Demon Lord's Reincarnation

I was with the last pair—Jeremy and Eden—and was making them go through almost the same shit everyone else experienced, but the moment I knew Eden was hiding some raw shit inside was when she thought Jeremy fall from several stories as he tried to chase after me. But in actuality, he DID fall from several stories but he landed on several foams where Tatiana was already lying in wait.

In addition, the thud that followed after his fall was all thanks to Jude so let's just say I wasn't the only one that brought this up from her sister.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!"

Right as Eden cursed out loud and screamed in anger, he rushed straight to my direction, and let me tell you, a couple of laps of experience in this maze was already enough for her to memorize at least 70-80% of the terrain.

'Oh?'

But yeah, despite that great display, my body was reacting to the raw emotion she was letting out and it was akin to a caged bird finally having the chance to fly—but in the context that the bird we were talking about decided to break her own cage and fly.

It made me stop playing mind games with them and faced her with my own, employing a "full release" to clash with hers.

Obviously, I've refined mine over the years and I had more control over it which was totally different from Eden's which felt like the first time it happened to me, but yeah, losing rationality was one of the downsides to this "ability".

And since this was her first time, she ran straight at me, eager to claw my eyes out and break her wooden sword on me many times over before stabbing my abdominals with its jagged edges.

'I definitely looked like this the first fucking time it happened…'

The moment we were in striking distance, Eden leapt through the air and tried to smack me down while holding her wooden sword with two hands but I easily redirected it to the side with a simple flick of the wrist before striking her exposed torso and leg with my free hand. Discover stories with empire

But yeah, she didn't even wince from the precise taps to where it would hurt the most but instead, she used the momentum her body had gone through to dive in with her face to spin around with one foot on the floor to deliver a full body heel kick.

The air the came with it could definitely knock anybody out but it was contingent that it hits but it just unfortunately gave me a breeze as I took a half step to avoid in.

Contrary to how Chris suffered his defeat by overloading his brain with feints and whatnot by using multiple attacks—it might be different in the future for Eden—but currently at the moment, all her attacks were straight to the point, almost being downright obvious, because raw and unfiltered emotion doesn't deal with feints or trickery.

Sure, Eden's attacks—even the ones that followed after it—were much more precise and had more power over them but it still didn't bridge the gap of ability between me and her. It was that certain quote where it said mentioned that the person they were talking to had just begun their journey while the other was already on their way back.

Despite that, Eden still continued her rush without pause while I continued to receive her attacks one way or another.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Surprisingly enough, she had a lot in her tank as each strike that I either blocked or let pass through had enough force to break someone's head but with my experience, it'd only be a matter of time before she gassed out. Still, the last few seconds in her tank became explosive as she suddenly went up a notch while she was running on fumes.

She suddenly went a few inches lower before exploding from her legs and giving me three-four kicks in succession before sinking down again and aiming for my legs with a double-leg sweep.

However, the way she clutched her wooden sword so hard made me think she was just waiting for me to jump—but since she was the most promising of the bunch—I took the fucking bait and waited for what she would do next.

And obviously enough, I felt her killing intent surge as she aimed for the opening I gave her but it was at this moment I condensed my killing intent to just a few centimeters around my body before directing everything at her.

"HnGHhHKK!"

If my regular "spread" couldn't affect her, the condensed and directed one definitely will.

It only took a moment before she felt something in her throat and vomited on the spot, falling to her knees, and shaking all over. After that, Eden started to sob and wail in place as she was head down while on all fours, the memory of Jeremy resurfacing on her head after her blackout.

And yeah, as I tried to put my hands on her shoulder, she slapped it away before she tried to get some distance on me and it take me some major convincing that Jeremy's totally okay.

"YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU—"

"I didn't! It was all an act! He fell onto a bunch of foam—"

"I-I HEARD HIS BODY HIT THE FLOOR! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"That was June!"

"WHAT?!"

"I-I mean— June played the sound on the speakers!"

"WHAT?! SHE'S IN ON THIS TOO?! Y-YOU'RE NOT LYING, RIGHT?!"

"I'm not! I'm not! I'm telling you the truth!"

"S-So where's Jeremy?!"

"In a coffin—"

"WHAT?! YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T LYING!"

"EDEN! It's for Phase 2, don't worry! And besides, you passed with flying colors, you didn't even need Phase 2 or 3, you skip to the last Phase— I mean Phase 4…"

"W-Wut? I… I-I'm so… I… Tired…"

"Oh fuck…"

The moment Eden knew that everything was okay, I saw her get lightheaded before falling unconscious and I was able to catch her before her head hit the floor. Wiping the tears off her eyes and the sweat off her body, Tatiana eventually came in looking like she wanted to ask what we'd do.

"You heard what I said, right?"

Tatiana nodded, "We did. So it's just the rest, now?"

"Yeah."

"..."

"Hmm? Is there something else?"

"You're really sure about Phase 2?"

"Of course, we'll monitor everyone. It's just like this thing, it has two sides to it but what's important is to make the experience feel real and genuine. They'd have to experience the actual feeling of death and every other raw emotion known to man and release it at once. Then…"

"Then?"

I looked back at Eden's sleeping face, "We'll have something like this."

Tatiana chuckled, "So she's a better pick than Seb?"

"Currently? Yeah. But we'll see up until the end. Still, Eden crossed the threshold, she's miles ahead of everyone else."

"Heh. Is that so? Even me?"

"Pfft… Want to take her place in the coffin? Gack!"

"HAH! SERVES YOU RIGHT!"

All of a sudden, Eden sprang up from lying in my arms and hit my chin with his head—and everything would've been over if I bit my tongue and bled out. But yeah, I lightly headbutted her in revenge before properly explaining to her what was going on and she actually couldn't believe she was the forerunner of this class.

"R-Really?! I-I was barely in the middle of the pack in the other challenges! I-I didn't even know what I did here exactly!"

"Let's just say you finally dipped your toes in your black pool of consciousness—"

"Wut? Is that even a thing?"

I scratched the side of my cheek, "I mean— That's how I imagine it. You really have no idea what happened before?"

"Umm… After I— Jeremy… He— After I saw him fall from that height I… I just… I just b-blacked out and I-I kept seeing glimpses of you for some r-reason? A-Am I c-catching feelings weirdly or something?"

"Pfft! I didn't expect that at all!" Tatiana cackled as she sat down on Eden's supposed coffin.

I waved her off, "It's because you fought me for a good five minutes."

"FIVE MINUTES?! AGAINST YOU?! I CAN'T EVEN LAST A MINUTE AGAINST HER! YOU— HOW?!"

"Let's just say you unlocked something hidden deep within you and—"

Eden had to cut me off looking like she was holding her laughter, "Pfft… I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to laugh! I-I— What you're saying feels like one of those emo songs I used to listen with June! N-Not that there's anything wrong with them or anything it's just…"

"..."

"S-Sky?"

'I'm still a fucking edgelord, huh? Dammit… It is what it is…'

I shook my head before I replied, "It might sound kind of cringe but it is what it is.

I don't really have a correct or normal-sounding term for what you unlocked in your head but while the rest of them will try to do what you just did, you're gonna start to learn— no, you're gonna start having more experiences with it, get you really~ familiar with the sensations, before you try to learn what works for you so could control it.

Keeping conscious while it's happening is your first goal."

"Oh."

"Any questions about it, at least?"

"Umm… H-How do I— Y-You know… How do I experience it again? A-And how do I keep conscious? I barely even remember anything."

"Ah…. I mean— It's just us three here so what are the important things you thought about when I asked you to think of them?"