Elias felt nothing. Yes, he had killed someone, but… he did not even know the name of that guy. Sure, killing a chinen should be a big deal, but it was not like he had never caused someone's death. Elias looked at his hands with a confused expression.
Have I lost my morality this soon?
Of course, he knew that he would lose his morals considering the rituals and his endless hunger to success, but he had not thought it would be this soon.
Drip, drip.
Maybe not
Tears dropped without his consent as he took a deep, hopeful breath.
Elias let himself cry his heart out; it did not matter whether the monk was staring at him or some priests were starting to chuckle under their breath.
"S-sir?!"
"G-genius?!"
Rivers of tears slowed as he mourned loudly. He did not stop until he felt his heart lighten up... even if just slightly.
I did not even know him…
What gave him the right to kill someone without a reason!?
Did he even know the circumstances of that man?
Did he even need to kill him?
No! I did not need to
He could not lighten his heart. He could not get rid of the feeling of being buried under a mountain.
I can't breathe…
Elias slowly felt pain assault him once the adrenalin was exhausted; the shrapnel from the boulder had pierced him after all.
"fuck" Elias muttered as he wondered whether he should delete that memory.
But would he delete the memory of each murder he would commit?
Did I just assume I will murder more people?
But I probably will…
He sighed as he made a simple decision. He wanted to become stronger. Longing for the feeling of defeating someone. So he will keep moving forward.
Elias heard a faint sound of someone running towards him. Turning around, he saw a muscular but short man running from the open gate. The man had a grim expression as he ran towards him. However, instead of approaching Elias, he turned to the monk and shouted, "Ladro, huff, he made a, huff move!"
The man panted more before surrendering to the monk's questioning gaze "He started butchering the outliers!"
…
Elias's thoughts were silent. He did not feel anything. In the end, all he could do was laugh and do what he did best.
Ignore and laugh.
Okay, what the fuck? I need context.
Elias turned to the monk, wincing in pain "What does that mean?"
The monk's face was grim but not too concerned as he said, "Remember those guys who have joined no group, Ladro is taking care of 'em."
Elias nodded as he moved further inside the building, his mind deep in thought. His first true kill, made his heart heavy and induced regret into his spirit. However, one thing acted as an anchor, one thing which allowed him to keep himself together.
The euphoria he felt when he got the power of lights and the feeling of defeating that man. Elias sat in a room with his mind alert. "I have a bounty on my name… why?"
But the world is distant and aloof. It did not give Elias time to think as a man's footsteps got louder and louder.
Ladro… why is he killing people though?
Elias was stumped when he thought of any reason, wasn't Ladro someone who appreciated morality? Why would he abandon his own?
Finally, the footsteps stopped, and a short man spoke, "Uh, genius, Ladro is challenging Levine's group. We need to go."
Elias nodded as he stood up from the ground, asking. "Who is Levine, by the way? And why is he important?"
They walked in the empty halls as the short boy answered, "He has made a group as strong as Sunset and has the backing of a Duke's family."
They walked out of the building as water cherished their bodies; "Who is Sunset though?"
The short boy's expression changed, contorting into anger and bafflement, "Our leader, the one paying you!"
"Oh, the monk?" Elias said before levitating into the air.
Usually, using lights and water to fly would be too straining for Elias to do all the time. However, while the bleeding around the shrapnel of rocks had stopped, Elias was still wounded.
Due to his supreme body, he could fight like this easily, but now that he had traded away the mysterious Requim in exchange of rain, it was not impossible to bleed out.
Yes, he had given one of his most prized possessions to level the playing field.
He would most probably not get an infection from the pieces of rock piercing him, but they would at least stop the bleeding.
However, this gave Elias's opponents a clear weak point to attack and limited Elias's movement, that is why he was planning to capitalize on the terror he had made by killing a combat warrior- or a priest and the ability to fly in rain to keep attacks at bay.
It won't be long before someone attacks me, though.
Elias rose higher in the sky and observed the area. Rain had washed water off the ground thus he could differentiate between the injured and the major groups.
