Reborn As An Evolving Monster

Beyond the longing, the pain, the sadness, the despair, and the sorrow, what the boy and the white-scaled Monster found was...

"Look! He's running again! How long before he passes out do you think?"

"Pfhahahha! Stop! I can't! It's too funny!"

Laughter that wouldn't stop.

"How foolish! And stupid!"

"Sooo stupid!"

The scenery changed and the two watched.

Mark's fight against the pain, his fight against the despair that was slowly swallowing him up, his fight against his own heart, his fight against his own self.

Knowing how it all ended, knowing that the struggle proved pointless and meaningless, knowing that Mark would only make things worse... 

Foolish. Useless. Absurd.

"Hey, hey!" The child shouted. "You're not getting anywhere like that! You might as well stop!"

"You're only going to make it worse fool! Just give up on this and do something else!"

Something resembling a bear approached in the distance.

"You can't do anything right!"

"You always fuck things up!"

"The more you try to make it better, the worse it gets!"

"Bahahhaa! It's so stupid! Why is he still running?"

"Because he believes that it will get better!"

"Hahaha! Can't blame him for that... Actually, I can! You should've known!"

"That's right! You should have known! Maybe you've always known it. You just ran away from the truth!"

"You're so weak! Refusing to look at the truth! Now get up, try to move your arms. Check if they can move or not?"

"Check? Are you crazy? Hahahha! He's too cowardly to do that!"

"Bahahah, that's true! Guess he prefers not knowing. Guess he'll never know..." The bear grew closer and closer. Its growls were barely audible. "Whether or not he had control over his body during those days."

"He never will! Because he was too cowardly to try! Too cowardly to ask. Too cowardly to risk knowing the truth!"

"How much time did I spend in that hospital?"

"About 12 years... Maybe? Time is hard to keep track of. You know... When nothing happens." The child pointed with one hand and covered his mouth with the other. "Or when you look like that."

"BWAHAHHAHAA TRUE! I GUESS THAT'S TRUE! BUT ARE YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD IS AGAINST YOU?"

"Hahahaha... Haha... The world?"

"Yeah." The white-scaled Monster nodded. "Tragic and absurd. That's what it feels like to me. That's why it's so funny!"

"So the world was against me?" The child whispered. 

"Mm!" The white-scaled Monster nodded once more. "Definitely was."

"You mean... I really wasn't to blame?"

"You didn't do anything wrong. You were just stupid and too young to understand. No matter how I look at it, you can't be blamed. The world is wrong at times. Unfair at times. You hated the world of the circumstances that it handed you. You hated the world for spitting on your efforts. You tried doing something, but that only works if the world reciprocates."

"What are you talking about?" The child asked, puzzled.

"Hahahaha! It's so stupid. All of it. This life of mine... Feels like a repeat of my past one."

"Don't you mean a continuation?"

"Yes, it is... But-"

"Then what are you going to do? Who's your enemy? What do you hate?" The child asked with sparkling eyes."

"I hate..."

A dark Aura oozed out of the white-scaled Monster's right arm.

The dark Aura grew in density and quantity.

Soon the white-scaled Monster's whole body was covered by it.

So was the scenery that had changed and the boy.

Everything around the white-scaled Monster disappeared.

It chuckled, and thought about the boy who tried his best running.

The boy who, too, couldn't see a thing after a certain point. The boy whose field of vision used to get clouded by dark spots.

"I hate all of it."

"Why?" A voice questioned.

"The world... Was against me. A weak heart that only grew weaker the harder I tried. A body so weak it refused to listen to me. The world... One's world is only as large as one's circumstances. Those doctors, that hospital, my heart... Those were my world then."

"What about now?"

"A Demon Lord influencing my body. A Demon Lord ordering Lin to come after me. A Demon Lord forcing me to kill Lin. A Demon Lord separating me from Elisa. A Demon Lord... Giving me a Monster's body. Back then, I had no control over my world. I blamed it on everything. I hated it all. God, Fate, Destiny... Nothing helped ease my pain or despair. Either they didn't exist, or they hated me. I've been... Deluding myself."

"How so?"

