Edward quickly removed his clothes before the transformation was complete and threw them to the side.
Walking into the same alley as that man, he spotted him easily and didn’t waste any more time before attacking, worried the other might leave and he would miss them.
With incredible agility, Edward started sprinting towards the man. The alcohol in his system, combined with the level difference meant that he had no chance from the start and, before he could realize what was going on, he felt a sharp pain on one of his legs.
Edward has bitten into one of his legs, crushing it completely in his mouth. The man tried to scream, but just as he was about to, a ball of water covered his face, making him unable to let out a single sound.
Edward quickly used water blades to cut the guys other leg off so he wouldn’t be able to run away. Once he was done, he canceled his wolf form skill and the water bubble chocking the man, blocked his mouth with one hand so he wouldn’t be able to scream before whispering into his ear.
“I should devour your soul completely and make sure you never get the chance to reincarnate again for what you did at Violet Flower Inn, but I’m a nice person so I won’t do that. I will be satisfied as long as I get to torture you to my heart content in this one.”
The man’s eyes bulged and he wanted to fight back, but he stood no chance. The level difference between him and Edward was so large that he was not even able to move a single muscle under his hold.
Being sure the man was completely immobilized by breaking the bones in both of his hands, Edward plastered a cruel smile on his face and started his torture.
Ten minutes later, Edward stood up inside the dark alley with his entire body covered in blood from head to toe. Using a water ball, he cleaned himself and looked down at the mangled body laying dead at his feet, eyes completely black, devoid of any emotion.
“One down, two to go.” He mumbled as he turned around and headed towards the place he left his clothes.
[Edward…] Fenrir’s voice sounded from his arm, worry obvious in her voice.
“I’m fine. That bastard deserved everything.” Said Edward in a cold tone, cutting her off before she could say another word.
Getting dressed, he quickly rushed back towards the brothel he left Kara at. Finding her resting with her back against the same pole, a cranky look on her face, he moved next to her and said simply: “It’s done.”
Kara looked at him for a second before turning her eyes back on the brothel entrance with a nod.
It took over an hour until two men walked out supporting each other. Edward actually recognized one of them as the man he got into an argument with when he came to collect money from Violet.
“Are those two the ones?” asked Edward, his eyes fixed on the one he already knew.
“Yes.” Replied Kara as she turned towards Edward with a curious expression: “Do you know them already?”
“Had a small fight with one of them. I’m going.”
“Wait. I’m coming too. I don’t want to spend a second more than necessary in this place.”
Edward nodded with an indifferent expression and started following after the drunk men. The opportunity to attack presented itself this time as one of the men dragged the other to pee in the dark shadow of the city wall, close to the residential district. Edward, not minding Kara’s presence, threw his tunic to the side together with his underwear and immediately turned into his wolf form.
Kara blushed slightly but didn’t say anything as she grabbed her bow, only to stop when Edward growled slightly at her. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, thinking he just wanted to vent, and placed the bow on her back once more.
Seeing she understood his intention, Edward stayed close to the walls and, as he reached a distance of two feet away from the two without getting noticed, he blocked their mouths with two water balls, and used a series of water blades to cut all four of their legs in an instant, one of the blades even slicing the pissing guy’s tool.
Kara, who was watching the scene from the distance, cringed in pain and wondered if Edward did it intentionally.
Edward, after making sure they couldn’t escape, he canceled his wolf form, exposing his face to them as he started the torture one again.
Kara in the distance, noticing the cruel torture Edward was delivering to them, frowned and started approaching as well. As she got close enough, she said: “That’s enough Edward. Kill them and let’s go.”
Edward turned towards her with pure black eyes and a hungry look as he said: “My prey, back off.”
Kara frowned even more and said: “What the hell is wrong with you? You got your revenge. Let’s put them out of their misery and go home.”
Seeing that Edward actually ignored her words, planning to continue torturing them, Kara grabbed her bow from the back and shot an arrow at the water blade Edward just manifested.
Edward also got enraged by her intervening and turned back as his mana started gathering in the space around him.
“What you want to fight now? You got a little stronger now and think you can actually go against me?” said Kara with a displeased expression, but Edward once more ignored her words as he turned towards the helpless men on the ground.
Kara destroyed one more of his water blades and this time, surprising Kara, Edward morphed and turned towards her, growling menacingly.
“Something’s not right with you.” Said Kara, placing three arrows on her bow string before launching one towards Edward and the other two towards the men’s foreheads.
Edward dodged the arrow coming for him and before he realized her plan, he was already mid jumping back. With nothing to do, he could only watch as the two arrows ended the two men on the ground’s lives.
Seeing them dead, Edward turned his eyes on Kara, a conflicted look inside them. Kara didn’t know what to expect and summoned another arrow, ready to fight back if Edward were to attack in his rage.
Edward didn’t move his eyes from her for a good while, not making a move, the same conflicting look in his eyes before growling slightly and rushing past her. He grabbed his clothes with his mouth and ran off into the distance.
