Monarch of The Hated

I was cleaning the dishes from the supper my mother had just finished making. Looking out the window at the farm that ranges as far as the eye can see, overshadowed by Nobelium Mountain.

"Who does that king think he is naming everything after him?" I whispered under my breath.

"Rin! Can you please come to help me pull these weeds?" I hear from outside the window.

"Yea, Mom, I'll be right out!"

She always has been the most caring mother, always going out of her way to make my life better than hers was. Anyway, I should stop waiting and go help her now! As I walk out of the wooden door, I hear a creak of the floorboards, covering my eyes from the radiant sun.

"Which ones would you like me to pull?"

"Get the left patch, and I'll get the right. That okay?"

"Sounds good!"

Mom is getting older, and it gets harder and harder for her to do these things herself. I hope she finds someone to take care of her when I leave for school. I finished pulling all the weeds and let my mother know I was going to the shops with Shiro. Shiro is my childhood friend; he's always been there for me. I appreciate it a lot. Shiro and I walk on the dirt path, kicking up dust behind us with every step.

"Hey Rin, have you ever contemplated the reason for life?"

"What type of question is that?" I said with a friendly laugh.

"I don't know. I've just been thinking about it a lot."

"Well, if you're being serious, I think everyone has their own reason for life," I said, trying to look heroic.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I know my reason for living is to protect the ones I love," I said with a stern face.

"That's lame; My reason for life will be getting lots of money and fame!"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

It's nighttime, and the market is bustling more than usual. I wonder what's going on. Maybe there's a party or something.

"NO, PLEASE SPARE ME. SOMEONE HELP!" We hear from over the crowd

"You shouldn't have bumped into me, little girl."

A chubby nobleman on a horse was towering over a woman with long blonde hair and blue ocean-like eyes.

"PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" The woman screeches.

"Shiro, we need to help her," I say, turning to Shiro.

"No way, what are we gonna do? We haven't even gotten a class from the guild yet!"

In this world, there is a way to get special powers called "skills" nobody knows where these special abilities originate from or how they work. The only way to get such skills is to sign up with the adventurers guild. This organization sends out adventurers that attain these special abilities on journeys. Although you can be an average person and have these abilities, journeys are never forced. However, most people associated with the adventurers guild are either full-time adventurers or royal knights that serve under the king.

"It doesn't matter, Shiro; if my mother would help, so should I."

"Do what you need to do. I'm staying here."

The instant I heard those words, I gave Shiro a dirty look before pushing through the crowd. Finally, I reach the inside circle surrounding the girl and the noble. I grabbed the girl's arm and started running down the alley.

"Who are you? Why did you save me?" She asked.

"I was bored," I said Sarcastically.

"Well, that's a boring answer," looking disappointed.

"I came to save my princess!! would've been a better answer!" She said with a smirk on her face.

"You're welcome, I guess. Maybe try to avoid trouble next time."

"Maybe next time your prince won't be here to rescue you," I joked back.

That was exhilarating. My heart was beating out of my chest, and running from a nobleman was pretty bad. However, I think my heart is pounding this fast because of being so close to such a pretty girl. I hope we see each other again someday.

"Hey Shiro, I'm back."

"Did you save the girl?" he asks, barely concerned.

"Yup, she's safe now."

"Great job," Shiro says sarcastically.

Shiro and I head back to the house until Shiro sheds off the trail to go to his home. It sure does feel lonely without Shiro annoying the hell out of you, and kinda scary too. It was around midnight when I arrived back at the farm.

"Huh, looks like Mom isn't outside, good. She must be sleeping." I whisper to myself.

I arrive at our humble cottage, attempting to push the door open.

"Hm, that's weird, must be something blocking the door. I'll hop through the window, so I don't wake my mother up."

I leaped through the window quickly; what was on the other side put me into an instant shock. I stood staring. My body cannot move, and my heart is racing faster than it was earlier. It was my mother's lifeless body, blood seeping out of her. My mother's body was lodged in front of the front door, probably trying to keep people out. I fall to my knees in front of my mother's cold body, putting my head on her chest. Tears roll down my face as I claw at my mother's clothes and the wooden tile floor beneath us. It was so quiet, almost peaceful. I could hear every teardrop and every drop of blood from my mother's body hit the floor, the tiles stained a crimson red.

"WHO DID THIS? I'LL KILL THEM," I shouted.

"I NEED THE POWER TO KILL WHOEVER DID THIS

"Power," I whispered

"POWER," I said louder.

