The Monster Monarch System-Chapter 204: The Changing Ruins (Part 7)

And there Rem stood, his shortsword placed against the neck of Cyrus – he was ready to take the boy’s life but his confidence wavered a bit. He was not to be blamed for this development...

Anyone would react like that, when you realize that your first friend was the daughter of your Enemy... for the first time in a long time, Rem felt hesitation.

He had sneaked into the cave by making use of Shadow Jump, a skill that he was still grateful for having as it helped him meld in the shadows of his opponents. The inner depths of the cave had a lot of shadows and Rem exploited that, leaping from the shadow of the massive rock that he had been standing next to into the cave.

Although he had to maintain within the shadows, any wrong slip and the Light magus would pick up on his presence – they were known for their unique sensory skills after all.

The conversation had revolved around him and he was surprised that the Beastkin he was planning to complete his revenge on was sticking up for him, but he soon chose to reveal himself and disarm the light Magus first – one of the most dangerous people in the dungeon.

Seeing that Rem had faltered, several pillars made of light magic surrounded both of them – each of them glowing with eerie magical energy.

"The Might of Light!" Cyrus cried out and Rem regained his senses, he quickly decided to pull away – not because the spell seemed extremely deadly but because of the fact that he needed to get some things straight.

The pillars erupted with light, each of them shooting forward beams of light that converged on Rem and Cyrus – Cyrus turned around and witnessed Rem turn into a blur, exuding more speed than ever to evade the magic spell.

The beams blasted Cyrus and dust covered the entire cave but Rem who was a little bit far away didn’t let his guard down, the barrier protecting the cave from soul energy was still standing.

The entire cave suddenly lit up, every trace of darkness vanishing and Rem widened his eyes... the cave was the next to clear, the dust dispelled in an instant and the Cavaliers gathered their bearings.

Cyrus hovered in the air, his pupils had vanished and golden streaks of lightning escaped from his eyes. He pointed his palm at Rem and a golden beam of energy rippled through the air, threatening to consume Rem within.

"Stop!" Cecilia shouted but her voice was ignored, Cyrus was enraged. Rem reared his hands back, flames bursting to life before him and twisting in an arc that protected him from the beam of energy. Cyrus’s eyes widened but even more sparks escaped as he forced more power into his attack but it didn’t matter how much energy was in it, Rem’s perfect arc of flames was able to counter it with relative ease.

The flames had been perfectly honed to their highest potential, a part of training that Rem had focused in while spending a year in Ember town. The beam vanished and Cyrus was speechless, the flames gathered behind Rem turning into countless orb of burning fireballs – Rem raised his hand up, and the flames surrounding the fireballs intensified.

"Enough!" Cecilia shouted out and Cyrus instinctively stopped, Rem did as well surprisingly, he dispelled the spell, "An exchange like that could destroy the Cave and the Soul energy we’re trying so desperately hard to escape from can enter,"

Cyrus landed on the ground; his heart was still beating with exhilaration. It had been quite a long time since he had been riled up to that point, even against the monster, he had been calm and level-headed but there was something about Rem that prompted him to act this way.

The darkness that existed within his soul, the shadows were only a small part of it – there was a certain darkness that pervaded Rem’s soul and Cyrus felt uneasy, he couldn’t see darkness but he could see the light – he could see the good in people.

Cecilia walked up to Rem, despite the others putting up their guard... she didn’t see a reason to do so. Instead she embraced him, shocking everyone within the cave even Amelia.

"Cecilia..."

"Rem..."

Nostalgia washed upon the both of them, reminiscing to their first meeting. For Cecilia, it was a very important moment in her life – she had made a lot of friends later but nobody could quite compare to the little boy called Rem she had met that day.

"You recognized me?" Rem muttered and Cecilia smiled upon hearing his words.

"Why wouldn’t I recognize you? Just because you’re taller and have different eyes doesn’t mean you’ve changed," Cecilia said as she hugged him tighter, there was a certain warmth to it and she didn’t want to let go.

’You’re wrong, I’ve changed,’ Rem thought as he hugged her back, ’Back then, I used to be innocent without a care in the world for anyone but my Mother and I lost her too,’

’But now... I kill to grow stronger,’ Rem thought, ’Their souls linger within mine, their power becoming mine as I rise to the power that the first Monster Monarch rose to so I’m not the same weakling that I was back then... I’m better,’

Amelia coughed, prompting Cecilia to stumble away from Rem – her cheeks were flushed with crimson.

"I know him," Cecilia said while turning to the Party, "so don’t do anything to him,"

The Bulky Cavalier took a step forward, his eyes widening upon hearing her words.

"Because you know him, we shouldn’t attack him when he attacked our Comrade first?" He asked, readying his weapon.

Cecilia prepared to speak against it but she felt Rem’s palm on her shoulder, spreading reassuring warmth through her body.

"You saved me that day," Rem muttered to her as he moved forward, "Let me help you handle this,"

And with that Rem stepped in front of her, his emotionless eyes piercing forward and meeting that of the Cavalier – the Cavalier gripped his weapon tighter as a thin smile spread across Rem’s face.

"You’re talking like you have the power to fight me," Rem said, presenting his greatest card – Strength, something that he had in abundance, "If you do, I’d like to see you step up and prove such a claim,"

The Cavalier felt inferior staring at Rem, the boy was far younger than him and a little bit taller than their Captain but that didn’t mean he wasn’t strong... In fact, the Cavalier was certain.

’If I try to fight this man, it’ll only be trying to court death,’ He thought as he took a step back, faltering under Rem’s presence.

Rem didn’t do anything... There was no murderous intent, no battle intent, he hadn’t done anything other than asserting power that he already had.