Interlude: The Target is Just One
Monsters, wounded and starving, continue to burn with their survival instincts and murderous intent. A ritual that forces them to gather in one place and devour each other. This abhorrent ceremony, which grotesquely transforms mere monsters, is a nightmarish act so vile and corrupted that even humans, who wield malice and sorcery, would not dare to perform it.
In this age, it is a single member of the Demon Race who continues this ritual. The Dullahan, driven by the hatred that wells up from deep within after losing many of its kin, is a being honed and sharpened by madness, loyalty, and a desire for revenge. It is one of the four surviving executives of the Demon Lord’s Army, and among them, it stands as the strongest.
Despite its formidable existence, the Dullahan understands the incomprehensible reality that it cannot kill the one human who is its greatest and worst enemy, even while leading its army. Thus, it continues the ritual, pouring its hatred and desire for revenge into it, sacrificing countless lives, including those of its own kind, in an effort to create a singularly powerful monster capable of standing alone as the strongest.
These failed creations are the powerful monsters currently wreaking havoc across the world, particularly in the Kingdom of Alstovar, known as Disaster Classifications. They possess strength comparable to the executives of the Demon Lord’s Army but lack the ability to surpass them. They are the remnants of the once-mighty duo, the Golden Fronis and the Time Crime, who were unable to kill the ultimate evil and were thus discarded.
While the other three executives pursue the annihilation of humanity in their own ways, the Dullahan alone continues the ritual, consuming its own troops in the process. This is because the ritual has already produced a being that can be called a Complete Body. This creation possesses power that far exceeds that of the former strongest, the Golden Fronis. The Dullahan, having completed this creation early, now seeks to surpass the other strongest, the Time Crime, by repeating the ritual.
The souls of Fronis and Crime have been collected. The Demon Lord has provided the sacrificial Demon Race. Means to fend off interference are already in place.
Thus, the Dullahan continues the ritual. It repeats the process to create a vessel infused with Crime’s soul, one that possesses strength beyond that of the living Crime. As it continues to stoke the flames of hatred and desire for revenge with its own life as new fuel, it persists in the ritual to kill the one human who has the power to slay many executives of the Demon Lord’s Army and reach the Demon Lord’s head.
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These creations have a clear purpose. They aim to achieve a goal that tramples upon the greatest and most common desire of all living beings: the desire to live. They are fueled by accumulated murderous intent, hatred, anger, and desire for revenge, all of which burn their hearts and souls, igniting flames darker than the blackest night as they strive to fulfill the implanted purpose.
Their name is unknown, their whereabouts are unclear, and their true nature is a mystery. What is known is that their target is a human with a radiant right hand, an abnormal being radiating an otherworldly presence. And all the accumulated murderous intent, hatred, anger, and desire for revenge are directed toward the death of that human.
Thus, the discarded beings moved. They sought to kill the target who trampled upon their desire to live, to reclaim their survival instinct in a rightful manner.
The frog consumes everything to grow stronger. It repeats the act of eating, which is unnecessary for survival, continuously absorbing the lives it devours without digesting them.
The bull envies this and seeks to elevate itself. It refuses to acknowledge the fact that it is lesser than what rises from an insatiable desire, consuming natural disasters to obliterate all.
The lizard boasts of its superiority. It ignores the reality that it has already lost the ability to fly and continues to crush and devour any weakling that comes into view.
The insect goes mad to assert its uniqueness. It transforms everything it sees into the abnormal, playing tricks as it masquerades as a god and slaughters sacrifices.
The great ape gluttonously consumes to grow larger. It discards all pride and honor, becoming a grotesque and ugly form, all for the moment it can kill its target.
The great serpent grows lazy to adapt. It indulges in slumber, allowing its soul to be burned by all it has absorbed, melting away the flesh it has acquired.
They continue to stoke the flames of their implanted purpose, a desire to kill the target that surpasses the desire to live.
However, unlike the six discarded beings, the lone dragon, isolated as a Complete Body, remains pure despite its similar origins.
It absorbs all murderous intent, hatred, anger, and desire for revenge, yet, while recognizing its target—the human—and understanding its purpose for existence, the dragon chooses not to act, remaining innocent.
It waits for the day its counterpart is created, for the moment its other half cries out, and for the day it hears that commanding voice once more, remaining pure. It does not become ensnared by anything, continuously devouring the floating rings while waiting for that day.
The heat that scorches its soul, the emotions that echo in its mind, are but dust compared to the voice it heard at the moment it was created and its eyes were opened.
Abandoning its survival instinct, relinquishing the desires that rise within, the dragon continues to consume the rings brought to its mouth until the moment the next command arrives.
Kill the target (Take its life)
Kill the target (Covet its life)
Kill the target (Mock its life)
Kill the target (Melt its life)
Kill the target (Devour its life)
Kill the target (End its life)
Six resonances, and that target is but one.
It exists solely to kill that one human.
Die (Become the enemy)
This command given to the dragon.
A command that, while overwhelming and painful for a single entity, led the dragon to cease being a living being. As it became a vessel to absorb the resounding six, it accepted the murderous intent directed at its target, ceasing to be a living creature to become one with purity, destined to become the enemy for just one.
That time will soon arrive.
The day its counterpart is born, and they become a pair of enemies.