Accumulation To Kill

Damian!..." A disheveled woman screamed as she tried to reach out to her son.

Similarly, Damian tried to shout for his mother as a massive shadow leaped over and pulled him away.

The woman fell just short of grabbing Damian, instead falling to her knees because of her injured ankle. In dismay and horror, she watched as her son was swallowed up by the monster in front of her, unable to resist.

Harrowing sounds of the young boys’ bones being crushed rang in her ears.

Her mental state and physical state are by the second as she blames herself for her son's gruesome demise.

Nonetheless, the beast followed its instincts and still had an unsatisfied appetite; it spat out a silver necklace the boy wore and turned its bloodthirsty eyes toward the mother.

(####)

“Damian, sweetie, look at this necklace I got you; it matches your dad's old one, don't you think? Do you like it?” A lady spoke to Damian 

“Yeah, Mom, I love it! I'll wear it all the time!” Damian laughed as he hugged his mother warmly.

Being pulled back to the present, the woman lamented her fate.

Why? Why did this have to happen to them, first her husband and now her son? It was the final straw in her mental destruction., The woman collapsed, her heart beating vigorously, yet her eyes were like that of an empty husk, having given up on a life that had nothing more to give.

"Severing Wind"

An authoritative voice rang out. A sharp gust of wind shot past the woman and at the monster, inflicting a heavy wound on its burly chest. A cluster of gooey black blood fell to the ground, along with a new deformed heart that contained some strange crystalized orb.

The monster clutched its chest, trying to stop the river of blood from leaving its body, but to no avail; soon, it fell limp on the ground with a thud.

A handsome blue-eyed young man in a black silk robe approached the scene. He bent over and put the orb in his pocket. Turning over to the woman, he sighed. "Another dud, these guys are all softies,"

He lifted the woman gently, carrying her in a princess carry, and began walking south.

“This'll be the fifth rescue today. Add on the past month's grueling work, and I should have enough for a new spell.” Lucas thought as he approached a camp, or more accurately, about 20 tents surrounded by a 10-meter wall. 

Giving a slight nod to the numerous armed guards who were at this moment engaged in a furious game of poker, he questioned, "Shouldn't you guys be, I don't know, guarding the camp?"

"Ha! You're a funny one, Luca; what are we guarding the camp from? Cockroaches? You guys take care of all the beasts nearby." A bulky guard said, going all in with his chips (actually useless stones).

"Then shouldn't I be getting a portion of your salary?" Luca said, making what seemed to be a joke seem like a demand with his serious gaze.

The bulky guard looked into Lucas' eye. "Some jokes go too far, Luca".

"Weirdo" Luca said as he rolled his eyes and headed inside, entering the largest tent, a makeshift hospital.

Back with the guards, a man of a short stature asked, "That's Lucas, no? So why do you keep calling him Luca?"

The bulky guard chuckled at his co-workers curiosity, then adorned a serious expression. "Honestly, I don't know. Everyone calls him Luca most of the time since it's easier; sometimes a Lucas does slip, though!"

The other guard looked at his co-worker questionably, 'Did he have a screw loose? No, but then how come he keeps winning? Could he be cheating somehow?'

___________

"Hey! Sylvia, another unconscious one, she was with someone else, though it seems the Linken got to them before I could get to it," Lucas called out to a pretty silver-haired girl adorned in a lab coat as he entered the tent

"Put her on one of the beds, someone will take care of her. Now run along, I'm busy." Sylvia replied as she operated on another patient's leg.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he said as he put the woman on a hospital bed nearby, strolling off towards a somewhat desolate area of the camp.

Along the way, he saw a dozen people, all with a differing level of injury but the same look of dread in their eyes.

"Hahh, it's a shame to have so many husks when we're running low on manpower, just a bunch of vegetables taking up extra space."

Lost in his thoughts, he eventually reached his destination, a large, flat area spanning a few square kilometers. Multiple targets were set up at different lengths, Lucas went towards the 100m target.

Gritting his teeth, he raised his hand and aimed, feeling the thrilling flow of "mana" through his body, He chanted, "Severing Wind!"

With that, a speedy wind blade cut through the air and hit the ground, about 30 meters away from where he stood.

"Again"

And so, through trial and error, Lucas pushed his limits constantly until finally, his mana grew scarce, and the last wind blade shot out, landing just at the halfway mark. 50 meters, an improvement of 20 meters since the start, yet he hadn't hit the target once, simply because he wasn't good enough to even do what most would consider the bare minimum.

In his frustration, he pushed his exhausted body one step further, aiming at the target and casting one last time "Severing, Win-" 

BOOM

He crashed back several dozen meters, his right casting arm now mangled as blood and flesh leaked out and dripped to the floor.

Looking down at his destroyed hand, he nearly wept. 'Why? Why had it been? He, he tried his best, every single damn day! Yet those pretentious brats, even the other commoners, everyone was better. He was the globally recognized trash, why couldn't he just pull off the most basic of spells properly or alternatively just go die in a ditch somewhere!?'

His heart burned with the flame of anger, envy, and hatred. Rising to his knees, he raised his destroyed hand once more, "Severing Wind" his scream echoed in the empty training ground, as his body fell limp and unconscious.

"Luca, listen to me for a second okay Luca? Daddy and Mommy are going to go get some food for us okay? We need you to stay here and protect your sister. Can you do that for me, bud?" A rugged man spoke to Lucas, holding onto his shoulders.

"Bu-but what if Lucy gets hungry or wakes up and starts crying? What should I do?"  Lucas mumbled, trying to speak his thoughts.

"She won't; we fed her a big meal; she'll be asleep till we're back, I promise. So don't worry okay? You'll be fine; we'll be back before you know it, so just sleep for now, and soon you'll be able to eat a lot of delicious food!" Richard said to his son, his eyes carrying a trace of determination.

Richard got up and walked to the entrance of the makeshift tent. His voice choked as he said, "I love you. Stay strong for us." 

Lucas regained his senses as his father left the tent, he quickly blocked off the entrance and paced around a bit, trying to calm down.

"Richard, did you have to kill Lucy? The two of them should have gotten to spend some time together, being their last." A masked lady spoke to Richard who was walking beside her.

"She's 4; as soon as she would have realized we weren't there, she would have started bawling her eyes out; we need more time to get away," Richard said as a matter of a factly.

Back in the tent, Luca finally calmed himself down a bit. He decided to snuggle up to his baby sister and go to sleep instead of overthinking. As he lay down, he reached out to her adorable face, touching it lightly for comfort. 

Strangely, her skin felt cold, excessively so. Although it was a bit chilly outside, the tent and the blanket combined should shield her from the cold, unless? She had a cold!

Luca removed the blanket off Lucy, trying to better assess her situation. Only to be stunned at the blood-curdling sight of his precious baby sister's chest caved in, with an empty pocket where her heart should have been.

His blood ran cold, his mind raced, and his emotions grew wild. Even a kid like him understood what had happened; his parents... weren't coming back. The influx of information proved too burdening for him causing him to lash out.

A heartbreaking scream rang out across the forest, numerous red eyes locking onto the sound, licking their monstrous teeth at the thought of food. Yet unbeknownst to them, today marked the day of a true monster's birth, one that had only hatred within his heart.