CHAPTER 252: BEAUTIFUL BRUTALITY

A despair filled disbelief was written all over the face of Ken, he involuntarily crawled backwards even more, that’s right, it was almost too obvious, why would anyone go into the beast forest, all alone, weakened to barely 30% or less of their prowess, while making sure everyone also knew about it, could there be a more obvious trap. It was then that he realized how foolish all of his actions were.

He was too desperate, clinging to every bit of hope, disregarding the voice of caution in his mind. As a result, he eventually did what he did, which made him the architect of his very own doom. He could arrive at one final conclusion at the end of it, and he asked, " You needed to die to activate your demon bloodline properly?"

Axel grinned; it was not exactly as Ken had imagined. Instead, he needed to die at the hands of the very person the original ’Axel’ had hated the most. This would result in the remnant influence dying, thereby ending the disharmony between Tyler Cross himself and the current body. And since Tyler Cross had more affinity with the demon bloodline than runic sorcery. So, the runecaster aspect, in a way, was blocking his 2nd aspect from functioning well.

And now that the first of the two problems was solved, there was only one more thing left to do, which he would do later on. Axel responded mysteriously, "You could say so."

Then, with no further warning, Axel stomped on the palm of Ken, breaking the bones in his hands in the process. Ken let out a horrifying scream, perhaps more in fear of what’s coming next than just the pain itself, and just as expected, Axel continued to torture Ken in the same manner in which Ken tortured him. Axel stomped all over the body of Ken, breaking all the bones in his hands and feet.

In the process of it, he sometimes found it hard to control his own overflowing strength; the ground itself sometimes caved in from the sheer power of his lightest stomps from his feet. Not only that, every time Axel stomped on the body of Ken, his demonic energy would also seep into his internals, causing irreparable corrosive damage, amplifying his emotions disproportionally. The constant gut-wrenching screams of the Dusker Heir felt like the sweetest melody that his demon blood had ever heard.

Axel reveled in the sweet taste of revenge, his chaosblood aspect somehow roaring in excitement as he stomped down the very individual who had dared to hurt him just a while ago. When Ken Dusker seemed to be on the verge of breaking apart, mentally and physically, he said something that jolted his half-dead self awake.

"Actually, you know what, I don’t want to kill you, because that would be too dull, too boring even."

Ken’s eyes opened wide, his survival instinct desperately clinging onto any false hope, ready to do everything necessary to survive. Seeing that he had the dusker heirs’ full attention, he continued in a sardonic smile, filled with calculated malevolence, "However, why should I let you live? What are you willing to offer? How far are you willing to go to take your revenge and ensure your mother lives happily? How much are you willing to sacrifice?"

Ken heard the words and asked in a barely audible whisper, "Why?"

Axel let out a small laugh that shook the surrounding trees and revealed why he would spare his enemy in this state, "Because I want to kill you right in front of your mother."

He could see Ken’s body shuddering violently at that comment, with a mix of rage and fear, but Axel remained uncaring of his emotions and asked again, "So? Tell me, Ken Dusker, how much are you willing to sacrifice to live? To have another chance at revenge, because I assure you, I will slaughter your mother, father, and the entire Dusker dukedom in such a manner that the tales of that inhumane slaughter shall resound in the houses of commoners and nobles. A beautiful brutality that shall be known for ages."

Ken seemed to gather his courage finally and said with the last of his strength, "EVERYTHING."

Axel grinned wickedly walking forward in enormous strides, Ken was unable to move, his eyes had a ruthless resolution alongside boundless hatred to get his revenge no matter what he had to sacrifice, or perhaps it was simply his overwhelming desire to survive that made him cling onto every bit of false or true hope, even if it was given by the most notorious and evil species in the entire continent.

And Ken Dusker had forgotten the number one lesson that every single fairytale of children warned them about, never to trust the words of a demon. Never make a deal with a demon, never raise your hope from the whispers of a demon. Axel grabbed the head of Ken Dusker, and the demonic energy flowing through his body began to rush into Ken’s body madly. And then a screeching cry came out from the mouth of the dusker heir; it was much more primal, like a roar of pain so deep and unsightly that it perhaps affected his very soul.

Red veins popped all over his body, healing him, but also causing unbearably agonizing pain, and changing him into something he should not be, something he was never supposed to be. Something Demonic...

As time passed, the beastly writhing of Ken’s body slowed down, until it eventually stopped. The red veins, filled with demonic energy, moved under his skin like snakes alive; they pulsed rhythmically in tune with the body and became in sync with each other.

They started to somehow move, from his lower body to upwards, as if crawling through his skin. As the crawling thin red veins began to converge upwards, together through his neck, it turned into a revoltingly disgusting sight. But Axel’s eyes never moved away, never faltered even for a second, uncaring of the disturbing sight; instead, he only felt fascinated by the process.

And soon, the veins reached Ken’s face, then his forehead, until all of them converged into one single point and created a dark red crystal which glowed in an ominous light.

Axel received the notification of Prime Nexus at that very cue,

[The seed of obsession has been planted.]