CHPT 230: The Hate.... It tastes Good.

The world. It was quiet. Quiet as a mouse....

He could hear the rush of his blood pulsing through each limb like river currents, feel the vibrations of the screaming sword shaking his hands to the point of aching numbness as its power ripped through the air.

The Muramasa blade's might was so incredible that pieces of the table in front of him were splintering and rising to join the hurricane of chaos the sword unleashed. He felt like he was holding a lightning bolt.

The silence was momentarily interrupted by his tormentor-- who now sounded distant....and muffled. Like he was underwater. Or in a different room.

"Let this be a reminder. I know you've felt what the blade is telling you. I can see it in your face. You're an angry person. The blade will enjoy that." He said in his odd accent before leaning forwards, as if preparing to say something of the utmost importance.

"You see, this is that difference I was speaking of. In a world where you damn yourself to violence when you pick up arms-- when you pick up swords....like this one, people like you and your kind are a problematic outlier. Those like you are promised to a life of unnecessary violence.....simply by existing. You feel this otherworldly bloodlust simply as a byproduct of what you are.....whatever the hell you are. Your a flawed existence. Now let the Cursed Katana reveal your true cursed self. Show me a glimpse of who you are, Claude Grey."

Ronin's words faded out of his mind towards the end of his speech. Simply fading away as if he was drifting off somewhere else.

The vibration of the sword left his arms numb, but he could feel his veins stretching and shuddering in response to the foreign power flooding him. Then, his vision went dark. The smoke spilled from his eyes endlessly, lit by the wild green cracks of energy and ferocity.

DING!

[Foreign Mana has entered your body!]

[You have been absorbed the Curse of Muramasa. Psychosis and Otherworldly bloodlust will plague your mind if you do not release the Hallowed Weapon!]

Easier said than done. He couldn't feel his arms, his mind felt fluid and malleable-- like water, simply willing to fit the mold of the situation and follow the flow of his thoughts.

He assumed he looked a lot like Ronin previously did, but the hazy thought didn't last long in response to a voice speaking itself into existence as the smoke that spilled from his eyes blackened his vision into an expansive den of darkness.

"I'm tired....."

"I'm so angry..."

"The nerves...my hands won't stop shaking..."

"The world may end and i'm too weak to stop it...."

The thoughts were scattered and overlapping, but slowly they were blending and becoming louder-- becoming more influential. By the time the distant thoughts reached a volume loud enough to make his skull feel like it was splitting, he realized the voices were his own.

The thoughts, the feelings, the worries. They all belonged to him-- they were just distant, suppressed, forever floating in the sea of his deepest consciousness.

Wounds that would never heal, were brought to the surface and ripped open to a new and more grotesque level. The understanding was all it took for the distant voices to actualize within his current mind and change his mindset to one guided by a yearning for blood.

***

"Stupid!....Stupid asshole!..." His thoughts fired off profanities left and right, cursing Ronin and his Detectives while he growled and the wild spinning winds increased their aggression.

"I'm gonna kill you and soak every page of each book in this Library with your elitist blood!.....Your just like your piece of shit children. THEN! I'm gonna move onto your Detectives and rip them to unrecognizable PIECES!.....Once your all out of my way, I'll have the students....the filthy spineless bastards that left me to die. I'll make all of your deaths painful....I'll make you all feel what I felt when you left me.....I hate you all.....I'll show you just how much! JUST WAIT! ILL KILL YOU ALL!"

The words in his corrupted mind didn't make it to his lips. All that escaped were deep growls swallowed up by the noisy cyclone of winds and his screaming sword.

The urge to make good on his promises caused his trembling black veined hands to reveal more of the sword.

SCCCCREEEEAAAAAA!!!!!!

SHING!

More of its power was put against the world-- power that Claude had no control over, resulting in the table between Ronin and himself to split directly down the middle as if sliced by the sword itself.

Ronin was unfazed and continued to watch the madness unfold, "You have a lot of power, child. But very little control. Typical...the sword will like that. See, it feeds on and emboldens your darkest parts. As soon as it reached that part of your mind, it explodes with power. You've seen tragedy. The blade feels it. Like a body warming in the presence of fire, the sword is strengthened in the presence of rage....pain....guilt...ha--"

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!" Claude spat as black veins danced across his face like lightning bolts.

The surrounding Detectives began unsheathing weapons and trinkets in response to a new spread of movement.

Shadows spilled from his left hand like black ooze. They moved and poked at the blade, flinching and reacting as red pulses of electric energy ran through them.

Ronin leaned forward to look at the shadows continuing to flow from his hand until they eventually rose and took on a halfway form.

The form was ghost-like yet it held a rough shape-- something resembling a wolf. With sharp ears and a giant snout filled with rows of teeth like a shark. The appearance was odd...shadows didn't have teeth. THey also didn't hold semi-solid forms. Yet, the one spilling from Claude's hand did both-- and it wasn't done.

The shadowy lips of the spectral creature parted in a teeth baring growl while it slithered further from Claude's hand. Its upwards ascent only ended after it was above Ronin-- in a place of dominance, where it opened its eyes. Its many eyes that sat in rows and glowed like the eyes of a monstrous spider.

The red bursts of energy from the sword continued to ripple along its smokey form but held no affect. A very telling realization.

