Northern felt awful towards himself.
‘I’m thinking about killing my companion… yet there’s no emotion…’ He touched his chest.
He didn’t particularly feel attached to the beast all this while, however, it was really nice having it around.
That alone should have warranted some sympathy from him.
Northern shook his head.
‘It’s just a monster’
With a sudden burst of speed, the beast darted forward, its claws raking through the air as it aimed for Northern’s midsection.
Northern responded with a deft sidestep, his blade deflecting the attack with a resounding clang.
Before the beast could recover, he struck back, his obsidian blade cutting the air with lethal precision.
The beast twisted and contorted, its body displaying an almost supernatural agility as it evaded Northern’s strikes.
But Northern was relentless, his blade weaving a deadly dance of steel, each strike calculated and purposeful.
The two combatants danced across the battlefield for a few seconds, their movements a blur of motion and fury.
Northern’s blade sang through the air, deflecting Mr Fluffy’s savage attacks while delivering punishing counters that left gashes and wounds in their wake.
Yet, despite the mounting injuries, the madness that burned in Mr Fluffy’s eyes did not seem to be receding.
And it caused a tensed strain in Northern’s expression. He was trapped in between holding back himself from killing the beast or just killing it and forgetting the blessed memories they shared together.
‘I’m human goddammit!’
Even though Northern was struggling with what emotions to feel while he thought about killing his companion. He still knew what best to do.
The things that made humans humans and not devils.
Compassion.
It didn’t matter if Mr Fluffy was just a monster. What mattered was they shared a bond together.
And that reason was enough for Northern to not want to give up on his buddy.
He gritted his teeth as he blocked the beast’s strikes again. It was stressful but it felt right.
He couldn’t tell what this emptiness…
Northern suddenly realized, making his eyes squint.
‘Emptiness… void…’
A small laugh escaped his lips.
“Of course… what did i expect after feeling my soul with void.”
Northern did not know what changes was happening to him. But he knew they were gradually coming.
‘Perhaps what made Night Terror grin like at that at the gate was not madness… but emptiness.’
The faster on the terror than it was on him no doubt.
The beast relentless lunged at Northern even though he was lost in thought. Its jaws snapped and gnashed, seeking to render Northern’s flesh, while its claws raked through the air, leaving trails of crimson.
As the battle went on, the effect of those wounds eventually began to take a toll on Mr Fluffy’s body.
Its movement slowed and strikes became less powerful. And Northern could feel it.
Even he himself who had been preserving his stamina for when he would face Night Terror was beginning to feel the toll on his muscles.
It was inevitable, not with the amount of gaping wounds that marred the creature’s flesh.
Northern lowered his sword with a bitter taste slapping his tongue. Then he called out softly:
“Mr Fluffy?”
The beast ferociously gnarled at him, its eyes were fearsomely rebuking whatever effect Northern’s voice was having on it.
Seeing the beast struggle to break out of the darkness of that clogged its mind, Northern dismissed and slowly extended one hand.
“Mr Fluffy… it’s me. North” his voice came out peacefully.
Causing droplets of tranquility to fall into the monster’s soul. It’s pupils slowly distended and a low growl crept out of its mouth.
Slowly, Mr Fluffy went down and lowered its head.
Northern’s hand finally touched it, when it did, Northern’s heart almost jumped out of the beast.
‘Ah, I’m glad I didn’t have to use it’
Something shattered into sparks of light behind his back.
Despite taking the initiative to calm the beast using the bond that they both have formed over a short time, Northern still had his skepticism and had materialized a black stiletto behind his back in case things went south.
Now that he had gotten Mr Fluffy back. The next foe… Northern’s eyes suddenly trembled.
Then a big laugh burst out of his mouth, his shoulders shuddered as he laughed even wider for a couple more seconds.
Anyone would think he was mad.
Then he came to an abrupt stop and frowned towards the castle entrance.
‘No way, I’m going to enter that place. It’s a horde of Night Terrors inside that place!’
Of course, the problem was not that he was scared of getting killed. Northern had this point was confident in his capability to kill those Night Terror.
When they kidnapped him, he would have defeated one or two… not to speak of now that he was stronger.
But that would task his body too much, however he could send his clone.
Northern stared at the entrance as he considered the idea.
‘If I command it to not kill, it should be able to not kill right?’
He folded his arms and tapped a finger against his hand. Then he decided.
‘No, Night Terror can deal with them all on his own. Even with Night Terror’s power and mine. I’m not confident that we’ll be able to take down a maelstrom rank monster. Moreso, we don’t even know the danger level’ Northern mused.
‘Besides, I might run out of essence…’
Things were pretty different now that all the enormous soul energy he absorbed from the measuring crystal had been absorbed by void essence.
He could faintly feel and tell the amount of essence he had circulating his soul.
Using his clone used to run on soul energy and then he had an immense amount of it due to the incident at the citadel.
But void essence had done away with all of that, the soul energy in his body did get converted to void essence but it wasn’t half as much as what used to be there.
Northern could tell, he wasn’t so bolstered on void essence. And that might be costly for him should he act irrationally.
Even though he decided against helping Night Terror. Northern was sure the monster was more than enough to take care of some half asset experiments breeded from it…
‘That bastard is probably killing his kins with joy’
Northern surveyed around,
‘It’s a lot of kill and I didn’t even gain much from it’
Since he killed too little numbers, he didn’t as much receive an item. But it was good, this was his plan all along.
He doubted of items received from these mobs was going to be worth much, even though they were hellion ranks.
The lord of the castle on the other hand.
‘I must have the last kill on it’
That one was bound to give him lots of reward. And killing Night Terror too.
When he added the two, he was definitely going to get compensated largely for his sufferings in this rift.
Somewhere, in Northern’s heart, he was so excited.