The Symbol of Violence
The symbol of violence, Hihik. The demon’s mouth corners curled into a wide, grotesque grin. It kept hammering away at the plasma mana shield that looked ready to shatter at any moment, leaking a bizarre laugh the entire time. The creature seemed genuinely thrilled, like a child who had just discovered a new toy. “Kihi! Kihi! Kuk! Kukik!”
And this was clearly a provocation. It was mocking me. The moment that mana shield broke, it would suck my blood just like it had the instructor’s. Those vulgar intentions swam openly in its eyes. To this thing, I was nothing more than food.
Crackle.
So I pulled out the mask still under development. I wanted to show the demon my true symbol. I wasn’t prey. I was the hunter that preyed on bastards like it. And this was what that hunter looked like.
The instant the helmet fully covered my face, I spoke words meant to reassure my companions while simultaneously declaring war on the creature. From now on, I would be the one hunting it.
Bang!
The moment I turned toward it, the plasma mana shield shattered. I had deliberately withdrawn the mana. The demon, face lit with mad glee, immediately dove straight into my chest. Now that the shield was gone, I was as good as dead. It burst into wild laughter and swung a fist at me.
Whoosh!
I simply swung my own fist in reply. Our punches crossed in midair. Its strike flew toward my abdomen; mine flew toward its face.
Thud!
My fist sank into its face first. Crunch! Its features crumpled grotesquely like a sheet of paper being wadded up, accompanied by the sickening sound of bones shattering.
Boom!
But its fist also slammed into my abdomen. A grotesque crack rang out as a heavy impact bloomed across my stomach.
Crash!
The result of our exchange was the demon flying several meters through the air after taking my punch to the face. My own abdomen didn’t have a single scratch. The thing that had made that awful crunch wasn’t my suit. It was the demon’s wrist.
Getting cocky with me? How ridiculous.
I had known this would be the outcome. A low-grade demon like this could never hope to pierce mana-reinforced titanium alloy in the first place.
Max was the same, and so is this demon. Their delusions really know no limits.
There was one persistent misunderstanding people had about me: that I was weak in close combat. It made sense. I had always chosen to evade with three-dimensional mobility and fire repulsor beams from range. I never engaged the Minotaur King up close, and I barely gave Max any distance at all. That was simply the most rational and efficient way to fight.
When the gap closed, I would restrain the enemy with genetically modified webbing or dodge using mobility. When neither option was viable, I used the plasma mana shield as a last resort to nullify incoming attacks. Because of that pattern, people assumed my suit’s inherent defense was mediocre and that I relied entirely on the shield.
It’s just good cost-performance, that’s all.
But that assumption was wrong. I activated the plasma mana shield simply because I wanted to. It offered excellent value by enabling both offense and defense at once. It was especially useful when I needed to protect my companions as well as myself, or when I required time to strategize against enemy assaults. In short, it wasn’t some desperate final defensive measure.
Of course, protecting my face is part of it.
Until now I had fought without covering my face, which carried the risk of direct hits. The shield had also served as insurance against the unexpected. But now I wore the helmet, layered with carbon nanotubes and titanium alloy for maximum defensive performance. There was no longer any need to keep the shield active.
Step. Step. Step.
I walked toward the demon. No three-dimensional mobility. No web shooter. No repulsor beam charging. With heavy, deliberate steps I approached the creature embedded in the wall and threw another punch the moment it staggered to its feet. A titanium-alloy fist packed with mana smashed into its solar plexus and abdomen. Pain finally flickered across its once-relaxed face.
It felt good. I tasted violence in its purest, most primal form. Every time my fist crushed its face, the satisfying weight, the terror flooding its eyes, and the spray of its blood across my suit filled me with raw, electric joy.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
When I first saw the creature, an illusion had washed over me. An empire in ruins. People screaming. Enya corrupted into a half-demon by the devil’s whispers. Isabella captured by the great demon of the north, tortured beyond imagination and remade into a monster. Elena fighting thousands of demons alone before her head was severed. Nobles betraying humanity to cling to the invaders. The elf forests consumed by flame. Dwarves burrowing into the earth like rats. And me, still alive as my intestines were ripped out and devoured.
Of course, that was only the ending of a single playthrough. I had witnessed far crueler conclusions countless times. I had watched demons use human intestines as jump ropes while casually eating popcorn, having experienced their depraved banquets dozens of times over.
A surge of irritation flared up. What kind of fifteen-plus rating allowed this? If they were going to brutalize heroines we’d spent so much time bonding with, how did the developers plan to handle the backlash? Was that why the servers had been shut down? Damn game company.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Beating demons really was the best way to vent anger. It felt like playing with clay. The creature’s eyeballs burst with a wet pop. Its face gradually turned into pulp. Its skull cracked open, brain matter splattering outward as pus and blood poured down in streams.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even so, I didn’t stop punching. I was addicted to the ecstasy that came with every strike. Its stomach! Its stomach! The abdomen was crushed and torn open, its contents spilling out. The finely minced intestines leaked like filling from a burst dumpling.
Wait. Why was I only using my fists? I should have burned it with ultra-high temperature plasma so it could smell its own flesh cooking. And why hadn’t I built a proper communication method yet? If I had Fix blast heavy metal while I carved it up with a chainsaw, the satisfaction would have been perfect.
I decided to film mukbang content. I would grill its intestines and feed them to it by hand. I didn’t have any proper sauce, but well-grilled makchang was delicious even without it.
