The trees hear all

Deep inside the small forest, a figure emerged behind one of the dark brown trees. The figure slowly walked forward, admiring the sight before them.

Pools of blood, tears mixing with the grass and to top it all off, an unconscious man who didn't know how to keep it in his pants.

"My oh my, my dear Kai. You've really outdone yourself this time. To think you would do this all by yourself, maybe Aldred was right."

Failure chuckled as he gazed at the pitiful sight before him. He truly hadn't expected Kai to do any of that. It seemed that his little chat with the red-haired lady had resonated with him more than Failure assumed.

While Kai had a good heart, Failure knew that a good heart was not enough to overcome the obstacles that laid in that boys path.

In fact, a good heart wouldn't be able to help anyone's path, unless they had unimaginable talent that is. But then again, neither would one that was obsessed with bloodshed. Noelle would be an example. Her wrath may guide her for a while, but she was like a raging fire that would eventually run out of room to spread, inevitably dying out.

No, you needed a mix of both. A perfect combination was what you needed to survive. Equal amounts of hatred and purity was what you needed to climb the ladder known as life.

Failure thought Kai would need a boost, a push in the right direction, for him to realise that. But the man that was currently bleeding against the tree...

Played his part as a pawn perfectly.

"What a splendid show."

Failure was also pleasantly surprised with that small speech about seeing all Kai gave. If the boy kept up in that direction, Failure was sure that soon enough, Kai would be able to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies with just his words.

It would also just be an entertaining thing to witness in general.

Failure watched the man as he peacefully bled onto the ground, creating a horrifying yet beautiful image as he knew who the blood belonged to.

A few minutes passed before the man began to stir out of his man-made slumber. His eyelids, which were caked in blood that was dripping from his head, slowly opened, revealing the depraved eyes that Kai learned to hate earlier.

"Ughh... What the fuck!"

The man cried out in pain as he looked down, spotting all the blood that was cascading down his body. He shakily lifted up his hands as he screamed at the sight.

"Hello there friend. What exactly happened to you?"

The man let out a gasp of shock at the sudden voice. He thought that he was alone, so why was the kid-

Looking up, he saw that it wasn't the kid. In fact, the woman was gone too, how long was he out? What-

The man froze, if the kid was gone...

He grinned, a plan forming in his wicked and perverted mind.

He didn't even care about the pain. His wrist was killing him and felt like it was about to fall off. He had a terrible headache from the impact against the tree and his back felt like it was crushed in a vice.

But if he could get his revenge...

Quickly looking up to whoever just spoke, the man hid his grin and-

Trembled in fear.

Normally when one had seen Failure, it was during the day. Even if it wasn't, there's was always some source of light around to illuminate the area.

But when one gazed upon Failure when it was dark...

Surrounded by the shadows of the trees, the artificial moonlight of The Dome spilling through the trees onto his lithe form, Failure wore a calm smile on his attractive face.

But when you combined all that together, the sight of Failure smiling in the dim moonlight...

Was nothing short of terrifying.

He looked like a demon wearing human skin, the sight struck fear into the man's heart. That calm smile was the most terrifying thing the man had ever seen. If he messed up even slightly, he would definitely die here and now.

Gritting his teeth to stop his trembling, the pervert started his performance.

The brown-haired man before him had to be important, otherwise he wouldn't have been chosen by that scary wolf as the humans representative.

That's what the man thought anyway. It's not like a human could have survived living with those deranged beasts all this time.

How wrong he was.

"I was attacked!"

The man spat, blood staining his teeth. He shakily lifted up a hand and ran his bloody fingers through his hair, creating the image of dark red hair.

"I was... with... a woman I met in the hall. Your speech got us riled up so we went somewhere private. T- This red haired kid attacked us, he must have had feelings for the woman or something because he beat me up and must have kidnapped her.

Y- You should go deal with hi-"

"Pathetic."

The man froze, his eyes widened with fear as he smiled nervously.

"W- What do you mean pathetic? I was attacked, I'm the vic-"

He stopped speaking when he noticed the expression on Failure's face.

Disgust.

"H-Hey... Don't look at me like that! Who the hell do you think you are? I'm the one who was attacked, you need to go after that kid and-"

"For someone who says they were having some alone time with a lady, you seen awfully more concerned about this so called kid.

Are you into kids or something?"

The man bit his lower lip, spilling even more blood.

"She was taken by him, if you go after him you'll find her. So go-"

"Pathetic."

