his own. Eli’s flimsy little knife barely nicked the side of the armor.

“To make it so beasts like him,” He leveled his broadsword at me, “can be killed once and for all.”

Even though you are a person that only does menial quests, Ranthus really seems to hate you.

“Even though you look really useless, this guy really hates you.” Eli snickered. He must be insane to make a joke in this situation.

Can you really not tell...?

Ranthus swept his broadsword down, the strike easily crushing the stone flooring. “I just realized I don’t need to keep you alive anymore. If harming you makes your sister bite everyone with disregard, killing you should do the exact same thing.”

Ranthus swept his sword upward as he stepped forward, the unexpected movement catching Eli across his shoulder. The brother ghoul bit his lip as one of his arms dropped numbly to the side. Claret wine forming a steady trail, dripping to the ground.

The small knife swayed heavily as the starving boy struggled to hold it up, keeping it between him and the guard. Eli’s gaze didn’t falter and he continued to stare directly at Ranthus.

The rat-faced guard took another step forward, slicing his sword across Eli once more. Eli made no motion to dodge. No... maybe he couldn’t… he was barely managing to remain standing as it was. With his other arm injured, the boy could no longer grip his weapon. The small knife dropped coldly down to the ground.

What’s with you?

You enjoy watching children being sliced apart?

You enjoy seeing children die?

“Shut up.” I whispered again and again. The usual mantra showing no signs of working.

Maybe you like being late?

“I… I…”

Are still trying to prove to yourself you aren’t a hero?

Is that why you only watch?

Is that why you continue to wait?

Is that why you are watching him get killed?

You are still hiding behind Alair the Coward

Hurry up and ACT!!

I rocketed forward, sending a quick right straight into Ranthus’ face. He barely flinched, but I managed to get his attention. The armored man turned to face me, ignoring Eli.

“Look’s like the pesky little blight decided to attack.” Ranthus chuckled, wiping a small trail of claret wine from his mouth. “That strike was weaker than I thought. Even the brat could do more damage.”

Aren… you really are super weak.

“Shut up!” I yelled, sending another punch toward Ranthus’ face. The guard swept his sword up, and I had to slide to the side to dodge it. My fist barely grazed his cheek.

This is really unfair. Not only does that guy have a weapon, the only place I can properly attack him is his head. That stupid armor would block everything else.

Well the armor also has its downsides.

“Like what?” I mumbled.

He is a lot slower than he should be.

“And?”

You are a lot faster than you should be.

“I’m normal!” I yelled.

Someone who has only ever bothered to increase his speed can’t be considered normal.

Ranthus barraged me with attacks from his broadsword. I nimbly avoided each of them. It was far easier than when I fought him in the alley. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was no longer fighting on top of a puddle or the armor really slowed him down that much, but his strikes were too slow to even pose a threat.

Now if only that allowed me to stab this guy in the face.

“What about you blights is normal?” Ranthus roared, “You can die and return as many times as you please. You continue to get stronger at rates impossible for the rest of us. And you take whatever you want!” Dropping the brown sack, Ranthus used both his hands to swipe the broadsword toward me.

The strike was far faster than it was before.

I tried to dodge, but the unexpected increase in speed caught me off guard. The blow grazed me, splitting my bottom lip.

...If I’m hit once by that, I really think I’ll die.

Then don’t get hit, idiot.

“Easy for you to say.” I said, dodging another strike.

You’re right, Alair is a weak existence.

He can’t even dance properly on the battlefield.

Aren, however…

A small smile creeped up onto my face.

I started to laugh.

I had forgotten.

A fight was a mere game. A game with stakes on the line, but a game all the same. There was no reason to take a game seriously, if you panicked you would only end up getting hurt.

The broadsword chased after me as I continued to dodge. My movements slowly growing more precise. I was slowly warming up to something I hadn’t done in a long time. I used to fight every day. When had I stopped?

Stabby Stabby.

...right.

“Stop moving, you brat!” Ranthus yelled, increasing the pace his strikes came at me. Had he thought the action would make it easier to hit me? The more he forced his strikes, the wider they swung and the easier they were to dodge.

I had been slowly working my way around Ranthus. The knife was the only way I would have stood a chance at harming the man. I doubted my fists could stand up to a suit of armor.