"POWER" I shouted.

"I"

"NEED"

"POWER," I said, stuttering between each word to wipe the tears off my face.

The next morning

"Hmm, it looks like I have three choices," I whisper.

Brawler, Tank, and Support. Brawler is a speed-type class that mainly uses daggers and shortswords. Tank is a defense-based class where the user typically wields a longsword and a shield. Finally, support allows users to provide their party members buffs or heals and do the same for themselves. This looks like a hard decision; my family always told me I'm more agile than the average person.

"I think it's best if I go with the brawler class," I say to myself before making my selection on the blue screen.

"Are you sure you would like to select the BRAWLER class?" the screen asks.

"Yes," I say cautiously.

*BCHH* "ERROR, PLEASE RESELECT YOUR CLASS."

What the hell? Never heard of that happening before; there's only one class this time. "Berserker" I've never heard of that class before. In fact, I've never heard of a class other than the base three. So I guess I have to select it. I have no other choice.

"Let's see if there are any details on the class."

Damn, there are no details on this class; it's completely blank. Oh well.

"Are you sure you would like to select the BERSERKER class?"

"Y-yes." I stutter.

"CONFIRMED; WELCOME TO THE ADVENTURERS GUILD."

Oh, it looks like I do have a single skill. "Hatred's Incarnate" still has no description; it must be pretty weak. Now that I'm an adventurer, I should find a party and attempt a dungeon. I walk over to the desk with a sign hanging by a rope that says "Quest Center."

"Hey, are there any parties in need of another member?" I ask the lady at the desk.

"Yes, a party was just getting ready to head out to a low-rank dungeon nearby."

"It's a party consisting of Yuri Kyoko, a two-star brawler. Akiko Kanna, a one-star buff specialist. Kyoko Ai, a one-star healer. Yuu Yuuki, a one-star support who will be carrying bags. And Masao Shouta, a two-star tank. Is that alright?"

"Sounds good."

"Alright! Here are the directions to the dungeon!"

Now I have to go to the dungeon and meet my party, it shouldn't be too hard. So I'll stay in the back and let the two-star tank and brawler do most of the fighting.

"Is this the newbie?" The obviously cocky man asks.

"Yes, that's me. My name is Rin; I look forward to working with you!"

"Aww, he's cute," Says the blonde woman with blue eyes.

They introduce themselves one by one.

"Hey! My name is Masao Shouta. I'm the tank of this party!"

Ah, so this is the two-star tank; he's wearing some serious armor, plated with what looks like solid steel with a blue and silver display. Seems like an energetic one.

"H-hi, my name is Akiko Kanna. I'm the buff specialist. I usually stand behind Yuri, though."

She seems shy; she's kinda cute, though. Her dark brown eyes and long dark brown hair give her a refined look.

"Yo, I'm Yuri, the brawler of this party, and I'll be carrying you through this dungeon!"

Yea, I don't like this guy at all.

"Hiya! My name's Kyoko Ai; I'm the healer of this party. If you ever need a place to stay, contact me!" She winks.

"Hi, my name is Yuu. I just carry the bags."

Damn, he's just a little guy, but he's carrying all those heavy bags, probably a few hundred pounds. Impressive. Now that the introductions were over, we started heading into the dungeon. We do well for a while, tearing through each monster on our path. Masao stands in the front with Yuri just behind, backed up by Akiko and Kyoko. Seems like a very well-rounded party; In contrast, Yuu and I are just standing here doing nothing. Although I don't know how to fight, I have no skills.

"Alright, we have arrived at the boss room; prepare for a fight!" Shouts Masao.

Okay, this is my first boss fight.

"I can do this, I can do this" I shook myself up.

"KILL"

"KILL"

"KILL" A voice rang in my head.

Dropping to my knees, I grab my hair, pulling at it. As soon as we opened the boss door, I suddenly had an overpowering urge to kill my party members. A voice is repeating in my head.

"KILL"

"KILL THEM"

"KILL"

"What the hell!? What is this?" I shout.