The man slowly started to get agitated. Why was he the one being humiliated like this? He was the strong one. He was the one with power. He was the one who deserved anything he wanted.

So why isn't what he wanted happening?

"For fuck sake, stop calling me pathetic! Go get that kid and-"

"No."

The man looked as if he was about to pop a vein. Failure kept interrupting him, only adding to the bleeding man's growing rage.

It seemed he still had no idea of the situation he was in.

"You are pathetic. You cannot deny it. Where's your pride to deal with your problems yourself? You seemed to have so much of it earlier.

You tried to force yourself a lady who made it extremely apparent that she absolutely did not want you. You tried to kill an innocent boy when he attempted to stop you from assaulting said lady. Then you even had the gall to try and trick me into doing your dirty work.

Pathetic."

The man began to tremble once more. How did the the brown-haired man know? Was there more than one person who came to rescue the lady earlier.

Was he always-

"No sir, I only just got here."

The man froze, his horrified gaze aimed straight at Failure.

He just answered a question that he thought in his head.

Did he read his mind?

Failure smiled and lifted a finger up to his lips, as if telling the man to keep quiet.

The man's heart raced. His blood ran cold as primal fear ran through his veins. His breathing became erratic as he slowly began losing grip of reality.

"Who are you! Who the fuck are you?!"

Failure only smiled calmly, but that smile was enough to strike the strongest feeling of trepidation in the man's whole life.

"I'm a failure. I gave up my name long ago. But while I may be a failure..."

Failure leaned down towards the terrified man, his eyes gleaming with a dark amusement.

"You're even worse than a failure, you're scum."

Failure then laughed as he stood back straight. He admired the image of the man, pale as a ghost and eyes so wide that it looked like that they were about to pop out of his head. He was trembling uncontrollably, adding to the glee Failure felt in his heart.

"While Kai said that he can see all, I know all. Nothing here escapes my ears. I know absolutely everything that's going on. No scheme goes unnoticed, no plot remains secret. I am omniscient here."

Failure laughed once more as he watched the man tremble. It was a beautiful sight.

"Back in my day, rapists, unless they were nobles and had the money to bribe the local guard, had their reproductive organ cut off. Then, they would be forced to take it down their throat."

The man, who looked on the verge of passing out, let out a cry of terror.

"No! Who the fuck are you!? You can't do this! This has to be illegal-"

"Isn't rape also illegal?"

The man fell silent, his eyes glazed over as it looked like he had accepted his fate.

Suddenly, Failure burst out laughing. His laugh echoed throughout the forest, uninterrupted by anything around them as the non-existent breeze carried it far and wide.

"Relax, I'm just messing with you. That never happened, I made it up."

Some semblance of life returned to the man's eyes. Terror-stricken, he tried to laugh along with Failure, but could only manage a few strange noises.

"No, they were just executed. Heads chopped off, rolling on the floor for the young ones of the kingdom to play with."

The man fell silent once more.

Failure relished the silence.

"Rapists are pests, pests that need extermination. One of your type tried to assault someone I knew before. Do you know what I did with him?"

The man shook his head slowly, no trace emotion or feeling left on his face. He was like a broken mirror, shattered beyond repair.

"Well, I won't bore you with the story, but I will say that his cries could be heard throughout the whole city."

The man didn't respond.

Failure grew tired of the charade.

Sighing, Failure waved his hand and said:

"Alright then, I guess that it's time to be rid of you. Say hello to any of your kin that you meet in hell, I'm sure it's a lovely place down there."

"Wait!"

The man tried to scream, attempting to survive for even a moment longer. Only his scream in aim of survival quickly turned into a distress as the most horrifying thing he had ever laid eyes on happened to the tree behind him.

The bark of the tree opened up with various loud cracks and countless wooden tendrils shot out of the pure darkness inside. The tendrils wrapped themselves around every part of the man's body, each throbbing with excitement.

The man's screams grew louder and louder as he desperately tried to fight off the tendrils.

But it was to no avail.

The expanded bark was like a terrifying maw that wanted to consume all, and the man was its first victim.

Agonisingly slow, the man was pulled into the darkness. First his head, then his torso, then his waist.

His screams continued to echo out of the dark hardwood, but they slowly grew more distant and lost.

"Go on, keep screaming, after all..."

Soon the man's legs were consumed by the tree, the tendrils swiftly following. The bark closed back up, looking the exact same as before, as if it had not just consumed a human.

Failure smiled, his eyes gleaming with pride.

"The trees hear all."