The knife lay at the foot of Lauren’s convulsing form. The froth at her mouth now covered half her face; her bulging eyes open and terrified. Eli was lying limply at her side, keeping her head elevated so that she would not drown in her own froth. He hadn’t been able to use his hands, so he had to work his way under her so her head rested on his lap.

“What are you looking at, brat?” Ranthus tried to follow my brief gaze, but I took the chance to jump forward and land another punch against his face. The man still didn’t flinch at the impact, but his cheek bled even more furiously.

In retaliation Ranthus launched another strike, which I easily dodged. The man was only growing more aggravated as our fight drew on. He couldn’t land a hit on me, and I couldn’t land any serious hits on him. This entire fight was a waste of time

Late, Late, you are going to be late.

Lauren’s hand smacked the wall during another convulsion. The mournful echo resounding throughout the chamber. I didn’t have any time to waste. Jumping forward, I grabbed the small knife from the ground. Even with this weapon in hand, I doubt I could get past his armor, but at least now if I hit him in the face I would have a wound to show for it.

Ranthus started to take special care to keep me from getting close. He hadn’t worried about me hitting him when I wasn’t armed. But now, with a knife in hand, I could seriously harm him.

The broadsword was an insurmountable shield preventing me from achieving victory. Not only was it longer than the knife, the man could easily swing it around to keep me from getting too close.

I could win this.

I was faster than he was. I just needed to dodge the broadsword and rush in. If I could close enough distance, the broadsword would be unable to strike me. The armor would seal him from striking close to his own body.

“Sister…” Eli begged to the bag on the far side of the room. “Please wake up! We don’t have much time.” Another convulsion from Lauren caused her hand to smack across his face. The brown bag didn’t so much as twitch as her brother continued to yell.

You are almost back to how you were.

It’s almost as if you can actually fight.

I chuckled, stepping to the side. Ranthus’ weapon landed a little bit to my right. He seemed to put too much force into his swings. It was almost as if he only cared to flaunt his power. His actual skill with the sword was the same as a bunch of teenagers with baseball bats, and I was used to fighting teenagers with baseball bats.

When I tried to step forward, Ranthus’ slid back. This had happened a few times since I gathered my wits. He was doing all that he could to stop me from approaching. I continued to focus on the blade, waiting for my chance to slip past.

“Come on, sis! Hurry and wake up! Please hurry!” Eli yelled at the sack.

A sudden burst of pain echoed throughout my head.

Aren, you are late once again.

Lauren started to choke. Her appearance taking a bright red tone. The white froth that had been coming out of her mouth was starting to turn light pink as wine attempted to escape from other orifices. “Mama…” she whispered and with one last shudder, the world turned red.

Claret wine covered everything. It stuck on to me with it’s sickening grip. I was covered. Absolutely covered. The revolting liquid smothered the entire hall. The nostalgic stench riled up, aggravating my senses. The corpse of a young girl smothering the walls around us.

Ranthus eyes didn’t twitch at the explosion, almost as if he was already expecting it.

Aren….

“I don’t want to hear it.” I whispered, “I don’t want to hear it.”

Guess what?

“Shut up! Shut up shut up shutupshutupshutupshutup”

You were late again.

“I SAID TO SHUT UP.”

With total disregard of the weapon in front of me I lunged forward. Ranthus’ startled for a moment, quickly slid backwards and horizontally swung his broadsword. I ducked to avoid it, the blade skimming itself across my back. Not caring for the sudden flash of pain, I continued to charge.

Ranthus let go of the sword with one of his hands, using the free hand to smack me away. The force alone was enough to send me into the air.

“What’s with you, hero? You suddenly grew fr-” Eli started to ask.

I interrupted him, yelling at him while waving the knife around. “What do you think is wrong with me? Did you not even notice what happened? Are you blind to the harm that happens to other human beings?”

“No… I’m…”

“Please just shut up,” I pleaded.

Why can’t you ever be on time?

“WHY DO YOU NEVER SHUT UP” I screamed, sending strike after strike toward the lumbering metal giant. I just wanted to chase out the noise. The noise that assaulted me every day of every year.

Her voice was growing too loud for me to bear.

Why?

Why can I not get her voice out of my head?

Eli could had seemingly given up on speaking to me, going back to begging his sister to wake up. Telling her to hurry.

It was too late for that.

Didn’t he even understand that much?

Ranthus was having no trouble fending off my strikes with his sword. A smile was plastered on his face as he easily knocked all of my blows away.