"You're old. Possibly older than anything I've seen. You must've seen many forms of darkness for the blade to have no affect on you.....what are you?" Ronin questioned.

His inquiry was responded with the shadowy creature roaring at him angrily-- the Detectives behind them approached only for another head to emerge from the fog and snap at them territorially.

The state of the Library worsened as Claude pushed to remove more of the sword. His urge to unleash his pain onto the University tasted as sweet as honey to the sword's deplorable palate.

SCRRREEEAAWWWW!!

The entire room was shaking. Tufts of flame broke out on the carpet. It felt like hell was forcing its way into earths existence.

The shrouded ghostly form of the Wolf began to look urgently from Claude to Ronin. A look of worry riddled its many eyes. Ronin could see the uncanny level of intelligence within them.

The spectral being continued to panic before licking Claude's face and snarling at Ronin. Then, it did something he couldn't have foreseen.

FWISH!

In a shadowy flash of movement and chaos, the creature wrapped itself around Claude-- like clothing. No, armor.

His enraged face disappeared behind the jaws of the creature as they clamped shut like a Knights helm, his own eyes glowed through a pair of the many eyes, showing his intensity reigned beneath. More shadows spilled over his arms and chest until a shadowy wolf-like being sat in the chair across from him. He could still hear Claude's snarls beneath the spread of shadows.

Ronin was intrigued, the shadowy....thing, it was intelligent. It knew its master was on the verge of fighting someone that vastly overpowered him-- so it moved into action. Covering its body over his own in a last ditch attempt at protection. He didn't know if the being or many beings were preparing for death in this act or not. But he was on the verge of feeling something he hadn't in a while. He was almost.....awestruck.

He mumbled his curiosity amidst the chaotic gusts of wind, "Omoshiroi...."

His interest was placed at the back of his mind as the cloaked being that was, Claude, pulled more of the blade out and rose from his seat.

The promise of violence that comes from one touching a blade was coming.

SCREE--

Click!

***

Claude's mind was as wild as the tornado of tortured screams that escaped his blade, nothing could split his focus on Ronin. Nothing except a specific sound.

Click!

The door opened behind him. Immediately the smell of other people--humans, filled his nose.

"Students...."

The urge he once had to harm Ronin was overridden after he heard the confused mumbles and scented the fear of the students that entered currently psychotic Library. Ronin was nothing now.

"THE STUDENTS.....I PROMISED I'D KILL YOU ALL ONE DAY! I'LL KEEP THAT PROMISE!" Claude raged within his own mind as the wolven smoke that covered him bubbled and snarled.

His bloodlust rose to a degree that everyone in the area sensed as if it was aimed at them specifically, causing them all to spring into action.

"ILL KILL Y--"

Woosh!

PooM!

Before Claude could turn and unleash his hatred for the students, a foot came crashing into his stomach and sent him through his chair. He hit the ground in a sea of wooden shards and shadows. A blade no longer occupied his hands.

***

"[Claude!....Claude! Please wake up! Hello!? Fucking hell you still can't hear me. I need to get stronger-- I'm damn near pointless right now! Im so sorry, Claude.]"

"Keep your apologies to yourself. We've all got things to work on..." Claude groggily replied.

He couldn't see Arne, but he could almost feel the man perk up at his response, "[Oh thank god!....Claude, this sword-wielding bastard is off his rocker. I didn't expect him to do that. Im so sorry....]"

"Yea....same, I see where Samuel and Tai got their personalities from. Asshole..." He snarled.

Movement around him caused his eyes to open and meet two cobalt orbs of icy psychosis. Speaking of the devil. The saying felt quite literal in the moment.

Ronin stood over him along with a handful of Detectives.

His vision took a moment to steady, along with the start of a splitting headache and rib pain that rivaled anything he'd ever felt.

The two regarded each-other for a long stretch of seconds while the students slowly approached in the distance.

Ronin broke the stare and squatted to get closer to him, a movement that seemed to require zero effort.

"Let this be a lesson to you. You've weaseled your way out of this, but you haven't escaped. The difference between me and you still stands apart as clearly as night and day. You've felt what the sword gave to you on your own. The blade curses humans and turns them into monsters. For you it only brought what you are to the surface, you were already cursed. You are a cursed race. You will make a mistake. You Bloodletters always do. And i'll follow whats spilled...straight to you. Then, I'll work you for answers in a way you wish you never knew. Remember that. Your living on borrowed time. I'll learn it all, because you will make a mistake, its in your nature. Try to have a good day, Claude Grey.....and thank your shadows for trying to save you."

With that, Ronin left. The Detectives followed in his wake like lifeless puppets. He could feel Det. Mixus 1 and 2 watching him a moment longer before following.

As soon as the door shut in the distance-- signalling their disappearance, he rolled over onto all fours and puked blood onto the debris covered carpet in painful heaves.

When he was done, he realized his left and was still covered in shadows.

"[Loyal little rascals aren't they?]" Arne commented.

"Yea." Claude replied before thanking the sentient shadows and rising to his feet.

While he dusted himself off in a rush to avoid the students, he couldn't help but think over Ronin's words. He was an ass, but he spoke from a place of experience.

"You will make a mistake. You Bloodletters always do...."