He took a step closer and crouched before Valentine.
"You see, I plan on wearing your heart as an accessory," he continued calmly, "I plan on delivering your head back to your king."
"But mostly importantly, let's see if the legend himself scream". Mundus's eyes lit up with excitement, an obvious triumph over Astheimoth as he watched the Captain struggle on the cold ground. "... I want to hear you scream".
Mundus exposed his canines.
But down there, Val's fingers twitched. His heart ached, he just couldn't allow defeat without putting up a good fight.
There was no way he was leaving this world after the promise he gave to his son. Not after he had told Hannah he was going to return safe and sound.
The betrayal stung, and his brothers were all dead, yet, he just couldn't give up. Not yet!
Not when Hezekiah still owed him an explanation. Only the thought of Hezekiah fueled a new wave of anger...
He gritted his teeth, his fingers trembling in rage, his eyes spilling out fresh batch of tears as he stared at Unguis Draconis just beyond his reach, half-buried beneath blood and grass.
Its blade glistened as though it was an ordinary weapon that didn't matter. Waiting for him to speak in his language.
An order commanded by a spoken word, yet, val said nothing.
Instead, he laughed. Spilling out blood in the process, with head faced down.
Laughing not because he was in a pathetic situation, laughing not because he had a certain plan that would suddenly deliver him from the hands of this entity.
No, no...
He was laughing because for the first time in his life, the urge to genuinely cause havoc burned from his guts unremorsefully.
For the first time in his life, he wanted to really take revenge! His eyes burned for revenge! His body craved revenge!
He chuckled like a mad man.
Suddenly, Mundus's words became hilarious.
Scream?
The monster wanted a scream? Haha...
Oh, he had screamed before though...
The day his father's head rolled across the stone like an unwanted chunk of beef.
He screamed when his mother's blood dripped into the floorboards while her guts scattered everywhere, completely exposed.
He screamed when his sister stopped breathing in his arms after being beaten mercilessly by soliders seven times bigger in size.
So, screaming?
Yeah... He had screamed.
But when had screaming ever changed a man's fate?
Intrigued by his sudden behavior, Mundus tilted his head with furrowed brows. "You laugh at death?" He questioned, watching in curiosity at the tiny man who seemed less bothered now.
He no longer smelled despair. It was just something else...
Slowly, Val's laughter dissipated as the tears in his eyes slid sideways into the soil.
"No...," He muttered, exposing his teeth that was covered in blood. "I laugh at how pathetic you suddenly look."
Mundus's furrowed... just slightly. It was the first time confusion flickered on his orbs. An emotional distraction that came just at the right time.
Because while he was busy getting confused, Unguis Draconis awakened.
He felt the tremble... The sudden quake out of nowhere.
It didn't come from him. It came from below.
Mundus's eyes trailed down to the metal vibrating fervently as faint blue veins of light appeared along its edge.
Instantly, He froze. His orbs glistening in fascination. "…Interesting." He watched the weapon as though staring at a toy. Still, he stood unbothered.
"Just wondering... Captain, did you suddenly acquire all of this bravery because of that... glowing metal?" Mundus asked in a mocking tone, directing his gaze to his armies behind, as series of deep laughter filled the battlefield.
Yet, Val remained silent.
"Look behind you, Captain. Your armies are but fallen ants, and you, as weak as a toddler". Mundus taunted. "Do you really think such an irrelevant needle could deliver you out of my hands?"
His voice echoed throughout the battlefield but aired as a muffle through Val's hearing.
None of the things he said made sense anymore.
Because the seeker sprawled on the cold ground was no longer on the same frequency as them. Something was happening to him.
Something the legends would call "The seeker's soul binding"
... Memories that weren't his collided with his DNA.
It was more like a vision of a thousand battles... A thousand wielders who had broken, screamed, surrendered themselves to rage.
What was happening? He thought, feeling the electrocution that slipped through every fiber in him.
His ears buzzed from the deafening whispers of over a thousand voices, screaming, speaking, crying, laughing as he shuddered in pain, with fingers trembling.
"... Make it stop... Gahh, hah... Make it stoppp". His words came out in whispers... Completely unreasonable that anyone who heard would mistake it for cries.
It made Mundus very satisfied.
"Yes, crying is the right thing to do, Captain". The sides of his mouth remained lifted. "... All those wasted words when you should've been begging for your life".
"Who knows? I would've spared you... If I didn't hate the look in your eyes".
Slowly, Mundus raised himself from the crouched position he settled in, standing tall on the battlefield. With a scoff of triumph, he faced his army of mindless beasts.
"Now, it would be said of me in the legends that I, Mundus, doom ringer of hell caused the so-called son of Verhemoth to surrender in tears".
Mundus declared, and his entire armies cheered in agreement.
"And I would say, the legends lied. The so-called son of Verhemoth possessed no such powers as they claimed, he..."
Mundus paused in his words. He couldn't even complete his words...
... He suddenly felt it.
The air...
... That smell.
Where was the despair?
He inhaled deeply in confusion, cocking his neck to the side. Every emotion he created dissipated gradually.
What was this?
Hope?
He furrowed fully for the first time.
And just as he turned around, behind him stood the captain of Astheimoth with his weapon of war on his grip.
Blue flames oozing from Unguis Draconis which had grown the same size as the man who held it.
Val's eyes were in blue flames.