Elias realized that most priests, aka killers, were preferring to injure and incapacitate their enemies rather than to kill them — which made sense, after all Elias was still regretting the decision to kill that man.
Elias also felt that his flight was unusually slow, but chalked it up to exhaustion.
Nevertheless, Elias quickly pinpointed where the Levine's group resided because it was clearly panicking.
Elias flew towards it making sure to be far enough and high enough to not be considered a threat.
Levine, as Elias guessed, was someone who chose his group based on utility, for even though Ladro had not reached their group, they were already calling other people to help them and creating defensive formations.
Ladro seems like a huge threat, damn, I was smart to make him my friend.
Are we friends? I mean, I haven't talked to him that much, even so, we are friends, right?
"Oi, genius!" Elias heard the calm but loud voice of the monk away, with a totally normal name.
"What is it?" Elias smiled as stared Sunset,
"Were you friends with Ladro in Haoki's teaching centre?"
Elias tilted his head, planning to say that he didn't know but ended up nodding,
"Then go put some sense into his murderous mind!" The monk shouted as Elias felt a storm of emotions surging in his heart. Sure, he knew Ladro somewhat well. However, he did not truly know Ladro. What if Ladro attacks him, or worse, shows his crazy side?
Elias liked how Ladro was the most sane person he had met, even if it was an illusion he did not want it to end.
Elias sighed as he looked around, What has to be done, has to be done.
Elias flew towards the most bloodied place, after all Ladro had just butchered the other outliers, so it was obvious where he would be.
Soon he found Ladro, sitting on a corpse with his lips moving. It seemed as if he was speaking something, reciting a poem perhaps? However, the moment Elias stared at his lips, Ladro stopped speaking to himself and glanced at Elias.
His gaze seemed like a sword which could cut mountains and pierce the earth, his eyes barely contained the contempt and anger he was experiencing, with a tinge of knowingness and experience.
Nevermind
Soon Elias went back to the monk and lied through his teeth about how Ladro had completely changed and was not listening to anything he said.
However, Ladro had not changed. The bloodlust he had for the world was now also directed towards him, as if he had joined the rotten world now.
…
Levine sighed as he pulled the cloth off his face. His father had defeated the present respected duke in the first round, so it was not a question whether he had to defeat Ladro.
Of course he had to defeat Ladro, he had to demolish Ladro, just like his father had once demolished the respected duke in his youth.
Ah, I have to fight again.
Levine let out a deep breath as he gave into his desires and put the cloth back onto his face. He closed his eyes and tried to forget about what he had to do.
He wanted to open a small cafe on one of those celestial trees, feed the travelers and talk to the wanderers. He wanted to learn about their lives and write about them.
He let himself get lost in such soothing thoughts. He let himself relax.
He was quietly listening to a traveller there, thinking about how fun it would be to write about the traveller, but then someone entered his small cafe.
Turning to the new visitor, his face contorted, the man seemed to be shouting about Ladro, a new goon around the area.
Ladro is standing outside the cafe? He wants to fight me?
With his eyebrows furrowed, he thought back about his father, who had taught him various values to uphold.
I don't want to fight him… But for the sake of this cafe…
Ladro felt as if something was covering his face. Raising his hand, he threw away the expensive piece of paper and stood up. Walking outside the cafe, he saw various employees waiting outside, asking to help him fight the goon for a favour.
He shook his head; it was his cafe he had to protect, his dream he had to protect.
In front of him, the infamous Ladro was standing
Levine sighed as he asked why Ladro wanted to fight him, but instead of an answer all he saw was Ladro dashing towards him.
Levine instantly brought his body close to the ground and swiftly dashed right, getting out of Ladro's range.
However, Ladro and Levine were just a few steps away, thus Ladro leaped with his leg stretched out into a kick aiming at Levine's head. Levine smiled as he dashed forwards aiming towards Ladro's crotch with a punch.
But Ladro moved his legs mid air, kicking his right arm with harrowing precision. Levine replied instantly, using his left hand to punch Ladro's right leg as Ladro fell right in front of him.
Levine ducked and kicked Ladro's leg. However Ladro did not lose his posture and bashed his head onto Levine's nose.
