In the outside world, time itself seemed to have come to a halt inside the camp of bandits...

The clouds over the campsite began gathering together and became darker as crackles of thunder and flashes of lightning made their appearance!

It had been merely a few seconds after Blade's consciousness had left him, but inside his mind, the drops of blood had already entered his Soul Form.

"To lose consciousness like this. It seems the poisoning has finally begun affecting you two freaks..."

Alexandria uttered under her breath.

She referred to them as freaks because of their inhuman healing factor and also because of Dolion's blood, which was of course, not the same color as any human she knew.

Walking toward Dolion, who was left in a stupor by Blade's unmoving body, she grabbed the handle of one of the three swords before...

Puchi!

Yanking it out of his chest, blue blood splashed all over her face as she then walked toward Blade's unmoving body with a smirk that sent shivers down the spine of the three bandits who were present because of their leader's order which was to protect her from any threat.

"W-What... do... you... t-think... you're... doing?!!" Dolion's weak voice questioned Alexandria's actions.

BAM!!

"Watch the way you speak to the female boss!!" The angry voice of a baldheaded man with a muscular frame resounded in Dolion's mind. This man sent Dolion flying a few meters after sending a kick to Dolion's face.

This bald man was well known by Dolion and Blade, as it was this man who sliced off Blade's hair.

It wasn't because of jealousy that Blade could grow hair though, as it was instead, according to his words...

"You look like a girl when you have hair soo long!"

Because he discriminated against males who had similarities to females, he went especially ruthless toward Dolion, who was the more feminine of the duo.

Anything Dolion did, he would use as an excuse to cause Dolion even more pain than he already felt.

The swords embedded in Dolion's chest were twisted from the impact with the ground, as they entered even deeper into his body.

Tsk!!

'At this rate, the possibility of all my hearts being crushed is very high. If that happens, I would surely die!'

THRUM!

Lying on the ground with no strength to return to move whatsoever, Dolion said in his mind, revealing to the reality that he was an entity with multiple hearts.

If it wasn't obvious before, for sure it was now obvious that Dolion wasn't human... Well, unless there were humans with multiple hearts that is.

PUCHI!!

But, as the sound of metal penetrating flesh entered his ears, a horrible premonition dawned on Dolion as he darted his blurry vision toward the location of the sound where he saw the horrible sight of Blade's chest being penetrated by a blade.

"B... Blade!!!"

He shouted in shock and fear.

ARGH!!!

On Dolion's face, mysterious and demonic red markings appeared as his sclera morphed from white to black which was split by a pair of reptilian silvery slits that were previously pupils.

His canines lengthened to match those canines of Vampires while his nails transformed into claws and turned black.

His ears also lengthened, similar to those elves while his hair turned into light pink color.

But, the most important change being...

The pair of silvery horns appeared on his head, along with a drastic change in his features that made him out to be anything but a male.

Dolion stood up to his feet as an evil aura permeated his surroundings, causing the blood of the humans to freeze in shock and fear.

Grabbing the tips of the blade, Dolion yanked it out of his chest while also covering his chest with his hand as his now inhumane eyes peered into the eyes of the shocked humans.

"Y-You humans, will p-!"

As he was about to finish what he said though, his body dropped to the floor, and instantly after, the many transformations he had, instantly disappeared.

Silence...

Alexandria and the three others dropped to their bums as their pale skin and frozen expressions showed their fear.

But, shock and fear wouldn't end for them.

THUMP!!

THUMP!!

THUMP!!

Like drums, the sound of a beating heart loudly reverberated throughout the whole camp which was large enough to comfortably host more than a hundred bandits and over fifty kidnapped women who had already been used and thrown into the river after being broken.

A river that was the grave for even Brittany and Athena, who had died a couple of months back.

The thumping sound startled everyone present inside the camp.

Fear from the deepest parts of their soul, surfaced as Zale, who was peacefully swimming by the waterfall, immediately exited the waters as he quickly approached the origin of this noise.

...

"Up to now, I still don't know what ability you have now that you've upgraded, oh little system..."

It was a voice filled with authority and power, tinged with seductiveness comparable to an incubus.

This voice echoed throughout his surroundings as a dark aura began to permeate the environment.

{Oh, you want to see it do you~}

The system's words entered his mind while he lazily got to his feet and observed his surroundings.

The sight of Alexandria and her underlings sitting on their asses with fear written on his face caused a smile to his face.

Even though he didn't understand why they were soo scared, he didn't care as his focus then honed in on the unconscious body that was covered in blood stains.

The smile immediately disappeared from his face as he approached Dolion's unconscious body.

"Is there any way to heal him..." Blade asked his system, and for the first time since communicating with its host, the system finally heard an emotion besides complete coldness.

{Does the host fancy this creature?}

"Is there any way to heal him...?!" Blade once more asked his system while ignoring its previous words.

{No, there isn't a way to heal this creature... well, not yet} The system replied, immediately angering Blade.

"Stop playing with me.

Answer me properly, what do I have to do for me to be able to heal him!?" Blade grumbled angrily as instantly after, a holographic screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[New Ability Unlocked]

[System Mission]

[Name: Vengeance]

[Content: It is time for your revenge. Those who have wronged you deserve to die, but first, we must get rid of these humans who subjugated you to torture!]

