After the storm that swept over them, the party were disorganized due to the recent attitude of the fifth hero, which left a deep mark on the party, and some knights and mages were even more doleful about whether they could survive the incoming monster attack. But they all feared Lucius and the king, as the king had ordered a bounty of 500,000 yup should be placed on his head.
While Lucius has been walking aimlessly since that day, confused on what to do and he was scared as well, thinking he could lose control at any time, even though he was not fighting for others other than himself, he couldn't kill someone because there is a proverb that says "Once a person kills someone there is no turning back" so no matter what he would never kill someone.
Suddenly, the air turned ice-cold, as if the forest itself had died. The wind vanished completely, leaving an unnatural, suffocating silence. Shadows thickened around him, swallowing the last traces of moonlight until the world narrowed to nothing but darkness and the pounding of his own heart.
Lucius froze, confusion twisting into dread. Why now? He thought, his breath shallow. Why is it talking to me while I'm still conscious?
As he feared, the tall, dark figure materialised before him a living shadow, taller than any man, its form writhing like smoke given malice. A low, guttural laugh echoed from its depths, cold and mocking, sending chills racing down his spine.
"You ran again?" the shadow hissed, its voice like nails scraping across bone.
"I didn't have any other choice," Lucius whispered, his voice cracking.
The shadow's laughter deepened, vibrating through the air like thunder trapped in fog. "Really? You always say that 'no other choice.' But the truth is, you do have choices. You simply refuse to take them because they terrify you more than I do."
Lucius's fists clenched at his sides. "You should have killed her," the shadow continued, its tone almost gentle, almost coaxing.
"Stop!" Lucius shouted, his voice breaking with raw desperation. "I would never kill anyone!"
"At the rate you're going, you will soon kill someone," the shadow purred, circling him slowly, its form stretching unnaturally. "Why not do it now? It's so… easy."
"No hat wasn't me," Lucius gasped, shaking his head violently. "I lost control. That wasn't—"
"You must be thinking they called you useless," the shadow interrupted, its voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "So why should you let them live?"
"No… it wasn't… me," Lucius stammered, but this time the words came out weaker, laced with hesitation he couldn't hide. Doubt clawed at his chest, sharp and poisonous.
"You felt it, didn't you?" The shadow leaned closer, its eyeless face inches from his. "That spark of pleasure when the rage took over. That brief, delicious moment when you wanted them to suffer."
"Enough!" Lucius roared, but his voice trembled with terror. The more the shadow spoke, the more its words sank into him like hooks, dragging buried truths to the surface. He could feel himself cracking, the fragile walls he'd built around his sanity beginning to splinter.
He changed the topic desperately, his words tumbling out in a rush. "Something happened when I was dying," he continued, voice hoarse. "I met something… an entity. It wasn't you. You never told me there were others like you."
The shadow remained unnervingly silent for the first time, its form flickering as if unsettled.
Lucius pressed on, fear mixing with rising anger. "It spoke to me. It said I was chosen. What did it mean? Why are you not talking? What was that thing? And what are you? Why are you different from the curses?"
The shadow's mouth or what passed for one slowly curved into a wide, jagged smile that sent fresh waves of horror through him.
"Does it matter if you know or not?" it finally replied, its voice dripping with cruel amusement.
"It does!" Lucius's voice cracked, raw with frustration and fear. "Because whatever that thing was… it's the reason I'm still alive."
The shadow tilted its head mockingly. "But why should I tell you anything when that thing chose to say nothing?"
"Then what do you want from me?" Lucius demanded, his chest heaving.
"That's very simple," the shadow whispered, its voice suddenly intimate, almost seductive in its darkness. "I want you. And I am the only one who can help you. So you have no other choice."
It stepped closer, its presence pressing down on him like a physical weight. "Stop running. Stop denying what you are. Face it. Understand it… and you won't lose control again."
"Understand what?" Lucius cried, his voice thick with desperation and confusion.
The shadow only smiled wider, silent and knowing.
"Figure out why everything is happening to you," it said softly, "and you will understand."
Lucius opened his mouth to protest, but suddenly everything went black.
The shadow's words lingered in his mind like poison, refusing to fade no matter how desperately he tried to push them away. They echoed in the void, twisting deeper with every heartbeat:
You felt it, didn't you?
You have always had this murder instinct.
Stop denying what you are.
The Shadow's words lingered in his mind, refusing to fade no matter how much he tried to ignore them.
After that argument with the shadow, he even felt more anxious than before, not knowing who to trust or what to do he kept walking not knowing where is going, after walking for a while the curse energy in his body suddenly reacted violently making him to flinch due to impart it made on his body but he wasn't ready for what ever is coming, knowing it curse monsters.
As he kept moving, the wind became thinner than before; birds or any other animal were nowhere in sight, and the only sound was his foot on the grass. Moving further, the dark veins on the tree were more visible than before.
Even the shadow words were not clear to him, and how could he control whatever was appearing to him, still contemplating what to do, that he didn't notice the cursed monster launching at him, ready to tear him apart.
