12 First Trial (3)

Carl's sinister smile was reflected by his devious actions that shocked even Maxwell. The latter turned to his brother, revealing a blank expression that asked, 'what the fuck is wrong with you?'

Alex stood in the distance, maintaining a subtle smile. He certainly wasn't glad about Carl suddenly taking charge, but it was the only way to speed up the process. He also remembered something from the distant past. 'Ah, so he was the guy who killed 1156 people during this particular trial. If I remember correctly, he received an artifact that turned out to be D Grade at 1000 kills.'

There was only one thought that lingered in Alex's mind. 'I want it.'

As Alex stared on, Carl finally had the chance to speak. "Did you not hear what the djinn said? There are 4000 you idiots. We need to get it down to 1000 in the next 18 hours."

The crowd was silent yet bewildered. They all had heard the djinn's words, but found them confusing or preposterous, as killing off 75% of the population in ¾ of the day was nigh impossible.

Plus, the weak did not want the sacrifices to be them, and the weak outnumbered the strong. If not for Carl, no one would have mentioned the subject, and those who would have would have been suppressed using force.

"So, who's going to be my second kill?" Carl asked, his vicious eyes penetrating the souls of all who gazed at him. Maxwell watched in surprise but did not make a move, and Alex did the same.

Whoosh! Slit!

A head fell from a woman's neck to the floor as the rest of her body collapsed as if it were a demolished building. Blood rushed out like a tidal wave as she did not even have the chance to scream. No one even remembered her last words.

Carl stood beside her, bending down to grab her head by pulling her hair. He then raised the head up and spoke triumphantly. "Do you know what mistake she made? Her eyes contained murderous intent. She died because she thought of killing me. That is the gist of this new world."

*

From that point onwards, hell began. The rise of a tyrannical monster-like human that wished to kill. In just 8 hours, 950 people had died, and half of those kills had been caused by Carl Thompson.

Maxwell stood beside Alex as they watched. The former was curious about what the latter planned to do, as there was no way Alex would just sit back and relax the entire time.

"What are you going to do?" Maxwell asked, tired of waiting. He had been tempted to begin his share of the massacre, but his life was Alex's to take at any point in time. He also sensed something different about Alex that he had only noticed in his brother.

"Just wait and watch," Alex responded disinterestedly, waiting for the kill count to increase. The number of kills was displayed on the screen opposite from the entrance of the room, while the top 3 murderers were also recorded.

[Total Kills - 954]

[1. Carl Thompson - 428 Kills]

[2. Jin VanHarmelon - 107 Kills]

[3. Oliver Jacobs - 94 Kills]

The three displayed on the list could be seen frantically churning kills, as if it was some sort of achievement.

30 minutes passed in an instant, and Alex began stretching to warm his muscles. The time had finally come to begin the massacre of the century, and he swore to gain the most benefits from it.

'That D Grade artifact; I want it.'

[Total Kills - 999]

[1. Carl Thompson - 437 Kills]

[2. Jin VanHarmelon - 109 Kills]

[3. Timothy Dunford - 97 Kills]

Alex watched in excitement as Carl lunged towards his final victim, swinging his dagger in an arc to cleanly decapitate the man. As the head of the man fell to the floor, a noise came from the screen that displayed the total kills.

[Total Kills - 1000]

[Milestone Achieved: Releasing information about rewards]

[1000 Kills - Durendal (D-Grade)]

[1250 Kills - Merlin's Magic Dust (D-Grade)]

[1500 Kills - ??? (C Grade)]

A smile came over Alex's face as he unsheathed his weapon, displaying its wonderful crimson glow. Maxwell excitedly followed his savior, unsheathing his dagger as well. Despite not being graded, Maxwell's dagger was one of the top weapons based on combat created by humans.

Alex took a step forward and thrust his sword forward, piercing the abdomen of a couple of people that got in the way.

"Are you aiming for those rewards? Isn't it too late, though?" Maxwell asked, gazing at the screen with twinkling eyes.

"It's never too late," Alex responded coolly. "Plus, attacking too early would have caused a large stir in the crowd, delaying fast growth in the number of kills. It's one of the only mistakes your brother made."

After uttering those words, Alex infused his sword with mana, lunging forward and creating a horizontal arc. Mana particles burst from the impact as a circle of energy cleanly cut all who were caught in it.

