-Spurt!

"ku, ku, ku, Peekaboo"

Peeking from the side of Viscount Avelon's face, a demon with a twisted smile on his face appeared.

Black blood spilled on the ground as Viscount Avelon found himself unable to move.

Casually looking at Viscount Avelon next to him, Everblood teased.

"Am I intruding?"

"Kh-how?"

-Spurt!

Smiling widely as he looked at Viscount Avelon's shocked face, Everblood retrieved his hand back as a black orb that pulsated a black hue appeared in his hand. If one took a closer look at the black orb, as it rested in Everblood's hands, it slowly lost its hue as threads of demonic energy were steadily moving towards Everblood's body.

"Pfff...y-you"

Staring at the orb before him, Everblood licked his lips as he muttered.

"Well...with this I should be able to rank up

The orb that was in Everblood's hands was Viscount Avelon's demon core.

Aside from devil fruits, and regular training, there was another way demons could use to increase their strength.

...and that was through the consumption of demon cores.

By consuming a higher-ranked demon's core, demons could improve their bloodlines and thus raise their strength.

However, this was a taboo practice amongst the demons as it was equivalent to cannibalism.

If a demon was ever caught killing another demon for the sake of their core, they would immediately be hunted down by the other demons and regarded as traitors.

If such practice was allowed, then most demons would kill each other threatening their population as a whole.

...but Everblood didn't care.

His goals had changed.

No longer did he care for the demons, no longer did he care about what they thought of him or what their plans were...

His only goal at the moment was one person and one person only.

...unless that person tasted true despair, Everblood would stop at nothing regardless of his means to achieve his goal.

He had gone rogue.

"Kh...."

Dully looking at Everblood as he laid on the floor motionless, with the last remaining energy he could muster, Viscount Avalon opened his mouth as he tried to say something.

"phfff"

Unfortunately, the only thing that came out as soon as he opened his mouth was black blood as it spilled all over the ground.

Turning his attention away from the core in his hand, Everblood leaned his ear closer towards Viscount Avalon's mouth.

"hm? You have something to say. Last words perhaps?"

Struggling with all his might as his body rapidly shrank, Viscount Avelon muttered.

"W-hy?"

Standing up, Everblood smiled.

"Why? Well, you are after all the demon that has placed the curse on the dear parents of someone who I hold very dear to my heart, how could I not follow you when I noticed that something happened to you?"

With Viscount Avelon being the one that placed a curse on Ren's parents, Everblood naturally paid close attention to him, borderline stalked him.

...and as soon as he was alerted about the fact that something had gone wrong with Viscount Avelon, Everblood dropped everything that he was doing as he followed him around.

Although he wasn't aware of what was happening, how could he possibly let go of the opportunity before him?

Noticing Viscount Avelon's erratic aura, Everblood knew that following him would bring him a frutious opportunity.

...and he was right.

With the demon core in his hand, he was now one step away from reaching the Viscount rank.

Staring at Marquess Avelon whose life force was quickly getting drained by the second, playing with the said core in his hand, Everblood's tone became serious.

"You laid your hands on something that you should've never have touched...had you not touched them, you would've never been in this situati-"

"khhaa-!"

Cutting Everblood midsentence, Viscount Avelon's body suddenly spasmed as his eyes suddenly became white. Letting out a pained scream, Viscount Avelon's body suddenly froze as he took one last big desperate breath of air.

"kuuuu...."

He had died.

Staring at Viscount Avelon's dead body and then proceeding to look back at the core in his hand, covering his mouth as his body trembled, Everblood chuckled.

"ku, ku, ku, what a delightful opportunity that you have presented me Ren..."

Although he wasn't fully aware of what had happened, Everblood had a faint feeling that Ren was the one responsible for this mess.

After all, he was the only one that was aware of his parent's curse. Who else aside from him could be responsible for this?

With him being a polite demon, he naturally had to thank him.

Just thinking along those lines made him uncontrollably laugh.

What a truly delightful gift.

"kukuku, hahahaha"

-Rustle!

"hm?"

As he was laughing, hearing a rustling sound coming from the corner of the room, Everblood turned his head towards the direction of where the sound was coming from and his eyes soon paused on the figure of a youth in the distance.

With disheveled hair and a panicked face, Matthew pointed towards Everblood as he flusteredly shouted.

"Y-you, who are you?"

Staring at Matthew in the distance, putting the core away, the smile on Everblood's face deepened.

Raising both of his hands in the air, Everblood casually said.

