Reincarnated as the Weakest Magical Beast-Chapter 113: Amaras’ battle
The day King Alan descended into the secret dungeon to end his wife’s suffering, the corruption finally won.
It had devoured the last vestiges of her will, shattered the final thread of control.
And with that, the chains that had held Queen Vivian for so long, even when they were forged with the strongest magic, blessed by the holiest priests, and reinforced with seals, could no longer contain her. They broke, snapped like fragile ice. And by the time Amaras reached the chamber, it was already too late.
What greeted him was a gallery of horrors.
There, in the center of the room, stood a monument to madness. The creature that had been his mother hovered over the stones, wreathed in a shroud of violent, twisting shadow. Her form was a blasphemy, with flesh swollen and split around jagged bone spurs, eyes two burning coals in a face stripped of anything human.
And at her feet was her husband, Amaras’ father, the current King of Lionera..
King Alan’s body lay broken upon the cold flagstones, blood spreading like a widening crimson altar. His plate armor was rent as though by the claws of a giant. One hand was stretched toward the monster above him, fingers frozen in a final, desperate reach.
The beast that was Queen Vivian crouched, a low growl rumbling in the air before she plunged a taloned hand into the ruin of his chest.
There was a wet, tearing sound.
And when she straightened, she pulled out his heart, still beating, still steaming in the chill dungeon air. She raised it to her lips, bit into it, and drank like it was the most juicy fruit ever.
The sound was not human. It was the greedy sucking of a predator, a grotesque parody of thirst being quenched.
As the last of the blood dripped from her chin, she lifted her head.
And she laughed.
A terrible laugh. Not of joy, but of pure, annihilating triumph. A sound that clawed at the mind and scraped the soul bare.
Amaras froze.
His body locked, his breath vanished. The world narrowed to the scene before him: the monster, the corpse, the heart in her hand.
Fear and rage collided in his chest in a tempest with no outlet. His mind, his reason, his very sense of reality...
Shattered.
The world tilted, and his mind fell into a void.
***
"M-mother? What... have you done?"
As Amaras finally spoke, his words were a fragile whisper, trembling with disbelief and a grief too heavy to bear.
His voice acted like a trigger.
The creature’s head snapped toward him with an unnatural, jerky motion. For a heartbeat, mother and son locked eyes.
Then, the creature’s lips pulled back into a grotesque caricature of a smile.
"My child!"
Vivian’s voice was a jagged rasp, her face lit with a terrifying, ecstatic glee.
"You have come!"
But Amaras could feel it, a terrible cold running down his spine. Because it... it wasn’t the warmth of a mother seeing her son; it was the ravenous delight of a starving beast finding a fresh kill!
"I’m hungry, so hungry..." she lowed, a guttural sound that vibrated in the damp air.
Then, all of a sudden, her voice rose to a blood-curdling shriek!
"I’M SO FUCKING HUNGRY! GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD! MY SON!"
And instantly, she moved like lightning, becoming a blur of shadow and malice!
Luckily, Amaras, despite moving on instinct alone, was still quick enough to react, throwing his weight behind his sword just as a jagged talon swept toward his heart!
CLANG!
The collision sent a shockwave through his teeth. The blade held, but the sheer, monstrous strength of the blow launched him backward!
He hit the stone wall with a sickening thud, the air driven from his lungs.
"Kah!"
He collapsed, coughing up a spray of red. His vision swam, and his chest felt as though it had been crushed by a falling mountain.
But thankfully though, through the haze of pain, a cold, sharp clarity emerged.
He finally saw the reality now.
His mother... The woman who loved him, who tucked him into bed and sang him beautiful songs when he was young... was already gone. In her place now stood a plague, a demon that would devour Lionera if given the chance!
It was not his mother anymore!
And if he let her get out of here alive, thousands of people would suffer!
"Sorry mother, but I have to end this!"
And so, with a guttural roar of his own, he pushed off the floor, his muscles screaming in protest. He found his center just as the demon lunged again. This time, he didn’t just defend; he met her.
Clang!
Clang-clang!
The sound of steel on claw echoed through the vaulted chamber.
The demon was fast.
But Amaras was not that much slower!
His sword skill had actually far surpassed his father by now. He had become the strongest sword in the Kingdom after all!
And as they fought, sparks showered the dark floor with every collision, stones and pillars cracked from magic and impact. Amaras’ arms went numb under the relentless assault. The demon was a force of nature, stronger and faster than any demon he had slayed!
Yet, he planted his feet.
He would not break.
He could not.
So he endured.
He adapted.
And he pushed forward.
Eventually, even though the demon’s strength and ferocity far surpassed his own, Amaras began to gain the upper hand. His sword grew faster and faster, each strike more precise than the last.
After all, the demon moved only by instinct.
It lacked the discipline and experience of someone who had spent years honing his blade.
Finally, with a clean, ruthless series of strikes—
SSKKH!
He severed both of her arms.
"AAAAAAA!"
The monster staggered backward, shrieking as blood splattered across the dungeon floor.
And now... this was his chance!
Only one final strike remained.
With the next move, Amaras could sever her head and end everything.
However, just as his blade hovered mere millimeters from the monster’s throat, Amaras suddenly stopped.
Because—
He saw it.
His mother’s eyes had changed.
The madness had somehow faded, if only for a brief and terrible moment.
Her consciousness had returned.
