Reborn As An Evolving Monster



Zephyr allowed Mark time to ponder the question.

Mark feigned needing time to think about it.

After less than thirty seconds, Zephyr tapped the floor with his foot.

Patience was running thin.

Mark could feel it.

"The fact that they're my Titles?"

The fingers wrapped around Zephyr's Spear twitched.

Mark understood the answer was a bad one.

He decided to correct himself before that Spear could be pointed towards his heart.

"I can Evolve by Devouring Monsters. That's why I'm... The Devourer... And the Evolving Monster...?"

"Mm." Zephyr nodded.

A short silence ensued.

"You don't seem sure of your answer."

Mark thought that having an honest discussion was his best bet.

And so, he acted accordingly.

"I don't know much... Still."

"What about?"

"Titles... Magic... The World..."

Mark attempted to enlarge the topic of discussion.

"Even though you've had them all this time? You expect me to believe you really do not know?" Zephyr asked.

Mark would have clicked his tongue, was his life not hanging by a thread.

[The Title "Monster Hunter" is staring at you.]

"My Title is Interacting with you. You can see it, right? "

An unfamiliar uneasiness settled in.

"Yes." Mark answered reluctantly.

"Why do you think that is?"

"Why I can see it?"

"Why it's interacting with you."

"Because... I'm a Monster?"

"Correct."

"What does that have to do with-"

"Now, what is it, that makes me a Monster Hunter?"

Mark remained silent for a moment.

"You have the Title of Monster Hunter. So that makes you one?"

"Absolutely and categorically wrong."

Mark thought Zephyr would add something to that, but he didn't.

He wondered for a bit.

There was a different answer, just as obvious as the one he had given.

But it seemed unlikely.

Zephyr's foot was about to move.

Mark noticed that.

His lips parted.

"You're a Monster Hunter. That's why you've obtained that Title?"

Zephyr's foot remained unmoving.

And Mark sighed internally.

"That's right. Titles rarely come first."

Mark didn't really understand what Zephyr meant by that.

"Now, what does it mean to obtain a Title? To have a Title? How does one obtain a Title?" 

Mark didn't like the line of questioning.

It reminded him of a previous conversation with Elisa.

One difference. His survival depends on the answers given.

"You've... Acted like Monster Hunter... Then obtained that Title?"

"Right. Why do you think that?"

"Well because..."

Mark was confused by the question.

But it only took a second for it to make sense.

"You said that the Title doesn't come first."

"Exactly. Now..."

Zephyr brought his Spear in front of him.

"What makes you the Devourer and the Evolving Monster?"

"That's..." Mark smiled nervously. "A sudden leap, don't you think?"

Zephyr remained silent for a bit, deep in thought.

"I've acted as a Monster Hunter...."

Mark sighed internally at those words.

"Lived like a Monster Hunter." Zephyr continued. "Hunted like a Monster Hunter. As the Title entails, I've Hunted Monsters. I did so for a while. And I was recognized as a Monster Hunter."

'Huh...' Mark listened carefully.

"Get it? Now, what about you-"

"Wait, wait." 

At the interjection, Zephyr's eyebrow twitched behind his helmet. He didn't say anything.

"Recognized as a Monster Hunter? Recognized... By whom?"

"Huh? Isn't it obvious?"

Mark remained silent.

To him, it didn't seem obvious at all.

Zephyr's right hand let go of his Spear.

'Shit-'

His index finger pointed at the ceiling.

"By the World." 

Without really knowing why, Mark stepped back.

"The World? What does that... How does that... How is that even a thing?" 

Zephyr didn't understand where the confusion came from.

'Simply the way the World works' he wanted to answer, but didn't.

"I bear the Title of 'Monster Hunter' because I am one. Because I've been recognized as such by many. So many, that the World now considers me one."

"Wait... I've hunted plenty of Monsters though. Wouldn't that make me a 'Monster Hunter' too?"

Dumbfounded, Zephyr stared for a bit before laughing out loud.

"Good one. Good one, Devourer."

"Huh?"

"Oh. You're serious? Hm." Zephyr coughed. "You might have killed or hunted Monsters as you say, but no one recognizes you as a 'Monster Hunter'. Which is why you don't deserve that Title."

"Who says I don't deserve it?"

"The World. Me. Everyone. Do you even see yourself as a 'Monster Hunter'?"

"Well, not exactly."

"Then why would the World see you as one?"

Zephyr wrapped his right hand around his Spear once more.

"That's enough soul-searching for now." He asserted.

Mark chuckled nervously.

"Time for the last exchange? Already?"

"This will be this Test's last exchange. But we'll remain on the topic. What makes you the Devourer? The Evolving Monster?"

"It's different for me, isn't it? I was given those Titles. I didn't obtain them the way you did yours."

"You still don't get it. Titles aren't simple things that can be handed out. Each Title is linked to the individual bearing it. It says something about that person."

"Yes, except that-"

"Look at a time before you had those Titles. And find the link between that time, the Devourer Title, and the Evolving Monster Title."

"I can't. Because there is none. I was given those Titles as soon as I opened my eyes."

"Then turn towards events before that. Before you were Reborn."

"Before...? What would that have to do with the Devourer-"

"Everything. It has everything to do with it. Those Titles aren't simply Titles. They are Unique Titles. At the core of your being, you are the Devourer. At the core of your being, you are the Evolving Monster. How? Why?"

"How is that even-"

"If you can't figure it out..." Zephyr launched himself forward. "I'll have to beat the answers out of you."

A nervous smile appeared on Mark's face.

"Then..."

Getting answers beaten out of him sounded better than going through a last exchange.

"I'll try to survive long enough..."

Answers he, more than anyone else, wanted to get.

"For those answers to reveal themselves."

Mark launched himself forward, fully aware that he was about to get beaten up once more.

It wasn't like he had much of a choice though.