Shit
Levine instantly moved three steps back in half a breath's time and then laid his four limbs on the ground, staring into Ladro's enraged eyes before dashing forward.
Ladro had not stood still though, he had picked up a rock from the ground and threw it towards Levine's eyes.
But instantly Levine disappeared, appearing three steps behind Ladro.
Levine understood that Ladro was someone with an overbearing fighting style. This short exchange was nothing but a probe after all.
He had seemingly disappeared and appeared behind Ladro, leaving a hazy trail which disappeared shortly.
But in actuality, he had dashed to his right with astonishing speed as he himself glowed dim red. His direction changed then, moving forward, flying right beside Ladro.
Ladro did not do anything in this short period; this was because he was too slow to do anything. Levine practised the 'Black Cat' fighting style, focusing on speed and agility.
Ladro sighed as he got covered by a faint blue hue. Before Levine could react, a faint red hue covered him.
He instantly infused himself with starlight, but Ladro had predicted it and was steadily infusing Levine with moonlight.
Levine flew towards Ladro with a grim expression. His fighting style was all about speed and agility and Ladro had shut down both.
Within half a breath, he formulated a plan and infused an innocent bystander with a huge amount of starlight, making sure it was far more than how much Ladro had infused himself with.
Their fight had led to a formation of a massive crowd around them By flying towards one of the bystanders, he was able to escape from Ladro's control.
Ladro could not endanger the lives of the crowd around him or he would have to fight hundreds of Laity at the same time.
Thus Ladro also mixed into the crowd while diffusing any starlight on himself. Abruptly, most of the priests in the group started glowing dim red as Ladro fell to the ground.
With Levine infused with moonlight, he was flying towards a random laity as others gained distance.
It only happened for two breaths though, after two breaths, the crowd was diffused of any starlight as Ladro looked around with a waterfall of blood falling from his mouth.
Levine's eyes widened as he realized that Ladro had pinpointed his exact location, but in the process of doing so Ladro also had revealed his location. With his speed he ran from where Ladro coughed blood.
But even if he was fast, that was because he specialized in dashing and running and concentrating moonlight and starlight.
He knew that his physical composition could not be matched, and using lights like him would require years of specialized training.
What he did not know, though, was Ladro could concentrate lights better than him.
He realized it when he heard something flying with impeccable speed just beside him; stopping in front of him, he saw the bloodied figure of Ladro.
"I knew you would run from me on the opposite direction"
Ladro charged forward and used his newfound speed and skill, he started destroying Levine.
Unable to dodge a punch, Levine thought of another way to defeat Ladro.
…
Elias stared at the battle of wits and skills with a dumbfounded expression. He truly was a whole level beneath them.
He did not pay attention to it at first, still struggling to handle the feeling of being locked in a small cage, but as the battle heated up, he could not help but observe it.
However, no matter how much he tried to analyze and learn from Ladro or Levine, he failed to replicate them.
He fully understood the cause and effect; he understood the reasoning but simply did not have the skill to match them.
Chuckling, he stared at Levine getting thoroughly destroyed by Ladro. He laughed a bit more when realizing that the monk was going to make him fight Ladro.
Huh?
Elias suddenly started glowing dim red as Levine seemingly got bigger and bigger.
He could do that? what the fuck!
…
Levine used the fact that he could concentrate lights to infuse himself and Elias, effectively borrowing his flight.
Elias laughed madly as he flew even higher. He wanted to see how far Levine would go before getting scared by the height.
What the Hell
He felt his flight get even more slower and could faintly hear something zipping towards him.
BAM
Ladro punched Elias on his face as shards of rock flew off, opening his wounds.
"HAHAHA!"
Elias let out a chilling laugh to endure the pain and flew even higher, increasing the speed of him infusing droplets and infusing droplets far above him too.
"Fuck you all!"
Elias kept ascending and ascending, dodging and enduring Ladro's attacks; it was obvious why Ladro would attack him instead of Levine right now.
Because the moment he stops flying, Levine is dead.
