I'm not a monster.

Destruction was spread all around me. There were people running, burning. Amidst it all, people completely unknown to this land broke in. Luoris. Broken buildings, shattered as Rumie crashed through all of them. My kick- no the kick belonging to this skeletal body was devastating.

It was hard to believe that she lived after receiving such an attack. But I could feel it.

A kilometre away I could sense Vivi fighting off some people.

And then as I saw the two women under me- the only family that had forsaken me for some petty cash, I felt rage again. But unlike the time with Luno, I had an outlet now.

I started walking out of the building with my visible femurs, grabbing the Uln worth my life and throwing it at the two ladies. Their livelihoods were destroyed with the eaterie gone, this much would at the very least keep them alive.

"Don't die." Were my final words to them. By the time I felt their gaze finally hit me, I was meters away from preparing myself for a battle against the invaders.

'How do I even fight so many people?'

[ Summoning available. ]

"Eh?"

At that moment I recalled all the 'unable to summon' messages.

[ Prepared to summon. Does the Daemon accept? ]

That one message that appeared after every time I killed a beast.

"Sure."

.

.

.

Rain, but it only felt like it. The sky was covered with smoke and nothing else. The clear morning was thick with fog yet not a single possibility of precipitation. I had emerged from the smoke and had become the centre of attention.

My reflection was clear to me, I was a monster. And their eyes reflected that too. Fear, and the need to defend themselves. I was not frightening enough to scare them off, but I was frightening enough that they immediately made me their main target.

'My head feels like it's going to explode. Wait do I even have a head right now?'

A drop of blood slowly trickled down my ulna and reached my fingertip. It grew in size until it was the size of a marble and then fell.

The fall was silent as if the world had stopped to acknowledge some sort of anomaly.

'Plip.'

A quaint sound.

As soon as it touched the ground, the world disappeared. I was standing atop a pool of blood. It was silent. As if the battle had already ended.

Then shortly heads started to arise. Pink muscles, black bones, pointed limbs and glowing blood, in every bit of gore there were statures of beasts all around me.

Rabbits, hogs, boars, and two mooses.

My consciousness swiped and I was brought back to the horrifying townscape.

"Kill all the guild members."

I issued my command and the beasts surrounding me marched into the surroundings.

The town got engulfed by more intense havoc and screams of dying men reverberated. And amidst all this chaos I found my prey.

Without sparing the slightest of time I moved in front of her. Through the rubble, the buildings, there were remnants of a pub surrounding her.

Covering almost a kilometre in mere tens of seconds. My speed was unbelievable even to me. Rumie's eyes looked up in spite as she spat blood on the ground.

'How uncouth.'

I pulled my hand back and punched her face. She was still in a much better condition than she had left me in a couple of days ago. I felt no guilt. There wasn't a gaping hole through her abdomen after all.

"Kuk." Her face tried to retaliate as her neck pushed back but I pulled back and hit her again. No matter how fast she was, it was nothing compared to the barrage I hit her with.

"You are such an irredeemable monster. Following innocent people to a peaceful town and mercilessly killing." My tongue seemed to be possessed. And so did my thoughts to some extent. I never remembered being this eloquent. And I still didn't know how she even managed to follow me.

"Hearing a skeleton call me a mons-" I punched her face again but this time she fell back on her ass and rolled over.

"Did you say anything, you monster? Even if I may look like this, I never hurt people for something like money."

I flicked my wrist. As she tried to get up again.

You had to admire that level of resellience.

"Don't judge me, you stack of bone-" Rumie rushed at me, this time with visible furiosity. But she had lost her bite. She couldn't hurt me even if she wanted to. I slapped her face and she fell back down to the ground.

"I'm not judging you. I'm just calling you for what you are. A monster."

I crouched down as the town around me started to become quieter and quieter. Probably because all the guild members were already dead. I could feel the beings that I had summoned no more. Muscle fibres started to wrap around my bones as my skin started to crawl back up.

I felt human again.

"I AM NOT A MONSTER!" Rumie in her final attempt tackled me. I was lying with my back against the ground and with her on top of me pinning me down. "Stop calling me a monster." Tears started to fall down her bruised face as they fell on my face. Not tears of hurt or because she wanted pity. Her eyes were red and burning from hatered.

Tears from fatigue? She had gone way past her limit. I'd recon she should have waved the flag after that first kick.

They were moist and warm.

"Such a despicable being."

"I'M NOT! STOP SAYING THINGS YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!" She shouted. Her arms had lost all strength. "SURE I KILLED MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE! I saw them beg for their lives, use their kids for pity, cry holding my legs. BUT I DON'T CARE! As long as I can survive their lives don't matter!"

"Survive? Don't get ahead of yourself. You just want to live in luxury. You selfish bi-"

"WHAT PART OF THIS LOOKS LIKE LUXURY TO YOU?! Chasing deserters through the wild? Killing pitiful people? This is luxury?! Fuck this then! I can barely earn the right to live! Is that luxury?! Why should I go through this shit?! Just because my grandmother happened to be a succubus? That's so fucking wrong!"

To me she was the pitiful one. To me I was the pitiful one too.

Her outburst was unwarranted. I would have had a much easier time murdering her if it was not for that. But a single part of her very subtly resonated with me.

I grabbed the side of her waist and pushed her off me.

The two of us lay on the ground speechless. I didn't want to believe a word she said. For all I knew, it could have been a ruse. But she was convenient. Even her lies were convenient.

"What kind of deal did Luoris make with you?"