[Goal: Kill all bandits present]

[0/109]

[Reward: 2 Healing Pills]

[Failure: Death]

Kneeling, Blade then picked Blade up in a princess carry as he once more stood up to his feet and turned around, now facing the fearful group of four.

After reading the contents of the screen, Blade thought.

'This... This was what I was going to do anyway.'

Gazing at the four still in a stupor, Blade ordered.

"You four, come guide me to the location of the waterfall. Thanks to you people, we both are quite bloodied..."

AHH!

Alexandria yelped in surprise.

Blade's voice awoke her from her stupor as she shot to her feet while simultaneously unsheathing her dual blades.

She flashed toward Blade's location while slashing her blades, and she wasn't alone when attacking Blade, since following her were the three bodyguards who all were ready to place their lives on the line to protect Alexandria.

It wasn't because they were loyal, instead, because of the fear they had for what Zale would do to them if ever Alexandria were to succumb to any harm.

ARGH!!

A loud growl escaped Blade's lips. It was an animalistic growl as his expression twisted to one of pure wrath!

All he wanted was to clean himself from the filth, yet these people who were the cause of him becoming soo filthy still didn't want him to get even this, as they instead choose to attack him.

With no choice, Blade threw Dolion's body over his right shoulder, and keeping it stable with his right arm, he then focused on the incoming figures...

...

Zale hurriedly ran up the mountain at breathtaking speeds.

Where the waterfall was located, is a few kilometers away from the camp.

Luckily for him, his cultivation had already surpassed that of a Meridian Opening Realm cultivator and had already entered the Martial Artist Rank.

In less than half a minute, he had already made it to the peak of the mountain, where the entrance to the camp was.

Entering its entrance, he wasn't surprised when he could find no one present, as he quickly rushed to where Blade and Dolion were.

...

It was only after reaching Blade's location, that he was able to see what mayhem had been going on when he wasn't present.

URGH!!

The pungent smell of dead bodies assaulted his nose, while his surroundings seemed darker than usual.

Rubbing his eyes to make sure what he saw was correct, what appeared in his vision was tens of dead bodies of his subordinates, who were either headless or limbless with their chests being left with holes.

Sigh!

"Do you see what you've caused...?"

As Zale's body uncontrollably trembled from what he was seeing, the seductive voice that oozed authority entered Zale's ears, causing him to jump away in shock as he spun his body around hoping to catch sight of the person behind him.

"Because of you, I've finally realized what a hypocrite I've been since entering this world..."

Now in the open and under analysis from Zale, Blade once more uttered words that Zale wasn't able to understand.

What Zale saw was a figure with long hair reaching his waist. From the neck down the hair was a total contrast as instead of being white, it was colored in ink black.

Blade's hollow eyes seemed almost lacking emotions, as they stared into the confused eyes of Zale, who was unable to wrap around the changes in Blade's features.

Hair was different, and the pair of crystal blue orbs that were previously present weren't there as it was replaced by completely black pupils surrounded by an even darker iris.

Saber's 6'3 height, even though completely normal, for Zale, it felt as if Blade was a 10 feet tall titan ready to squeeze his body to pulp juice!

"When asked the question... What is your goal?... I say... To be Immortal, unable to die... Yet, I was the one to choose this world even knowing full well that it was the more dangerous option...

After being tortured and dragged to the doors of death for soo long, my eyes were open and I finally understood why I'm like this... Why I'm a hypocrite!"

Even as Zale spoke words that Zale wasn't able to understand, Zale remained standing in a stupor as the images of Blade's upper body came into his vision.

His physique which was even better than those Greek Gods was a tantalizing sight for any female and the tattoo on his chest which was a silvery cube would draw the attention of most.

But, what truly garnered Zale's attention was those stains.

It was the blood stains that were across his body.

There weren't any red blood stains, as they were all colored blue as if only Dolion's blood was qualified enough to remain on his chest.

Only his right and left hands used to massacre the many bandits were covered in blood, Blade's voice once more rang in Zale's ears.

"You see that?" Blade said while pointing toward the heap of dead bodies...

"This is what I've realized.

A creature like me, who is unaware of his origin, is a hypocrite who, even though takes the life of others, and smiles while doing it, refuses to accept the end of his own life.

For this, I thank you, since now I've fully accepted that I have no place with humans.

As someone who doesn't have a feeling of empathy for anything to do with humanity, I will show you, a human, the greatest honor I can give...

Which is a quick death!"

THRUM!!!

Even before he had the time to process Blade's words properly, the world had turned upside down...

A few meters away, Blade once more picked up Dolion's unconscious body as he then approached a certain camp which he had always observed in the first few days while being tortured, when he had hope of escaping.

It was the camp with all the Life Stones of this group of bandits...

And, unlike before, Blade had long been brought aware of the fact that this incident wasn't merely coincident...

The reason for Lucas's actions was because of Adrian, the mysterious person he had met...

The reason for Adrian's actions, well, Blade still wasn't aware, but he did intend to get his revenge...

Even if he needed to bathe in rivers of blood to gain the strength to take down Adrian, he was prepared to do it...

Even if he needed to sell his soul to the devil to get stronger, he would do it...

After all, he had already realized that taking risks and coming out alive after taking these risks was what he truly loved...

For now, though, he wasn't truly sure what he would do, but he'll consent with his momentarily un-awakened comrade after his awakening...

Blade's and Dolion's future, remained uncertain...

...

...

...

(Volume 1 End)