It did hurt though, Elias had started considering Ladro a friend, and Ladro had started hating Elias. Maybe this was his punishment for killing a man senseless.
"Hypocrite son of a bitch!"
Elias flew so high that land was no longer visible, and the thing he was waiting for happened.
Elias coughed a mouthful of blood as he stopped flying.
"Take this, Levine! Ladro! Everyone whose name starts with 'L' is a pain in the ass!"
I should not be able to fly for the next two hours… Ah, I hate Levine!
That also meant that Elias would die if he fell, that is if he could not control his fall.
Air flew past him as it sang a heavenly melody. Elias fell and accelerated with a mad glint in his eyes.
Levine's eyes widened as he realized what was happening; however, instead of concentrating on surviving the fall he infused himself with starlight. Since Ladro wanted to kill Elias, he had infused himself with moonlight to come closer to him.
Thus, now, Ladro was attracted towards Elias, and Levine was attracted towards Ladro, effectively forming a chain.
Levine focused on attacking Ladro; with his skill in concentrating lights, he landed a few solid blows on Ladro before Ladro started to dodge.
No! If I do not kill Ladro while falling, I will have no chance of fighting on the ground!
Levine recalled his father scolding him for not being good enough for the family; he recalled the cafe he had to protect.
Wait…
Levine looked downwards. The ground was now starting to show itself. He estimated that it would take them ten seconds to reach land.
He instantly changed his fighting style; instead of a mad berserker aiming to kill Ladro, he started to aim at Ladro's hands.
Ladro, who was using his hands to deflect attacks for movement in the air while falling, is nearly impossible, immediately noticed it and understood what was happening.
8 seconds before the fall.
Instead of protecting his hands, Ladro rather started aiming for Levine's head.
BAM!
Ladro smashed his head onto Levine with controlled rage in his eyes.
6 seconds left before the fall.
Elias felt weak as blood streaked his path; the blood loss was now starting to show real effect.
Ladro pushed Levine onto the stream of blood left by Elias, staining him red.
4 seconds left,
The ground was close as the walls finally hindered their vision of the outside world; Elias tensed up before relaxing. Letting the wind stab him in the eyes as he kept them open, staring at the ground.
Ladro infused a huge amount of moonlight on his knuckles and infused starlight on Levine's jaws. His hand went from near Levine's chest to above Levine's gaping mouth as he delivered a devastating uppercut.
1 second left.
Levine had blacked out by then; the uppercut by Ladro was too strong for him to keep consciousness, moreover the fatigue from their fight was overwhelming.
Elias held his breath as he infused the ground near him with moonlight and himself with moonlight too. Ladro, too, did the same; however, unlike Elias, he infused a larger area with moonlight and infused Levine with it too.
Since similar lights repelled, their fall slowed down before coming to an end.
Elias lay on the ground and stared at the darkened clouds.
"Hey Ladro… why did you start murdering everyone?"
Ladro sighed and stood up, acting as if nothing had happened, "Not everyone, I had a criterion, you know… also I want the first position in the first round."
Elias nodded, vaguely guessing how the first position would be attained. "Levine did not meet your criteria?"
Ladro stared at Elias before nodding. Instantly Elias felt his open wounds opening further. A small cut expanded into an egregious wound as he let out a laugh.
"I do, huh… alright."
Elias tried to infuse the rain again, but all he could do was cough blood.
"Why don't you save me for later?" His tone was cheerful, and his mind? His mind was drowning. It felt just like when he drowned in the river of False Treasury.
Smiling, he continued, "Wouldn't it be better if you killed me once I have recovered? Do not worry, I will not die easily. Moreover, I believe I will not die."
Coughing more blood, Elias felt his wounds stretch even more.
"Letting you live today will be my greatest regret then." Ladro's voice did not have a hint of guilt; his expression was devoid of any pain.
"The priests love honour, you know?" Elias felt as if he was unable to breathe as a tear crept into his eyes.
"You need to die, Elias Kiefer. Elias Kiefer is a threat to the world I will create. You are a threat to this world."
Elias let out a thundering laugh. He laughed at himself for pitifully falling into Ladro's trap, for stupidly thinking of him as a friend.
