Red.

  Blood stained my vision as tears dried down. Mellowed eyes sharpened like crimson daggers, imposing fear just by a mere look. Veins bulging, getting riled by the only thing I harbored up until now.

  Hatred.

  The pure and unfiltered emotion of chaos, indulging my mind with destructive thoughts. I mused myself cracking my knuckles hard, one by one, with the menial pain casting away the lingering sanity I got.

  Puzzled by my unexpected change, the monster continued to gauge my strength, lurking in a far distance and shifting places trying to find my weakness.

  I simply stood there at the center, arms loose and body relaxed. Staring at nothing, yet somehow my mouth blurts incoherent words like I'm reading something.

  The monster hesitates, seeing my calmness even amidst the current situation I am in. Seemingly laid back, but to the monster's myriad eyes, I have no opening. The prey is just there, standing still, yet the hunter can't even budge a finger.

  But who's the hunter and the prey now?

  Clicking its tongue, the monster finally decided to attack. The aberrant with multiple limbs lunged itself with blurring speed behind my back, veiling itself in the darkness thinking confidently that I won't see her coming.

  Tshirk!!

  My back was cleanly pierced throughout my chest by her sharp claws, without any resistance. Lifting my limping body high, the monster is flabbergasted by how easy I got maimed.

  "Oh my... And here I was afraid awhile ago, turns out you're still weak Jin." She triumphantly said.

  But out of the blue.

  "Bleeeehhh~"

  I blurted and chuckled diabolically, pushing the surging blood down to my throat.

  Turning my head, eyes now berserk in red with my tongue out taunting the monster, I laughed fully unhinged--grabbing and gripping her wrists with my barehands. Her scales easily cracked like eggshells, black blood oozed, clenching ever so lightly.

  Yet it's still not enough.

  "Come, Tiny Terror." With authoritative command, the gauntlet emerged again from within, wrapping my hand firmly. I then tightened my grip once again without breaking a sweat.

  Crack!!

  Thuds rippled the floor as her pale hands fell off like broken twigs.

  "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

  She wailed in agony with her face already contorting, pulling her remaining arms with all her might. Yet to her big surprise she is stuck.

  [Void Cloak]

  Vorpal Hex Evolution I

  4321 pts out of 20,000 pts

  Description:

  By repeatedly covering yourself with cosmic energy, your body became intuned with space becoming an expulsive singularity. You can now slightly materialize the powers of cosmos to ward off physical and mental attacks at will. The smoky cloak can also be transformed to anything by infusing mana, the basic stats is equally based on the user's attributes.

  Added Effects:

  50 mana needed per transformation

  30 minutes duration

  45 minutes cooldown

  By letting the skill constantly enveloping me for the past weeks, I ended up evolving [Vorpal Hex] to its next form.

  Activating the skill, a black swirling fog-like cloak wrapped her entire body from neck down to her feet, trapping the crying baby in place. My chest and back muscles also tightened rigidly due to my doubled stats temporarily given by the cloak, squeezing her wounded arm from inside-out.

  The intensive torment quickly sapped away the strength from the shrilling monster, bringing it down to its knees.

  "Hahahahaha, I would be sooooooooo pissed if you can't feel pain!" I muttered with sadistic joy, my ruby eyes sparkled with apparent brutality; swiftly swinging back my hands to grab her shoulder, fiendishly digging my fingers into her cold flesh and forcefully ripping her lodged arms as blood splattered the marbled floor.

  Ting!

  [Trait Activated: Ungodly]

  "I was under the impression that monsters don't feel any pain at all, but watching you wail like the b*tch that you are, I guess even monsters bleed." I mockingly said now fully regenerated, with her fallen arm already being voraciously chewed by me.

  Ting!

  [You healed 30 hp]

  "You filthy son of a--"

  Munching the meat, I smacked her dead straight to the face using the other arm, sending her flying like a spider being flicked by a finger.

  "Argh---No---You!" The muddled words I faintly heard from the monster tumbling yards away.

  Bam!

  With a loud bang, the monster slammed right into the hard wall, forming a big crater, unmoving and twitching from the abrupt crash.

  "Sorry, you saying?" I snickered, cupping my right ear forward.

  Dusting my battered pants, or what's left of it, I nonchalantly walked over towards the other side. Striding myself like a feather floating in the wind. Closing in, the monster jumps out from the rubble, letting out a deafening screams of fury and icy glare aimed to rattle me.