Hit. Hit. Hit. I begged the knife in my hand to strike upon his flesh. The inanimate object glistened silver as it ignored my demands, easily being knocked away whenever I brought it close.

Why can’t I hit him? It was so easy before I grabbed this knife. Was he truly just playing with me? Did I really have no chance at winning? Or was I just afraid? Was I just afraid to kill someone?

Alair the Coward, will always be a coward.

Unable to leave the confines of this city.

No matter how much he struggles…

Alair the Coward will never be able to match Aren.

After all,

Aren was the one to stab me.

Alair is the one who is still running away.

I used the small knife to block the broadsword at the last second, the strike coming close to actually striking me. The small metallic weapon forced its way out of my hand, landing next to Eli and Lauren. At this point I couldn’t care less, it is not like I could hit him with it anyway.

I was a coward.

Killing someone, even in anger, was impossible for me.

“It’s funny,” Ranthus said, “I think you are the weakest among the foreigners that I’ve come across. I don’t know why he told me to be wary of you. You are less than insignificant. If you had never bothered to show up here, nothing would have changed.”

Ranthus stabbed his broadsword into the ground. Casually walking past it, he raised his hands into a boxing stance. “Red Reaper told me to kill you quickly, but I don’t see why. Even if I killed you, you would just come back here four days later. It is only when you pathetic existences live that I can have some fun of my own.”

He sent a right hook toward my face. The punch was sloppy and lacked any structure. It was an amateur's punch through and through. I easily side stepped out of the way. The fist swept cleanly past me… and smashed into the wall. The stone crumbled underneath the force.

I’m going to be killed…

Why should you care?

“Because I don’t plan on d-” I heard a crack and found myself flying backwards. Ranthus had managed to get a powerful strike in during my moment of distraction.

I found myself coughing wine as I struggled to stand up.

“I only planned to knock you back a bit, but you are already coughing blood? Are you trying to be the most brittle little blight you could possibly be?”

“...”

“What? No fancy comeback? You are nothing like the Red Reaper claimed you would be. I even went so far as to flee from you in the alley. I can’t believe I bothered to be careful around a runt like you.” Ranthus walked forward. He was an embodiment of death that slowly approached.

“Taking advice from a little girl dressed in a frilly dress are you?” I asked, spitting wine.

“Who? Oh… you must be talking about her. Ol’ Reaper also said to be careful of that girl. He said she is mostly harmless, but to be careful not to kill her with my new ability.”

Oh great, this guy has another ability besides his absurd strength? Granted I should have expected as much. Someone of his strength should have a few skills here and there, and all he has shown is his ability to swing something around.

“Just like that man, when I kill a foreigner, they should stay dead.” with that said, Ranthus lunged forward, grabbing my neck. The broken ribs making it impossible to dance out of the way. He tightened the hold as he lifted me up.

I had to struggle to breath.

“Did you know? One the most painful ways to die is by drowning?” Ranthus asked. “Since I don’t have access to a body of water to drown you, crushing your windpipe should be close enough.”

I heard a crackling sound as my trachea was slowly crushed.

The world grew darker. I tore at his hands, trying to tear them off me. My lack of strength became readily apparent, when even with both my hands I couldn’t move a single one of his fingers.

So weak…

‘Shut up!’ I mentally screamed.

“So defiant,” Ranthus complained, “Just give up and die already. We don’t need your kind here. You are just making it harder to deal with these monsters. You even went so far as to try to save them. These creatures aren’t worth saving, and neither are you.”

My vision slowly tunneled. Ranthus’ voice grew more distant. Just before reality had fully faded away, I stopped struggling. Not much I could even do at this point….

‘Haha, I’m a failure.’ I couldn’t help but berate myself mentally, ‘I couldn’t even save a few kids…’

Ranthus unexpectedly released his grip, and air forced its way into my lungs. After a brief gagging fit, the bright light of reality slowly dredged its way back. A warm hand placed itself onto my shoulder, squeezing with an almost nostalgic amount of force.

“What? Giving up already kid?” I tried to shift my head toward newcomer behind me. “Even that bastard knight has more willpower than that.”

Who the hell is that?

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Spoiler : Well, that was a hard chapter for me to write. For some obvious and non obvious reasons. I hope you all enjoyed it. Sorry for taking so long.

(I seem to like repeating myself on these afterwords.)

Thanks to Flam for PRing. And for all my beta readers for betaing…

End Chapter 9

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