# Chapter 30: A Monster x Human

  The Coliseum, once a stage for farce and forced laughter, was now an altar of blood and silence. Dense smoke and the metallic scent of death hung over the arena, where the carnage had ceased. Hiroshi, enveloped in his draconic aura, moved with the cold precision of a reaper, eliminating Laiver's last soldiers. He no longer saw men; he saw demons, laughing and reveling in the massacre of innocents. The question echoed in his mind, a cracked bell: *If Zan's generals and soldiers are like this, what must Zan himself be?*

  He eliminated each one, some with the blade of the **Karius Sword** slicing off heads with a clean strike, others with the brute force of his scale-covered body. But what terrified him was not the death he caused, but the joy he saw in the soldiers' eyes, even as they died. They laughed, feeling one last, macabre pleasure in watching their comrades fall, in the final act of their loyalty to chaos.

  In minutes, the arena was clear, save for a single monster. Laiver, the Barbarian, was wounded, but in a frenzy. His pupils were red, dried blood caked on his hands and mouth, his body surrounded by human remains. He was the very image of the beast Hiroshi feared becoming.

  Hiroshi stopped a few feet away, the **Karius Sword** dripping blood that was not his own.

  "Why do you do this? Is this your people?" Hiroshi questioned, his voice hoarse, almost a whisper lost in the coliseum's echo.

  Laiver, with a smile that was more like an open wound, chewed on a piece of human flesh. He looked at Hiroshi, and his eyes, despite the desire and fear they reflected, held a disturbing naturalness.

  "I just want to watch the circus burn."

  Hiroshi's body trembled. His eyes could not remain fixed. The naturalness with which Laiver uttered the phrase, as if it were the most trivial of truths, was more terrifying than any roar.

  "Scoundrel! Damned Demon!"

  "That's it! Scream more! I love those compliments!" Laiver bellowed, his frantic laughter mixing with the sound of dripping blood.

  Hiroshi's wrath was a palpable force. A blue and black energy emanated from the **Karius Sword**, and a frantic fury screamed in his chest. His body was entirely covered in black scales, and the shadow of a black Dragon with red eyes formed behind him, making the atmosphere oppressive.

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  "I'm the monster here," Laiver said, with a sickening irony, upon seeing Hiroshi's aura.

  Hiroshi did not touch the ground. His feet glided, and he floated behind Laiver. With a dry kick, the Barbarian's head slammed against the ground. Without time to think, without rest, Hiroshi descended, driving both feet into his head. Blood splattered, but Laiver's laughter continued to echo. He laughed at his own end, his skull being slowly crushed.

  "In the end, the world will change you, Hiroshi. Now we are the same," were Laiver's last words before his skull was crushed under the draconic boot.

  Hiroshi roared, a cry that was not of victory, but of pain. He threw the **Karius Sword** away and knelt over the Barbarian's body, punching the head that no longer existed. Blood covered his face and body, his clothes had changed color.

  His teeth ground, his eyes were cold as snow, his face pale, and his hands trembled.

  "Help..." Hiroshi whispered, his voice weak. "I want to leave this world... Please... someone help me."

  The despair of knowing he was turning into a monster frightened him more than any enemy. He was just an archaeologist in Japan, a devalued profession, a loser. He had no women, no money, he was a disgrace to his family. And now, he was in an unknown world, watching people who cared for him die, and turning into a monster.

  "My God, I just wanted to be a loser," he said, his voice weak and powerless. He wanted his old life back.

  He felt a warmth, a black fabric, the scent of blackberry and cherry. Black hair touched his face. It was Zark. She hugged him with all the strength she could muster.

  "The children are safe."

  That was the phrase that broke Hiroshi. He collapsed into tears, his psyche shattered, his emotions destroyed. He just wanted someone by his side.

  "I'm here, I'll always be here, Hiroshi. I told you that good people in this world are a fairy tale, they don't exist," Zark whispered, hugging him even tighter. "No matter which path you take, I will be here with you, because I love this side of you."

  Zark looked into Hiroshi's eyes and saw him destroyed, shaken. His eyes could barely stay open, his face was covered in blood. Zark kissed him, and Hiroshi simply accepted. Love comes in many forms, and in that moment, it was what he needed most.

  ***

  **END OF CHAPTER 30**

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