Araan looked more than pissed and red back at me. I wanted tough at his smug enraged face. But before I could do so, he brought out a knife. It was my knife.


    "So you-"


    "Who else could it have been?" He yed with it while controlling his urges to scream from the pain.


    It was awfullyical if nothing else.


    Before he could regain hisposure a volley of me arrows descended upon him. They came from the sideway.


    "Lianne?"


    Lianne was there and the fireball had pierced the wall. If the wall was that fragile then what was the point in evoking it?


    Through the new-made hole, came four individuals: Lianne, Jowy, the old man, and Alisa.


    They came rushing to my side.


    "Jowy!" New rage boiled within me.


    "Forgive me for the act but if I hadn''t done that then things wouldn''t have gone so smoothly and we''d have never been able to get that confession from them," he said.


    I grinded my teeth but when I saw the old man, I controlled my anguish. "I''ll deal with youter."


    Act or not, what he''d done was unforgivable. Because of him Brenda-


    "Forgive me as well,d. If I hadn''t gone along with their n-"


    "Save it forter, old man," I said.


    Araan was flying above us. He had a smug smile. What did he found so amusing in looking down on us? We were outnumbered by monsters and they had the upper hand but we had our own counterattacks.


    But that''s when I realized that most of the princes were on the ground coughing up blood.


    "For-give…me," the emperor said.


    His mouth foamed and with a gush of blood as he fell on the ground.


    I wanted them dead. Some part of me was happy because of that; but I felt guilt, severe guilt. These people didn''t betray me, they were betrayed themselves. And yet I was happy to see them fall. That was the first time, I felt genuine hate. Hate of oneself. I hated my own self.


    "Father!" Lianne cried out.


    Both of the elves rushed to their father''s side. Some of the princes had died while some still managed to crawl around. Some soldiers made it into the arena but they were instantly ughtered by the monsters.


    "Old man, can you shot up, that high?" And yet, my voice came out t, as though I was on some sort of pic. I guess the geezer''s presence did help.


    "Sure thing," he said. He shot a wind de straight for Araan and it grazed him. His smug face became twisted in anger.


    "It''s no use. I''ve already killed most of the royalty. This country is finished." But his ego still remained. What the hell was wrong with this brat?


    "Why?"


    "To be the next emperor of course. " Well, that was obvious.


    Heughed with a terrible attitude.


    Lianne and Jowy both shed tears. "How could you do this to father?" Lianne screamed.


    "Father? Why the f*ck would I think of him as one? Did any of you ever think of me as a brother? All because I had amoner as a mother, I''d been ridiculed all my life. I hated all of you!" Araan screamed at the top of his lungs.


    I guess he really did have his reasons after all. Did they make me want to pound him any less? Nope.


    "But I always considered you my brother." Tears streamed down Lianne''s cheeks.


    "Unfortunately, I didn''t. And how is that monster still alive? Even whale-killing poison not good enough?"


    The other princes were writhing in agony. They''d probably die.


    "You couldn''t defeat him, so you ended up poisoning him? And the rest of them too? You might be an even bigger bitch than the one controlling you, huh?" I couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "Say what you will Daarc, but All of you will die here! Ha ha ha!" His sarcasticughter reached far and wide. "I''ll dere myself as the new-" Hisugher came to an abrupt stop and his face grew awfully pale. "What are you saying? We-we had a pact? And demons-!"


    He went a little further up.


    The old man let out a chuckle. "Looks like he was duped as well."


    "Must be fun being him." A reply shot out of my lips. I didn''t know what I was saying anymore.


    A secondter Araan fell on the ground, twisting his lower half upside down. He screamed in pain and agony: but his voice didn''t get out. Only blood and his tears flowed out. Then descended the red-eyed bitch.


    "I think you must have been mistaken. I''m only half-demon so-" The demon didn''t finish and giggled instead. "So- I''m not bound by demonic promises."


    How disgusting…


    Araan tried to bring out the knife while casting a spell.


    "Oh, and would you mind slitting your own throat for me?" The half-demon reached out to Araan in a seductive voice from above.


    "N-no… way!" said Araan.


    He coughed some more blood, looked at us miserably. The hand he held his knife came closer and closer to his neck on its own. The knife too came close.