  Yet, with all the fuss this big meatball did, I simply took my time watching it crumble in despair.

  "How...? How did you become so strong??!" She wailed, still bewildered by the turn of events.

  "Now, now~ don't be so melodramatic mother, maybe you are just a wimpy afterall." I chipped in, trying to stir the monster's ego.

  "Noooooooooo! Not again!! I won't let this happen to me agaiiiin!!!!" As the humanoid spider charged at me, shooting sticky webs from its mouth and sticking all over me.

  "Hah! Now you can't move!" She said, rejoiced by my captivity.

  Hmph?!

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  As she tried to pull, a tugging force from the other end dawned her with tremendous anxiety. Plucking sounds can be heard as the webstrings can't handle the tension while a devious giggle turned to psychotic laughter from a deranged human.

  "Why? Why are you laughing?!" She angrily asked, still seeking to grasp reality.

  "Oh mother... Watching you trying so hard just to fail over and over again is suprisingly... Funny."

  That last word triggered the monster, visible veins brimming with untempered fury, her eyes dilated with anger while her breath became ragged, growling deeper. Her legs stiffened, calves expanding to utmost extreme. Skulking low, prowling like a spider.

  Boom!!

  The monster darted leaving dusts, like an arrow piercing the wind--uncannily opening its mouth full of bladed teeth to bite my head off.

  Crunch!!!

  The sound of a bone cracking, as I launched a timely upward kick right into its chin. Now dazed, the monster flew up high. Crouching, I jumped leaving cracked footprints, to grab the monster's head behind and slam it on the ground.

  Powerless, the aberrant can only flail its legs in hopes of snagging me off its back but to no avail.

  Bang!!

  Another booming sound that shook the ground, leaving a massive crater. Falling head first with my feet behind, the monster's face is now as flat as it can be. Dripping sounds of black blood came from its mouth. Grabbing hard its silky black hair, the body twitches from pain. I lifted its head while looking at its face and shook it vigorously.

  "That was fun! Let's do it again mom!" I gleefully said, poising myself to throw the monster again.

  "No-" battered, she didn't even finish pleading and was flung once again above, twirling upward.

  "There you go~ Now, here I coooome!!!" I asserted.

  Using the black cloak that transformed into brute arms, I quickly burst my way catching her with breakneck speed. I immediately grabbed her back to do a summersault on the way down.

  Bam!!

  The floor couldn't handle another slam, crumbling down below a fairly wide cavern with cold water rushing beyond the darkness. The light from the hole above illuminates the rocky ground. With my vision enhanced, I couldn't care less even if there's no light at all.

  The water does not hinder my footwork, as it's just ankle deep. The problem is the uneven terrain. And the monster trying to hide itself, sticking above the ceiling corner, licking its wounds.

  Scanning the area, it seems like there's no other exit other than the hole we fell into. The high ceiling makes it hard for me to catch the aberrant off guard.

  But.

  Seeing that it is not trying to escape from me anymore, it only implies one thing.

  Overwhelming animosity.

  "Instead of the other way around, it seems like my mother here is being disciplined by her son." I casually spoke and laughed, measuring her reaction.

  Hissss!!

  A piercing sound directed to me accompanied by a seething pressure coming from the above. With her eyes glowing intensely in the dark, she instantly vanished without a trace!

  "Sh*t--" gritting my teeth, I hurriedly used [Truthseeker] to locate the monster yet I couldn't.

  "This!" I started to realize but it was too late to act. The aberrant, by feeding my flesh and blood for weeks, somehow inherited some of my innate skills!

  This might be troublesome.

  "But to hell with all! Come mother, let's play again!!!" I proudly roared, baiting it to reveal itself.

  And as expected, the monster couldn't contain its hostility, unveiling kicks that landed so hard on my abdomen, making me puke blood. Yet, I still stood where I stand, not moving an inch. Just smiling at her disappointing figure as my vivid memories of the past slowly crumbled to nothingness.

  Catching a glimpse of my nefarious visage, the squamous being attempted to cloak itself again but could not as both my hands and void arms nabbed her, clenching her feet tightly, leaving two tip-toed.

  "Jiiiiiiinnnnn!!!" She screeched trying to swipe me, exposing her newly formed arms.

