The SSS Beast King: Rebirth of the Legendary Predator
Chapter 58: Eclipse

Chapter 58: Eclipse

My eyes widened at the sight that was transpiring in front of my eyes. I don’t know much about Moon, but what I know is that he couldn’t have had the same skill as Eclipse. So then what could he have done to use it? And is Eclipse in on this?

I gazed at him, his smile burning like a great flame of the underworld. Was he happy that someone else was using his skill? But why would he ally with him, what would he ever gain from giving someone from an adversary team his powers? And not just some simple power, but one that erases what you consider someone light.

The light isn’t an actual light, but what gives you hope, which for this game happens to be the light inside the lanterns. But this so-called light can be anything. Even someone’s pride. It’s an amazing ability but really dangerous.

How can he smile like that, when he is afraid himself of using it?

We have known each other for a long time. He’s older than me, so while growing up I would look up to him, yet I could never achieve what he is. Someone that can fit anywhere, that can create relationships through just his smile, one that can illuminate a whole room. Someone so pure that even demons stay away, not waiting to flaw such a selfless child.

Whenever he passed his trial, and successfully got contracted, I couldn’t be more happy for him. He deserved the world after everything he had done, being known as a deity among the weak. But what he got was the complete opposite. His skills and passives were in no way bad, they were more than great, in terms of power, like I said before. But, in this world, there’s no such thing as perfection.

This power to obliterate the light came at a great cost, one that was never specified in the contract, something that is unheard of, but has started happening frequently nowadays. We only learn the true nature of his powers a little after his arrival back and in the worst way.

Being the butterfly he is, he has created many friends, but none like the one with a fellow noble from another family from the four greats. They were practically always together, a perfect matchup. But fate didn’t want them to be together. The drawback of Eclipse’s skill is that it can activate on its own, without a way to stop it until it wants itself to stop.

This doesn’t sound that bad on paper, but is a true disaster.

Because of it, Eclipse’s relationship ended. It was a day like any other where he was hanging around with this friend of his, but then day made contact, something completely normal but that turned out to be his greatest misfortune. As their hands touched, a bunch of little tentacles spurge out of his Eclipse’s hand onto his friends. They both screamed in terror, trying to get it off, but nothing would work. Tears fell, a the erasure completed its process.

But I said earlier that the light could be anything, so what could Eclipse erase to cause a disaster? After this incident... his friend became powerless, which led their friendship to breaking completely. And every day since then, he has been afraid of using his powers, he even avoids physical contact, which isolates him little by little.

So seeing his smile full of hope, I couldn’t help but smile.

"Are you confused perhaps?" He turned to me laughing, as I could see tears building up in his eyes. "You see, Moon has a power that allows him to copy skills. That is how he’s using my powers." He says it so calmly, like he isn’t bothered even a little of being used for someone else’s benefit.

"Yeah? And how do you know? Did the shadows tell you again?" Eclipses second skill, and one of the reasons I rushed to team up with him. He can see the passive skills of others. Well, he can’t do it directly, but by looking at their shadow. [Shadow Watch] That is the passive name. And with it being a passive and not a skill, it doesn’t have a drawback, meaning that by now, he knows the skills of everyone in this game. Something that I can use.

"But why did you let him? What is he special in some way or something?" Even with my deep hatred for Moon, I never considered him to be a worthy rival. He doesn’t look any powerful, and he never looked like someone who could hold their own. To me, he was more of a little monster who liked causing mischief. Someone full of ego that needed to be put down. Of course, after what I have just watched, I have changed my opinion, but I don’t think he would be worthy of such a blessing as using Eclipse’s.

"Yes... he is." I stared confused by his bold words. What surprised me wasn’t his answer, but how he formulated it. It wasn’t in his character, to just throw words around. "You see, we met a little before this, and my skill activated whenever we touched. However, somehow, whenever I tried pulling away, no force prevented me. There is something about him, that’s why, I want to learn more." His eyes burned with hope and a thirst that I’d never seen before coming from him, and for someone like Moon out of everyone?

[...]

I sat on the hard ground, staring at the ceiling, as I felt stabbed by countless knives, each taking turns at my spine. I wanted to die, but I pushed through.

My bones cracked every time I made the smallest movement, and my muscles burned so hot they could cook an egg. But with all of this, I couldn’t help but smile at the words of the system.

[One team has been eliminated. Three more to go!]

I had eliminated a team entirely by myself, even if it meant I destroyed my body in the process. I still felt on top of the whole world. Like I could do anything, the only thing stopping me was my body of course, who was definitely not on the same page as me about our victory.

But what mattered most wasn’t that I had won, nor that there was one less team needed. I had shown a great example of my powers, of my abilities. Something that is bound to attract attention, and with it, people who are willing to follow me for their own survival, thinking they could use me when I’ll be the one using them.

One thing sucked though. I was all alright with showing Dusk Eclipse’s skill, even though I knew that would mean he learned about my ability to copy others’ powers, it was bound to happen one day as it was not a skill I could hide while using it at the same time. Dusk isn’t dumb, he would have gotten suspicious of me using so many different skills, so he would have put the pieces together.

What I was really mad about was that I had also shown my other skills. Which means he knew both of my skills. Which really sucked in the long game as he could use this knowledge against me. Of course, what he doesn’t know is that I also know both of his skills. And unlike him, I know a lot more about them than he does about mine. After all, I had already used one while escaping from that giant from before.

But before I can think of a way to use what I know, I first had to escape this game alive. I pushed through the pain, trying my best to get back up on my feet.

Blood ran down my nose and mouth, as I forced each tendon in my body to work. I felt my bones crumbling, and my muscles tearing as I finally stood up. But this was only the easy part, now it was time for walking... I closed my eyes, and raising my shaking foot, I prepared myself for the intense pain that was about to be over me.

But as I bit my lip, I felt being brought up in the air. Opening my eyes, I found myself above the ground, resting on the neck of one of my teammates. Wait a minute, why was I so high up? How old was this guy, since he was an absolute beast! It wasn’t like I was light, but that he was just that strong to pick me up and place me on his shoulders.

"I hope you don’t mind this captain. I just thought it was better if you didn’t waste energy on walking. You need it to recover." As much as it hurt my pride, I couldn’t deny that I was considering it. In the end, I obliged. I needed to recover, so that way, we wouldn’t be caught with our backs turned. But looking at the figures walking towards us, it didn’t change much.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.