LET THE BEAST FREE (5—Last Part)

"AARGH!" One enemy came to Ciemnosc, swinging his fists but had also shoved his right knee up, towards Ciemnosc's chin and was covered by a fiery, raging yellow Power Energy. It was as if it was trying to appear like a sun. Yet its only effect was to slightly empower the body of that enemy as he came to Ciemnosc and brandished his limbs about. Yet, Ciemnosc couldn't take it lightly for his cultivation base was at the peak.

Pu- puh poh- pam, whoosh.

Ciemnosc used his right palm to reflect the enemy's fists, and his left hand came like a knife to the other's stomach, ending up sending the enemy flying with his limbs sprawled and spinning laterally. Ciemnosc wasn't given any breather, however. His next enemy appeared as they had rushed behind him, their hands placed together as a powerful glow of gray-blue emanated from their union. Separating them, the glow turned into a snake and mimicked a lightning strike as it tried to land on one of Ciemnosc's wounds on the back of his head.

Ciemnosc had 7 wounds all around his head, where his medium-long hair length for a male was and could cover exactly the size of those wounds, with 2 of those at the back of his head. His chest has scratches, gnashes, and some cuts the size of an adult male’s foot. While his legs and lower back had stab wounds, edged weapons injuries, and had been blasted consecutively with Power Energy from all sides and sources.

Barely any clothing remained on him, and he was fighting without anything to cover his torso. While only the upper section of his pants remained. He was also naturally barefoot.

As the lightning-like strike was just behind his head, Ciemnosc’s right arm was lifted, as it met the Pôwer Energy technique barehanded but with a thin layer of dark Power Energy covering his palm and inner fingers. The palm met the lightning-like strike head on and stopped it, also managing to dissolve it but his hand now had a new injury as, like a knife, a chortle of blood was expelled from the back of that hand.

“Urgrrh…” Ciemnosc’s nose wrinkled, and so did his eyebrows. He took heavy, long strides towards the Obsidiafying realm cultivator who was just repeating the same acts from just now, only that he was now becoming panicky as Ciemnosc approached him.

“Ah… ah!” The enemy looked around and past Ciemnosc. He had been granted the role to distract Ciemnosc so that the remaining 8 survivors from the 2 exterminated groups could be put to safety. However, the man never imagined he would be targeted by Ciemnosc out of nowhere! As the slaughter machine came towards him, the man tried hurrying his technique. But something failed, and he immediately spouted a bit of blood from his mouth.

Looking at Ciemnosc, who had stopped walking forwards but was already chest to chest, the blood he just spat out fell down Ciemnosc’s glabella and towards his nostrils before reaching the lips. Ciemnosc looked serenely at the man’s eyes, his darkest almost dazing him to a faint. Instead, however, dark Power Energy covered his skin and cleansed that blood from saliva before Ciemnosc then sniffed it in and lapped it with his tongue.

The man was particularly already bemoaning in fear seeing Ciemnosc devour his blood as simply and casually as he had eaten flesh, bones, and even organs like eyes in front of them over and over again, like a beast.

Step, step, step, step- rustle, tap tap. Whoosh- ckrsheerr - whoosh. Pahk pahk.

Without any warning, Ciemnosc grabbed the man’s shirt towards the middle. Both his hands were above and below the man’s solar plexus. In a sudden twist of his torso and simply pulled as he grabbed the clothes of the man, Ciemnosc’s finger came to penetrate it and held at the man’s skin and ribcage. Separating them so effortlessly, Ciemnosc turned around with his torso already twisted and met the incoming pair of hammers from another peak Obsidiafying realm cultivator in the air.

Two hammers for two halves of one body, the latter made a mess of the latter as Ciemnosc simply looked up to see the other enemy with the hammers shocked silly and turned into a complete idiot with just this change of events.

But as the halves of the man’s body exploded to bloodiness, flesh and bones breaking like dry leaves crushed by the step of a shoe, and the man was all befuddled. Ciemnosc was not. He quickly pulled his hands down, no longer holding each a half of the man. His legs quickly tapped against the ground, bringing him easily up into the air and leaving a slight mark on the dirt.