That was the moment I prepared to sear the intestines with ultra-high-temperature plasma and shove them into its mouth.
It had vanished. The creature’s head was simply gone. All my carefully prepared mukbang content, wasted.
Now—
“Ed… Ed…!”
A desperate voice called my name. I turned to see Clarice shouting for me. Beside her stood the rest of the dungeon party, along with the instructor who had arrived at some point. They were all staring at me with dazed, hollow eyes.
Only then did I realize how emotionally I had lost control. Overlapping with previous rounds had caused me to empathize with those old memories.
Is it because of the emotion-amplification spell?
The emotion-intensifying formula. This still-incomplete helmet had a spell engraved on it that amplified the wearer’s emotions. I had wanted to use even my rage toward demons as fuel, just as Obsidian absorbed hatred to unleash tremendous power. I had believed my own fury could generate similar strength.
Though it looked like I had gone a little berserk this time.
“Ed… are you okay?”
To the people here who knew me, this version of me must have looked completely alien. I had always been kind to them. I had never shown this side before.
Swish.
I decided it was time to stop. I stood up and pressed the button on the mask to release the helmet. In reverse order of how it had deployed, the nanotubes and titanium alloy began retracting. At the same time, the emotion-stimulating spell deactivated, and the boiling blood throughout my body cooled. I returned to normal.
After removing the mask, I turned to the group and spoke.
“Sorry. The instructor got hurt, so I got a little worked up. Haha.”
[Kwaaaak! Kwahak! Kuooook!]
[-Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!]
The demon resisted, punching back each time Ed swung. But its fists accomplished nothing. Blocked by solid alloy, only its wrists twisted uselessly. No attack could land a meaningful blow.
The one-sided violence continued. Even after the creature lost consciousness, Ed’s fists never stopped. Its face caved in, brain matter sprayed, intestines burst with a wet pop, yet the punches continued. He was even laughing.
Silence fell over the students watching Ed through the giant screen. This was the first time they had witnessed such an overwhelming, destructive side of him. He hadn’t used his celebrated repulsor beam, plasma blade, web shooter, or mobility device. He had simply walked up to the monster and beaten it into paste.
The creature had resisted, of course. Every time Ed threw a punch, it answered with its own, landing several hits. But that was all. Its fists were useless against him. The hard alloy turned every strike into a broken wrist. Nothing could harm him.
Thus the one-sided violence began. The demon had long since passed out, yet Ed’s fists never stopped. Even as its face was crushed, brain matter flew, and its guts exploded, he kept swinging. He even laughed through it all.
[Ed… Ed!]
He only stopped when Clarice called out to him in panic. The moment those red glowing eyes turned toward her and the rest of the party, everyone froze. The students watching through the giant screen did the same.
When Ed stood up, the party unconsciously took a step back. The instructor even assumed a defensive stance, clearly wary. Still, the professor asked if he was all right. Ed gave no immediate answer. He simply stared at them in silence with those crimson eyes.
“……”
The silence created a tension so thick it felt suffocating. Their backs were drenched in cold sweat.
Then Ed reached up, pressed a button on the mask, and the helmet began to disassemble. Nanotubes and titanium alloy retracted, revealing his eyes, the top of his head, the sides of his face, and his ears. Finally he removed the mask that had covered his lower face and spoke with his usual expression, as if nothing had happened.
“Sorry. The instructor got hurt, so I got a little worked up. Haha.”
“……Whew.”
Countless people let out sighs of relief. The students and professor on site, Charlotte, Enya, everyone. They had been terrified that Ed might have changed into something unrecognizable.
“……Edga Fix.”
Only Isabella repeated his name with a face full of rapture. She felt a sense of kinship with that destructive side of him. It seemed he, too, had some kind of restriction or trigger regarding his emotions, just like her.
***
“Hey, if you all suddenly swarm me like this…”
After somehow finishing first period, the kids came rushing in droves. Mostly the ones who had disliked me before. The ones who had joined Max’s gang to criticize me. The ones who had spread false rumors to ruin my reputation. The ones who had ignored me with arrogant postures every time I stepped up for presentations.
Most of them now clasped their hands and begged to apologize.
Must be the influence of that first-period incident…
Their servile attitude brought back memories of my rampage. The memory of pounding the demon’s face into pulp until it was unrecognizable. It seemed the scene had left quite an impression.
I had even heard a strange new rumor going around: “When Edga puts on the mask, he turns into a demon.”
Shall I test it?
For fun, I reached into the air. Crackle! A rift formed, and the mask appeared in my hand. The students who had come to apologize jumped in fright and screamed.
“S-sorry! Spare me!”
“Uwaaaaaaaa!!”
Some dropped to their knees and begged. Others rubbed their hands desperately. A few even turned tail and ran.
The effect was crystal clear. Performance confirmed.
“Hmm… All right. I’ll forgive you.”
I decided to let them off. Scaring them further wouldn’t improve my mood or bring any benefit. Besides, regulations strictly prohibited fights between students.
“But… with empty hands?”
I wasn’t a saint, after all. If they wanted to get on my good side, they ought to show some sincerity. I had been the victim of their one-sided hostility for a long time. It was only fair to receive suitable compensation.
“W-what should we give you?”
What indeed. I already had a noble title and plenty of money. What would be worth taking from them?
“Ah!”
A good idea suddenly came to mind. The corners of my mouth curled upward. The students’ faces stiffened at the sight.