Chapter 28: First Kill (R 18+)
"Of course the universe would kick me in the ass now of all times".
Staring at the blood red eyes of a beast kin I tried to practice my [Masseuse] skill on before the rumble, a cold sweat ran down my back as my feet instinctively bounced on their heels and propelled me away before I could be impaled by the massive claw that was swung at me.
’Well, you couldn’t say you didn’t see this coming’. Laura said with a shrug.
With a wry smile on my face, I nodded with a sigh as I pulled out my scythe, ’This is going to be really hard’.
Before I could get too deep in my thoughts, a reflection from the corner of my eye jolted me out of my reverie and I dodged awkwardly out of its range.
’It’s fast’. I thought grimly as I imbued my scythe with mana much faster and fluidly than before.
Activating Crescent slash with less mana, I swung horizontally at the perfect range as I aimed for the head of the male beast kin.
*Screech*
My scythe was caught in the elongated claw of the beast kin as it extended it’s free arm and took a attempted to take a deep gash at me.
Activating [Calculative], all it’s openings and vantage–creating attacks I could make use of, was made clear to me and I took advantage of that to the utmost.
Crouching downwards, I sacrificed my back to the attack as pain coursed through my body and blood drenched my clothes. Sweeping him off his feet with mine, I stepped on his chest with a grimace and I pulled my scythe free from it’s grasp and swung it cleanly at his head.
*Slice*
A clear slice sound resounded as the once chaotic surrounding seemingly came to a halt to acknowledge my first human kill.
My heart was beating painfully fast, the worried comments from Laura couldn’t make it to me due to my ear constantly ringing from the sheer amount of emotions I was feeling at the moment.
Staring blankly at the severed head of the beast kin and the blood gushing out of it like a fountain, my chest tightened and I couldn’t breathe properly, I started hyperventilating and my vision became blurry.
’I want to run away, I want to run away, I want to run away, I want to run, run, commit suicide, kill myself, run away, run, run, run, get away from here, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run–’.
My thoughts spiraled and i found myself sitting on the ground where coincidentally the blood from the beastkin pooled.
A huge splosh resonated in my head as I stared at the distorted reflection the pool of deep red blood I was sitting in displayed.
’Cl–’
’Why am I here?.....I don’t want to do this, I want to die, I’m sure I’ve done some good deeds to go to heaven, I want to die now, I’m a murderer, die, die, die, die’
’CLARK!!!’
My suicidal thoughts came screeching to a halt as Laura’s sorrowful and worry ladened voice brought me back to reality.
Staring blankly at Laura, my eyes became hazy, and I could feel tears running down my face in large amounts, I had only cried tears of relief before, but the pain I felt at that moment couldn’t be described with words.
"CLARK, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
Laura shook me frantically as she shouted, her eyes glistening with tears as she hugged me tightly.
"Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong, I’ll protect you, you won’t feel like this ever again".
I couldn’t see her face, but the words she spoke were like a warm light that shone upon me and seemingly absolved me of my guilt.
’Is this how christians feel when they’re forgiven?’. I reflected calmly as the tears flowed freely from my eyes, drenching the new dress we bought recently for herself.
....
Laura’s eyes darkened visibly as the mana reacted extremely violently, causing all the rampaging people to slump and die abruptly due to the sheer pressure she was exuding.
’I hate seeing him like this, he shouldn’t be ij all this pain, it’s my duty, my duty to protect him, to be there for him, I am his one and only, no one else has been with him all this while, he only had me in his heart so I should do alli can to make sure he’s happy, and safe and...mine’.
Laura’s thought process spiralled as she felt the constant trembling from the usually confident and reluctant man in her arms.
"I’ll protect you".
That single sentence restored half of Clark’s mindset, it’s unknown whether he could ever be the same after killing a person for the first time, but he was mentally stable to some extent.
After a long while – with his face buried in Laura’s bountiful chest, another large rumble resounded through the now eerily silent lands.
Raising his head with a sniff, his puffed up eyes came into Laura’s view and within those eyes, something else could be seen – sheer will power and determination. Determination to never fall in to the deep abyss called guilt ever again, the will power to pull through any emotional trauma thrown his way.
Standing up, he extended his hand to Laura with a weak but firm smile on his face,"I’m fine now".
Laura stared at him for a long while before holding his hand tighter than ever as she stood up and cleaned the blood mark on the side of his face with a soft gaze, "I’ll always be there for you,I promise".
With a light chuckle, he answered, "You have to leave sooner or later y’know".
Laura’s expression changed as she said, "That can be worked around".
"Heh, I’ll be–"
*Rumble* *Rumble*
A loud rumble cut me off and my head snapped in the direction it came from with a grim expression.
"Greg’s in trouble". I muttered as I and Laura ran towards the hole and jumped in without hesitation.
Walking down the tunnel that was strewn with red robed dead bodies, my heartbeat beat erratically – but not as erratically as before.
"What happened with the rampage?". Trying to take my mind off the bodies, I asked Laura as I watched her side profile.
"That....I don’t know". She answered hesitantly.
’She never hides anything from me’. I thought with a furrowed eyebrows.
Silence dawned on the atmosphere as we increased our speed significantly to make our way to the light at the end of the tunnel.
"...if I tell you, will you be mad?". After a while of running, Laura spoke hesitantly.
"I couldn’t if I tried". I answered with a smile as we entered the barely standing temple – like structure.
