Adam's chest rose and fell, the rhythm of his breath a twisted melody between life and death. The air was thick with the scent of charred stone and fresh blood, the copper tang clinging to his tongue like a curse. Sweat and grime coated his skin, mixing with the splattered remains of his struggle. His heartbeat, a fractured drumbeat, thrashed wildly against the walls of his ribs. The pain in his body was an ever-present gnawing, but beneath that madness, something steadied.
'Calm yourself.'
The words slithered through his mind like a whisper, delicate yet firm, threading through the fabric of his rage. He forced his fists to tighten, nails digging deep into his palms, a sharp sting cutting through the haze. The pain grounded him, tethered him to the present. His mind clawed its way back from the brink, wrestling against the abyss of exhaustion and fury. He could not afford to lose himself now. Not yet.
"KERGHHH..!!"
The beast roared again, its guttural bellow shaking the cavern walls, sending loose stones tumbling from the jagged ceiling. But this time, there was something different in the sound. It was not just rage—it was pain. Agony laced its every syllable, poisoning its fury, turning its strength into something uncertain.
That pain was his doing.
Adam's lips curled into a jagged grin, a wild, broken thing that barely resembled a smile. He laughed, a raw, guttural sound that fractured the silence like shattered glass. The edges of his voice were frayed, roughened by blood and exhaustion, but beneath it all was something unmistakable.
Satisfaction.
"That's what it feels like, huh?" he rasped, his teeth flashing crimson in the dim glow of the mine. His voice was thick with something bitter, something broken. "Every fucking moment of being beaten up by your big ass fists…!"
His foot dragged as he stepped forward, the ache in his muscles screaming for respite, but he ignored it. His saber still lay buried in the beast's back, embedded deep in the corded muscle, slashing and tearing from within like a living nightmare at Adam's telekinetic command. The creature thrashed, claws scraping against the cavern floor, fists pounding against the earth in desperate defiance. But Adam's focus had sharpened to a terrifying edge.
The smalls rocks around Adam began to float in the air with a psychic force.
*FLICK*
With a flick of his hand they all embedded themselves within the beasts eye.
"Gargh....!!"
Quickly it healed.
Adam smiled.
"I'll tear out you eye and make sure you can see me stomping on it..!!"
It was no longer rage that fueled him. No longer blind fury.
No, this was something colder. Something precise.
A madness controlled.
His outstretched hand trembled for a fleeting second before steadying. He reached out—not physically, but with the unseen force that connected him to his blade. A silent pull, a whisper of intent.
The saber obeyed.
Deep within the beast's flesh, the blade twisted.
A wet, sickening sound filled the air as the weapon carved its way deeper, ripping through muscle and tendon, severing nerves that tried desperately to heal. Flesh tore and mended, a cycle of destruction and regeneration locked in an endless loop. Steam poured from the wound, thick and acrid, the scent of burning meat saturating the cavern like a funeral pyre.
The beast's howls cracked into something higher, something shrill and broken. Its eyes—once wild with fury—now gleamed with something else entirely.
Desperation.
Fear.
Adam watched, expression unreadable, though his lips twisted in something that might have been a smirk.
"Keep healing. Keep fighting," he murmured, voice low and venomous. "You're just making it hurt more."
He twisted the blade again.
Harder.
Deeper.
The wound gaped, flesh splitting apart in jagged ribbons of shredded sinew and exposed bone. The creature's regeneration was slowing now, the strain of constant recovery pushing its body past its limits. Its limbs trembled, its knees buckling. And then, with a final, shuddering breath, it collapsed.
The once-mighty beast lay crumpled before him, its monstrous form hunched and broken, trembling under the weight of its own survival. Yet still, it clung to life.
Adam exhaled slowly, his mind clearing, the storm inside him quieting to a whisper. He was in control again. Not calm—never calm—but controlled. He could work with that.
The beast lifted its head weakly, meeting his gaze. Gone was the feral rage, the primal instinct to kill. In its place was something… raw.
Something human.
Adam's fingers twitched. His pulse quickened.
He reached out.
The saber answered.
With a sickening squelch, the blade tore free from the creature's spine. Blood sprayed in a crimson arc, splattering across Adam's chest, painting him in the beast's suffering. He barely flinched.
The saber's hum filled the silence, the song of a weapon eager for more.
"You don't get to live," Adam whispered, voice an icy judgment. His grip tightened. "Not after all this."
He brought the saber down.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Each strike was an act of butchery, the blade cleaving through muscle and bone, slicing through the remnants of life with ruthless precision. The cavern floor grew slick with blood, the air thick with the scent of death. The beast's roars had long since faded into something weaker, something ragged. A whimper. A sob.
And then—
"D-Da...vid..."
Adam froze.
The voice was barely more than a whisper, each syllable trembling, fragile.
"M-must…do…good…"
The final word left the creature's lips in a breath that barely stirred the air.
Then, silence.
Its body slumped forward, still and empty, its eyes staring into nothing.
Adam's grip on his saber slackened, the light flickering uncertainly as the weight of those words sank into his bones. His breath came in uneven gasps. His heart pounded, not from exertion, but from something else. Something unfamiliar.
He swallowed. His mouth tasted like iron and ash.
"What the fuck..."
His voice was hoarse, barely audible over the dead air of the mine. But no answer came. Only the silence of the grave.
His knees buckled.
"Hey… get up," he muttered.
The corpse remained still.
"Get up."
Nothing.
His breath hitched. His body trembled.
"GET UP!"
His scream echoed through the cavern, bouncing off the walls, filling the space with something raw and ugly.
Adam staggered back, his saber slipping from his grip, the blade clattering against the blood-soaked stone. His hands curled into his hair, fingers clutching at strands as though trying to pull himself together.
"Y-you… are making me seem like the bad guy…" His voice cracked. His knees hit the ground. "I don't want to be the bad guy…"
But the beast did not respond.
It never would again.
Adam let himself fall back, his body too battered, too overworked to keep going. The cavern floor was hard, unyielding, the jagged stone digging into his flesh. It didn't matter. His vision blurred, darkness creeping in at the edges. The exhaustion was too much.
His body went still.
The silence swallowed him whole.
End of Chapter