System Notification:

1st Objective: Defeat Demon Lord Belziarde In The Depths Of The City!

Complete!

2nd Objective: There Can Really Only Be One!

Slay All Other Parties Before The City Crumbles!

All Hunters Will Be Sealed Inside Tiendas City Until One Party Remains!

City Destruction Timer: 10:00:00

Hunters Remaining: 1,000,000

“This…” Yin’s eyes bug out of her head. I rush over to her, no longer caring about anything else as I drag her away from the other Hunters before they can see the truth.

“Get away from me!”

A second later, the atmosphere completely changes. The previously congratulatory looks from the muscle-bound freak and Harem Leader are now suspicious. No one wants to turn their back to another.

“Hahaha! That’s rich! Really rich!” Jian has regained consciousness on the other side of the platform. He and the Hawaiian shirted man stand up, dragging their companion, the boy with wavy red-hair head with them. We enter a tense standoff. The remaining parties stare at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

“W-Wait! We shouldn’t fight! There has to be a way out of this…” The girl, Penelope, who has somehow managed to survive to this point runs out between our parties. She’s a part of our group so I reach out to her, but I’m too late.

*Weng!*

“You really think I give a damn?” Harem Leader fires a warning shot at Penelope’s feet. The energy of a System generated arrow explodes and sends the girl stumbling to the ground. “We helped bring the boss down but got none of the rewards! And now a member of the Boss-slaying party wants to avoid fighting? How about we all team up and kill your party first! Otherwise, you’ll use the System Reward to wipe us out!”

“Y-YEA! Let’s work together!” Jian catches on to what Harem Leader is saying and raises his sword. “They also got a System Reward from the Daemonic Minotaur! That’s what that girl used to hurt the boss! Be careful, they’re the most powerful party in the whole Secret Dungeon! That bastard is crafty, he stole the Mini-Boss from me!”

“You piece of…” I mutter angrily, wishing I had killed Jian when I had the chance. “Guys…let’s get out of here.” I grab Penelope’s arm and pull her off the ground. However, when I try to help Yin up, her face turns white and she collapses back to the roof.

“I’m…I’m sorry, Hei! My leg won’t…work.” She grunts, trying her best to work through the pain. But it soon becomes apparent she can’t move. Instantly, my expression grows worse.

This isn’t happening.

Damn…it really is.

“Hahaha! She’s hurt isn’t she!” Jian takes a step towards us, as Harem Leader walks towards us from the other side. The muscle freak with the shield is the only exception. There’s a big black streak of ash running through his shield from when he blocked the Demon Lord’s lightning. He turns away from the scene, addressing his retinue of body builders.

“Disgraceful. We won’t be a part of this. I, Liang, will not allow it!” His declaration is followed by a roar from his followers.

However, even if he says that…there is still a problem.

The other parties stare at us hungrily, watching Jian and Harem Leader close in from either side. Penelope and Tatsuya huddle closer as I give up on getting Yin to her feet.

“Hei…you know…you can just go, right?” Yin pleads with me from the ground. “You have the System Reward from killing the boss! If it’s you…that should be enough to survive this right? I’m just going to drag you down. So…take my sword and go!”

“Mmm…” I make a dark noise from deep inside my throat. Reaching down, I pick up Yin’s sword.

I already know what I need to do.

My resolve is born from multiple lifetimes of suffering.

Plenty of people committed massacres, but I only ever killed monsters unless it was in self defense. I suppose this counts as well.

Hehe the System Reward really is suitable. The worst one I could get. And the best for this situation.

My cleaver comes out into my left hand. Wielding both dented katana and bloody cleaver, I stretch, allowing my black coat to flow out. Yin’s face grows teary eye as she sees me take her sword.

“T-That’s right! Just go! Quickly!” She insists one more time. But I sigh, reaching down and tapping her head with my hand on the hilt of her sword. Yin’s eyes go wide as I declare something for everyone to hear.

“I bet you all are wondering what the System Reward for killing Belziarde was…right?”

I stand up as Jian and Harem Leader as well as all the other creeping party’s freeze. Greed clouds their minds and they halt their advance to listen to my words. Straightening, I open my System Notifications and read it out loud.

“The System Reward is pretty simple. I only got one thing. It’s a passive skill called Demon Lord’s Devouring Hunger. You know what that means?” My words cause silence to pass over the rooftop. In the corner of my eye, I can see the Hunter Counter refreshing continuously. It no longer takes a full hour to display the new count. Now it automatically changes all the time.

