Caius’s POV
The two men’s heads hit the ground, followed by their bodies.
Using my sense, which covered a wide area, I felt them.
Dozens of people surrounded the building from all sides.
Six at Rank 2,fifteen at Rank 1,and dozens of ordinary people.
At first glance, their numbers seemed large, but that was all they were... just meaningless numbers... trash.
I heard shouts from outside:"Have some of you block the entrances, the rest attack!"
They still hadn’t seen this beautiful scene around me... it didn’t matter.
Three more people stepped inside—two at Rank 1 and one at Rank 2. They scanned the place before their gazes stopped on me.
They froze in place.
"Who are you?"
The essence within my body moved at peak efficiency, and I stepped forward. In a single moment, I closed the distance between us.
My sword moved—one diagonal slash—and one of them was split in half.
The Rank 2 reacted and raised his staff to strike me."Die, you little monster!"
I raised my other sword, a layer of essence dancing along its blade.
My sword bypassed the staff and passed straight through his head. It took a moment before his head slid off his body.
The last one tried to stab me, only to find my other sword buried in his chest, carving a deep gash along his left side.
The three fell.
But more came in... far more than those.
They shouted things at each other, but I heard nothing... I was sinking.
I was no longer aware of my surroundings. All I saw and felt were those shimmering lights... their souls.
And a single thought flooded my mind:
Extinguish them... all of them.
I wasn’t like Elliot, with many abilities, or even the power to unleash wide-area attacks.
Nor like Izel, who wielded flames... or the princess, who controlled metal.
I couldn’t see the future or steal senses. I had no hardening ability to protect myself from injury.
I couldn’t control plasma or create explosions that erased many people in an instant.
All I had was skill...
They reached me and surrounded me. They were shouting words, but I didn’t hear them.
All my focus was on my sense, so I felt everything... even places I couldn’t see. Every slight movement they made, I perceived it.
The first reached me and slashed forward with his sword.
I stepped to the side, letting the blade pass by a hair’s breadth. At the same time, another strike came from elsewhere... and I knew.
So before he could realize it, my sword pierced his neck and emerged from the other side. With my other hand, my sword moved upward, and the arm of the man who tried to stab me fell away.
I heard their screams... their screams.
I moved among them, tearing them apart one by one without stopping.
Their weapons grazed me, carving wounds into my body, but it didn’t slow me down.
I felt no pity or mercy toward them.
There was only one feeling...
One I couldn’t explain.
...
There, in an unremarkable corner, Mike stood like a spectator.
He knew that person was strong... but not to this extent.
He thought that once his companions arrived, they would be able to deal with him—but everything shattered... again.
He watched as the people he had spent so much time with were slaughtered one after another.
The young man moved with astonishing grace, evading strikes and redirecting them.
His glowing sword cut through everything—metal, flesh, and bone—like a knife slicing through jelly.
Even when they surrounded him from all sides, he avoided them somehow... as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
But even with all that skill, he didn’t remain unscathed. Wounds began to form on his body one after another... yet he ignored them as if they were nothing.
The floor shattered, and the walls collapsed from the violent clashes.
The flow of attackers began to slow, but the young man did not.
When they hesitated to attack him... he attacked them.
They turned their backs and ran for their lives.
Even cries of pleading rose through the place:"Please... I have children!"
One of them screamed, only for his body to slam into the ground the next moment.
All the awakened were dead, and all that remained were ordinary people trying to flee in panic.
They ran to save their lives... some succeeded, others didn’t.
In the end, the screams stopped, and the place fell silent.
The air filled with a red, bloody mist, while the ground became a shallow pool of fresh blood.
Corpses were scattered everywhere, some piled atop one another, forming small mounds.
Amid all this, the young man stood there, a sword in each hand. Blood dripped from his body like falling water.
He looked at the ground calmly, as if lost in deep thought.
From the corner, Mike watched him, praying in his heart that the man would never look at him... that he would treat him as nothing more than a passing breeze.
Fear had taken hold of him to the point that he didn’t even think of running.
But the world did not answer his prayers.
The young man lifted his head, and those eyes—like a black abyss—locked onto him.
Then he stepped forward.
He walked toward him, his boots splashing blood across the floor.
He approached slowly, his lips moving as he spoke:"You know, Mike... I hadn’t noticed this before because of the circumstances."
Mike trembled, wondering how to respond."W... what is it?"
In the end, he decided that going along with this man’s madness was the best thing he could do.
The young man’s cold voice spread, and Mike felt a creeping sensation crawl through his body:"When I kill... when I extinguish those souls..."
The young man reached him, while Mike froze in place."I feel that I..."
In the next instant, the sword pierced Mike’s heart and emerged from the other side.
He didn’t understand what happened. All he saw were black eyes like an abyss devouring souls... but also—
There, at the end of that abyss, there was light... golden light.
Unbearable pain tore through Mike as the young man pulled the sword from his chest... and darkness began to consume his vision.
He muttered weakly,"You promised me..."
The sounds around him faded, before the world vanished from his sight.
The last thing he heard were the young man’s words:
"I feel complete."
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