"What… what happened to you," she asked, sitting down. She shifted around, keeping her hands in her lap as she looked at him intently.
"I'm too weak. So I decided that I need to get stronger," Arthur told her.
"But that's not… Did you use steroids?"
"I did. I found a dealer in the locker room of a big gym, and I got some. It's a lot more expensive than I thought, though," he said.
"You're… you're going bald at what, 19? And your face… it wasn't super pretty before, but it's… your face is so red, it looks rotten and infected… no offense."
"None taken," he said calmly. Softly, he leaned back in his chair, finding the dimensions of his new body to be hard to get used to.
"I can only assume it got amplified by Dragon's Blood… if that's the case, then shouldn't that mean you'll die soon? Steroid use kills, you know…" she said.
"Maybe."
"How long would you even have? A month? Maybe two?"
"I don't know. If I'm unlucky, then maybe even a week. I truly don't know. It could be a month, or a week, or whatever."
She looked at him with fright, holding her hands up to her collar. "Why… Why are you doing this? I mean, you weren't looking so good when I found you… did something happen? No, that's a dumb question… um, what happened?"
"One of my friends was killed by them."
Each word he spoke was now cold. In fact, the steroids did deepen his vocal chords, like how they might with a woman. His voice was no longer annoying, but more normal now, at least.
"Them? The Assas family?"
"Yes. And it was all my fault, you know. I tried to protect her, I really did. I tried to save one of the only people who ever genuinely cared about me, and I failed."
"No! It's not your fault, it isn't!" She shouted. The concerned girl stood up behind the table and extended her hand.
"It's not your fault. It's theirs, it's their fault for doing what they did. And this isn't the right way to do things! You're giving up your life for revenge, that's not the right way to—"
"Lucy," he interjected. She stopped, and he looked up at her, that monstrous face of his scaring her slightly. "Thank you for your words. But they don't mean anything. They're lies, and I don't need to hear them."
"How's it a lie? I just saw you earlier today, you were normal, so I can't imagine you've used it that much. Listen, you can still turn back, you don't have to do this," she told him.
It seemed like yet another then-and-there decision.
"I don't care. If I don't do this, they'll just kill me because I'm weak anyways."
"But…"
She was unable to speak, trying to think of what to say before he continued.
"One more thing."
"Huh?"
"I don't want to just kill them. It won't stop at just the Assas family, or the Oppen family who joined hands with them. I want…"
He took a moment, wondering whether to truly tell her. Then, he spoke his mind.
"I want to destroy the entire system of dragons."
"What do you mean? You're just gonna kill every dragon or something?"
"Exactly. Or, do my best to."
She was shocked, taking her hand away before sitting back down.
"That's…" she paused. "That's so stupid! You can't do that, that's not how it works! Not only are you not strong enough—ah, no… that's just, no, you're a dragon too! I'm a dragon! Damien's a dragon as well! You can't just 'kill all dragons,' that doesn't make sense, it's exceedingly violent and it won't even fix anything!"
"Then I'll spare the 'good' dragons. I'll obviously die as a result of my abuse, so I won't have to worry."
"No, the whole thing is fundamentally dumb! What's your problem with the system, then? We can try to find a less-murdery solution!"
"They won't leave me alone. You understand that they'll never accept me. They just want to kill me, and I'll do as much as I can to damage them."
"That's… okay, they won't accept you. But… you'll die in a few months at best… so wouldn't it be better if…"
She refused to continue, not wanting to get Arthur into a riot. He seemed sad.
"Not you too…"
"No! I'm not just saying that cause I want you to die, but… this isn't for the greater good, even. Yes, dragons are violent, but you experience it differently. Yes, what they're doing is wrong, because they're trying to kill you over a mistake, but that doesn't mean that they're bad… no, I don't know what I'm saying right now, I just… please don't."
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's…"
Arthur turned his head. Lucy flinched at the sight, his sharp glare piercing her.
"—I'm going to do this. I want to destroy, or at least disrupt, a system that's only ever hated me. Why do you feel opposed to this?"
"Because it's just not right, not in my mind. Killing every single dragon outside of ones you deem 'good' isn't… it just doesn't sit well with me. Especially since it doesn't actually do anything of value… they've been raised to hate you, so it just… seems wrong."
"I understand."
"You do?"
"I do. But even though I do understand, even though I do weep when I kill, even though I hate myself and what I'm doing, I'll do it anyway. They hurt one of the only people I care about, I can't help but make sure that they regret it."
