The Loathsome Scapegoat C6
by berryChapter 6
At an even, unhurried pace, he walked toward the man chained to the wall.
For the briefest instant…
He hesitated.
Killing someone meant nothing to him anymore.
And the man bound before him had undoubtedly wandered into this place just as Terren once had, only to fail at pleasing his lord.
Still…
“Murder is the vilest act a human being can commit. Anyone who takes the life of their own kind has no right to live… nor even the right to die.”
Damn it.
A curse slipped from his lips.
It was ridiculous.
That he was still replaying those absurd words in his head.
Is Leopold Delua really that important?
In the end, he had died without even defeating a single dark mage.
Terren grabbed the man’s hair.
The prisoner writhed violently, making strange, desperate noises.
Tears streamed from his eyes.
The chains binding him rattled loudly as he struggled.
One glance was enough to tell what he was.
A criminal from the back alleys who had learned a little magic before finding his way here.
After all…
Only criminals ever entered this place.
And Leopold despised criminals.
Using that fact as a pitiful excuse to soothe his conscience…
Terren drove his dagger into the man’s neck.
Shhk!
Blood erupted like a fountain.
He clearly felt the blade sink into flesh.
Terren calmly watched the man’s pulse weaken…
Until it stopped altogether.
The vibrant life before him became nothing more than a lump of meat in an instant.
A tingling sensation spread through his fingertips.
Terren turned toward his lord—
The master of the Abyss.
“It has been done.”
“…”
Until now, his lord had barely acknowledged Terren’s existence.
Now…
A smile slowly appeared on his face.
The look that had regarded Terren as little more than an insignificant insect had vanished.
Only now…
Did he recognize Terren Meyer as a person.
Yuan had remained silently standing in the corner all this time.
Their lord glanced toward him thoughtfully.
He seemed to consider sending Yuan away…
Then decided against it.
Terren Meyer, who had spent ten years glued to his lord’s side, catering to every whim as his right-hand man…
Could easily guess what was going through his head.
A mocking smile tugged at his lips.
There was only one reason Yuan was staying.
His lord believed keeping Yuan here would make today’s newcomer suffer even more.
The next test had arrived.
“Kneel.”
Only those with souls so thoroughly corrupted that they could no longer be redeemed…
Could enter this place.
Most of them were hardened criminals.
Violent criminals were filthy by nature.
They never bowed to anyone.
His lord liked criminals.
But he despised the personalities that came with them.
The result…
Was this.
You had to be capable of murdering someone without hesitation the moment you were ordered.
Yet at the same time…
If commanded to kneel, you knelt.
If ordered to lick his feet…
You licked them.
Absolute obedience.
Terren dropped to one knee and lowered his head.
Silence descended once more.
He heard his lord give a satisfied hum.
“Good.”
“Now crawl to me.”
Terren obeyed without a word.
This time…
His lord looked genuinely surprised.
Leaning down from the stone platform himself, he grabbed Terren’s chin and forced his face upward.
His unnaturally pale complexion was overshadowed by a darkness every dark mage instinctively recognized.
“I like you.”
Yuan’s eyes widened in astonishment.
Their lord whispered softly,
“Show me your body.”
“Any part will do.”
Without realizing it, Yuan instinctively touched his own chest.
The scars of dark magic…
Intertwined with blade wounds…
Still covered his skin.
Even he—the favored disciple—had nearly died the first time they met, his chest split open alongside his robes.
Yet this newcomer…
To tell someone to expose a part of their body…
Was simply another way of saying,
“Choose where you wish to be cut.”
How could this situation possibly make sense?
Terren pulled back his sleeve and offered the opposite forearm—the one without any wounds.
His lord raised a finger.
The thick, black aura swirling around it rapidly expanded into the air.
Dark magic.
Terren bit down on his tongue hard enough to draw blood.
“Mgh…”
From his shoulder to below his elbow…
Agonizing pain spread as though his entire arm had been set ablaze.
A groan escaped him despite himself.
