Chapter 13 - The Madness of Blood

  Eo remained in place, his mind replaying the moment when the wounded predator had fled from him. It wasn’t his attack that drove it away—it was his presence. His bloodlust had made it run, not out of pain, but out of instinctive fear.

  This discovery lingered in his thoughts. If he could invoke this reaction intentionally, it would be more than just a tool for intimidation. It would be a weapon.

  But before he could test it further, the currents shifted.

  A deep, unsettling tremor rippled through the water, spreading outward in all directions. It wasn’t physical, nor was it caused by movement. It was something else. Something unseen, yet undeniably present.

  Eo recognized it immediately.

  Bloodlust.

  But this was different. It was not like the controlled pulses he had just experimented with. This was pure, suffocating pressure, flooding the surrounding waters like an unstoppable tide.

  Eo turned toward the disturbance, his senses sharpened.

  Then, it appeared.

  A massive, scar-ridden beast emerged from the distant shadows, its body jerking with erratic, uncontrolled movements. Its flesh was torn in places, old wounds never healed, fresh ones ignored. Its dull, unfocused eyes held no intelligence—only the endless hunger for slaughter.

  A berserk monster.

  Eo immediately understood what he was witnessing.

  This creature had killed too much. It had bathed in endless bloodshed for so long that it had lost itself completely, its mind reduced to nothing but a vessel for violence.

  It was a future he could become if he failed to control what was growing inside him.

  The thought unsettled him more than the monster itself.

  The berserk creature twisted suddenly, its body coiling as it set its sights on a predator in the distance. With terrifying speed, it lunged.

  The unfortunate creature barely had time to react. The berserk monster ripped into it, tearing its body apart long after it had stopped moving. It wasn’t hunting. It wasn’t feeding.

  It was killing for the sake of killing.

  Eo observed every motion carefully. Despite its immense power, its movements were wild and unrefined. It lashed out at shadows, attacked things that weren’t even threats. It lacked patience, strategy—awareness.

  This was the flaw of losing control.

  Eo knew he had to test himself against it.

  Not just to survive.

  But to prove he would never become it.

  Slowly, carefully, he let his bloodlust pulse outward, not enough to draw attention, but just enough to measure the reaction.

  For a moment, nothing changed.

  Then—the berserk monster stopped.

  Its body twitched violently, its head jerking toward him with unnatural sharpness.

  Even with its decayed mind, it had sensed him.

  A silent moment stretched between them.

  Then, with terrifying speed, it charged.

  The water trembled. The battle had begun.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The berserk monster rushed forward, a violent force tearing through the water with no hesitation, no thought—only fury.

  Eo barely had time to react before the creature was upon him.

  He darted to the side, narrowly avoiding a direct collision. A powerful shockwave rippled through the water as the monster’s body smashed into the spot where he had been. The sheer force displaced the currents, sending smaller predators flying from the impact alone.

  Eo’s senses sharpened.

  This thing wasn’t just powerful—it was a force of nature.

  The berserk monster twisted unnaturally, shifting its momentum without losing speed. Its body lunged again, reacting instantly.

  Eo moved.

  He dove downward, letting the berserk monster’s strike skim past him, missing him by mere inches. But even though it failed to land a direct hit, the displaced water sent a violent tremor through his small form.

  Even a glancing blow had such an effect.

  Eo realized something unsettling.

  This creature felt no exhaustion.

  Where normal predators would slow, hesitate, or retreat after a failed attack, the berserk monster did none of those things. It only pursued, relentless, tireless.

  The more it fought, the more violent it became.

  Eo knew he couldn’t match it in raw power. If he allowed this fight to drag on, he would be the first to fall.

  He needed to end it quickly.

  But how?

  Even with his intelligence and observation, was there a way to defeat something that ignored pain, strategy, and reason?

  The berserk monster turned again, locking onto him. Its bloodlust surged, a wave of suffocating pressure washing over Eo.

  It was almost intoxicating.

  A strange feeling crept into his thoughts. The same force within him—his own bloodlust—was responding.

  His body felt lighter. His reactions became sharper. The thrill of battle whispered in his mind, tempting him to give in, to let go.

  For a split second, he almost did.

  But then, his eyes locked onto the berserk monster once more.

  Mindless.

  Lost.

  No control.

  That would not be his fate.

  Eo forced himself to focus. He needed to break this creature down.

  Its power was immense, but its weaknesses were just as clear.

  It fought only on instinct.

  It overcommitted to every attack.

  It lacked awareness.

  Eo moved again, this time not to dodge, but to guide.

  The berserk monster lunged once more, but Eo didn’t simply evade—he redirected.

  A sharp twist of his body, a flicker of movement, leading the monster just slightly off course.

  It barely noticed.

  It adjusted, continuing its charge—but now, it was heading straight for a jagged, coral-covered rock formation.

  By the time it realized, it was too late.

  Impact.

  The berserk monster slammed into the coral with full force. The jagged structures tore into its flesh, sending bursts of blood into the water.

  Yet it didn’t scream. It didn’t recoil.

  It just kept moving.

  Eo observed carefully. The damage was real. Wounds opened across its body, slowing its movements ever so slightly.

  But it did not feel pain.

  That meant bleeding it out was useless.

  Destroying its body wouldn’t be enough.

  He needed to shatter its ability to function.

  Eo circled carefully, keeping his distance as the berserk monster regained its footing. Even injured, it showed no signs of stopping.

  But Eo had already won.

  This fight wasn’t about power.

  It was about breaking the enemy’s ability to fight.

  And that meant targeting what little remained of its mind.

  The berserk monster charged once more.

  This time, Eo didn’t run.

  He pushed his own bloodlust outward, all at once.

  A burst of pressure. A force so sharp, so controlled, that it clashed against the berserk monster’s own presence.

  And for the first time—

  The berserk monster hesitated.

  It was brief, a fraction of a second.

  But for something that had fought without pause, it was unnatural.

  Eo struck.

  He lunged, not at its body, but at its sensory organs.

  His appendages pierced its eye sockets, disrupting the little awareness it had left.

  The creature reeled back.

  It thrashed wildly, no longer attacking with purpose—only flailing, blind, disoriented.

  Eo moved swiftly, targeting the areas that controlled its balance.

  A precise strike to its gills. A violent push against its spinal column.

  The berserk monster was still alive.

  But it could no longer fight.

  Its body twitched, but the aggression had faded. Its mind, already broken by bloodlust, had been completely severed from control.

  Eo did not waste energy finishing it.

  It would die soon enough.

  Not by his hands, but by the world it had once ruled.

  He watched as the surrounding predators, once too afraid to move, slowly crept closer.

  A wounded monster. A broken predator.

  Even something once feared would be devoured in the end.

  Eo turned away.

  The battle was over.

  And he had learned what he needed.

  Bloodlust was powerful. It elevated the body, sharpened reactions, gave strength that should have been impossible.

  But if left unchecked, it was a trap.

  It was not the monster he had fought that was terrifying.

  It was the fate it represented.

  One day, he would need to fight creatures far stronger than this.

  And if he did not master his own power,

  he would become the very thing he sought to overcome.