The boss is a giant stone golem creating little golems, almost like snowmen. The party is still in the same formation as earlier. Nobody even noticed me screaming for someone to help, begging this bloodlust to stop. Masao, in front, shields the party from the giant golem. At the same time, Yuri stands behind Masao, rushing at the golem every few seconds for a quick flurry of attacks using the pair of daggers. He had a curved black dagger in his left and a curved red dagger in his right. You can barely see Yuri with the bare human eye. However, he's too fast when given the speed boost by Akiko, who currently stands behind Yuri with Kyoko. Yuri rushes towards the golem's face to try to slice the monster in its gem-like eyes. However, it swats him against the cave wall before he can, leaving a crater. Kyoko screams and runs to Yuri to heal him, leaving Masao alone, fending off the golem and its minions. As he is overwhelmed by the minions, the golem hits the burly man's shield and knocks him off balance.

"KILL"

"KILL HIM NOW"

Simultaneously I feel a bloodlusted strength surging through my body. I dash toward the off-balance tank and punch Masao twice in the blink of an eye, sending him flying to the ground. I jump on top of the tank, still suited in a full suit of armor, and put one hand on his bottom teeth and the other on the top, breaking his jaw. Snapping out of the bloodlusted rage, on my knees in front of the tank's bloodied body. I let out a bloodcurdling scream while the rest of the party watched in horror. Yuri stands back up, now completely healed.

"Why did you do this? What the hell?"

Simultaneously the brawler stands up, Akiko casting a speed buff. The brawler appears with his dagger inches from my neck in the blink of an eye. Thank god I'm naturally agile. That would've killed anyone else in an instant. Yuri flips backward just after missing my neck.

"Damn, he's fast," The agitated brawler scoffs.

Yuri dashes towards me again. I'm not gonna be able to dodge this one; I'm dead.

"Iron Shield!" I shout at the last second, closing my eyes.

What the hell? Why am I still alive? What is the blue shield in the air? The brawler now smashed against the wall of the cave again. However, this time his neck snapped to the side. I crawl back toward the wall of the cave in horror.

"How did I do this?" I whisper to myself.

"I shouldn't even have any skills.

"KILL"

"KILL HER"

The voices repeating for me to kill the remainder of my party, I leap towards the defenseless healer reaching her in a second. However, Yuu dropped the bags and stood in front of the healer.

"Strength."

The short-statured man rushes me, forming a fist with his left hand.

"You'll pay for what you did!" Yuu shouts mid-punch.

A blue image of a shield appears and blocks the attack, retracting the shield. I form a palm with my right hand still rushing towards the bag carrier.

"Dagger Slice"

I leave deep wounds on Yuu's neck and chest in an instant, causing him to fall to the ground in front of me. I step onto the bag carrier's lifeless body pushing off his back and leaping into the air towards Kyoko.

"Strength"

I repeatedly punch the defenseless healer into the cave wall, with each punch leaving an even more prominent crater in the wall. The voice in my head is still repeating.

"KEEP GOING"

"MUTILATE HER"

My right hand is bleeding from the repeated punching of the wall. Hobbling towards Akiko with my bloody fist near my chest, a bloodlusted aura oozing out of me, I raise my fist.

"Heal"

Simultaneously all the minor injuries on my body healed, only the blood remaining. I leap into the air towards the support.

"Strength"

"Dagger Slice"

Slicing the helpless support hundreds of times with just my fingertips. Walking towards the brawler's lifeless body.

"I'll be taking these."

I pick up the curved pair of daggers, the black in my left and the crimson-red dagger in my right.

"DAGGER SLICE LEVEL UP"

"NEW SKILL 'MUTILATE," A voice rang in my head.

I dash toward the golem at incredible speeds.

"Speed"

As I speed up, I begin to leave wind in my midst. I slash through the crowd of golems one by one with ease.

"Mutilate," I say as I leap in front of the stone golem.

In an instant, I slice the golem into hundreds of tiny pieces, leaving behind trails of red and black with each slice of my daggers. I lean back, almost falling over.

"Heal," I say before falling over.

As I open my eyes, I see my entire party dead and torn. I don't understand; I last remember hearing a voice telling me to kill my party members. Did I do this? Looking down, I see the blood-covered pair of daggers the brawler wielded.

"What the hell?!" I scream.

I did this; I killed my party members. How was I able to do this while having no skills?

"Heal, Speed, Strength, Mutilate, Iron Shield, and Hatred's Incarnate," I whisper.

How is this possible? I shouldn't be able to use both attack and support skills. This makes no sense. Hmm, it looks like Hatred's Incarnate has a description now.

"ANYONE KILLED BY THE USER MUST SURRENDER THEIR ABILITIES"

Ah, so this must be how I obtained these skills; it must also be the thing giving me the urge to kill my party members. I've never seen the mutilate skill before. Let's test it out. Turning towards the wall, I hold the daggers to my chest.