Where the dark magic passed…
His flesh turned a sickly gray, as though it were rotting.
Blood from his bitten tongue dripped from the corner of his mouth.
He clenched his teeth even harder.
Endure it.
If I faint from something like this…
How will I survive everything still to come?
His vision blurred.
The world turned yellow.
Tears streamed down his face against his will.
It had been a long time since he’d been struck by dark magic.
The feeling was strangely nostalgic.
I’d rather be cut down by Lloyd’s sword…
Condemning his own pitiful body as nausea rose in his throat…
Terren remained kneeling.
He simply endured.
How much time passed?
Gradually…
The pain subsided.
His vision slowly cleared.
Then—
A fresh, sharp pain shot through his arm.
Beside the spot struck by dark magic…
A long cut had been carved with a blade.
…The order’s wrong.
Normally…
You endured the knife wound first.
Only afterward were you granted the “blessing” of dark magic.
Still…
His lord must have valued his talent highly enough to play this little game.
Comforted by the fact that the worst pain had finally ended…
Terren tried to reassure himself.
His lord smiled brightly.
It was an expression he wore only when genuinely pleased.
“What is your name?”
“Terren… Meyer…”
His lord grasped Terren’s arm, silently inspected the wound, then released it.
“Congratulations.”
“From this day onward, you are one of the Abyss.”
“Follow Yuan and learn dark magic.”
“Then you will discover what you are meant to do.”
Terren lowered his head instinctively.
Both of his arms were practically useless.
Yet somehow…
He felt relieved.
One enormous task had finally been completed.
Perhaps the students won’t torment me quite as much after seeing me like this.
If I lose much more blood…
I really might die.
Terren spent the remainder of the night learning dark magic under Yuan’s guidance.
The wound inflicted by his lord truly was an honored wound.
Only by experiencing that lingering aura firsthand could one transform pure white mana into the thick, corrupted mana required for dark magic.
Terren Meyer mastered it with astonishing speed.
Yuan was left speechless once again.
Controlling the faint black aura dancing around his fingertips…
Terren finally left the Abyss.
He had killed only one person.
The dark energy within him remained weak.
Thin.
To become a powerful dark mage…
There was only one method.
Kill.
The more people you killed…
The stronger you became.
Once he had chosen to learn dark magic again in this life…
Becoming a serial killer had become inevitable.
Leaving the Abyss, Terren walked aimlessly back toward the Academy.
Only after reaching the pine forest did he check the nearby clock.
He wasn’t merely late anymore.
It was nearly lunchtime.
Without another thought…
He collapsed beneath a tree.
He needed to think about what came next.
But both forearms burned with unbearable pain, making concentration impossible.
He had stayed awake all night.
Lost an enormous amount of blood.
Lying on the dry earth, he stared blankly at the clouds drifting across the sky.
The pleasant warmth of the day settled over him.
Summoning the filthy, viscous mana outside his body, he manipulated it absentmindedly while forcing his exhausted mind to think.
Where should he find his next victim?
How could he prepare for the countless murders still waiting in the future?
Plans drifted endlessly through his thoughts.
Everything else belonged to the future.
Murder alone was an immediate problem.
Even during this period…
His lord had likely killed hundreds of people already.
Without exaggeration.
If Terren wanted any hope of dealing with that mad butcher…
He shouldn’t be lying here.
He should already be killing people.
His first thought was the battlefield.
But this was an age of peace.
Fifty years earlier, the previous king had signed peace treaties with neighboring nations, ending needless wars.
Besides…
Terren wasn’t nearly skilled enough with the sword to survive a battlefield.
If he openly used dark magic…
His lord would personally cut off his head.
Damn it…
His sleepless brain had become as heavy as lead.
His entire body felt like it was burning.
Terren Meyer was skipping class.
There would only be more absences like this in the future.
At this rate…
He might be expelled before graduation.
But he no longer had the strength to stand.
Basking in the warm sunlight…
Terren slowly drifted to sleep.
…
Several hours later…
Someone kicked him awake.