Shadow Monarch: Heroines Could Hear My Thoughts?!

Chapter 48- As Dark As His Shadows

Arthur struggled greatly in Rin's grasp as he tried to release himself. He was already starting to feel suffocated with each passing second with him being in the air. The hard grip on his jaw made his teeth clench tightly.

'What is wrong with this fucker?!' He thought with a distressed look. Then, his gaze shifted to the two friends he had with him.

It didn't take a genius to understand what he meant with that glance. So, they shook away the surprise and rushed to help their friend.

"Stay there, insects," Rin muttered as he used his shadow manipulation to freeze both of them in their place. He had made sure to check whether they were really strong or not but it turned out that he was stronger than them.

So, with a simple thought, the two were frozen in their place, he could see the horror in their eyes as they tried to move.

*Swish* *Swish*

With a simple kick, he sent both of them flying in the air before smashing against the other side of the balcony.

'H-hah?' Arthur couldn't believe his eyes.

His two friends were infamous E-Rank awakeners. They were considered great talents even for their age and could easily overpower 90% of the people their age. So, the fact that Rin was able to toy with them like that made him feel his chest tighten and his heartbeat increase exponentially.

His struggles increased as he started punching Rin's arm with his full strength. Hell, he even imbued mana into his punches so the strength of these hits could easily break a normal's person's bones.

"Tell me one thing." Rin finally said something in a chill tone.

"Release me, fucker!! Release me now!!" He shouted.

"How many times did you try to put your hands on Aria?"

Looking deeply into his eyes, Arthur's struggles stopped for a good 3 seconds. Inside his two purple irises was a deep abyss. He had never felt anything remotely close to what he felt at that moment staring at the boy's calm eyes.

'He's…not normal.' Arthur's face became as white as a sheet of paper and sweat dripped from his forehead profusely.

The cruelty he saw in those eyes was so horrible that he felt his lungs emptying from the air at once. Arthur had seen demons before as he did visit slave merchants before. He saw all kinds of chilling gazes and bone-deep hatred from these demons. But, in front of him, there was evil even worse than that of demons themselves.

"Answer me," Rin said as he shook Arthur a few times like a useless doll getting played with by an angry child.

"N-No, LET ME FUCKING GO!!!" Arthur screeched loudly.

'He isn't speaking. I guess I have no other choice.' Rin thought to himself as he looked at his hand.

For some reason, a thought crossed his mind that he wanted to try. At that moment, his mind felt clear yet shrouded, as if he was getting controlled by something yet also having full control over himself. A feeling of contrast that never occurred to him before. However, he didn't feel any discomfort about it as his sole goal now was to torture the human in front of him.

Without hesitation, he started executing the idea as it was realized in his head. A part of his shadow started moving and creeping up his leg.

Arthur watched this scene in pure terror. He still didn't understand what kind of powers Rin possessed for him to do everything like this.

The shadow reached his hand and then started morphing into another shape. Soon, the black shadow turned into a rectangular-shaped thing.

"You know. I'm still learning about my new powers so the fact that I can only do this much actually amazes me. What makes me even more delighted is the fact that I have something to experiment on. Be happy, insect. You have a purpose now." Rin said calmly as he closed his hands on Arthur's face.

The latter then covered his eyes with the rectangular shadow, completely obstructing his vision.

"Let me tell you a fun fact. In this existence, the darkest thing is a black hole. The second darkest thing is a shadow. However, as they say 'the brighter the light, the darker the shadow'. So, theoretically speaking, shadows can get darker than a black hole if the light gets bright enough."

"Ah… Ah!!!!!"

Then, out of nowhere, Arthur started screaming at the top of his lungs as he moved frantically trying to get the black shadow off his face. What he was seeing at that moment wasn't something that should exist.

The darkness he was seeing made his eyes burn as if they were on fire. If it was not for the fact that he still didn't turn completely blind from that torture was a miracle in and out of itself.

The shrieks loudened and the struggle increased along with the hellish pain Arthur was feeling. He had never thought a pain such as this could exist in this world. Yet, here he was, experiencing it firsthand.

"You have a few minutes at most before you turn completely blind. I suggest you start speaking before the time runs off. How many times did you try to put your hands on Aria?"

"AHHHH!!! AHHHH!!!" Arthur didn't reply and merely kept screaming endlessly.

"Speak!"

"Ah!! A-A few… a few times!! Ahh!!"

"How many?"

"F-Five… times. I tried it five times!! Please, end this… Please! I will die. I will lick your shoes, I will be your servant or anything… Just please, I beg you… Ah!! My eyes!!!"

"Did you ever succeed in assaulting her?"

"NO!!! I swear to the goddess I never put my hands on her!! Enough, man… Hick… Please.." He then started crying like a baby.

Rin sighed and then released him. The boy fell down and started getting the shadow out of his face. After getting rid of it, the shadow returned to Rin and merged with the rest of his shadow as if nothing happened.

Looking at Arthur, he was a ragged mess. His mouth was drooling profusely, his blue eyes were now so red and bloodshot that it was scary. Tears kept falling from his face like a waterfall.

"Five times, you said. Ok, I will go with five punches to the face and then release you." Rin clenched and unclenched his fist a few times as he spoke about what he was going to do next.

"Huh!! No, wait!! I beg you. I will apologize!! Please! I won't tell anyone!! Man, I'm sorry… I am really sorry… I will never try to hit on Aria ever again."

Arthur had already prostrated himself in front of Rin while shaking violently. Seeing this, Rin grinned widely. Arthur felt a sense of hope when he saw that smile but then his hopes were crushed.

"Refused."

Then, the boy started approaching him slowly.

"Wait! Please! Save me!! Anyone!!! Save me!!!"

*Step* *Step*

Rin walked toward him as he enjoyed his screams. His mind didn't register the fact that he was acting so out of character that it was scary. He never thought that someone like him could turn out to be this cruel and heartless. Even if the person in front of him deserved it, Rin never thought he will be the one to pass a hellish and cruel judgment on him.

Now, even under the tearful begs of the culprit, he didn't feel anything except delight and ecstasy.

'This is how things should be. You should be for your life. You should cry for help as you feel me approaching.' He thought to himself. The glow in his eyes returned without him noticing.

The weirder fact is that he didn't activate the berserker skill at all. In fact, he didn't activate anything at all at that moment.

When he was close enough, Rin extended his arm to grab Arthur.

"Leave me alone, you monster!!"

Then, in a split second…

*Swish*

His hand was grabbed out of nowhere and was stopped in its place.

"I think you should stop, darling~ Your eyes look scary now~" An impossibly sweet and addictive voice spoke next to his ear.

Rin immediately released his arm and jumped back to create some distance between himself and this stranger.

When he took a glance at the mysterious intruder, Rin felt his mind freeze for a second. The stranger that appeared behind him was a very seductive lady clad in a black dress. Her mesmerizing red eyes looked at him with an amused look.

Every inch of her body was so charming that it almost put Rin in a complete daze. However, he shook those thoughts away and readied himself for a fight.

"Who are you?" He asked warily.

"Oh? You didn't fall for my charms. You are indeed a very interesting boy, Rin~" The woman smiled as she crossed her arms under her boobs emphasizing them even more.

"I said who are you?"

*Swish*

Before he could even notice anything, the woman vanished and appeared behind him. Then, she wrapped her arms around him and pushed her chest against his back before whispering in his ear sweetly.

"Let's say that I'm here for you, darling~"

(A//N: The fateful meeting number 2... We have many fateful meetings lol :))

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