"Ah, you must be young Matthew, I've been wanting to meet you since a long time ago, I apologize for my tardiness"

Taken aback, Matthew pointed towards himself.

"M-me? How do you know me?"

Smiling, Everblood tilted his head.

"But of course I know you..after all, we share a common acquaintance, how could I not know you?"

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Matthew muttered

"Are you perhaps referring to Ren...?"

It wasn't hard for Matthew to be able to infer who the common acquaintance Everblood was referring to.

...after all, he had managed to overhear Everblood speaking his name from where he was. Even if he didn't mention his name, Matthew would've figured it out from all of the clues that Everblood left behind as he talked, like how he mentioned 'his parents' and how he shouldn't have touched them.

Staring at Matthew, Everblood laughed.

"haha, it seems like you aren't that stupid"

Staring at Viscount Avelon's corpse beneath him, Everblood pointed at it and asked.

"...how about you leave this old foggy and sign a contract with me eh?"

Taken aback, Matthew weakly asked.

"A contract...with you?"

Smiling, Everblood tempted, "Well how about it? don't you want to take revenge on the person responsible for all of this?"

"Revenge?"

"Yeah, take revenge on the one that caused you to fall this low. If you work with me, I'll show you the grandest of spectacles...what do you think?"

"...Revenge on Ren?"

Yes...

Now that he thought about it, none of this would've happened if not for Ren.

Had Ren not found a way to cure his parents he would've still comfortably been relaxing in the hotel room enjoying his new life...

Yet, now, because of what happened he had lost everything.

With Viscount Avelon dead and his contract now gone, Matthew knew that he would soon find his body slowly rot as a consequence.

With Viscount Avelon forcefully making him digest pills and feeding him devil fruits that contained demonic energy, Matthew knew that he could no longer live as a regular human-like before.

...without the contract, he would be a fugitive and be forced to hide like a rat. He could no longer live the life that he was living right now.

He didn't want this!

Everything that he worked so hard for just got ruined because of one man.

Gnashing his teeth, Matthew hatefully muttered.

"Ren..."

Seeing Matthew's current state of mind, Everblood smiled.

"You've got to make this quick, by now someone must've noticed that something was wrong...after all, this idiot here came straight through the window"

Staring at Everblood with red eyes, Matthew slowly muttered.

"Okay, I agree..."

Hearing Matthew's response, smiling widely, Everblood clapped his hands lightly.

"Congratulations Matthew, a lot of fun will await us in the future..."

Just as Everblood was about to hand Matthew a contract, sensing something, he looked in the direction of the door with pity as his body slowly melted with the environment.

-Fwua!

"ah, it seems like someone is coming..."

-Bang!

Not long after, with a large bang, an elderly man urgently walked into the room as he frantically looked for Matthew.

"Matthew! What's happening? I heard the sound of glass breaking. I've talked to the hotel security and they will be here in five minutes"

Looking towards the direction of the door, Mathew soon exclaimed.

"Dad!"

Glancing around the room, a look of shock appeared on Matthew's father's face as his eyes remained fixed on the black humanoid creature that was on the floor.

"What's going on here? What is a demon doing on the floor!? Did you kill it?"

Calmly staring at his father as his eyes flashed, Matthew smiled as he nodded.

"Yes, I did"

Opening his eyes wide, Matthew's father exclaimed.

"You killed a demon?! That's my son!"

Taking out his phone and turning around, Matthew's father quickly tried to dial a number as he moved frantically around the room.

"Where is my phone? I've gotta call the media, the press, and everybody. I have to let them know that my son killed a demon. Our guild's fame will skyrocket and so will Mat-Pfffff"

-Spurt!

Just as he was about to make a call, out of nowhere, red blood spilled on the ground as Matthew's father opened his eyes wide. Weakly turning his head to the side, the phone in his hand dropped as he dumbfoundedly muttered.

"M-matthew!?"

-Spurt!

Smiling, Matthew pulled his hand away from his father's body as blood splattered all over the floor.

Caressing his father's head, Matthew gently laid him down on the ground as he softly said.

"Sorry dad...I really wanted to stay with you a bit longer but I really had no choice"

With his eyes wide open, Matthews's father, Bernard Bartley and guild master of a gold-graded guild, <C-> ranked hero, looked at his son in shock as he weakly muttered.

"W-why!?"

Hearing his father's question, the smile on Matthew's face disappeared as his face twisted savagely.

"Why you ask?!"

"Did you just ask me why!"