    "Sav-save…me, sister, l-lord brother…. Father!!!"


    Lianne and Jowy didn''t even look at him. They were grieving by their father''s side.


    Then he looked at me, "Daarc."


    He faked a smile and begged but it was toote. He''d die a dog''s death. And yet…


    "My son…" Amidst all the confusion, chaos, and dread the emperor still spread his hands for his so-called son. The rest of his kin was writing in pain and despair on the floor but even so, he spread his hand toward this sorry excuse for aedian. I almost felt pity for the soul. All of them.


    "Old man got any potions?"


    "You''re not nning on giving it to that brat are you?" The geezer chuckled.


    "Hell no!" Even I wasn''t that stupid.


    "He he. Figured." He tossed a bottle of potion at me and I gulped it at one go.


    And then he tossed another which I tossed to Lianne. "Do whatever."


    "I''ve been tired of carrying this stuff for you." The old man handed me my armor and sword. I took my knife from Araan''s cold hands. "A littlete, don''t you think?" I mumbled.


    ***


    The half-demon still stood above and red at us with a grin. "How callous of you to ignore me…"


    It was more like she was giving up time to sort our thoughts but, oh well.


    "So, you have fun ying with people''s emotions like this?"


    "Oh! You do understand me," she chuckled.


    Sorry, but I''m not interested in understanding bitches like you.


    "Is that so? I don''t understand one thing. Why do all this?"


    She yed with her pinky. "I don''t know. It just seems so fun. I''m bored you see. I''ve lived more than a few hundred years and-"


    "Unfortunately I''m not looking for a history lesson. Get to the point!"


    "Rather demanding for someone who''s about to die. No wonder she likes you."


    She?


    "Anyway, this is pretty fun. If I seed in killing you, I''d have all thisnd to myself and I''ll have all sorts of fun. But if I fail, I could always run back to lord Namcha and say it was all to train you. Quite a n huh?"


    She was right, it was aplex n. But instead of ring at her, I smirked. "About that half-demon thing… so your mother was a bitch? Or was it the father? How hard it must be to have a father that would be a bitch… perhaps he didn''t even have balls?" It was hard toe up with proper curses. I really needed to work on my taunts.


    I could see her veins pop up on her porcin forehead. She looked pretty humanoid but she wasn''t one. She was probably the second most beautiful woman I saw on this world but what a waste!


    She began to shake and her hair turned pure ck as she grinded her teeth. I could hear it.


    She snapped, I had taunted her for quite a while and that was thest straw. But my mind was already flooded with rage too. The only reason I kept talking and provoking her was to keep myself sane. I couldn''t say it wasn''t working, though.


    Her face grew teeth- or rather her perfect teeth grew jagged; now she seemed more like a demon.


    "I feel bad for my lord but ending you is the best choice." She lifted her hand and cut it with my knife on her own ord: the hand fell on the ground. Her blood was ck. The detached arm twitched like a lizard''s tail and grew with rapid pace. In a split second the arm became as big as an elephant, sucking all the dead bodies in- ignoring the living- and then exploded. All sorts of sticky fluid showered us.


    "Gross!" Alisa whimpered.


    "Why did you bring her?"


    "You''d suggest I left her in the hands of the elves?" the old man said.


    "Good point…."


    But something from that stuff emerged. It wasn''t a feeble monster. Rather it was theption of all the fallen princes, the dead soldiers, and the monsters. In its corey the body of Araan.


    It was a monster of horror and sorrow. The emperor''s body was safe thanks to Lianne and Jowy. But the thing in front of us was definitely something straight out of a horror movie.


    "Didn''t think I''d see another chimera in life." The old man was speechless for a second but he talked anyway.


    Wait, this thing''s a chimera?


    The monster in front didn''t have the body of a lion and the head of a goat. But if the old man called it a chimera, then there was no reason for me to not believe him: it was a chimera.


    "That''s bad," Gorgan screamed.


    "WE know that already."


    It wasn''t just a monster. It was terror incarnate. The princes'' body color changed and the monster moved slowly. It had a lot of heads and arms. The princes no longer resembled the living and the body was much, muchrger than all of thembined.


    This day just keeps on getting messier and messier.


    The problem was, it was nighttime, to begin with, so we couldn''t really count on the sun either.