"Mutilate"

With two strikes of my daggers, the cave wall splits into many different pieces. What happens if I combine skills?

"Strength"

"Mutilate"

With one slash of my crimson-red dagger, a large portion of the wall gets carved out and broken, sending debris my way at swift speeds.

"Iron Shield"

A medium-sized shield appears before me, blocking most of the debris.

"I should get out of here," I say before grabbing the black cloak of the bag carrier's dead body.

I wouldn't want to be seen coming out of a blood dungeon. So, flipping my midnight hood on and covering my face, I head out of the dungeon.

"Heal," I say almost instantly, healing all the scrapes I got from the debris.

I guess I'm gonna have to work alone from now on. I can't take the lives of any more innocent people. Your deaths will not be in vain. My first goal is to clear dungeons as a solo adventurer and climb the ranks. Unfortunately, I'm not very fond of daggers, so before I do that, I need a new weapon; I should head for the weapon shop. Arriving at the weapon shop, I see an older-looking bald man with dark black eyebrows and a dark complexion.

"Excuse me, can I please get these appraised?" I asked the shopkeeper.

"Sure thing, just give me a sec!"

I should be able to trust his appraisal, judging by the tools hanging off his belt. He should be pretty experienced. In this kingdom, the currency is based on silver coins, gold coins, and nobelius coins. Once again another instance of the king naming everything after himself.

"Alright, kid, these are worth about five gold each."

"Good enough. Can you show me your finest katanas?"

The man was showing me around. I didn't see much that caught my eye. Finally, we turned a corner and saw a lone katana with a sheath as dark as midnight and purple clouds spread about.

"How much is that one?" I ask.

"That one would be one Nobelius coin."

"What? That's one thousand gold?!" I gasp.

"Well, yea, have you not heard? This one here is a Royal Class sword. Its called "The dark breath of the angels""

I need to get my hands on that sword; that's only two classes under legendary. However, I don't have enough money.

"How about this, kid, if you can beat my son in a duel bare-handed, I'll give it to you for ten gold."

"Why would you do that? You'd be losing money."

"Yes, I'm aware. However, it's not gonna get sold, and judging by how you're shaking, you must really want this sword."

"Although I must warn ya' kid, my son is a Royal Knight that serves under the king. So feel free to back out."

"I'll give it my best," I say cautiously.

I've never seen the strength of a royal knight. I'm guessing around the level of a three-star adventurer. Although, without using any weapons, I'm probably around the level of a one-star adventurer. We now stand in the field behind the store; the man I'm going to fight stands in front of me, dressed in a dazzling suit of armor with a large sword. Most likely a tank class. However, this man's technique is like nothing I've ever seen. He is obviously a veteran. His sword was almost as tall as I am, with a golden guard beaming in the sunlight. The knight gets into a stance that shows his superb technique while, in contrast, I try to throw together some sort of fighting stance. Finally, the old man was ready to start the match.

"Ready"

"Set"

"Go"

In what seems like a second after the match starts, the knight dashes at me faster than my eye can keep track of, and before I know it, we are eye to eye.

"Speed," I muttered at the last second.

Still, even with my speed buff, he sliced my cheek.

"Heal."

"Ah, I see. So you're a support class. Should be easy then." the knight scoffed.

The knight set up for his second strike, planning for this to be the final strike.

"Strength," I whisper, hoping he doesn't hear.

I'm not sure how I will win this fight; I can use my fingertips as a blade as I did in the cave. Although I'm not trying to kill the knight, "mutilate" may be too much for him. If I were to use it, I'd have to be very careful, maybe if I only use my fingernail. On the other hand, I could try to overpower him with a punch; I may be able to with my strength and speed buff, but I am not sure if I'd break through his armor. Okay, no more time to think. Leaping into the air, I appear above the knight, leaving a small hole in the ground with the force of my leap.

"Mutilate"

With just the tip of my fingernails, I slice an X-shaped cut into his chest, causing him to fall over. Simultaneously the old man runs to his son and kneels over to ensure he's alive.

"But you're supposed to be a support class."

"How did you do this while being a support?!" He shouted.

"Just take the sword already!" He screams at me.

That worked out, even though he told me to take the sword. I dropped the ten gold on the counter, taking the black and purple katana. I sheath it into my belt as I walk out of the store.

"Ah, a royal-class sword; this should be useful for a while."

End of Chapter 1