"Just like Mina used to make me pray with her. Just like she told me about 'God having a plan for me'... I've been thinking about this world the same way. I've tried to look at it... Through her optimistic lens."

"Whose optimistic lens?"

"Mina's? Elisa's? Hahaha! Does it even matter? I had no control over my world. The same is true now. But it's different."

"It is?"

"The world... Everything is a balance of power. Relations of power... Everything is decided by power. I had none back then. I couldn't change my circumstances. All I could do... Was fantasize about it. But now..."

"Will you do it for real now?"

"Back then, I couldn't think about the future clearly. I didn't have the strength to think about the future. To project myself into the future. What if I don't get better? What do I do then? How do I live then? I never asked myself that. I didn't have the strength... To think about it."

"So?"

"That's why I've been living this way now too. That way of thinking carried over to this life. Hahahaha! I can't do that! I can't live that way! I want to control it... With my own hands. To direct it."

"What will you do then?" The voice asked.

The white-scaled Monster was reminded of the withering Mark on his hospital bed whose trembling hand too the shape of a gun.

"I'll do it properly now. I'll do it... For real." 

"You hate the world, don't you?" 

"I do. I hate it for making me hurt Elisa. I hate it for making me kill Lin. I hate it for putting Raven on my way. I hate it for... So many things."

"I see."

ROAAAAR-

A gigantic black bear leaped forward!

With its jaws opened wide, its sharp fangs were aimed at the white-scaled Monster.

But, with an upward swing of its hand,

Slash- Slash- Slash-

[You have defeated...]

With a swing of its hand, the dark Aura that engulfed the white-scaled Monster's claws turned into three blades of Aura.

The gigantic bear's body was instantly cut in three.

It fell to the ground and slid until mere inches separated it from the white-scaled Monster it had tried to attack.

A forest.

In the dead of the night.

"I've been deluding myself..." Mark whispered to himself. "This World... I thought it was different. That it didn't have favorites. That there weren't some it hated. Some that the World hated for no real reason. I was wrong. Thinking about balance in that way..."

"YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU...! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PET?" Someone shouted. 

The sound of a long and thick whip cracking resounded.

"I'm still not done... Thinking." The white-scaled Monster said with narrow eyes.

"YOU THINK I GIVE A FUCK? YOU KILLED... YOU KILLED MY PET!!"

"Guess it shouldn't have attacked me. Now, fuck off."

"Fuck off...?? I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!"

"No talking?" Mark asked as he tilted his head.

"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL TAKE YOUR CORPSE AND-"

The white-scaled Monster smiled.

"Thanks..." It cracked its knuckles. "For making this simple."

Mark stepped forward.

"YOU'RE DEAD! I USED TO BE A GENERAL, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW!"

"A General, huh?" 

Mark brought a hand to his neck.

Scratch-

Scratch-

Scratch-

A dark Aura oozed out of his body.

Gulp-

The 'Ex-General' thought about stepping back.

The amount of Aura covering the Monster's body... It was enough to make his hands tremble.

The white-scaled Monster lowered its gaze towards its arms.

As much Aura covered its body as it used to inside the Dungeon.

Why? Why now?

The white-scaled Monster didn't think about it, and took a step forward instead.

"YOU THINK I'M SCARED OF THAT PUNY AURA? I USED TO BE A GENERAL, I TELL YOU! A GENERAL!"

"That..." The white-scaled Monster took another step forward. "Doesn't mean much to me."

With each of the Monster's steps, the ground shook.

Aura. Status.

The power of Titles.

Unlike others, Unique Titles do not have inherent value when it comes to Status.

A Title such as "Commander Of Sloth" or "General Of Gaavah" meant a lot more, as it directly pointed at the Title Holder's strength.

Your strength has been recognized. You have been awarded the Title of "Commander Of Sloth". In return, the Title, through Aura and Status, increases your strength further! 

Why? Because the World has deemed that Commanders and Generals should have a certain level of strength. The World's inhabitants have deemed that Commanders and Generals HAVE a certain level of strength. Through Titles, the World reciprocates and adds to the Holder's strength.

It is different for Unique Titles though.

"Let's see about that."

The World does not know of the Evolving Monster or Devourer yet.