Chapter 65: Greed… Pure and Unadulterated

He suddenly stopped and looked at Finn with a trembling smile on his face, whispering softly: “And what if I don’t tell you…? What will you do? What can you do now, huh?!!”

Finn schooled his expression and took measured breaths, trying to calm down his boiling anger. This was what the madman wanted. Without a doubt, Nathaniel was thoroughly enjoying riling him up. But Finn knew within that was also a strategic plan to make him act irrationally and slip up.

Finn closed his eyes for a second or two, releasing a breath. When he opened them again, the look in his eyes had become calmer. The goading words coming from Nathaniel’s mouth slowly faded to the background. His excessive gesticulations and extreme range of expressions became like a show — A show Finn watched detachedly, like it was playing on mute.

He could see Nathaniel’s excitement, both on his face and down below. It was very evident to see. The man was an animal, through and through. But Finn didn’t let it affect his mind.

Syf is not an option for the time-being. And to use the full power of the Crimson Fist Baboon, I have to let myself go and fully immerse myself in embodying it, which affects my psyche…

I can’t defeat this guy by letting myself go. And neither can I do it with a half-effort attempt.

What else do I have? The dormant soul masses?

No. Not now. Even if they open themselves up to me, there’s no time to tame their chaos to a reasonable level. I’ll just end up with a terrible soul debt because they can feel my haste.

I need something different.

Finn’s mind went to the ’intuition’ that usually guided him at crucial moments. He knew now that it wasn’t something simple. In fact, based on his interaction with Nathaniel from the non-standard magic he displayed, Finn had formed traces of an idea that maybe his ’intuition’ was also something like Nathaniel’s.

A non-standard magic that guided him exactly to crucial weak points during life threatening situations.

Well, this was a life threatening situation…

Or was it?

Earlier, Finn had deduced that Nathaniel wouldn’t kill him. And from their fight so far, it seemed to be the case, though Finn couldn’t be sure now that the man was this deranged.

I’ll give it a try anyway…

Finn steadied his breath and locked his gaze onto Nathaniel, who was still rambling some nonsense while cackling.

But before he could begin to try anything, Nathaniel’s expression abruptly changed. “You’re ten years too early to try that against me!” he yelled as if sensing the change in Finn, and suddenly, Finn felt an intense wave of danger from behind.

He lunged to the side without thinking, and mid-air, he glanced back at what had attacked him.

Immediately, he was struck with horror.

A creature that Finn could only describe as a walking nightmare stood where he’d been. It was humanoid and extremely tall and lanky, with shadowy-black fur sticking out roughly like a sick creature.

Its hands hung low to the ground by its sides, with claws that were short, pointing to the fact that it didn’t use them for killing. And one thing Finn knew about magical beasts, and just beasts in general, was that if they were deficient in one area, they usually made up for it in another.

Which meant the creature must have a wicked set of jaws or fangs. But Finn couldn’t even tell. The shadow creature stood at a height so high, its head and upper body from its shoulders remained unseen. Its body phased through the ceiling above like a wraith.

What the hell is this abomination?!

Finn was no compendium of magical beast knowledge, but he sure as hell knew there was no such creature like this in any records he had ever seen.

But thoughts like those were quickly dismissed, as the creature turned to face him after missing.

It gave him no respite at all. He had only rolled to his feet after landing on the ground, when, with a speed that didn’t adhere to its size, it charged at him.

Finn embodied the Crimson Fist Baboon immediately, roaring as he punched forward to meet the creature’s long swipe.

Heavy!

His eyes widened and he gritted his teeth against the immense force of the clash, skidding backward for a few steps before he staggered to a stop.

The creature bore down on him again. This time, raising its leg for a stomp. But quickly Finn rolled away, dodging by a hair’s breadth.

In the heat of the moment, from his peripheral vision, he noticed Nathaniel was no longer where he previously stood.

Where is he?! The thought barely registered before a devastating blow slammed into him from behind, knocking the wind from his lungs.

​”DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME?!!” Nathaniel shrieked in his ear.

​Finn snarled, wanting desperately to strike back, but the shadow creature was already upon him in the blink of an eye, delivering a low, sweeping kick.

Shit!

Finn realized it was too late. He couldn’t dodge in time, so he jabbed a fist out to quickly meet the kick. But it lacked the power he needed to parry.

With a sickening sound of bones breaking, the kick landed, and Finn was flung backward like a discarded shuttle, crashing through the panoramic glass and out into the biting, hundred-floor-high evening air.

“FLY! FLY! FLY FOR ME OR DIE, LITTLE ONE!!” Nathaniel screamed in ecstasy.

The voice sounded distant to Finn, as he reeled from the shock of the blow. Blood spurted from his orifices and he was sure the bones in his arm had fractured badly.

But despite the pain, he bit his tongue to force clarity into his mind. This wasn’t the time to be reeling. He was literally falling to his death. Crimson Fist Baboon embodiment or not, a hundred-floor drop to the ground was not something he could survive!

Immediately, Finn reached into his soul, ruthlessly pressing the dormant soul masses residing within him for free.

Flight!

He urged, sending his intention to the soul masses. He needed a soul mass that could fly!

In his current state, his intentions were not communicated as words, but rather, pure thought, making information flow near-instantly.

So, one could imagine that when, after a second, the soul masses still remained in their dormant state, unheeding of Finn’s desperate struggle, he was utterly incensed.

A whole second of his fall was wasted by their stalling!

You useless fuckers! Who the fuck put you in there anyway?! I never asked for any of you! So if you want to continue to stay in my soul, you had all best pay your dues!! Finn urged with madness.

He was not about to die here for no reason. Especially not at the hands of a deranged fellow like Nathaniel.

He could feel Syf reacting to his call, trying to force her way out of his shadow. But it was no use. The effect of Nathaniel’s earlier magic was still actively stopping her form from fully coalescing. So Finn focused instead on the freeloaders.

The seconds seemed to tick by slowly as the ground drew nearer. Within that span, he bombarded the dormant soul masses hundreds of times, weakening their stiff nonchalance with his soul strength.

Slowly, from where they all latched onto his soul, he began to feel traces of them. Vague, peripheral soul data about their nature leaked out as he pressed them ruthlessly.

From this peripheral ’data,’ his soul processed and interpreted their vague nature into something he could understand. And very quickly, he deciphered there were a total of six soul masses with flight capability from among the nineteen.

Immediately, he relaxed his focus on the other thirteen and instead narrowed his urging to the six that could fly.

The focused urge worked, forcing them to open up near-instantly. But Finn was not prepared for the intense barrage that followed.

Greed! Oh… what pure and intense greed!

Finn nearly lost his mind from the open floodgate of their primal wills. All six soul masses bombarded his mind with their pure, unadulterated greed to consume his soul.

They roiled and coiled like a turbulent sea, incessantly filling his mind with their uninhibited desire as if they were fighting over each other for him to choose them specifically.

They sense I’m in a haste…

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