He laughed at his pain, his misery, and the pain he felt.
The pain he felt when he thought of ways to kill Ladro.
And the fear when he found himself unable to find a single path which led to Ladro's death.
…
Ladro stared into Elias's eyes. He could see the surging emotions in them: the fear, excitement, and of course, the pain.
He glanced at Levine, who had barely escaped death just because he could communicate by actions. His deciding to attack his hands conveyed a single message.
Levine did not seek to kill him; he did not even want to fatally wound him. All Levine wanted to do was stop the fight now.
But Ladro had his reasons. He had to defeat him, thus a simple knockout was the best he could offer Levine.
Elias, however, was someone who would never let him create a world where destruction was not the only way to live.
Elias longed for power; his actions and words conveyed this perfectly. He would do anything for power; after all, he had killed a man in the rush of the battle.
Elias was smart too. He had run the moment he sensed bloodlust in him.
…
Elias could not think of a way to kill Ladro, but he could think of a way to not be killed… at least for now.
Elias could not stop his expression to change, his wounds were now stretched open as he hissed.
He grunted as he felt the blood loss make him fatigued before raising his head. He let water droplets fall into his eyes as he opened his mouth.
And laughed.
Ladro did not flinch; that is, he did not flinch before he was thrown to his side.
Elias felt his vision tumbling as he saw a festival of red and blue, with hundreds of priests dancing in it. After all, why would they not kill this demon now that he was severely weakened?
Elias let out a chuckle as he bowed towards Ladro, "Thank's for giving me such an amazing idea!"
Ladro had covered one part of his wound with starlight and the other part of the wound with starlight. Since similar lights repel, his wounds open by themselves.
What a genius application it was!
Now, what would be even more genius?
Infusing the blood pooled around him with starlight and wounds with moonlight, of course!
Indeed, he used the last bit of his energy to do just that. His emotions did not cloud him now, thus he could once again use such lights, albeit barely.
More blood flowed into him as the blood pooled around him thinned.
Elias then used the pain and the new blood in his veins to infuse one part of his wound with moonlight and another with starlight, essentially closing them.
Elias looked around, noticing that almost everyone was fighting Ladro, who was surviving just fine.
Naturally.
Anyhow Elias could not fly for some time; it was definitely less than two hours now that he had enough blood, but it was definitely not now.
Elias ignored the implications of having basically open wounds and dirty blood in him and stood up. Well he tried to, but his knees gave in and all he could do was kneel.
I should say something… something something never kneeling from now on.
Elias chuckled as he did the next best thing: he crawled towards the nearest building with his hands, not daring to use lights in such a state.
He found it quite interesting that he did not feel any shame in doing so, but brushed it off. What is there to be shameful about? All he was doing was the best choice for his survival.
Elias still felt burdened; his movements felt heavy and hard to do so but he persevered.
Elias continued to crawl for a long time, to him at least.
But he stopped; the building was still quite far from him but he stopped, for he heard footsteps getting louder and louder.
He looked around and saw a woman walking towards him. Her figure was tall and her eyes were red like the crimson sun.
Her muscles were covered in a thin layer of fat, making her look athletic while not looking malnourished. She was quite tall, too. She wore tight clothes covering her chest and waist, where her long lustrous hair danced.
Her tan skin was smooth with her face slightly red, unlike the dim glow of starlight it was actually a tint of magenta.
Elias let out a stifled laugh as he waited for the attack, after all he was not going to run without any reason.
However, that attack never came.
Instead she spoke, "Ladro fucked you up real good,
Let me help you."
Elias was baffled, the woman's eyes portrayed empathy and care, similar to how a mother looks at her child. Elias sighed and nodded, for he deeply longed for rest.
The woman took a cautious step forward , and then another. Elias had noticed the contempt she had hidden in her beautiful eyes for Ladro.
Thumb!
Elias was patiently waiting when a dead body flew across his field of vision, it had directly struck the red eyed woman and had her fly along it.
A laity of course would have not died by such an attack, however sadly the body was glowing dim red, thus it had enough energy to destroy her.
