The World Is Mine For The Taking

At first, the people were stunned as I charged straight at them—just one person dashing toward a swarm of soldiers. Normally, no one would be reckless enough to make a move like that, so they must have thought I was insane for trying such a daring stunt. They hadn't realized yet that I was anything but a fool.

As I closed in, they swung their weapons at me and fired their guns. Bullets whizzed past, and steel blades cut through the air, but I danced around them effortlessly, my Guardian blocking every strike.

Their eyes widened in shock as they watched me deflect their attacks. Before they could even grasp what was happening, I had already sent their heads soaring through the air, their bodies slumping to the ground with a sickening thud.

Without missing a beat, I turned my attention to the gunmen. I slipped behind them with lethal precision and swiftly beheaded each one, their heads rolling away in a grotesque display of efficiency.

Someone gulped, their disbelief nearly tangible. They couldn't fathom what I had just done—charging straight into a horde, effortlessly dodging and deflecting every attack, and sending heads flying in mere seconds. The sight was enough to unsettle anyone, if not scare them shitless. I didn't waste a single breath and came at them with even more ferocity.

Heads continued to soar through the air like grotesque, bloody fireworks wherever I moved.

The horde, now completely thrown into chaos, started to panic and flee. They must have realized that something was seriously off and decided it was time to run. But I wasn't about to let them escape. I cut down one, then two, then three, four, fifteen, thirty, forty... I carved my way through them, leaving a macabre trail of corpses.

Then, out of the blue, I felt a sudden, jarring impact as someone blocked my blade.

"Kuh...!"

"Oh?" I muttered, turning to face the source of the sound. It was a woman. Recognition hit me instantly—she was the one who had fought Rose and nearly defeated her. If she could pull off something like that, she wasn't just powerful, she was dangerous.

I took a quick step back, and in the blink of an eye, I was fifteen feet away from her. She locked eyes with me, her expression dead serious, not a hint of fear. The chaos I'd unleashed around her didn't faze her one bit. She wasn't trembling or shaken—just focused and wary. This one meant business.

"Why are you here in this village?" I asked, my voice masked by the coarse, rough tone of the voice changer hidden beneath my mask, keeping my real voice concealed.

"We've come to retrieve a precious member of ours," she said calmly. "But it seems we're too late."

She must've realized that their so-called precious member was already dead.

"A precious member, huh? Tell me, why are you even in that cult? Why are you part of the Eclipse?" I asked. It still blew my mind to find a woman in a group like the Eclipse—a notorious cult known for kidnapping and raping women. I couldn't wrap my head around how any woman could be involved with them.

She didn't say anything and just stared at me. But after a while, she answered, "The purpose of the Eclipse is to bring back the natural darkness that was our Lord. There women who have that unfortunate incidents were nothing more than a piece of the puzzle in order to realize the dream of the Eclipse. We want to shroud this world back to darkness."

There was nothing but silence hanging between us for a moment before she spoke again.

"We are simply fulfilling the prophecy," she said calmly. "Our Lord desired many women for his own life, and he wanted them all. We're just making that prophecy a reality."

"By raping and kidnapping them?" I shot back, my voice dripping with disgust.

"If that's what it takes to make it happen, then yes, it's important for us to do it," she responded, without a hint of shame.

This woman pissed me off. I had never felt this kind of rage toward a woman before, but she was every bit as disgusting as the rest of the Eclipse. How could she allow all this to happen around her, and still stand there like she believed in it?

Maybe she was so blinded by this so-called Lord of theirs, or maybe she was just another brainwashed pawn, twisted by Sesillian's influence into thinking this shit was justified. Either way, it made my blood boil.

I let out a slow breath, then dashed toward her, closing the distance fast—but she was even faster.

Our weapons met with a sharp clang, the force of it sending a jarring vibration up my arm. She was using a sword now—something she hadn't done when she fought Rose. Back then, she relied only on her fists and feet. Clearly, she had realized that trying to take me down with just martial arts would be a huge mistake.

I attacked relentlessly, slashing at her, but she dodged every strike with fluid, almost effortless movements. Her reflexes were insane, quick and precise, but there was a glaring problem—her swordsmanship was sloppy. She had the control and stance of a trained fighter, but the way she handled the blade? Amateur. Her movements were too rigid, too slow in comparison to her dodging.

It was obvious she wasn't used to this.

"You really suck with that sword," I taunted, jumping back out of her range with a smirk curling on my lips. "Not really fair to fight you like this if you can't handle a blade." I flicked my wrist, deactivating my mana sword, letting the light fade away. "So let's make it even. I'll take you down on your own terms."

Her eyes narrowed, wary of my move. But then, with a sharp inhale, she dropped her sword, the clatter echoing between us. She shifted into a proper fighting stance, her muscles tense and ready, showing off the posture of someone who knew how to brawl. The hesitation was gone. Now, she was ready to get serious, to take me on with her real skill.

Good. She'd just set the stage for her own downfall, and I was more than ready to make her taste defeat in the one thing she thought she could win at.