Slaughter Beneath Ugliness

But the mass of black mist did not give up. Instead, it fused with Allen's innate power, allowing his perception to radiate across the entire island.

The next moment, the villagers' conversation reached Allen's ears.

"What should we do? The Ominous Moon has descended. Are we all going to die?"

"Don't worry. The High Priest said she would use that demon to offer a sacrifice to the gods and calm their wrath."

"You mean that monster who can spy on people's hearts? Good riddance. A monster who can see through people's hearts should never have been allowed to live in this world."

"But... Allen has helped us a lot with his ability..."

"Easy for you to say. Would you dare live with a monster like that?"

"Ahem, right. Is this sacrificial ritual really useful? Why have I never heard of it before?"

"Who knows? But the High Priest wouldn't lie to us, would she?"

Allen's expression did not change. Although the villagers had never said it to his face, he had always known what they thought of him.

His perception continued to spread. The next moment, the conversation in the upper level of the temple appeared before Allen's eyes.

"Allen... What a pity. With his talent, I had originally planned to train him into the strongest warrior in the clan!"

"Chief, you and I both know that our clan no longer has enough strength to resist the increasingly rampant pirates. We won't live to see the day he grows up. Even if he was born with the power outsiders call Observation Haki, what use is it if we can't make use of it?"

"What a pity. In all my years traveling the seas, I have never heard of such talent. More precious still is that, despite being ostracized and suspected by everyone else because he could see through their hearts, he never abandoned his desire to help everyone!"

"Hmph! We can only blame fate for its injustice. Why has our clan, which has guarded the world for thousands of years, been fated to face extinction? Rather than let the Seven Star Sword fall into the hands of those pirates, we might as well sacrifice Allen to the Seven Star Sword. Perhaps then we could completely control its power and rise to prominence across the seas!"

"High Priest, I've thought about it. Perhaps we should forget it? The Seven Star Sword is a demonic weapon whose power humans cannot control. Coveting darkness will only bring disaster and misfortune!"

"Chief, do you think we can still turn back? Never mind anything else—if that brat Allen found out that we sold his sister to a Slave Ship, even someone as kind as him would surely want to kill us!"

"A Slave... Slave Ship?" At that moment, Allen's soul was like a candle in a gale, its flame surging and sinking, flickering erratically.

The conversation in the temple continued.

"This... Ah! I was blinded by greed at the time and actually did such a thing. Perhaps if we apologized, that good child Allen might still forgive us?"

"Heh heh, Chief, you really are a hypocrite! But I won't stand in front of that monster again. If I hadn't forcibly hypnotized myself the day before yesterday, the matter of the Slave Ship might have been exposed long ago. I don't want to experience that terror again..."

"Slave Ship... Slave Ship... Hahahaha! How ridiculous! I hate it, I hate my own stupidity. I hate it, I hate my incompetence..." Blood tears seeped from Allen's eyes as he fell to his knees in agony. Even the hard stone beneath him bore the marks of his fingers.

"Go... Pick up the sword in the stone coffin. It will grant you the power to take revenge!" the black mist whispered again.

Like a walking corpse, Allen went to the stone coffin and pulled out the Seven Star Sword.

A terrifying soul storm instantly shredded Allen's consciousness, but the conviction he held in his heart prevented the Seven Star Sword from taking even half a step past the line.

At that moment, a soul from another world crossed through space and time, merging into him and fighting with Allen's remnant soul for control of the body.

The seeds of hatred and the desire to survive were both forces capable of unleashing infinite potential in this world. The two souls entangled and tore at each other, neither yielding. In the end, they fused into an entirely new soul.

Boom!

The temple doors were violently smashed open. The Chief and High Priest stared blankly at Allen as he emerged from the depths, Long Sword in hand. The murderous, destructive desire filling his eyes nearly froze their souls.

"That... That's the Seven Star Sword! Allen, you actually drew it! Wonderful! Quickly, hand the Seven Star Sword over to me!" Greed finally overcame the fear in his heart. Green light gleamed in the Chief's eyes as he walked toward Allen step by step.

"Gulp!" The High Priest guiltily looked away, not daring to meet Allen's gaze. The cold sweat seeping down her back brought her slightly back to her senses. It seemed that events were not unfolding as they had imagined.

"I heard you. Slave Ship!" Allen's footsteps were heavy. The tip of his sword dragged across the ground, producing neither a crisp sound nor flying sparks. Instead, it sliced through the stone with ease.

The Chief's eyes widened as he remembered the High Priest's earlier warning. Cold sweat streamed down his face. "It was a misunderstanding, all of it! Allen, you have to believe me. I originally planned to train you into the strongest warrior in the clan... Ah!"

An arm fell to the ground. The Chief clutched his head with his only remaining left hand and howled desperately, his shriek miserable and piercing, as though he were enduring unimaginable torment.

The High Priest was chilled to the bone, yet she was also utterly confused. Had the Chief gone mad? Why was he clutching his head with a severed arm?

Soon, the High Priest understood the Chief's pain. It was a stabbing agony that reached deep into the soul, as if countless snakes, insects, rats, and ants were crawling over him and gnawing at his flesh. The pain of losing an arm was nothing compared to it.

Worst of all, Allen seemed to have no intention of letting them die quickly. He wanted them to suffer to death!

"That... Were those the High Priest and the Chief?"

"What happened inside the temple? Hurry and get in there!"

Allen raised the Seven Star Sword, a cruel smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

Soon, blood flowed out of the temple and spread around the village, eventually covering the entire island.

The slaughter continued!

The night was still long!

Three days later, more than a dozen pirate ships docked along the shore.

"Boss, is that legend about the Cursed Holy Sword really true?"

"Hahahaha! Idiot, of course it's fake. You actually believe the kind of story used to scare children? If something like that really existed, the pirates who had visited this island would have gotten rich long ago. Why would there still be anything left for us to scavenge?"

"Huh? Then why did we come here?"

"To pick over what's left, of course. A village with such a long history might have something valuable hidden away. Besides, the villagers here have fought pirates for years, so most of them should be pretty strong. Let's see if we can recruit a few cannon fodder!"

"Heh, the boss really is smart... Urk! What is this smell?"

"Gulp!" The pirate captain's Adam's apple bobbed up and down. Summoning his courage, he stepped forward. "It should be the smell of blood, but... it's so strong. Could it be that every living thing on this island has died?"

"C-Captain, perhaps we should not go in after all?"

"Idiots! We're brutal pirates. How could we retreat here?"

A quarter of an hour later, all the pirates fled back in terror, nearly every one of them developing hemophobia. Quite a few even went mad, and none of them dared mention becoming pirates ever again.

Before long, news of the mass extinction of life on Aska Island spread, sending shock waves across the seas. The World Government classified it as the Pirate Atrocious Massacre Incident, sparking intense hostility toward pirates throughout the various seas.