973,413

There is a slaughter going on below Tiendas Tower. We’re sealed off because Belziarde blocked off the grand staircase to the roof, but faint screams are still coming from beneath the rubble as people kill each other trying to be the last party standing.

“No one wants to guess? I suppose I’ll tell you then.” My eyes gleam, and I suppose I must look terrifying right now beside the fallen Demon Lord. “My current level is Lvl. 25 after killing the boss. And the power of the Demon Lord’s Hunger means that for every one of you I kill, I don’t get half your experience. I get it all.”

“…”

You could hear a pin drop right now. No one has anything to say as they consider the implications of my skill.

“Nothing to say? Good.” I chuckle darkly, pushing Penelope and Tatsuya beside Yin. “Take care of her for me. It seems we have 10 hours before this city kills everyone in it. Then I’ll just have to finish this fast!”

Once I know Yin is safe, I turn to the surviving parties on the roof. And I no longer hide my killing intent. I let them all see it. The Black Butcher inside. In the past, I did not discriminate between System and human monsters. Only good and evil. Those who wished to do me harm were all treated equally. It’s time to return to that person. Today, the first Death God is reborn!

“Prepare yourselves. I’m coming.”

#

“He’s insane!” Jian yells, backing a way a step. He points at me with his sword, his voice trembling though he’s the one in full armor, “Look at his eyes! My god, how many people has he killed!”

“W-What are you talking about? He just looks like a…” Harem Leader is behind me, but he doesn’t understand. I suppose only a corrections officer who has dealt with murderers and scum would know. Before I begin, I put every single one of my new points in agility.

I don’t need stamina, none of this trash will touch me anyways.

Then I take a step. Like a flash, Jian stumbles backwards as I appear in front of him.

“Yes…you see it don’t you?” My voice is dead as I swipe sideways with my cleaver. He doesn’t even have time to react before it arrives at his neck.

*Crack*

The thick blade crunches through his thin plate armor and sheers into his throat. Gasping, he drops his sword and puts both hands to his bleeding neck.

“Huurk! W-Who are you? What are you!?” He cries out before falling to the ground. A few seconds later, I see my level rise.

Congratulations, you are now Lvl. 26.

“I was a Death God.” My whisper causes Jian’s face to twitch as his eyes cloud over. The terror bleeds out of him and his hands stop scrabbling at his neck as life leaves him behind. He seems almost glad to be leaving behind this world. Perhaps he would prefer to meet the Reaper in the next world rather than stay here with me.

“S-Stop! Hey, shield guy! Help me out!” Harem Leader loses his confidence when I disappear. My agility stat could not be higher. I intend to use every point to increase my speed and find each soul in this city.

No party can survive but mine.

It’s too late for anyone to help you.

Though his girlfriends try to get in-between him and me, I slip between them without a care. Suddenly though, a thick object swings in front of my path.

*Dong*

“Sorry, friend. But if you’re really planning on participating on this madness, I can’t just sit by until you come to kill me!” The muscle-bound freak holds his shield steady as my cleaver smashes into it. I’m annoyed. But he’s actually pretty strong. With a dark expression, I spit on the barrier and flip away to the center of the rooftop.

“Fine. You can live a little longer.”

Going over to the collapsed rubble blocking the grand staircase, I kick a piece of rock out of the way. Once a hole is open, I beckon the rest of my party over. Penelope and Tatsuya help Yin limp across the top of Tiendas Tower. The wind begins to howl as a new storm brews. Looking back at the terrified remaining Hunters on the roof, I shake my head. Suddenly they’re not so tough now that they’ve seen one of their number die.

“I’ll be back.”

When the party is through, I reclose the exit, stranding the other participants of the boss fight on the roof.

“W-What are we going to do, Mr. Hei?” Penelope asks in terror as she sets Yin down on a boulder. The poor salary woman shrieks in fear as she sees piles of dead bodies all the way down the staircase. “Oh! OH NO!”

“Heh…so it seems they turned on each other.” Tatsuya doesn’t look particular surprised. The white-robed priest-like man hefts his mace. “There’s not much time before the city self-destructs. What will you do now, Mr. Hei?”

“You all are going to do nothing. You’re are going to stay here with Yin and make sure she’s okay.” I don’t look at the girl I’m determined to protect. Even still, I know exactly what her face must be saying as I walk down the steps. “As for me, I’m going hunting. I’ll be back when it’s over. Stay here.”

“Hei! You don’t have to do this!”

I ignore Yin’s cries. She can’t follow me with her leg like that. It doesn’t matter what she says. The truth has been determined by the System.

“H-Hey wait!”

There Can Only Be One