Kara let out a sigh of relief seeing that Edward didn’t attack her, placed her bow on her back and started walking towards her house, “What happened to moving forward? I can only see you looking back…”
Edward ran quite a distance away, moving swiftly between the city’s shadows, before turning back to human form in a quiet alley.
Looking at his bloodstained hands, he sighed and mumbled: “What is wrong with me?”. Only he knew how close he was to attack Kara.
[You lost yourself to your rage once more…]
You are reading story Curse of the Mad Wolf at novel35.com
“But.. I don’t understand…”
[It might be the curse affecting you.]
“You said that damage to my soul was not that big…”
[It really isn’t.. It’s just… you also don’t have a good control over your emotions…]
“I still don’t understand.”
[Rage appears to be a trigger. The more you give into it the more the curse will affect you..]
“Sigh.. This curse… like things were not horrible enough.”
[I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it’s not entirely the curse’s fault. You need to learn to control yourself better…]
Edward sighed and washed up, knowing full well that Fenrir’s words were the truth. He was conscious the whole time, but he felt a need, like an addiction, to hurt those men. The more he hurt them the better he felt. Now that they were dead, he was left only feeling empty, none of the joy or relief he was expecting to feel.
After getting dressed, he started running through the night streets towards the place he killed the two men, planning to apologize to Kara.
As he reached there and didn’t find her, he wasn’t ready to leave things like this and started running in the direction of Kara’s house.
As he was getting quite close to her house, he spotted a thin figure wearing a black cloak over her head walking though the empty street. Recognizing her as Kara, he ran up to her and said: “Wait up.”
Hearing a voice from the back, Kara turned around and looked indifferently at Edward as she asked: “What do you want now? Coming here to attack me at last?”
“No.” Said Edward as he stopped a distance away and bowed low as he said: “I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. I lost myself in rage and… I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for it.”
Kara’s indifferent expression softened a bit as she asked: “Why did you go so far? Why couldn’t you just kill them and be done with it? Can you tell me?”
Edward looked at his hands and said in a soft tone: “I don’t know. It felt good. The more I hurt them, the less miserable I felt…”
Kara sighed and said: “Be careful. That is probably the same way they felt as they beat all those people unable to fight back. Don’t end up like them Edward… it would be a shame..”. As her words ended, she turned once more and started walking on her way again.
Edward stood frozen in place, her words resounding on repeat through his head.
‘She is right.. When did I go from seeking happiness by helping others to getting it by hurting them…’
He remembered the time he was just a little kid back on earth, when he would be praised whenever he helped someone, even with insignificant things like carrying a bag, and would get a sense of accomplishment that would last him for at least a day.
‘It all started from me wishing to help Violet and stop her suffering… how did I end rejoicing in torturing others…’
‘Kara is right.. I could have just killed them… it was enough…’
‘At this point, I can’t even say I did it for her… it was all for me..’
Edward fell to his knees, and raised his head up, eyes wide open as he took in the sight of the clear sky filled with stars.
“Fenrir, I know I am a selfish idiot, controlled by my emotions, letting myself run head first into dumb situations, always ending up picking the worst choice, screwing up everything good going in my life then crying in self pity as I get left alone… I don’t want it anymore. I thought this life was my second chance but somehow I keep screwing it up as well. Please stop me… please.” Edward hang his head low and started tearing up as he started begging Fenrir, not really sure what he wanted himself, but Fenrir was the only one he felt could understand him and maybe even, somehow, help him.
[I can’t live your life for you Edward and I’m not the best choice when it comes to giving advice either…]
Edward kept sobbing silently, pouring out maybe years of bottled up feelings. Once he felt he had no more tears to cry, hours have already passed and it was close to morning. Slowly standing up, he used a water spell to wipe the dried tear marks on his cheeks.
Turning in the direction of Kara’s house, he mumbled a soft but heartfelt thank you as he turned around and started walking towards Violet’s inn.
A pair of clear eyes watched him through the entire night from atop a high branch, a small smile appearing on her lips as a soft thank you drifted into her eyes through a small gust of wind.
The sound of footsteps came next from behind Kara followed by Faelyn’s voice: “He’s quite a good kid all in all. He only needs to break apart all those anchors holding him down…”
Kara nodded and turned towards Farlyn as she asked: “Did you take care of it?”
Faelyn nodded: “Yes. The traces have been wiped. The Swarm will not suspect a thing.”
“Good. What about the other thing?”
“I can’t find anything about where he came from. It’s like he appeared out of nowhere. He even registered his name at the same time he appeared in the city.”
Kara nodded and stood up before starting to walk back inside: “Good work, Faelyn.”
“Thank you, your… Kara.” Replied Faelyn as he bowed slightly towards the retreating Kara.
Once he was left alone on the tree, he moved his eyes in the direction Edward left in and mumbled with a sigh: “Troubled times are coming kid. Let’s hope you can make it..”