“Ah- noo-” The hammer-wielding man yelled out, in fear as well. But by then, Ciemnosc was already grabbing into the man’s chest and digging into his skin like they were gooey clay. And with his hands supporting him, Ciemnosc’s legs remained below the man’s waist as he tightened his clutches at the muscles of the man’s breasts before suddenly forcing their bodies down in a reverse spin.

Ciemnosc’s body fell backwards and then in a nosedive, and the man his hands were clawing at was paralyzed by the pain and fear of it all. However, he was pleased to see that Ciemnosc didn’t intend to take a bite from him as he had been doing to anything that moved close to him, like a rabid animal cornered to death.

“Heh heh,” however, right at that moment, the man seemed to see the devil as Ciemnosc’s slightly pale red lips showed a playfulness the man was more than seriously afraid of!

“AAAHH!! NO-” Before the man’s second scream could ring out, he saw Ciemnosc open his mouth, his lips revealing under and over a row of teeth that weren’t white. Not even bloody or filled with gore, but just… pure black.

GNAW! MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH…

Just before he and Ciemnosc hit the ground, where a couple of Obsdiafying realm cultivators rushed to the former, noises of indescribable creepiness and terror resounded. The rest 2 dozen or so Obsidiafying realm cultivators, some within the peak, guarding the 8 survivors were left aghast as they could see the man’s body shorted bit by bit… bite after bite.

They could only see, with clarity, Ciemnosc’s movements as his head turned left and right and dived in before pulling out, almost like a hungry fatass leveling down a large cake. Instead, a body was being sliced time after time, and the reasoning behind it being unbeknownst to them was what terrified them the most.

“Get away!” A shout suddenly went out, and the 2 now fearful Obsidiafying realm cultivators backed away from the Spirit Gathering realm kid. Meanwhile, the kid continued to make his magic trick of disappearing a whole adult man’s body with each movement of his face diving into the man’s body.

THUD.

The pair of bodies, or just Ciemnosc and his re-energizing dinner - landed on the ground at last, lifting a cloud of dust and dirt that quickly settled down to reveal Ciemnosc raising to his feet little by little. His legs were slightly bent as he tried standing up straight, cleaning his mouth as his fingers… seemed somewhat different from before.

Everyone looked at those beside themselves. They had already exchanged information about Ciemnosc and experienced fighting him, this monster. They knew that every single fist or kick of his was worse than being struck by someone’s hammer, and it somewhat compared to a Mortal blunt weapon fully empowered with an Obsidiafying realm cultivator’s Power Energy.

However… what if… what if Ciemnosc not only had strength? All along, they had been feeling glad he didn’t seem to have any other Mortal weapon, but now… maybe they wished he had more. All they could do… was look at Ciemnosc as his body became visible once more.

“Let me.” The same voice that shouted just now sounded again, now calmer and serene, as its owner’s footsteps could be heard directed towards Ciemnosc. On the other hand, Ciemnosc’s chest showed signs of healing the skin of his wounds, while his hands… were fully coated with another living being’s blood. Directly dripping from his… dark ‘nails’ that looked more like claws.

“Be careful. The beast is transforming!” From the 8 survivors, who were passing out and reviving again and again due to their injuries, a thing even their status as a cultivator made them helpless to, a survivor said to the person moving towards Ciemnosc. His voice was languid, soft and just small, but it received a response from the man bravely treading forth. “Mn. I thank you for your advice, but… There is no need to be fearful of dealing with a monster like this. Observe! Haaa!”

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Ciemnosc was tired, injured, and bleeding still from his wounds all over his body. But as he raised his head slightly, his right knee was still negligibly bent and supporting his body while his left leg was almost straight. He watched as a 2 meters tall person came to him, seemingly preparing to do something to him. This person had slightly light brown sand skin, and looking even more up, though it was tiring, Ciemnosc saw his head was bald.

“Vice headmaster To-”

Whoosh- PUM. whistle~.

“!” Ciemnosc was barely starting to speak up, his throat and all around his teeth filled with viscous blood, when the vice headmaster, Topi, sent a fist right to the center of his chest. In response, Ciemnosc’s body couldn’t do anything more than fly backwards for several tens of meters, with his entire chest and ribcage tittering to almost breaking.

…thud.