"I…"
She looked down, clenching her fists and sighing. She looked up at him, then immediately averted her eyes away from his face, which seemed so disgusting now. Really, it felt like a distorted, corrupt memory of what once was.
"Are you on my side, Lucy?"
"I… don't know. Whenever I think about taking either side, my heart feels bad," she truthfully told. Arthur exhaled slowly through the nose, seeming very tired.
"Very well then. Please, leave my dream. Come back to me once you've made your choice."
"Is it too late to beg?"
"Yeah. It is."
And so, she left the dream.
…
With that sleep, he got up and worked out. He worked out for a bit longer before healing up and resting to get back his stamina. Finally, he got up and checked the mirror.
In truth, he could undo the baldness and the acne on his body by using his healing. However, that would cost a bit of stamina, and the effect would only last for a few minutes before he returned to his monstrous state.
Arthur left the basement, seeing Moon right outside, walking to the front.
"Who the fuck are… that smell, that's you, Arthur? How the…" Moon wondered, before brushing past Arthur.
"I'm just here to get my stuff. If everyone's dead, what's the point in sticking around in this place? The only people I actually care about are dead, it's just you and that bastard."
"Hm. Can I have some of your blood? I'd like more, just as another option—"
"Shut up. Quit talking, bitch."
Arthur didn't take so kindly to that.
In the front of the mansion, the ring on Arthur's finger changed to that of a cutlass, which Arthur kept a tight grip of as he burst forward at Moon with speeds that surpassed his own expectations, as his legs moved stronger than before.
Arthur impaled Moon from the back with the cutlass, stabbing him through the stomach as he crashed into his body, flying through and breaking down the door. They landed on the ground, before Moon looked down at the impaling weapon.
"—Don't fucking talk to me like that!" Arthur cried out, ripping the weapon out of him as he brought it back into the air and began to hack away at Moon's body. Moon raised his arms to defend himself, and after two swings, one of his arms was split off of his body, falling down and touching his chest.
Arthur grunted and squealed as he continued to swing his sword at Moon with force, slicing apart and hacking off limbs. Moon screeched as he backed and crawled away, healing his wounds to continue scooting back, before having them cut off.
The first attacks would penetrate through the bone, leaving his arm at just a bit of flesh dangling it. Then, the second would completely rip it off, and he would have to heal it back again.
Arthur stomped onto Moon's chest, cracking his sternum as the ground shook and shattered, blowing objects away.
"I have the right to fucking speak and ask. But if you can't make yourself useful, or consent to it, then I'll just take it by force. First Lucy betrays me, and now this? Instead of being a normal person, you have the balls to sit there and call me a bitch? Fuck you guys, I don't need you. I don't need anyone, I can do it on my own. I'm gonna fucking die soon anyways, so who cares if I die? No one does! Who's gonna help me? No one. I'm all alone."
Arthur released his foot, before gathering the large amount of blood which were spraying from Moon's limbs. He formed it into a ring, and the cutlass shattered, reappearing on his right hand as well as a ring.
Now, both hands were armed with powerful weapons. Arthur left the mansion, leaving behind a mass of severed limbs.
'Why'd I go off and get angry all of a sudden? Of fucking course I get mad, it makes sense. I fucking hate my life, there's nothing to like or love about. From the moment of my birth I was born inferior, why was I ever so fucking retarded as to smile?'
"FUCK!"
Arthur stomped on the ground, shattering the stone and embedding his leg into the ground. He ripped it out and growled, walking forward.
'I just fucking ruin everything don't I? Naturally, it's as normal as breathing air. I'm gonna fucking die horribly and I want it. I deserve to die excruciatingly, I hope I get fucking ripped apart in this next fight. I fucking hate pain but I know I deserve it.'
He was actually sounding a lot like Pyro. Just like a 15 year old edgelord who just got rejected, so now he writes poems in the dark about the meaninglessness of life and how the world is awful.
He decided to go attack the Assas family to improve his Dragon Art even more, before going back to his dormroom. He retrieved his shotgun in the event that Hiein tried to intervene.
He flew to the Assas mansion. Due to the Scent, they were indeed aware that Arthur was coming. In fact, they were quite appreciative, though for different reasons.
…
The main reason for attacking the Assas family was not for revenge. Rather, it was seen as a means to an end, to make Arthur stronger by violating the Second Taboo.
The Second Taboo was that, upon devouring a member of the same blood as oneself to death, their own Dragon Art would get stronger.
As part of the "Self Devouring" dragon.
In fact, it was created by the Head Dragon of War, Oppen himself.