Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest

Chapter 618 136.8 - The Hunt

Chapter 618 136.8 - The Hunt

What does it mean to have your vengeance? Why do some of us, after everything has been taken, chase after it like it's the only thing keeping us alive?

For those who have never lost anyone, revenge might seem like an obsession born out of selfishness. A futile pursuit. They see someone consumed by anger and destruction, and they shake their heads, wondering why anyone would sacrifice so much for something as intangible as vengeance. But they don't understand.

For those who have never tasted that particular brand of agony—of having your world torn apart—vengeance seems pointless. An act born from pride or ego, maybe. A pursuit for closure, when closure doesn't exist. They are the ones who can walk away, the ones who can turn their backs and say it's over.

'But it feels so good.....'

I looked down at Zharokath, wriggling beneath my foot, his once imposing form now reduced to a pathetic, broken shell. His void energy, once so oppressive, flickered weakly around him.

My breathing was steady, but my heart?

My heart was pounding with fury, a fury that had been burning inside me for as long as I could remember.

Or was it fury?

No, it was not.

'Filth. That's all you demons are...'

It was something else.

Something different.

'Ecstasy.' As I stared down at Zharokath, the demon who had once stood so arrogantly, so confident in his power, I felt an overwhelming surge of ecstasy.

'Filth. That's all you demons are...'

I could feel a smile tugging at my lips, the corners curling as the realization settled over me. This moment, seeing a demon writhing under my boot, helpless, was something that could never be replicated. It wasn't just satisfaction; it was rapture. It was the culmination of years of hatred, of burning, seething rage that had festered within me.

This was the same breed of creature that had taken everything from me. The same demons that had brought death to my sister. And now, here I was, towering over one of them, watching as he struggled, as he looked at me with wide, desperate eyes.

'Look at you. You feel like a worm, don't you?'

I felt my smile widen as I pressed down harder with my boot. Zharokath let out a strangled gasp, his body jerking in pain as I applied pressure. His eyes, once filled with fury, now reflected only terror. The fear of death. The fear of knowing that he was completely at my mercy.

"You are just... inferior," I whispered, my voice dripping with satisfaction. The words felt perfect, rolling off my tongue as if they had been waiting for this moment. Zharokath's body twitched at the sound, his panic growing, but there was nothing he could do. He was mine now.

I bent down, bringing my face closer to his, just enough to watch the flicker of despair grow in his eyes. "Do you know why?" I asked, my tone almost mockingly soft. "Do you know why you're so beneath me?"

He tried to speak, his lips quivering, but nothing came out except a ragged gasp. His body was broken, his strength gone. He had nothing left but the pathetic shell of what once was.

I couldn't hold my laugh while gripping Celestalith tighter.

"I'll tell you why," I said, lifting the blade and driving it into his leg with a slow, deliberate motion.

"AAAAAAARGH!"

Zharokath screamed, his body convulsing under the pain, but I only leaned in closer, reveling in it. The sound of his suffering was music, and I drank it in, feeling it pulse through me like a drug.

"You," I continued, my voice calm and steady despite the cruelty of my actions, "you thought your void made you powerful. That it gave you some right to take whatever you want, to destroy whoever you please." I twisted the blade, watching his eyes roll back in his head, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"But you were wrong," I whispered, pulling the blade free and slashing it across his other leg, severing the tendons. He howled in agony, his body jerking, but there was no escape. Not from this.

'But you will believe.'

For starters....The thing before me is a demon.

Zharokath's body convulsed beneath me, its eyes wide with horror as the truth spilled out. Its breath came in ragged gasps, but it couldn't speak.

But at the same time, I could also feel something else underneath.

'Heh.....Now you are doing it....'

A small current of mana, subtle and carefully controlled, was flowing through Zharokath's body, pooling into something just beneath the surface. Even in his broken, helpless state, this thing still had the gall to try and pull off a last-ditch effort. A final act of desperation.

I almost laughed. It was pathetic, really.

Zharokath's body trembled beneath me, and as I caught sight of the faint glow of mana, the demon began to speak again, his voice weak and broken, but deliberate. "You... you can't understand," he rasped, his voice barely above a whisper. "We... we're... destined for greatness... the Void Clan... we... we will rise again."

I eased my grip on the blade just a little.

"Destined for greatness?" I mused, my voice low and taunting. "Is that what you believe? That your scattered clan, hiding like rats, can ever regain what it's lost?"

Zharokath gasped, his body twitching as he tried to summon more of his strength. "You... don't understand... we have... we have plans... the Primordial... it will rise... and when it does... nothing will stop us..."

I leaned in closer, my smirk widening. "Go on," I whispered. "Tell me all about it."

Zharokath's breaths were ragged, and his voice grew weaker with every word. "You can't stop it... no one can... we've been working... for centuries... for this moment... the sacrifices... all of them... for the Primordial's return..."

"And then what?" I asked, my tone mocking. "You'll rule again? You'll destroy everything and rise from the ashes?"

Zharokath's lips quivered, its eyes darting between me and the artifact, the panic barely concealed beneath his strained expression. "Yes..." he breathed. "Yes... we will... and you... you won't stop it..."

But then.

'There it is.'

The room flashed in a sudden burst of light. For a split second, the air around us crackled with energy, and then, with a sharp hiss, Zharokath's form flickered, and in an instant—

WHOOSH!

It was gone.

Or was it?

I stood there for a moment, the space where he had been lying now empty, the faint traces of its mana still lingering in the air. And then, slowly, I began to laugh.

'Pathetic.'

And then clenched my hand.

–Umbralith. Following that, [Celestalith] gleamed purple with the rings forming a sphere of gravity right in my hand.

And then....

'Bam!'

–BOOM!

Here it was. Returned.

"Huh?"

The face of surprise that he had just made.

It was pure delight.