Chapter 12

Jake, Jason and Kazami were each on their own tree.

Jake was hanging on a branch with his hand, Jason was doing a split on two branches and Kazami was sitting down normally on a branch while holding his sniper on his legs.

Jason looked at Jake who was still wearing his leader outfit and said. "Boss, I don't understand the benefit of this workout."

Jake looked back at Jason and said. "It's a concentration training, if we manage to do this until the demon slayers come without moving from our spot this should increase our ability to concentrate."

Jason had a bead of sweat going down his forehead and he thought. 'You yourself don't even believe that, you're just bored and wanted to do something.'

Jason pointed at Kazami and said. "Let's say I understand, but why is he not doing anything?"

Kazami opened his mouth and said. "I'm meditating, if you stop talking maybe I will reach a new stage of enlightenment and finally become one with my 'StatTrak Factory New Barrett M95 Limited Edition - Cranium Destroyer'"

Jake had his eyes closed while Jason looked at Kazami with a weird expression and thought. 'Since when did this punk learn to fool around?

I swear I've only seen him be serious.'

What Jason misunderstood was the fact that Kazami wasn't joking.

In his free time he decided to put in work and read a cultivation novel, after that he took inspiration from the novel and tried meditation in order to calm his mind and spirit.

Meditation did help him so he started to believe that maybe the cultivation bullshit actually works.

So he started to meditate with his sniper rifle in order to raise his accuracy with it.

The reason why Jake had his eyes closed was because he was barely holding in his laughter.

He once saw Kazami sleep with the sniping rifle and mutter something about the DAO OF SNIPERS and MARTIAL HEART so he knew of his shenanigans but he didn't expect it to be this bad.

But what he was amused by was the sniper's name. 'Who gives such a long name to a sniping rifle, at that point shouldn't he give the serial number and manufactory date too?

I can already imagine if he goes into battle and starts saying stuff like:

Be prepared to be defeated by my StatTrak Factory New Barrett M95 Limited Edition - Cranium Destroyer.

He'll straight up surprise the enemies with that stupid name and bust their heads open while they are distracted trying to process the information.'

Even if they are serious most of the time they joke around from time to time.

Because if all you do is killing and fighting all the time then you're going to become a wicked person who lost all of their emotions.

Even though Jake doesn't feel any remorse when killing Yakuza members, his enemies or even sacrificing civilians for his goals it still isn't the best way to spend your time.

Even Jason who is cold hearted himself doesn't handle this new way of living as well as Jake does.

Because inflicting extreme pain on others can be psychological torture for the torturer himself, but it is understandable since it has only been a week and they are already doing messed up shit that they would have never thought of doing.

Everything's like riding a bike, the more you do it the more you get used to it.

The reason for this is because Jason was forced by Jake to 'get used' to torturing other people.

And the torture Jake was talking about wasn't your usual ripping nails off and skinning them while alive.

No, they are using ancient, cruel and straight up sadistic torture methods in order to spark fear into enemies hearts and please their members.

This was a method used by ancient kings, some of them had smaller armies then their enemies so they resorted to the best offense to use against big numbers.

FEAR, they used fear. They would torture all of the soldiers they would catch publicly in the most cruel methods.

This would send rumors around the lands and strike fear into the enemy's hearts.

Some soldiers would even hesitate to attack even when they had the numerical advantage. Just because they didn't want themselves to be the next victims of cruelty.

And this is why reputation is so important everywhere. If your reputation is that you are cruel king who doesn't hesitate to commit horrendous things to your own kind then you are most likely to be feared.

And if your reputation is that of messiah who has liberated numerous people from their suffering then you are most likely to be revered, loved and praised by others.

Unfortunately or fortunately for Jake, he had both kinds of reputations. Feared as the devil by his enemies and revered as god by his allies.

But unlike Jake, who subconsciously doesn't categorize those weaker than him the same race as him, Jason still thinks of himself as human.

That's why they need breaks that distract them from remembering how trash and cruel the world actually is.

They can never truly relax knowing another player or being could attack them at any moment without any warning whatsoever, they developed a kind an extra sense for danger.

Even while they were joking around and playing around in the trees they would check out the smallest sounds or disturbances from the corner of their eyes.

Being always on guard is as common as breathing to Jake, but that doesn't hinder him.

While hanging on the branch, Jake said. "Oh, let me check the reward."

Jason yelled while reading a book. "You didn't check it until now!?"

"I forgor."

Veins could be seen bulging on Jason's face, 'I forgor' was an inside joke from when Jason told the teacher 'He forgor' to do his homework.

"You douchebag..."

*THUD*

Jake let go of the tree branch and he fell down on the ground.

