Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

'My fight with Ragnar didn't last that long, right? Did I make a mistake? Why did the Dullahan suddenly get stronger?'

Questions that didn't have answers flowed through Zaroth's mind, making him halt for several seconds.

Those seconds were enough for the system's voice to echo in his head.

[Fated One has been defeated]

[Fragment has been consumed]

[Fragments in soul: 2/7 (Harmonization incomplete)]

[Your name resonates throughout the divine realms]

[All Gods look at you with fury]

One after another, the announcements resonated in his mind—yet he didn't pay attention to any of them.

Even if he had managed to best Ragnar, he was still far from reaching true godhood. So, the system's words were meaningless at that moment.

Eldros, however… was another matter.

"Brother!"

While Zaroth remained frozen, unable to form a single thought, Rynor caught a glimpse of his brother's beheaded corpse.

"You bastards!" Rynor shouted, his eyes starting to glow as he materialized countless mirrors, all pointing at David.

David, meanwhile, simply smirked at the False Prince's anger. He had no sympathy for those who had destroyed his hometown.

'Luna?' Zaroth tried to reach her, but unfortunately, they were too far apart. David hadn't taken the dragon into the Abyss, meaning she was still in the Graveborn Empire, battling against the Magma Serpent.

She was still drawing mana from Zaroth's core but was unable to answer him due to the great distance between them.

It felt strange. Up until now, no matter how dark or hopeless things became for Zaroth, he always had Luna to support him.

She was the one thing keeping him sane—someone he could always vent his frustration to. But now that they were apart, he finally realized how much he missed her.

How much he relied on her.

"...I'm sorry," Zaroth muttered softly, his eyes never leaving Eldros's beheaded corpse.

This was his friend—the friend who stood beside him in the fight against the Crimson Sun Empire, and even now against the Graveborn as well.

And what had Zaroth done to repay him?

He hadn't even been there when Eldros needed him most.

'In the end, you didn't even get your wish. You never got to take your revenge… all because you were stuck with me due to the slave contract. A contract that can't be broken.' Zaroth thought bitterly, gritting his teeth.

"I don't know what I should have done," he admitted, his gaze shifting to the still-calm Dullahan.

"But whatever it is… I'll figure it out after I get rid of you,"

Now that Ragnar was dead, Zaroth turned all his focus to the Dullahan. His summoned beasts flanked the being who had dared to take his friend's life, striking from the sides in support.

His foot dug so deeply into the ground that it shattered like a spiderweb beneath him. With blinding speed, he shot toward the undead being.

With a swift motion, Zaroth slashed his odachi, splitting both air and matter along its path.

The speed he now moved at was far beyond what he had believed possible. It had to be because he now held two Fragments in his soul, rather than one. He hadn't yet explored all the benefits they granted, but one thing was obvious: his speed and strength had both increased drastically.

The moment his blade reached the Dullahan, a thunderclap echoed across the entire Abyss, forcing the undead warrior to step aside and adjust its floating stance. Zaroth's attack was far more powerful than before!

Yet the Dullahan showed no fear or hesitation. Calmly, it tossed away the beasts swarming from all sides and retaliated with its massive greatsword.

"You're not going to hit me with such sloppy technique!" Zaroth roared in fury, gracefully dodging the strike.

The Dullahan's sword continued downward until it struck the ground—

BOOM.

An earthquake-like force shook the entire Abyss from the might of the blow. It was no wonder not even Nightshade had been able to halt this monster for more than a second. With such raw power, technique became unnecessary. Sheer force alone could crush any obstacle.

Zaroth didn't falter in the face of this overwhelming strength. His eyes glowed a menacing green as he accepted the challenge.

The Dullahan was stronger than him? So what.

He would just attack faster.

That was the plan—but the Dullahan didn't give him the chance. Its arms began to move quicker, more precise. Each swing of its blade forced Zaroth to reposition more frequently.

'Is it adapting to my fighting style?' Zaroth's mind raced, trying to find a way to counter it.

'Then let's see you try to adapt to this!' he thought bitterly, changing his stance in an instant.

The Dullahan immediately sensed the difference in posture—the altered breathing pattern of its opponent—and began slowing down its attacks, recalibrating to adapt again.

But this time… Zaroth's movements made no sense.

Muscles tensed in preparation for strikes that never came. His breathing grew erratic—too fast at times, too slow at others. His body shifted position at a breakneck pace, his movements unpredictable. Combined with his Shadow Travel skill, Zaroth became an impossible target to read.

'Faster!' Zaroth roared internally, pushing his body beyond its limits. No—he had already surpassed them long ago.

He was entering a realm of sword mastery he hadn't thought was even possible.

Each strike landed truer than the last—sharper, faster, more precise, more powerful.

The Dullahan, realizing it could not adapt to Zaroth's erratic, chaotic style, switched tactics.

Its swings became wider, more forceful, aiming to catch Zaroth off-guard through sheer area control.

Each strike came closer and closer to landing. But Zaroth didn't care. With each heartbeat, the fear of death clawed at the edges of his mind. And with each breath, the memory of Eldros's end drove him to push himself further.

The ground beneath them shattered, unable to withstand the ferocity of their battle. Chunks of earth blasted outward from the raw force of their clash.

Then, eventually, the inevitable happened—

One of the Dullahan's wide swings caught Zaroth, purely by chance.

Gritting his teeth, Zaroth was sent flying a great distance by the blow.

It was the hardest he had ever been hit—his insides rattled from the force, and the taste of iron filled his mouth.

And yet—Darkveil held. It didn't shatter under the force.

"Is that all you've got?!" Zaroth taunted, shooting forward once more like a missile of wrath.

At this point, his beasts were nothing but cannon fodder. Even Nightshade had become irrelevant beneath the shadows of these two titans, whose clash seemed to tear reality itself apart.

The two clashed across the vastness of the Abyss, leaving devastation in their wake—most likely announcing their location to any natives nearby.

The ground, the sky, even the very fabric of matter around them shattered beneath the weight of their power, unable to contain Zaroth's fury and the Dullahan's deadly might.

Each attack carried more power than the last. Explosions echoed through the void as the two figures repositioned themselves countless times, each trying to gain the upper hand in their relentless clash.

A battle so grand it would be passed down in history for its sheer brutality, echoing the tale of the two titans.

Neither was willing to give up.

So in the end… the Abyss did.