The Black Fiend

As the silhouette promised, it releases me as soon as we we're far away enough from the prison. When I come to, I'm in the middle of the forest. Everything is black and white again however, the silhouette not too far from me. "So what do you plan to do now? You're a branded criminal. If they find you, they may very well kill you. You'll need my power if you want to survive." It explains.

"So that's why you helped me escape? You want me to give in and let you take control?" It doesn't say a word, and I can feel it smirking once more. That's more then enough to tell me I'm right. If I die, this thing dies to, but if I give in and let it take control of me, then I'm the only one who dies. I'm sure this thing is more than willing to protect me to protect itself, but if I let that happen it'll most definitely kill whatever tries to hurt me. I can't let that happen. As I'm thinking this, a crazy idea pops into my head. I take a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Yeah...about that. I don't really plan on changing who I am."

"What? What do you mean you're not going to change yourself?!" The silhouette glares at me. "We made a deal!"

"The deal was I have to change myself, but you didn't say in what way my horrifying friend." I chuckle nervously. "I've had a lot of time to think in that cell. I've decided to accept myself the way I am. Don't worry, when I level up enough, I'll change my looks so you won't be able to take me over."

"...You clever bastard." It hisses. "There's no way you're going to survive this kind of life being a coward. You need me."

"And you see, that's where you're wrong." I jump up, hopping up onto a tree branch rather easily with my newfound strength. "This is the perfect life for a coward. I'll fight like a coward, hide like a coward, and survive like a coward. I'll steal whatever I need in order to survive, be it weapons, food, or the tools I need to accumulate my levels into skills and more power." I stare up at the sky, remembering the faces of my friends. "I've decided to accept myself for who I am. I don't want to change the person the four of them never even got to know."

The silhouette growls in frustration, unable to come up with any kind of retort. I don't know why, but I smile and hop down in front of the silhouette with no fear. "And I've also decided to accept you, who's also a part of me. So do me a favor by staying quiet inside me for a while. I'm not going to call upon you unless my life depends on it." I hold out my hand for the silhouette to shake.

The silhouette glances at my hand before looking up into my eyes, staring into my very soul yet again. "You really mean that don't you..?"

"Yes, I do." I look into its eyes with a calm expression.

The silhouette chuckles. "So you're really accepting your demons..."

A shadow like energy surrounds the both of us, making me jump. "W-Woah, what's going on now?!"

"You'll never have to be a coward again this way. I'm grateful that I was created to be your power." The silhouette says before becoming a part of the shadow energy, encasing my body the instant it does.

"W-What's going on..? I can feel something...changing..." I fall to my hands and knees, screaming in agony as my hair turns as dark, if not darker than the night sky, the sclera of my eyes turning black and my irises turning white. Not only is my appearance changing, but so is my very being.

The lone adventurer that had captured Romeo previously is now in hot pursuit, tracking him with the tracker the officers had placed on him prior in case he ever escaped. Due to how high the adventurer's level is, he runs at an extraordinary speed without even using any magic. Suddenly, his little bot beeps lightly, notifying him that the tracker is only ten feet away now, directly in front of them. The adventurer stops in his tracks and holds up his double edged sword to his bot, the bot sending tiny sparks into the blades.

"Alright, let's strike this bastard down... This won't hit anything vital according to where they placed the tracker on him..." The adventurer grabs his bot with his free hand, using a magic skill to link up with it and a red dot appears in his vision, the red dot being the exact spot of the tracker. He pulls his blade back like a spear and throws it with all his might, the double edged sword flying through the air and quickly vanishing as it moves at lightning speed. He hears the blade pierce into something after only a couple of seconds. Not sure of what, he holds out his hand, using the lightning affinity of the glove on his hand to act as a magnet for the sword. However, it doesn't come back to him. "Damn, must be stuck good..." He mutters as he goes to retrieve it.

The adventurer walks past the trees and shrubbery, stopping when he sees what his blade is pierced into: a floating black sphere, just hovering in the middle of the small, open field of grass surrounded by the trees of the forest. He walks over, pulling his sword out of the black sphere rather easily. He checks his small bot to see the tracker is located directly in front of him. "Huh..? Is he in there..? I thought he had no affinity?" He jabs his fingers into the hole he made with his sword, tearing the circle open as if it were made out of paper, making him wonder how it held his sword so tightly in the first place.

As the adventurer tears open the sphere, what falls out of it is not Romeo, but the tracker, now broken due to the stab of the sword. "What the hell..? Where the hell is he..?!" He quickly turns around, taking a stance with his sword and looking around the open forest with his eyes. The torn apart black sphere begins moving on its own, the adventurer unaware of it as he continues looking for the escaped convict. The sphere opens up more and turns into several black ribbons, wrapping around the adventurer's arms, legs, and torso, becoming as strong as steel and rendering him immobile. "W-What the..?! What the hell is this?!"

That's when it appears before the adventurer out of thin air; a black silhouette of a man with wings on its back and a constant array of shadows swirling around it, hiding its features, standing only a few feet away from him. It begins taking a few steps closer to the man after it completely forms. "Y-You...What the hell are you?!"

I let down the shadows encasing my body, showing off my new look. "Do you recognize me now?" I ask, voice now as deep as the silhouette's, but with no echo.

"R-Romeo Saturn..? What happened to you..?!" The adventurer asks, his face pale and his eyes wide with shock.

I give him a blank stare. "Acceptance," is all I answer with as I continued walking toward him. "I'm gonna let you live for one reason and for one reason only." I stare into his eyes, into his very soul, the black shadows surrounding me slowly forming into a pure black scythe in my hand. "Tell your little adventurer friends that if any of them interfere with my work, they can expect much worse than what happened to you." I whisper.

"What happened to me..?" He asks, confused.

I snap my fingers and the ribbons binding his body release him. I place my hand on his shoulder, expression still blank. "Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine, I promise." His eyes widen as I swing my scythe and blast him with a wave of my newfound power; just a wave of pure black energy, sending him flying through dozens of trees. His eyes roll back into his head and he passes out from all the pain he feels in an instant.

Without a care in the world, I turn and walk away, trusting him to get the word out. I let the blackness encase my body yet again before traveling through the shadows of the night, off to start my first day of work. And just like that, a few weeks later, there was a new quest all over town, in nearly every guild.

Mission Name: Hunt for The Black Fiend

Rank: S

Level Requirement: 750+

Party Requirement: At least 3 people

Description: Take out the creature known as The Black Fiend that is supposedly terrorizing innocent people without any affinity.

Death Probability: 25%

Requirements: Bring in the body of the fiend

Rewards: Up to one million exp, 100k gold, and any one request from the president himself within his power

Monster Info -

Name: The Black Fiend

Class: S

Level: Unknown, but has taken out a level 500 adventurer before

Abilities: Seems to be able to control an odd black substance that it can bend to its will and can make it as hard as it pleases and it can control a black energy of sorts

Affinity: Unknown Black Affinity

I hold the quest paper in my hand, sighing to myself. "This is the opposite of what I wanted... I had hoped they would just leave me alone... Maybe I should've just kept myself hidden..." I stare at the name they've given me. "The Black Fiend, huh..." I let the blackness, my death affinity, encase my body yet again, creating wings on my back. "I think I like it." I murmur before flying off into the sky.