He opened the pocket and checked his reward.

[Skill name: Parallel Processing

Skill grade: B

Description: The user is able carry to out two thought processes at once instead of one.

Meaning, the user will have 2 'minds' that cooperate and work at the same time.

This skill is passive and can be deactivated.]

Jake's eyes widened and he utilized the skill instantly.

"Wow! This is weird!"

"What is?"

"I can't really explain it to you, but now I can think twice at the same time."

"What do you mean?"

"Hmmm, how do I put it.

Right now I can explain to you how to make a sandwich while I draw a house with my left hand.

Or better put, if I had two different mouths. I could probably speak about two different subjects at the same time."

Jason frowned and then said. "You mean you have two parallel thought processes ?"

"Yes, something of the sort."

"Oh, that means you will be able to fight more fluidly. Having another brain do the thinking for you while you use your main one to do what you usually do."

Jake said while looking at his fist. "Yeah, I know.

I just have to get used to it."

As Jake was testing his new ability he noticed some presences coming straight towards them.

"That crow's still following us, looks like the demon slayers arrived here."

Jake looked at the direction where the people were coming from and saw 4 figures, three of them were kind of average height while the other one was tall.

As he got a clear picture of them he thought. 'The only one who looks strong is the tall one with white hair, while those three look strong they are not on the same level as that man.'

"Jason, do they ring a bell?"

"Yeah, the three short guys are the main cast and the tall one is a hashira.

The highest ranking demon slayer there is."

"No wonder, unlike that demon I don't think this guy will pull his punches."

Tengen and his subordinates got a notice that the mission they were heading towards has been changed because apparently the demon in that area has been killed and he was ordered to approach the killers.

As soon Tengen saw the group of people he stopped and thought. 'What a weird group of people, one is on a tree holding something that looks like a weapon and the other one is doing a split on a tree.'

He then looked at the person who was standing on the ground looking at them and thought. 'That guy's the weirdest looking of them all, dressed in fully black with a mask on his head that only lets you see his eyes, but even his eyes are pitch black.

And there's the fact that his right sleeve is hanging, does that mean he only has one arm? Can't assume things too fast.'

Zenitsu was the second one to arrive, he used his sense of hearing and said. "They sound human, but that guy on the ground produces a weird sound."

Tanjiro and Inosuke arrived after Zenitsu.

Tanjiro sniffed the air and thought. 'Even though they smell human they still smell foul, the guy on the ground has a faint smell of blood to him.'

Tengen started walking towards them and stopped 4 meters away from Jake.

"Are you the guys who killed the demon?"

Jake looked at him and you couldn't tell what he was thinking at all. "Yes, and you are?"

"Tengen Uzui, the most flamboyant and cool shinobi out there. I came here to check you guys out since you were the ones who killed that demon, but you don't look like neither Demon Slayers or demons."

"I see, are you here to recruit us or something?"

"No, first I am supposed to question you about certain things."

"Ask away."

"If you killed a demon you should be aware of what kind of beings they are, my question is how exactly did you kill them."

"Cut their head off."

"With what blade?"

Jake lifted his left hand and a knife appeared in his hand, it was a fully blacked out knife with a small crack in it.

!!

Tengen's eyes widened a bit and he thought. 'From where did he get that knife? I didn't see him pull it out, was it in his sleeve?

But I didn't see any weird movement. This guy really is unusual.'

"Alright, then what about this. Why do you look ready to kill me from the moment I came here?"

Jake's stance was a relaxed one with his hands near his body, he closed his eyes and said. "Impressive, how were you able to tell despite me not displaying any animosity towards you?"

"No normal person would react to meeting strangers the way you did, and then there's the fact that you looked like you were waiting for someone, which means that you were expecting us to come."

"Correct again, it looks like demon slayers are smarter then demons.

The reason for all of this was because I knew I was being followed by a crow, so I just waited for the person spying me to show up and it looks like someone bit the bait.

But what about you? What are you trying to accomplish by coming here?"

"To confirm whether you are an ally or an enemy."

Jake opened his eyes and said. "Actually, I do want to test something out."

While they were talking Tanjiro came close enough to get a good whiff of what he smells like and his whole body trembled. 'I had a bad feeling since earlier, but now that I'm closer I can tell what it is.

It's like every nerve in my body is rejecting him.

He's up to no good!'

Tanjiro yelled. "Be careful! He's planning something."

*SWOOSH*

As soon as Tanjiro yelled that Jake swung his knife diagonally.

Uzui blocked the slash with both of his weapons and said. "So this is your answer?"

Jake lifted his arm forward and said with wide eyes. "Sorry, but you'll have to die."