Elias let out a soft chuckle as a tear fell from his cheeks.
Deep down he hadn't changed after all.
Elias crawled towards the building once again. He coughed blood from time to time as his hands felt weak.
100 metres ahead the building's door was waiting for him, Elias winced and crawled a bit more.
Soon enough he crawled near the gate, dragging himself into it. He closed the door shut and continued dragging himself inside the building until he felt safe enough to stop.
Or too tired to continue, nothing was safe after all.
He lazily rolled, laying on his back to make sure not to cover his mouth with the ground. He winced as tears streamed down.
His grade 1 immune system was working overtime to keep him alive as he could physically feel the burning sensation spread throughout his body. Before he knew it he was completely paralysed, with the only thing he could feel was pain and sickness.
He felt his temperature rising up as he vomited some blood, his body did not move like a corpse with only his mouth moving.
He vomited a couple of times too. He quickly realized that he would soon lose consciousness and eventually die.
He felt parts of him rise up and wounds bleed, he tried his best to block bleeding but was unable to.
Elias instinctively knew he would not die, but as time passed he was unable to disagree with logic. It would take a miracle for him to survive, or the first round will have to end before he dies at least.
There was also a nonzero chance of someone saving him either due to his rainwalking or connections to Haoki, who knows? Maybe both of them will help him.
Elias felt himself get dizzy but tried his best to not close his eyes. He vomited blood even more as he felt the world around him blurring.
He trembled as he sweated profusely. Gaining a random but impressive surge of energy he stood up and instantly infused himself with moonlight.
Jumping out of a broken window he flew in the rain for one last time before traveling a few hundred metres.
He stopped and hovered for a moment before plummeting like a rock, falling with immense speed.
…
The horde was getting thinner and thinner. Partly because of how much of a supernatural powerhouse Ladro was, with his fighting style excelling at running for some reason and partly because people usually do not like getting crippled and mangled.
Sunset's expression was getting grimmer and grimmer with his movement getting slower. His fighting style, Broken monk, was based on endurance but even he was starting to feel demoralized.
However, just before he could stop and think about his future choices, Ladro was sent flying towards him by someone, probably not intentionally.
Sunset braced himself, forming a low posture to deflect the inertia of Ladro rather than to avoid it, however just before they both could have collided, he heard a faint zipping sound.
He looked up seeing a man covered in blood and vomit plummeting right where he was standing. This made him vulnerable for a split second, and that time was enough for Ladro to smash his head with his knee before rolling to the ground.
Sunset had completely given up any defence and placed his attention on Elias, who was covered in a dim blue glow.
Damn genius!
Having no choice, he infused the ground with moonlight and broke Elias's fall completely.
Soon a small group surrounded Elias. "He was the one who fought Ladro?"
"He was the one who walked on rain?"
Soon all of them were trying their best to help Elias recover, using lights and special techniques to save his life.
"Hurry up, he is our only chance at defeating Ladro."
…
Ladro was on his last breath; he was doing his best to eliminate future problems and cripple other attackers but he too had a limit.
He could fend them all for days, but his body had already started breaking down. Constantly he was being thrown around like a ball, barely able to use the momentum to attack others he quickly figured out his body would shatter shortly if something did not change.
He stared at the sky, letting rain fall on his eyes without blinking.
Can I do it?
I probably can but it is too dangerous…
He still had to be careful, he does not know about this world enough to know how it will treat people like him, why would he risk getting exposed? He infused himself with starlight to dash towards most of the people had settled.
His experience helped him exert himself on the world, using the resources he had in this world he could control lights much better than others.
He should be able to copy Elias after a few tries.
BAM!
A bald man stopped him in his tracks. Ladro crashed onto him, with the speed he had and the man's endurance his momentum was dead.
Sunset? He is finally showing his hand, huh
There were about 10 people in this field who were dangerous for Ladro to fight, and especially problematic for him to fight with him limiting his own potential.
Sunset was one of them. Most of them were dead, so him being alive after being targeted by Ladro said something.
Sighing Ladro looked where the monk was standing and frowned.