The Slayer Of Monsters (1)

“What a shame, I didn’t even get to show off my special power yet…” a voice said.

“Huh? Did you say something Princess?” Jessica asked from atop the Carrier Titan.

“What, did that sound like me!?”

“Uh, no…” she responded. “But it came from where you are, so I just asked.”

“It was me,” the voice said again. Come to think of it, that voice sounds like-

“I can’t believe you actually needed to think that through before finding out, Marion,” Sellouva said.

“Well you’ve never talked out loud before.”

“What’s up with your horns?” Tyler asked.

“It’s the same thing as your fur, idiot,” I responded.

“No, your grey skin and markings are the same as my fur,” he responded. “Your horns on the other hand are packing a buttload of mana in them.”

“Heh? How can you tell?”

“You can’t see it because of my wolf head, but my eyes are Hirameki,” Tyler said proudly. “I can see the flow of mana.”

“Whatever,” I said. “Can you tell how far away we are from Slayer with those eyes?”

“Yeah sure!” Tyler said before briefly looking back. “Oh shit!!”

As soon as he yelled that something landed in front of us, causing a large shockwave as we grinded to a halt.

“It was a nice try,” Slayer said as the dust around him began to fade away. “But I won’t let you run away so easily…”

He then opened his eyes about a sixteenth of an inch higher, and an unbearable pressure weighed down on me. Was this the same as when he had stared down Oliver earlier? It’s… too much… I couldn’t keep eye contact like Oliver had. I looked away.

“When facing an opponent, you can’t just turn your back and flee!” He said, breaking into an actual yell. “Merely hoping things will get better doesn’t accomplish anything! Or do you want everyone around you to die while you helplessly watch!!”

Without releasing us from the pressure of his stare, he hurled a series of chains. Even if I wasn’t frozen in place, I’d have a hard time blocking this attack. The sheer speed and number of chains was overwhelming just to watch.

The chains flew all around me, and before I knew what had happened I heard two screams that were muffled in an instant. The pressure of Slayer’s stare eased up as he brought his eyelids back down a sixteenth of an inch.

I looked around and saw pink chains everywhere, creating a dome all around us, trapping us in here with him. There would be no more running.

I searched more and found that both Jessica and Tyler had been ensnared in chains and hoisted up, along with Oliver’s still unconscious body.

I now had to face Slayer alone.

“Well then…” he said, his voice back to its uninterested tone. “How are you gonna fight me now? All by yourself… you know it’s impossible, right? Might as well just lay down and die. If you do, I promise to make it quick.”

“No…”

“Hm?” he looked at me, unamused.

“I’m not just going to let you kill me…”

“What a shame, earlier you seemed so ready to surrender too,” Slayer said. “Don’t you understand? You have to die.”

“Why…?” I asked. “Why do I have to die…?”

“Because there’s no other way for this to go,” he answered. “In order to keep everybody safe, sacrifices have to be made. Or maybe you want that war to go on? The thought of all those people killing themselves because of you makes you laugh your head off doesn’t it?”

“Of course it doesn’t!”

“Then why are you still alive?” he asked. “If your mere existence is enough for all the bloodshed then why don’t you do us all a favor and just kill yourself, huh?! Spare people like me the trouble of having to do it!”

“Because…” I said as tears began to fill my eyes. “Because-!”

“Because what, huh?!” he interrupted. “What reason could you possibly give that would be good enough to make up for everything. You are a demon! You exist solely to bring sorrow and despair to others! What reason could possibly be good enough to let someone like you live!”

“Because I want to live!” I shouted, unable to hold back my tears as I did so. “There’s things I want to do! Places I want to go to! Things I want to experience! People I want to talk to and others I want to see again! Because I don’t want to die! Why can’t that just be enough…”

“Because you want to live, huh?” he asked. “So tell me, why should so many people have to die so that you can live?”

“They shouldn’t…” I answered. “Nobody should be dying because of me! Just because I manifested the wrong flair!? Why should people be dying just because of something as stupid as that?! There’s no reason for it! Why should people be dying just so that I can live!? Why does my life have to be so unfair!?!”

Slayer looked down for a moment, his messy hair covered his eyes. He then lifted the hair over his left ear, revealing that he didn’t really have one. In its place was a stub of scarred tissue.

“See this…” he said. “This was done to me shortly after I was born. Wanna know the reason why? Because I was a ‘filthy bastard’. My parents committed adultery, so I was marked. Tell me, is that fair?”

“N-no-”

“You’re familiar with the Great Kaiju, right? The ones that are supposed to protect the different lands of Thloria. Of course you are, you’re not a little kid after all,” he said. “You may have heard of an incident that occurred about three years ago, when someone controlled one of them and destroyed an entire city. I was there.”