Looking towards the ceiling, Matthew laughed out loud as he proceed to look back at his father.

"Hahaha, how pathetic. To think that you don't even know your own wrongdoings? Do you think I wouldn't know why mom killed herself?"

Pausing for a second, Matthew grabbed his father by the collar as he shouted.

"You think I wouldn't know!"

Weakly looking at his son who was shouting at him maniacally, Bernard weakly muttered.

"khh...what are you talking about?"

Glaring at him, Matthew's voice raised a few pitches.

"Don't feign ignorance with me!"

"She killed herself because of you! Mom killed herself because of you!"

"Ever since young you've done nothing but instill your ideals to me, countless times you've beaten me and mom, yet, I never fought back. Why? Because mom was with me, my young self was somehow able to get through your harsh beatings and scoldings...but...but, you killed her! Because of you I was forced to betray the ones that I held dear to my heart just so that I could kill you in the most pathetic and humiliating way!"

Grabbing his father by both collars once again and dragging his father's face towards his, Matthew shouted as spit flew everywhere.

"How dare you!!!"

"You are the cause of everything, this is because of you and your stupid pride. I am the monster that you have created, I am your sin! I am the creature that your greed and pride has created! I am the reason for your death!"

Staring at Matthew who had lost all sense of reason, Bernard weakly muttered.

"I-im sorry Matthew"

...seeing the state of his son, Bernard could only apologize.

Listening to what his son was saying, he knew that everything was his fault.

...he knew that this was a result of his greed.

Although Matthew may have not noticed, a year after his wife's suicide, Bernard realized how lonely it was at the top.

He missed his wife's cooked meals.

He missed her beautiful smile that she would direct to him despite how harsh he was on her.

...he missed her.

It was only after a year that he realized his mistake and he broke down. He realized how much of a scum he was.

He tried to make amends for it.

Although he knew that what he did would never make amends for what he had done, he at least wanted to treat Matthew better.

He stopped forcing his ideals on Matthew and stopped beating him and scolding him like he used to before. He tried to shower him with as many gifts as possible.

...but before he knew it Matthew changed.

Matthew became more obedient and more excellent, he started excelling in everything, and naturally, Bernard was extremely proud.

Without realizing it, he had changed into his ideal version of what he wanted Matthew to be.

He thought that Matthew had finally accepted him and forgiven him for his sins...

...however, as he lay on the cold floor staring at Matthew's who was glaring daggers at him with pure hatred written on his face, Bernard knew that he had been wrong this whole time.

With every breath he took, Bernard could feel his consciousness slowly becoming fainter and fainter.

As he slowly found his life draining away from his body, Bernard knew that he was merely paying for his sin.

This was the price he had to pay for being too greedy.

As Bernard's consciousness was on the verge of extinguishing, taking one last look at Matthew he worded with his mouth.

'I'm sorry and I love you'

Shortly after, his heart stopped as his body rested on a massive pool of blood.

"huuu..."

Feeling his father's heart-stopping, letting go of him, Matthew exhaled. Nodding his head, Matthew gently caressed his father's cheeks as he softly said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too...I'm sorry for the fact that I couldn't have made you suffer more"

-Spurt!

Slashing his hand upwards, Barnard's head detached from his body as Matthew stood up and spat.

"Rot in hell, you bastard"

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

Sitting on the red sofa of the room, with his legs crossed, Everblood continuously clapped his hands as an amused look appeared on his face.

"Ku ku ku, Even though I wanted to leave, how could I possibly leave when I am being presented with such a beautiful display of raw emotions...I liked it very much. Bravo!"

Closing his eyes, Matthew extended his hand in Everblood's direction and exhaled.

"Huu...give it to me"

Raising his brows, Everblood teased.

"Oh my, someone is hasty"

Glancing towards the door, Matthew frowned.

"Didn't you say that hotel security was coming?"

"Mhm, they are coming...but before they arrive someone else will be coming"

Staring at Everblood in confusion, Matthew asked.

"Someone else?"

Smiling widely, Everblood nodded his head.

"Yeah, a dear friend of ours at that"

Realizing what Everblood was hinting at, Matthew asked.

"Could you be talking about..."

Smiling, neither agreeing nor denying, Everblood stared at the door in the distance as his figure once again melted with the background of the room. Before he disappeared his voice traveled into Matthew's ears.

"...our dear guest is going to be here in a minute, we shouldn't be leaving without leaving behind a gift for him, no?"

Staring at the corpses on the floor, Matthew smiled.

"Yeah..."