The Atrocious Bard and The Little Princeling | Hunter TOH X Gn Reader

Chapter 41: ...

Drip.

Drip.

It was no use...

Each drop of blood echoed through the halls, mingling with the steady, irregular beat of your heart.

You gasped for air, the ragged breaths feeling like knives against your chest. Your vision swirled, a haze of red and shadow that grew darker by the second.

Don't give up now. Not now.

Blood streamed from the ghastly tear on your forehead, staining the side of your face. The crimson liquid was cold and sticky, pooling on the ground beneath you. You could feel the large tear at the side of your forehead, it was like a sword was stabbed through your head.

With a pained groan, you collapsed to your knees, the impact jarring through your entire body. Your blood spread out in a halo around you, painting the cold, stone floor a gruesome shade of red.

You gasped for air, trying to hasten the blood flow on your veins. But it was no use.

You felt your body go weak in an instant, your consciousness about to give in from the tear on your skull. Your eye became clouded with your own blood, your ears blasted and ringing loudly.

Your eyes were blurring as you gazed up at the ceiling. Painful. It was so damn painful, like a thousand ants was eating you from inside and out.

You lost.

Don't fall. Don't die.

The emperor groaned as he clutched his face, with a hand. His mask lay shattered at his feet.

"Aghh...hahahahaHAHAHA!" His groans morphed into a manic, dissonant laughter that reverberated through the chaotic hall that had been destroyed, the sound like a shattering glass in the silence.

The deep, fatal gash on his face oozed with a viscous, tar-like green substance. His blood wasn't red. It was green. An icky green substance that oozed from the large gash on his face.

As he wiped his hands away, the dark green goo began to congeal and seal the wound. The sight was horrific and unnatural. He wasn't just any enemy; he wasn't even a witch.

He was a monster.

He looked at you with a smile that was more like a sneer, the gash on his face turning into a dark, sickly green. His eyes glowed with an eerie, ominous blue light, piercing through the dimness.

With a slow, deliberate stride, he approached you.

"How pathetic and weak you are. You must hate yourself," the emperor taunted as he knelt down, his eyes locking onto yours with cruel amusement.

You struggled for breath. Your mind was a fog of pain and desperation, but you fought to stay conscious.

A mocking laughter of a child began to resonate around you, growing louder and more disturbing.

"AHAHHAAH! Merciless! Brutal! You are cruel. Cruel! Cruel!"

The laughter was joined by a shadow that emerged from the debris strewn across the floor. It twisted and shifted, morphing into eerie shapes resembling distant stars and a ghostly moon. Its smile was a chilling reflection of the emperor's malice, its eyes gleaming with malevolent delight.