He then created a vertical arc that corresponded with the horizontal one, creating an inescapable sphere that instantly took away 36 lives. Blood rained from the ceiling as thousands of humans killed each other in fear of the djinn. They feared the possibility of death if they did not follow his commands.

"Hey!" A scream of delight entered the ears of Alex as he turned around, only to spot one of the top 3 murderers displayed on the screen. A red knife floated above his head, displaying his status. "Fight me."

Alex shook his head at the sheer stupidity of the person, who was undoubtedly Timothy Dunford. He then charged forward, putting force on his feet to create momentum, eventually jumping upwards.

Alex pulled his sword backwards as he practically floated in the air. Timothy watched with an arrogant expression as his death neared. A very slow stream of cyan energy followed the blade of Alex's sword as it approached its next victim.

Timothy gazed at the crimson blade, ready to deflect his arrogant rival.

Splash!

An unorthodox noise was created by the impact of a crimson blade coated with mana colliding with soft flesh. An arc was formed once again, but Timothy did not notice that. The only thing he noticed was the expression on Alex's face, which portrayed only one emotion.

Elation.

Thud!

His head fell on the cold, hard floor as it produced a soft noise not heard by anyone but Alex.

'Fighting monsters had made me forget the joy of killing,' Alex thought. In reality, he wasn't any different from Carl, except for the fact that the latter was inexperienced and was driven by emotions.

Alex did not care for morals or ethics. He enjoyed what brought him pleasure, regardless of whether it fit into moral guidelines. The only people he cared for were his subordinates and loved ones. That's it.

*

[Total Kills - 1278]

[1. Carl Thompson - 457 Kills]

[2. Jin VanHarmelon - 118 Kills]

[3. Alex Horatius - 101 Kills]

"Finally," Alex sighed, wiping sweat off his forehead. It had only been 20 minutes, but he had stacked up over a hundred kills, gaining the third spot on the kills leaderboard.

The process of overexerting himself had caused him to tire himself out at a quicker speed than usual, but he believed it was worth it. His goal was to kill 1500 people, which would normally be utterly impossible after having wasted so much time.

However, he wasn't an ordinary person. The knowledge of the future guarded by many laws of the world was revealed as soon as he opened his eyes in a tiny, shabby classroom. And he was not going to let that chance slip away.

Continuing the massacre, Alex resumed the swinging of his sword and complex maneuvers of his body.

Heads flew in all directions as rivers of blood emerged from collapsing bodies. The place had begun to look like a battlefield.

"Alex!" A voice entered Alex's ears as he turned around, only to find a kneeling Maxwell in the distance. The former bolted towards the boy, who was startled as he attempted to measure the speed at which Alex traveled but to no avail.

"What?" Alex asked, forming an expression that read 'this better be important'.

"Look at this person," Maxwell pointed towards a man in the distance. The man's appearance was haggard, and his hair was disheveled. He was malnourished to the point where his ribs her visible. The man cowered in fear as he squatted near the corner of the room, staring at the floor with a deranged expression.

Alex was intrigued; not because of his behavior, but because of the evil energy that swirled around him. Somehow, it was similar to the one Maxwell possessed, only fainter and more unorthodox.

"How did you notice this?" Alex asked the boy who stood beside him. The part that surprised Alex the most wasn't the sudden appearance of a man who possessed evil energy, but the fact that Maxwell was able to notice a difference between a regular human and a person with seemingly inherent, unconscious miasma.

Such inherent skills meant that the person already possessed a tiny amount of mana in their body since birth, which was tremendously valuable in measuring one's future potential.

Maxwell shrugged, a blank expression overtaking his previously concerned display of emotion.

Alex was about to approach the cowering man, but his actions were interrupted by an approaching dagger.

Clang!

The dagger pierced the wall directly above the cowering figure of the man. However, its original course had been the back of Alex's head. Alex approached the dagger without turning to look at the person who had thrown it.

He traced his fingers over the dull blade and nodded in approval, believing whoever possessed the dagger to be commendable in the skill of battle.

However, as his eyes soon gained a cyan tinge, he slowly turned to lock eyes with the perpetrator, a crazed expression clouding his face.

"Hello, there."