Cauldron

I realised now that the [obsidian beam] I used before had a purpose. I wanted to kill that bat and finish the task that Alice wanted to achieve. There was no stopping me from taking that voice box from before, so I had no choice but to kill the bat.

My mind flooded itself with pure intentions of stripping the bat off from its life.

And now, that scene repeated itself once again. Standing before me were two bats that wished to hurt Alice. With those fangs revealed from the girl's eyes, I had little time to stop those bats. It was the exact reason I used the [obsidian beam] against them.

The same dark light that the bats used to kill us from before.

Despite not feeling anything, I knew that my heart was burning in flames. I could feel myself getting drowned in hatred, anger, and killing intent. It was the three emotions in my arms and within the tunnel of darkness.

It became the perfect weapon to annihilate the bats in front of me.

Alice widened her eyes as the two of us witnessed the ominous light showering the two bats. Those placental creatures were too late to react as their bodies became dust in the air. Their agonistic screams did not reach my ears, since my assault was quick enough to disintegrate them within one shot.

My body became brimming with power. I had no sensation, but I knew that there was tingling inside of me. It almost felt like I found the key to my cage and unlocked the inner desires I kept from my previous world.

"So this is how it feels like to kill animals?" I murmured, wondering how it would feel if I killed a human being.

The emotions I was feeling became a curse and a blessing. My humanity slowly drifted away from me and turned me into a puppet with no empathy. If I were the previous version of Kamen I knew, he would not do it. That boy did not have the guts to kill an animal or even a person.

But I was a man here in my new form. I was unstoppable. Who would not use such violent energy to return the justice that the villains deserve? And those evildoers were waiting for me behind.

I turned around and spotted the dracogre, who saw everything I did to his subordinates. If I could guess, those two gigantic bats were at the top of the food chains. Those bats were born leaders. They were the left and right hands of the true king, which was in front of me.

The dracogre, living to his name, stomped its feet and extended its wings. I, who had my heart frozen temporarily, did not feel fear. My eyes never blinked at the face of danger. I did not fear death, and death shall fear me. It was a story that I had re-written.

"A puppet did this? You should not be doing things without the orders of your master!" the dracogre growled at me, and bared its fangs.

Those two pointed teeth were the only shiny thing that I saw from the towering bat. The rest of its disgusting body covered itself in muck and blood, shredded from its foes. The scene was painful for me to look at, but I had to. That dracogre was the primal threat to Alice and my existence, after all.

"I know. But I am not an ordinary puppet," I answered, and extended both of my arms in the dracogre's direction. "I have emotions, just like that girl you tried to kill earlier!"

It was unbecoming of me to express such a humiliating line out in the open. But I had to unleash it, since that was the perfect opportunity for me to say the cool lines that a person would blunt out.

The dracogre did the same and cast the [obsidian beam] at me. With a wide grin curving from the bat's face, it knew that my powers were just a mimic. That bat was not wrong about that hunch. It was exactly what the dracogre had thought about my powers.

But little did the monster know I could bring more punches than the bat would deal with me. Thanks to my mysterious magical abilities, I could make the attack twice as better than the one who had sent it to me.

It was what the ability had described. When the dracogre's spell and mine clashed, our jet-black beam went in the middle. Two rays of light slammed against each other, forcing one out for the duel's winner.

None of us was giving up the throne as we poured all of our arcane to the magic spell cast from our appendages. The dracogre had immense mana, even more than what Alice had. However, my magic capacity was near to infinite. There was not a thing that limited me from adding mana to my power. However, I did not know how to pour magic efficiently.

When the time comes, I will learn that later. But right now, that was not my concern.

"My spell gives me a boost, dracogre!" I shouted. "It's twice as strong as your spell! Isn't that cool!"

"Your little tricks won't deceive me! Die you insignificant fool!" the dracogre retorted.

The last time I heard those phrases was from a coworker back on Earth who thought I was a loser. Now that the world had changed, I became an insignificant fool. I could not help but succumb to pure darkness and amplified my [obsidian beam] for more.

The dracogre expanded its eyes as my ray of dark light became thicker. That bat had no other choice but to kneel and force itself to intensify the arcane. However, that was not enough to overpower me.

"I warned you."

The dracogre tried to retort for the last time, but my magic took the animal away from me.

With our last exchange, my [obsidian life] devoured the unfortunate bat into pixie dust. Nothing had remained from the dracogre's body, not even the fang that the dracogre was proud of himself.

The last time I saw from the dracogre was its afterimage, cursing me he shall return and vanquish my soul in the nether world. I doubted those words a million times, given that I was a puppet that had no life.

I shifted around and faced the million dots floating around. These spheres were not dark balls, but black bats circling us. It was the same twister that the cauldron did after revealing their leader inside the tornado. These placental mammals watched the entire fight without helping the dracogre.

'Maybe those bats thought that joining in the fight would make it harder for their leader?' I thought, and shrugged my shoulders.

Now that the leader of that massive army was out of my way, I needed to secure our retreat. I was unsure if I could win against those numbers. I was the only one who could defend our ground.

Alice had severe injuries in the corner. She could barely walk, let alone lift her hands to cast some spells. If I flicked my finger to her head right now, that fragile, gothic girl would fall on the ground and sleep like a log.

I did not want that to happen. The two of us could lose if we fight against these bats right now. I must do something about this!

"I killed your leader, cauldron! Now it's your turn!" I shouted. But my sentence did not end from there. "But instead of killing you all in one swoop, I have a trade for you. Leave us alone so the girl and I could walk away. You bats could eat every swine or creature in the forest, and we won't bother you. If you do, I will kill you one by one and make you guys a bat soup for dinner!"

The bats flapped their wings and went towards the ground. I lifted my hands and charged up another [obsidian beam], hoping that this spell would finish the cauldron one and for all.

But the group of bats never attacked us.

After the tornado of bats reached the soil, a representative emerged in the middle. It was a sizable bat that I could compare with the two lackeys. This bat had more arcane than the leader I fought a while ago. If only I had some nerves on my skin, I could feel my legs shaking right now from fear.

"We thank you for killing the dracogre for us. We wish to repay your gratitude by saving our kind."

'Your kind?' I nearly shouted those words out of my mind. I would bet that my expression was all painted on my face right now.

Even Alice, who had been lying on the ground, giggled to herself after seeing me in a crazed manner. That gothic girl also expected nothing like this. The entire scene was a sudden turn of events from the cauldron that wanted to kill the two of us.

"We never wanted to kill you, especially humans," the representative bat told me.

There were others behind the proxy bat who shouted, "humans are gross", agreeing with what the temporary leader had mentioned.