At last, Ciemnosc fell on his back against the ground. His body was only dragged for half a meter before stopping. Some more dust was lifted because of his body slamming against it once the force of the vice headmaster’s blow weakened enough.

‘Ah~, I almost threw my resupply up.’ Ciemnosc thought as he supported his body up, his elbows against the ground. And just as he lifted his right knee to start getting up, a whooshing sound came to him. Ciemnosc suddenly felt a hand grab at his neck and lift him up.

“!” Ciemnosc’s eyes constricted, his heart pounded hard as his Claws Out left hand was lifted, its fingers separated tragically from one another and trying to receive the incoming sole of someone’s foot. But he was too slow to react, his dark Power Energy and his own body’s energy to do anything lacking just a bit less than necessary.

PAMMM.

Ciemnosc’s head was planted by the foot. And the back of his head was in change forced into the superficial dirt, creating a hole but with blood coming out of it and bathing part of his head forced into the dirt.

“CIEMNOSC!!” The vice headmaster yelled out, his voice guttural and rage could easily be heard as he pushed harder the boy’s head into the ground, and more blood spilled from it, filling half of the hole. “CIEMNOSC! Do not resist! ACCEPT IT, SHUT UP AND ACCEPT IT CIEMNOSC! CIEMNOSC!!!”

Pam, pam, pam, pam, pam, pam, pam…!

“...” Ciemnosc’s right and left hands were somewhat lifted as if to still try and receive the foot that was coming down at him from the beginning. But the vice headmaster Topi ignored them whole as he continued to plant his left foot on Ciemnosc’s head, forcing it into the hole more and more, time and again.

The more the vice headmaster planted his foot, the more Power Energy was used. Ciemnosc had always felt his presence around, but the vice headmaster had refused to make a move, even when he made obvious weak openings that would have him stop eating at someone’s corpse or part of their still alive and breathing bodies, even possibly heavily injuring him in the process. Yet, it was exclusively when he was so tired and afflicted that the vice headmaster had dared to face him… if this could even be considered facing Ciemnosc off.

‘Seem I have… always overestimated this academy, huh?’ Ciemnosc thought, his eyes could be seen only by the vice headmaster, and sometimes when the latter raised his foot to once again plant it down time and again. And what the vice headmaster saw wasn’t short of heartbreaking. However, the vice headmaster had no time to think of the lifelessness of those darkest eyes as they were ultimately cold and serene. All thoughts and thinking went to kill Ciemnosc and nothing more.

Pam pam pam pam… crrkk, thud thud - ta, thud…

After 2 long minutes, the vice headmaster had bullets of sweat falling down his head like the entire world was downpouring rain like there was no tomorrow. His Power Energy was forcefully, extensively, and strongly used this time around. It was nothing that any Obsidiafying realm cultivator would’ve survived. But Ciemnosc seemed to be breathing still even as his chest wasn’t moving anymore.

Ciemnosc’s body no longer moved. His hands even fell on the dirt, still with separated fingers with a tragical image as they lay on the ground. The vice headmaster pulled Ciemnosc by taking him from his right leg. He dragged the boy’s body out of the hole he made in the ground with his head and then threw him far away, for more than 30 meters as his body bounced a couple of times before half-bouncing one last time and then sliding for a bit before finally stopping.

Was Ciemnosc dead? Or just about to die? Was his corpse needed fresh for it to be studied properly? After so many Obsidiafying realm cultivators of the Rocaloi Academy, at the peak, had died or lost limbs and even the spirit to do anything in the rest of their lives… was he finally dead?

“Take him away! The pastor of the Moribund Yearning Cult will be pleased to know he can start deriving the truth from him!” The vice headmaster explained, his body still and stable, solid and mighty as he had shown before just now. He added as he turned around to look at the practically destroyed auditorium, not being worried about the injured, unconscious Ciemnosc. “Before that, take his Covert Space bags away. Take the temporary headmaster’s corpse out… And the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect’s corpse too, bury them together.”

“Yes, vice headmaster.” - “Vice headmaster, splendid work! You’ve saved the academy- no, you’ve saved the woorld~!!” - “H- vice headma- cough! Vice headmaster…” From the 2 dozen of Obsidiafying realm cultivators, cheerful thanks were given to their savior. The vice headmaster, who attacked at the best moment and dealt decisive blows to take Ciemnosc under their hands!