  "Aha~ so you also stole my regeneration, great job mom!" I bluntly replied as I quickly ripped off two pairs of her feet, tearing up to her legs before she can attack.

  "Aaaaaaaaargh!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!"

  Thud.

  Agonizing screams resounded associated with a falling plump. The monster now crawling, couldn't hide anymore as black blood spreads behind its trail.

  "Mom." I whispered calmly, squinching down in front of her. "This is the end, you have to rest now."

  "Oh Jin..." Smiling once again like how she used to do, like a warm hug that wrapped my coldness, thawing my madness and bringing back some sanity.

  Slumping and ceding her hatred, I delivered a clean chop into her pale neck, swiftly separating her head and body. Looking at her face, a sense of tranquility can be vaguely seen as her smile still lingers even beyond death.

  Ting!

  [You leveled up +1]

  With my senses back, I felt remorse that I decided not to eat the flesh of the fallen monster lying in front of me and just snag the leftover limbs of the monster and mine. I also tracked down its soul core hiding beneath the black goo, which is plastered by several dead eyes, assimilated in its chest. Its core is somewhat bigger than what I previously encountered, more or less like a pingpong ball glimming with reddish aura.

  [Soul Core (Mater Mala)]

  Rare Quality

  Qty: 1

  Description:

  By consuming this item, you will earn 500 experience and 150 points to the corresponding skill immediately. Subsequently, you'll be able to recover 1000 HP after consumption. You can also use this as a main component for equipment creation. A memory shell is still intact and can only be accessed when using this item as a supplementary material.

  "Memory shell? What's that?" I inquired the system but nothing happened, so I proceeded nonetheless.

  "I never had imagined feeding my own flesh and bones to upgrade my weapon, who knows what will happen." Contemplating in the corner, having a bad feeling rising up.

  [Opening: Bio-Forge]

  "Here goes nothing---" I proclaimed firmly as my gauntlet appeared accompanied by black gooey tentacles, made me sweat profusely in pain.

  The tentacle-like fingers quickly consumed the materials laying on the ground--limbs, meat, bones, skulls, scales and even the red flowers still on their pots, all gathered and absorbed through my gaping palm.

  The process ended after a 'ting!' rang loudly inside my head.

  [Upgrade Complete]

  [Void Terror Gauntlets Lvl 4]

  Rook-rank Bio-Gauntlets

  Rare Quality

  Atk: +150

  Str: +20

  Agi: +11

  Vit: +8

  Int: +15

  Def: +60

  Mor: -20

  Effects:

  ?Acid Spree - each attack is coated with a slimy film that can cause -15 acid splash damage and has a 15% chance to inflict acid DOT effect (2 HP damage per second).

  ?Spiderkin - you have the ability to stick around like a spider draining your mana by 2 per second. You can also shoot black webs infused with mana (15 mana per usage).

  My tired eyes widened by the outcome. This soared my stats to another level! I can definitely protect myself now--looking upon its vicious appearance with plated claws and pale red aura. Glancing to the left, my eyes catches the blinking notification regarding the 'memory shell' which I already forgotten.

  [Notice]

  [A memory shell is available, do you want to open it?]

  [Yes / No]

  ".....Yes"

  As I muttered the word, the world turned black in a blink of an eye. The feeling of floating into the void, like submerging deep in the ocean, my senses dulled. The coldness and emptiness that I solely carried, dragging me towards the fuzzy fragmented memories not of mine.

  A fleeting moment of my hand caressing a boy's head, cooking food in the kitchen and having fun laughing, preparing our meager breakfast in the dining table.

  Another hazy scene flashes as the day became night, robbing my vision, desperately reaching for my boy now lost in the darkness.

  Losing track of time, laying down flat in an unknown land a shadowy figure with red eyes showed up. Plunging its small hand towards my chest, a black goo burst forth from within clinging tightly as multitude of eyes opened, feeding me with despair and madness. I tried to reach out both of my hands, pleading for its mercy, but only met with a cold lash, my hands begone from me. A blaring slap tore my face half, I slumped in pain as my body slowly crumpled. Disfiguring and devolving, tears swelled my eyes looking at the figure whom I have cherished all my life.

  "Jin..."

  The last word I whispered as I took my final breath and the dim light in my eyes faded completely into the Void.