As he continued speaking, Slayer looked at his hands.

“Do you know how many people died? Do you know how many lives were destroyed? Do you know how many people who had put their trust in me had their lives snuffed out because I wasn’t strong enough to protect them?”

He clenched his fists and looked up at me. There was fire of absolute hatred in his eyes.

“Tell me. Is that fair?” he asked.

“No,” I answered. “It’s not…”

“Life isn’t fair, Marion,” he said. “It never has been, and it never will be. For you, no matter what decision you make, it will end up costing countless lives. I don’t envy you.”

“But still… why does it have to be like this?” I asked. “Why do you have to be trying to kill me?”

“Who knows?”

“What do you mean ‘who knows’!?” I shouted. “What kind of answer is that?!”

“I don’t really care.”

“You don’t-!?”

“I’ll carry out my own justice.”

As soon as he said this, he swung a series of chains at me. I used my claws to counter them as they came, even breaking through some.

Even though I could counter this attack, I’m still far from being able to beat him. If he went all out, I’d be down in an instant. It’s like he’s just toying with me.

Marion… Sellouva called sing-songily.

What do you want? I answered. Can’t you see I’m a little busy at the moment?

But I have something that can help you, Marion, she said. Don’t you wanna know what it is?

Only if it can actually help.

Truth be told, it’ll only be useful if you use it in a useful way, Sellouva said. It’s not exactly an end all be all.

Fine, I said. I’ll try out whatever it is you’re talking about.

Really!? You will!?

Stop patronizing me.

Sorry, she said. I just can’t help it…

Before we try your thing, you’re gonna help me do something first.

Oh? So forceful…

Shut up and listen.

I then relayed my plan to Sellouva.

Really? she asked disapprovingly. That’ll never work. You can’t defeat someone like him with such a simple trick.

Just do it!

I then focused my bloodlust and directed it at Slayer.

His eyes tensed for a moment, but relaxed just as quick.

“You really think such weak bloodlust is able to freeze me in place?” he asked. “The best you’d be able to do is notify me of your presence. Not only is that completely useless, but I already know where you are.”

Now I just have to wait.

Alright Sellouva, what did you want me to do? I asked.

Oh, so we’re finally going with my plan then? she asked. Is it because yours didn’t work?

Mine worked fine, it’s just a matter of time now, I responded. Anyway, hurry up. He’s about to start attacking again.

Fine, fine… Sellouva said. Now, I want you to reach out and hit Slayer out of the way.

Heh?

Don’t talk back to me like that! she scolded. Just do what I said! And don’t worry about getting closer to him, it’s not necessary.

What do you mean ‘it’s not necessary’!? How am I supposed to hit him from here? I don’t exactly have many long range options!

If I explained it to you, it’d only waste time! Sellouva shouted. Well, I guess we aren’t really talking per say, but the thinking equivalent of shouting. Stop wasting time and just do it!

Irritated, I curled my right hand into a fist and thrust it forward with the intent to hit Slayer. And then something strange happened.

A portal of swirling nightmare energy opened next to me and a giant grey arm with similar markings to mine came out doing the exact same thing as I was.

It extended forward and almost hit Slayer, but he jumped over it, wrapping it in chains as he did so.

The strange thing was that I could feel the arm like it was my own, but not my own. I could feel the chains wrapping around it, even though it was disconnected from my actual body it felt like it was part of me.

“Demonic Limbs,” Sellouva said out loud. “This is how my kaiju form works. These horns on your head are just outlets for my mana, using them I can summon my own limbs into this world.

“Although it irritates me to no end that I have no control over my actual body,” she added. “But I guess I’ll let you make do with my right arm for now… You might wanna do something before that man renders it completely useless though…”

I shook the arm to loosen the chains around it and used it to attack Slayer. This feeling of moving a limb that’s not attached to my body is too foriegn. Even though they feel different things I can’t manage to get the demonic limb to move without moving my actual right arm.

Slayer easily dodged the arm, wrapping more and more chains around it as he did so, until…

“I think I’ve finally seen enough…” Slayer said as he pulled a chain. This caused a chain reaction… DULL IT ALL!!

Anyway, the chains around the demonic limb tightened, holding it in place and allowing no movement.

With his other hand, he got out an axe-like blade connected to a chain and used it to slice the arm up, causing it to dissipate.

“Anyway-”

“Miracle Punch!!”

Oliver came from above Slayer and hit him with a Miracle Punch. The force of the move caused an enormous amount of dust to fly up.

I knew my plan would work!