“Hmm? What is it!”

Step, step, step, step…

But then there was one of the survivors who shouted out something, yet blood coming out his throat, nose, and ears stopped that survivor from continuing. He was so close to death’s doors already. The vice headmaster, however, felt something prickle at the right side of his neck as he heard him and walked back to the survivors. His pace wasn’t hurried but was fast nonetheless, leaving Ciemnosc’s body behind him as he crouched down with the survivor who had just spoken.

The survivor knew he was going to perish. There was no medicinal pill around. After all, why would Obsidiafying realm cultivators worry about their lives when the ‘possible’ enemy was a Spirit Gathering realm punk? Even when that Spirit Gathering realm kid could defeat those in the Conflagrate realm, a whole realm above them, it wasn’t something they cared about. They were much stronger after all. Who would have known…

“Vice… headmaster…” The survivor used all leftovers of Power Energy to speak, just to do that as his eyes had already gone blind. “The… devil… he had… the monster, h- h- h- he- he… he is planning to level… down… the entire mount-... mountain!! AAAH, NOOH! For the academy, for the ackak- COUGH BLAAAARFGGH… STOP HIIIIIIIIM!!!”

The survivor began convulsing, blood exploding even from his eyes as he ended up shouting tragically with his tongue drowning him along with blood and pieces of organs. Even waste with black colored blood came out to taint the clothes of the vice headmaster.

“!!!” The entire 2 dozen and the vice headmaster became chilled to the spine, and those survivors who were able to remain semi awake began trembling, their eyes opening in shocking and utter terrifying remembrance!!!

Step, step, step, step!

“Vice headmaster, careful! The demon is awake once again! Vice headmaster!!” A shout seemed to wake everyone up, and even Clann who was looking away after seeing Ciemnosc’s body becoming immobile looked back, only for all of their eyes to see Ciemnosc drag his body in pain and bloodied with his very own blood splashing about as he forced his way through his steps and shoulders moving like a predator’s and dashing over to the vice headmaster!

“Uurrgah!” The vice headmaster turned around and flung his left arm, then he looked at Ciemnosc as he was rapidly approaching him! The vice headmaster was left dumbfounded, but he gathered all his Power Energy, as he had time to fully gather it to attack, and said to Ciemnosc with a face filled with fury and disdain. “You won’t know when you die kid. Trust me that it will be the easiest way for you to die for betraying the academy. Die, mongrel!”

“GRRRRRRRRR- AAAAHH!” Ciemnosc’s wrinkled-up nose and glabella looked terrifying. And just as he was growling out of rage and hunger with his full might, the entire world seemed to turn a tad bit darker than the gray skies that were already toning the entire academy in gray.

Bowwbooumb.

A strange sound resounded in everyone’s ears, minds, hearts… and what Ciemnosc would identify as ‘that something’ else. Immediately, Ciemnosc was still just 20 meters away from vice headmaster Topi when a capsule of immediate, purest of darkness ever materialized and engulfed everything in a 400 meters radius.

Instantaneously, everyone within that radius and range, up and down and sideways all around; found themselves in a ‘space’ of darkness that wasn’t just impossible to see one’s hands even as they touched their own faces with them. Even breathing was soundless, thinking was inexistent, cultivation didn’t exist, and the eternal sensation of being alive diminished. Their spirits were crushed, and their hearts and ‘that something’ else were thoroughly gone; as if forever.

It was then that Ciemnosc stepped still as fast and terribly terrifyingly as the vice headmaster had seen him. But ever since the ‘materialization’ of this ‘capsule’, he felt at home! As if… he was… the ruler of everything here. His running became more free, his entire everything that consisted him more alive than ever… It felt so GOOD.

In his eyes, the vice headmaster, and everyone else, were always there. And their everything could be seen through. Analyzed, studied and seen like an omniscient point of view, one that was in Ciemnosc’s mind, brain and that ‘something else’, but also as if he always knew it. Suddenly, he felt like his mind knew much more than anything he had read so far in any book or learned from anyone. He felt so close to an unknown truth!

But right now… all his body and his everything wanted… was the blood of the vice headmaster before the headache in his head spread through his everything and ‘that something’ made this incredible… something disappears!

He needed to first feast!

…