He stumbled due to the pain that was inflicted on him.
"Arah"
As he tried to stand up, but ever since that day, his reversal power has not been working well due to the injury he sustained, due to the pain that wasn't healing well.
Before he could attack, he looked all around him in case of a person, but noticing it was dead silent, he decided to attack back.
The wind shifted even though there was none, as dark energy surged from his palm as it gathered and concentrated into a sword form.
With speed, he launched further toward the monsters with his sword lingering at his back. The sudden change in his facial expression gave the monsters fright, and, noticing them, he involuntarily stepped back, smirked, raised his sword in the air, then landed it on the monster with a loud thud.
One of the monsters growled in pain, but he didn't give it time to do anything by striking it again in the abdomen, and with a loud thud, a crystal dropped to the ground after the monster disappeared.
As the remaining monsters saw this, they began to move frantically backwards, but one of them, still retaining its pride, as it was still an animal, came forward, thinking it could defeat this human confidently. To its surprise, it didn't even take time; it was already stabbed by the so-called human, leaving only a dark, concentrated crystal on the ground.
After seeing this, the remaining ones started running, knowing they couldn't defeat this human, but he caught up to them in no time and defeated them in less than 10 minutes. There was only one left, but suddenly, the pain came before he could attack the last monster.
Noticing the human as weak, the monster let out a loud growl, ready to attack him confidently. Bearing its huge claw at him and successfully landing an attack on Lucius.
Ahaha, using a cold voice, Lucius spoke to the monster, "You think you can defeat me, even if I am about to die, I will take you down with me".
Using his last remaining strength, he once again gathered the curse energy into a sword, even though his legs had given up and his hands were badly wounded as crimson blood was dripping onto the black ground, he held his sword with confidence,
"Aragh"
Launching towards the monster with his sword with force, he was able to cut the monster with his sword, which was more than enough as his body absorbed the curse leaking from the monster, which didn't take more than 30 minutes before a loud thud of dark crystal falling was heard.
After the battle, the pain hit him like never before, straining as he struggled to move forward, but his legs betrayed him by giving out, and he landed on the ground with a loud thud.
His vision blurred before he was pulled into darkness, but this time the shadow didn't come as he sank deeper.
His body felt as if it were tearing apart from the inside, each movement heavier than the last.
His body felt heavy, as though it no longer belonged to him.
His body finally gave in as the pain overwhelmed him, his strength fading completely as he could no longer even feel his limbs.
He opened his eyes, still adjusting to the light to see where he was, but he knew this place felt different from the forest.
After regaining his vision, he tried to stand but was met with sharp pain all over his body.
I won't move if I were you, a deep voice talked from the entrance of the hut.
Who are you? Lucius " demanded, looking guarded.
Just a villager, a tall man talked.
Ooh, a villager, why did you save me and how, because there was no soul living where I passed out?
Hey, calm down. I was hunting and found you, so I brought you back to my village.
I don't care, " Lucius said, standing up despite the pain he felt all over his body.
Blocking the way, the guy said, "You cant leave until you are healed up"
Is it that you are naive or stupid, thinking I won't kill you?
Sorry to break your fantasy, I am one of the strongest in this village, and with that body that looks like that, did you think you could defeat me? Besides, I would let you go once you heal up.
Knowing he couldn't defeat this guy right now due to his body condition, he decided to say.
Fine, but once I'm healed up, you can stop me from leaving
I wont
On the other end,
The heroes party had begin their journey toward the southern lands covered in curses, due to the deep mark left by Lucius they all train at every moment the find to meet up with Lucius, as it left a deep mark of jealousy from Liam, Fear from Shira as she almost died so is Collen but Clara was still shacked up by how he behaved as she was the only that kept saying he wouldn't lose control, the one that wanted to saving him as he was pityful to her but now she doesn't know what to do anymore, while thinking the head mage called on to her.
Clara, there is a technique I want to teach you that would be helpful to your training, and don't blame yourself for what happened; it was not your fault, as none of us knew he was that dangerous.
But Sir head mage, it was my fault if I didn't insist on taking him to the tower none of this would have happened, he even had the ability to heal and admin with were mintues later Shira would have been dead, she laughed bitterly saying all of us joined together couldn't even defeat him, so what have we been doing all this while…..
Clara, I said I don't blame you for what happened. Why are you still blaming yourself instead of putting all that in training so that next time we see him, we can take him down and bring him to justice? Shira spoke confidently.
Yes, you are right, we will do that.
That's the Clara I know
Far away from there, a man sat in the dark, laughing as he had just won a lottery ticket. Zon, he called.
What can I do for you, Lord Dox? How is the operation coming along?
Lord, he defeated those cursed monsters, but so far this time, he won't escape.
In a terrifying voice, Dox spoke, "This is your last chance"
While back at Lucius' side after a few days of rest, he had healed up, ready to leave, but suddenly something happened.