Desire

"Ha..."

"Uh ha..."

"Ah hahahaha!..."

Aise threw his head back and let out a string of maniacal laughter. It carried a soul-tearing quality that instantly drew the attention of everyone present.

"What is this kid laughing at?"

"Has this guy gone mad?"

The surrounding members of the Bone Crusher Adventure Group did not pay it much mind.

"That is... mine."

Aise looked toward Eni, his eyes flashing with chaos and madness.

Eni stared blankly back at Aise. His current gaze brought back some unpleasant memories for her.

Aise slowly raised the longsword in his hand.

"Holy Sword," Aise spoke softly.

A viscous black aura, thick as ink and seemingly tangible, permeated from the palm holding the sword. Thread by thread, it coiled around the cold blade as if it had a life of its own.

Aise swung his hand, and an invisible sword aura howled past. The few men who had harbored malicious intentions toward Eni were instantly decapitated, their blood spraying wildly.

Scalding, foul-smelling blood erupted from their severed necks like out-of-control fountains, drenching Eni from head to toe. Eni sat frozen for a moment before scrambling away on her hands and knees. Almost the exact instant she left her spot, the headless corpses collapsed heavily, crashing down right where she had been and splashing up a cloud of blood-mixed mud and dust.

"Young Master Aise..." Eni murmured, looking at Aise's figure.

"What is wrong with this guy?" Leiva's mouth twitched. The ones who just died were comrades he spent day and night with, men who were quite loyal to him. It would not be easy to replenish such manpower.

"Attack! Kill this bastard once and for all!"

Leiva roared in anger. A shieldbearer holding a massive shield pushed forward first, followed closely by Leiva and another warrior, launching a surprise attack from the flank.

The mage in the party summoned wind blades, hurling them down at Aise from above.

The smile on Aise's lips only grew deeper.

"You actually aren't running away? Fantastic. Thank you all so much..."

The longsword in Aise's hand was completely shrouded in an inky blackness.

He slashed down with an understated ease, seemingly without using an ounce of strength. Yet, the blade sliced through like a hot knife through butter, effortlessly cleaving the charging shieldbearer and his shield perfectly in half.

The two halves of the corpse fell to either side, showering the area in a rain of blood.

"What..."

Leiva paled in sheer terror, completely unable to comprehend why Aise had suddenly become so ferocious.

"This is the power of chaos. All matter in this world is as fragile as a bubble before chaos... Hahaha..." Aise said with a maniacal laugh.

Leiva gritted his teeth. With no way to retreat now, he still swung his longsword, hacking down with all his might.

The moment the refined iron longsword in Leiva's hand met Aise's, it was easily snapped in two. The blade then sliced down from Leiva's shoulder to his crotch, as if diagonally cleaving a stalk of sugarcane.

The other high-tier warrior who had charged up alongside Leiva saw that things were going south and planned to flee. But Aise had no intention of letting him go. With a flash of sword light, a helmeted head flew into the air, the blood spurting from the neck tracing a grim arc.

Aise then flourished his sword in front of him, completely shredding the few belated wind blades into nothingness. Immediately after, Aise suddenly reversed his grip on the hilt and hurled the sword like a spear toward the mage.

As if ignoring the very concept of space, a hole the size of a bowl abruptly appeared in the chest of the Bone Crusher Adventure Group's high-tier mage. The mage looked down in disbelief before his body went limp and collapsed, the light in his eyes rapidly fading.

Aise slowly stepped forward. With all the high-tier experts dealt with, the remaining few low-tier adventurers were like lambs to the slaughter. Unable to mount even a decent resistance, they were easily reaped amidst screams of despair.

In the blink of an eye, the members of the Bone Crusher Adventure Group had been completely massacred by Aise.

"Ah, the scent of death... Fantastic." Standing amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, Aise took a deep breath, his face brimming with an almost intoxicating pleasure and satisfaction. The stench that would make an ordinary person vomit was, to him, like the most fragrant perfume in the world.

Hmm... perhaps it was because he had inherited his mother's bloodline, and thus possessed the traits of the Vampire race.

Eni sat paralyzed on the ground, covered in blood and grime. She hugged her arms, curled into a ball, and shivered uncontrollably. Her gaze toward Aise held nothing but pure fear.

"Ah, Eni," Aise turned around and walked toward her, stepping through the viscous pools of blood. He crouched down and patted her freezing shoulder, his tone as casual as if he had just returned from a stroll. "Come, help me wipe my body. It is all blood, and this sticky feeling is really uncomfortable." He chuckled lightly, as if the cruel massacre just now had nothing to do with him. "Do not be afraid. I will not hurt you."

Only then did Eni slowly rise from the ground. It was at this moment she realized she was somehow clutching a segment of intestines in her hand. She let out a shriek and hurriedly threw it away, as if she had touched a red-hot branding iron.

"Hahaha... Eni, look at the expression on your face. It is simply too cute." Aise seemed amused by her reaction and let out a hearty laugh. He reached out with his right hand, which was equally soaked in blood, and caressed Eni's cheek, leaving behind a sticky, scarlet smear.

"Young... Young Master Aise..." Eni was somewhat in disbelief that Aise would say such things to her.

Aise licked the corner of his mouth. "Eni, I like you."

"What... What did you say? Young Master Aise?" Eni's mind was a complete mess. Under these circumstances, Aise was actually saying such things to her? No matter how she thought about it, this was far too wrong.

"I have figured it out, Eni. I should face my desires honestly, rather than blindly pretending... I like you, Eni."

Aise sized up the young girl before him. Torn shreds of clothing hung loosely over her fair, white skin, soaked through with thick blood, presenting a bizarre yet hauntingly sorrowful beauty.

Aise's finger hooked onto a shredded piece of fabric hanging from her shoulder and gave it a gentle tug.

"Riiiip—"

The already fragile clothing tore open. More of her snow-white skin was exposed to the air. The large patches of crimson blood looked like red plum blossoms blooming fiercely in the snow, making her appear even more fragile and pitiful, and stirring up the darkest possessive desires at the bottom of one's heart.

"Ah—"

Eni let out a cry of alarm, vainly trying to cover her body with her hands. "Young Master Aise, what... what are you doing?"

Aise pressed forward, pinning Eni's slender wrists and pushing her down onto the dust- and blood-covered ground.

The faint smile remained on Aise's lips as he spoke quite calmly, "Did I not tell you? Eni, from now on I will properly face my desires... And I like you, so I am going to make you completely mine."

Eni shook her head desperately, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. "No... Young Master Aise, I do not want this. We cannot do this kind of thing right now... I am so scared, Aise..."

"I know you are afraid of me, Eni. In your eyes, I am a monster... But what does that matter to me? I like you, so I want to do these things to you..." A calm yet crazed light gleamed in Aise's eyes.

Upon a bed formed from severed limbs, torn organs, and scarlet gore, Aise ignored Eni's pleas for mercy and kissed the young girl's lips.