"I used my mana to.....".
She didn’t complete her sentence, or it was more accurate to say that she couldn’t complete her sentence, probably afraid of the impact it would make on my mind.
Following the footsteps left by Greg in the event of a disruption of our plan, I got the insinuation of her silence, ’She’s stronger than I imagined’.
The ability to kill that large amount of people with just mana wasn’t something anybody could achieve, heck, I was sure even SS ranks couldn’t achieve that.
Shaking my head to get rid of my thoughts, I activated [Eagle’s eye] to get a clearer view of the surroundings as I mad my way to a higher ground.
"Over there!". I shouted, as I jumped down the wall and ran with Laura who was behind me.
Heading towards the inner temple, the rumbling sounds became clearer and I could see few number of red robed people in the distance, watching the one sided beating with unfeeling eyes.
Activating [Stealth] I avoided the group and jumped to the wall right above them with calm eyes, ’We need to save Greg and his guards first’. I relayed to Laura internally.
’Could you do anything about those guys?’. I asked hesitantly.
’Although it’s for a limited time, I can warp their space and make them relive the next twenty seconds with slight variations each time’. Laura answered.
’Woah, you can do that?’. I asked in surprise.
’I won’t be able to hold it for a long time since the rules don’t allow such, I’m only finding a loop hole here and I’m not hundred percent if it’s going to work’.
With a nod, I stared at Laura as she extended her hands in the direction of the seven individuals, the mana reacted once more, but this time, it was more calmer and fluid compared to the others.
Slowly but steadily, the area where they stood looked like it was cracking and eventually the space in that area was stagnant.
With a heavy sigh, Laura leaned back on the wall to catch her breath, "We have at most twenty minutes before it wears off and they come back to the real time line".
With a serious expression, I trained my eyes at the spot where the debris was most concentrated, "I understand, we’ll get the guards and Greg, and escape quickly".
Moving towards the location where I could feel Greg’s mana, the tremors under my feet bacame more and more dominant.
Looking at Greg who was held down in a deep crater by a man who had a maniacal expression on his face, my anger rose to unbelievable degrees and all my skills were pushed to the limit.
Walking out with a serious expression, my voice was surprisingly playful, "Jeez, although I’m main character, I’m not strong enough to aura farm at this level yet".
"Who are you?, it doesn’t matter because I’ll kill you first!".
’He didn’t even give me a chance to aura farm’.
Crouching in a tiger position, I placed my scythe behind my back as I stared at the bald headed freak charging at me while laughing wildly.
’Every movement should be fluid, no useless stunts, aim.....to kill’. I recited the rules of the stance I learned from the battle mage manual a few weeks ago but never had the chance to use it.
Swinging his sword with extreme precision at my head, I waited for the perfect moment by relying on my skills, [Eagle’s eye], [Masseuse] and [Calculative].
Swinging my scythe that was placed behind me to counter the sword, I noticed the man’s face had surprise written all over it, clearly not expecting me to be able to execute such badass movements.
’Damn!, this guy packs a punch’. I grimaced inwardly as I tried desperately to hide my shaking arms.
Skidding backwards from the impact of the collision, I stared at the man to find any openings I could exploit.
"An F rank who managed to block one of my attacks, i must be getting sloppy".
With a crazed expression, he charged forward once more with renewed vigor towards me.
’No openings’. I analysed grimly.
’Then create one’. Laura spoke.
’Easy for you to say’. Rolling my eyes, I used the heel of my scythe to propel myself upwards and dodge his blade.
At least that’s what I tried to do...
But before I could extend my scythe, the heel was grabbed by him and I swung into a wall, knocking the wind out of my lungs.
’Urgh....minus five thousand aura points lost’. I slid down with a groan while watching the man rush towards me.
Putting my scythe Infront of me to block the punch headed towards my way, I was thrown once more mid air.
’An opening!’.
I channeled my body weight downwards with focus apparent in my eyes as I aimed for the side of the approaching freak with my fists.
’This is going to hurt’. I winced in imagination of what was to come.
As the both of us were mid air, it looked like we had the same plan in mind as we both struck each other on our faces but the effects varied drastically.
On one had, only a small gust of wind and a lightly swollen cheek, while on the other.....let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.
I could feel my cheek bones shatter and my teeth getting knocked out of place as I flew farther into space with a blood trail.
Almost immediately, I felt a warm energy course through my body and my wounds we’re healed completely, ’Thanks, Laura’
With a wide smile, I dove and collided once more with the man who was approaching me again, but this time, I wasn’t planning on punching him.
"Speeeeeeeaaaarrrrrrr!!!!!"
With a loud war cry, I grabbed him by the stomach and pushed him downwards with all the force I could muster and as we bagan our descent, a metallic taste assaulted my taste buds as the man pounded wildly at my back.
"Let me go, you sick bastard!!". He shouted.
"You’re the one who’s sick, you bald headed freak!". I answered after spitting out a mouthful of blood.
*Boom*
Creating a massive crater on the ground due to the collision, I could hear my bones crack, my rib cage extending down to my feet were all destroyed and I was paralyzed due to my spinal cord shattering.
’Uwahsbrkubdndiskmn?’.
My brain had suffered a major trauma due to the impact and I couldn’t form cohesive words.
The victim on the other hand stood up and dusted his clothes with an annoyed expression.
Yeah, it’s a fucked up world.