Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

"This is the place where I tasted alcohol for the first time," David muttered, his voice laced with nostalgia as he stood before the abandoned bar.

"A few friends and I managed to sneak in—we were way too young at the time. Wanting to imitate the adults, we ordered beer." He chuckled at the memory. "The fattest one in the group wanted to show off, so he got the brilliant idea to chug an entire bottle. It wasn't exactly shocking when he collapsed on the floor seconds later…"

He put his hand on his ear as he remembered how much of a scolding his parents gave him when they learned that he had gone to the bar.

"I wonder where they are now? This was a long time ago. Maybe some already have found a job that they like, maybe they are still pursuing something specific?" With a sigh, he continued his usual tour around the town.

A low, menacing growl resonated behind him. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, gives a flying fuck about your past! Stop wasting my time!" The Spectral Warden wasn't shy about voicing its complaints. This only made David happier and happier.

"When I told you to shut your mouth, you didn't. Now this is karma. As long as we're both stuck here, I'm going to bore you so much you'll wish you were dead," he spoke with amusement.

"You are such a stupid brat. Rather than worshiping me, you are making your relationship with me worse and worse," the Spectral Warden complained.

"Hm?" David raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember ever trying to be friendly with a fucker like you though? You are an annoying parasite—one that wants me to go insane, one that can't make its mind about anything at all. The only good thing about you is the power you possess and grant me, but everything else makes you even less than worthless."

"You insignificant fuck—"

David stopped paying attention to the words of the Spectral Warden as something seemed to catch his attention in the sky.

"This is new," he mused as he began to run towards the walls.

Being alone in this place, he didn't really have much to do. As such, he had been training his running speed and stamina, so reaching the top of the walls was easy for him now. There wasn't even a single bead of sweat on his forehead.

Now, thanks to the high altitude it was made clear that something flying was coming this way. David squinted his eyes, trying to focus better.

"This looks like a big bird… and is this a man riding on top of it?" David muttered.

With his interest piqued, he sat upon the cold stone from which the walls were made and waited.

"What are you doing? You have been practicing how to use your power—why don't you make a spear or something and attack?" the Spectral Warden questioned.

"Because from the looks of it, he is alone. There is a chance that he isn't here to attack the town. And even if he was, it would mean he would be strong, and the farther I throw my entry away, the less damage it does," David explained calmly.

"So you are just going to wait for him to come closer?"

A smile crept upon David's face, but he didn't reply further.

*****

It turned out that the man flying on top of the bird was farther away than David initially thought, as thirty minutes passed until the said man neared the town.

Stopping just shy of a kilometer, he stepped off from the bird and commanded it to fly away.

Seeing this, David let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. If we're going to fight, at least it won't be in the sky." His body shivered as the memory resurfaced—his brutal fight against Zaroth, and how the dragon, Luna, had nearly torn him to shreds

"Let's go greet our guest, eh?" With that, David jumped from the walls and began to walk towards the man.

Both of them stopped about a hundred meters away from each other.

"Hello, I am David, the defender of this humble town. Who are you and what is your purpose in coming here?" While he said his usual greeting, he studied the man before him.

He had black hair and eyes that seemed to be like mirrors, reflecting everything that the man's gaze fell upon.

"Hello," finally the intruder parted his lips and spoke, "I am Rynor, one of the two princes of the Graveborn Empire. But you can call me by my title—the False Prince—if you wish to do so. As for why I am here, it seems our neighbors, the Crimson Sun Empire, are too incompetent to conquer this town, so I have been sent here."

David was momentarily surprised. He expected to face a council member of the Crimson Sun Empire, not a prince of their other enemy.

'This does not matter much in the grand scheme of things,' David thought.

"This one is strong," the Spectral Warden warned.

David didn't need to be told twice. A prince of an empire must surely be tough, so he wasn't planning to hold back at all.

A deadly silence befell upon the field the two men were staring at one another.

A flash later—so fast that even if a person didn't blink, they would miss it—both of them found themselves in a dark world. The only source of light seemed to be the distant stars far into the sky.

The ground beneath their feet was uneven, glowing with a strange, pulsating shade of purple.

An alien world—no matter who or what—once found in an unfamiliar place as this, they would feel fear and danger.

Or at least most people would, but it seemed that the False Prince wasn't surprised to be in such a place.

'So he has been informed that I am able to use the Abyss. This must not be his first time dealing with somebody able to utilize it!' With that thought, David stretched his hand far behind his back as he felt his mana core bursting with overflowing energy.

Channeling the energy into the rough shape of a spear, he hurled it at the prince with lethal intent.

"Let's see what you've got, Your Highness!" David shouted both in excitement and mockery.

Rynor didn't look fazed in the slightest. He continued to stand tall with his two hands behind his back as the energy in the form of a spear was about to hit him.

Just before it could, however, a large mirror about two meters in height and width appeared between him and the attack.

As soon as the energy struck the mirror, it was absorbed, and the surface shimmered, reflecting the same pulsing purple hue of the attack.

"It absorbed my attack? Does that mean he's an expert in defense?" David's mind began to wander.

A blink of an eye later, the same attack that David had used was launched toward him—but this was fiercer than David's original attack.

This one had twice the power!

A smirk appeared on David's face before he realized it. "This is going to be an interesting fight!"