Chapter 13: To Die or to Kill

Seeing that Luck wasn't planning on making the first move, the boy pounced at him with his dagger.

His dagger was thrusted towards Luck's throat with swiftness and precision.

Luck instinctively moved his body, his eyes were locked onto the boy's blade, following it with ease. Compared to Devir, his attacks were much slower.

Luck, however, knew that this wasn't the case. His thinking and reaction speed had simply improved that much over these few days. The life essence that was being concentrated to his brain had made him see the world much more differently compared to others.

Dodging to the side, Luck had swung his hand at the boy's wrist. 

Thwack!

The boy immediately grunted in pain as his wrist felt as if it had been struck by an iron mallet.

The strike had nearly made him drop his weapon. Fortunately, as his grip on the dagger was tight, he didn't lose his grip.

"Bastard! I'll kill you!"

The bloodthirsty boy rushed at him like a demon, wildly swinging his arms. 

His dagger unpredictably cut and stabbed, each attack filled with murderous intent as Luck parried each attack with extreme focus.

As Luck was busy parrying the boy, he suddenly felt something crash onto his back, throwing him off balance.

'Sh*t, fighting multiple people isn't as easy as it is in the movies!' Luck complained.

The frail kid, who had been hiding all this time, had charged at him at his blind spot!

Capitalising on the opening created by the frail kid, the boy swung his dagger.

Luck watched himself falling towards the dagger. If it were anyone else, they'd probably receive fatal injuries. 

However, Luck suddenly twisted his body, regaining the stability that he had lost before stretching out his left leg and releasing a devastating kick to the frail kid behind him.

"Heuk!" 

The frail kid dropped to the ground, clutching his stomach as he heaved and spat out a mouthful of saliva.

Shwish!

Hearing the sudden sound of wind tearing behind him, Luck quickly jumped to the side, barely evading the slash.

"Keke, you're dead!" The bloodthirsty boy shouted as he lunged at where his enemy had evaded.

Luck couldn't even catch a breath as the moment he dodged and turned to face his opponent, a dagger was already in front of his face.

Instinctively, Luck tilted his head as he felt the strands of his hair being cut.

Luck hurriedly leapt backwards again to gain some distance. 

Drip. Drip.

Luck felt that his cheek was slightly wet. 

Using his fingers, he gently caressed his cheek — it was blood.

The boy laughed sinisterly. "Keke! I underestimated you, you must at least be at the bronze stage! Maybe you aren't a leech...

"I have a little proposal... Why don't we just kill that kid over there and be done with this trial? Ain't that a good idea, hehe! One arm for both of us!" The boy suggested, coldly looking at the boy who had been defeated with one kick. He hated useless individuals. 

The frail kid had clearly heard him, feeling a chill run down his spine.

Luck didn't react to his words. He had an indifferent expression as his focus was still on his enemy.

Seeing Luck's icy expression, the boy laughed. 

"Haha! So be it... 

"Killing you will be fun!"

He lunged at his opponent once again, his dagger stabbing into his chest.

However, to the boy's surprise, Luck had suddenly stepped forward — right into the attack.

"Wha–!"

Before he could even question Luck's decision, a terrifying amount of force had suddenly impacted against his chest.

He felt all his internal organs receive a violent shock.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he mumbled,

"T–This power is ridiculous..."

For a bronze practitioner, the boy thought that the power behind the punch was simply absurd. That attack had given him severe internal injuries. 

Luck had concentrated most of his life essence to his hands, putting even more force behind the blow.

However, a smirk of victory weakly formed on the boy's face. 

His dagger was currently planted deep into Luck's stomach.

Taking a few steps back whilst removing the dagger, blood gushed out of Luck's abdomen, staining his rags in a deeper shade of crimson.

"Heh... Heh... I didn't think you were such a crazy individual, getting stabbed just so you could land a punch. Cough. Cough..." The boy weakly spoke as he pointed his dagger at Luck.

Luck gritted his teeth from the searing pain. The sensation in his stomach was hot. 

His insides felt like they were burning.

He would've never done this if he didn't have his Alpha Cells. 

Immediately, he used his Alpha Cells to suppress his injuries. But he didn't completely heal it.

He simply covered his stab wound with his left hand, feigning weakness.

After the boy had regained his composure, he smirked. 

"You have my respects, but unfortunately I'm going to kill you!"

Knowing that his opponent was gravely injured, he recklessly pounced towards Luck, driving the blade into his heart.

Luck reacted, stepping to the left before throwing a punch infused with life essence.

The attack landed directly on the side of his opponent's face.

Bang!

Fragments of teeth could be seen launching out of his mouth as the boy staggered five steps back.

"Argh! 

"You bastard!" He screeched. He had taken another direct hit, causing one of his cheeks to become heavily swollen.

To Luck's surprise, he suddenly began laughing like a maniac.

"Ahhahaha! You just don't know when to give up, do you?" He grinned sinisterly. He thought that the stab wound would've made him somewhat slower, yet he had let his guard down. Luck was like a wild beast with unlimited stamina!

With a few of his teeth missing alongside his bloodied appearance, the boy looked like a murderous psychopath.

The more that Luck thought about it, the more that this description suited him.

With pure bloodlust and hatred, the boy once again pounced on Luck. With a crazed expression, he ruthlessly swung his dagger. 

His dagger travelled vertically downwards, attempting to sever Luck's face into two. 

But Luck suddenly extended his arm. With the momentum of the boy's swing, Luck grabbed the boy's elbow.

Crunch!

"AHHHHGH!"

A desperate scream resounded. The boy's arm had been bent grotesquely as he dropped to the ground. Fragments of bone could be seen protruding out of his elbow.

"It hurts! It hurts! Arghh!" 

This was the most pain he had ever felt!

Luck drew a breath of cold air as he saw his enemy's state. In one move, he had decisively achieved victory.

Picking up the dagger he dropped, Luck walked towards the boy who was screaming in pain.

"Ahh! Y-you... Spare me!" The boy pleaded. With one of his arms broken and currently in excruciating pain, he knew that his situation looked very, very bad.

"I can be your lackey! I- I can give you all my herbs and food in the future!" He tried to bargain.

But as he saw Luck's expression, he despaired. His expression was cold, his eyes like the abyss. It felt as if the grim reaper was walking towards him.

Feeling fear and terror envelop him, he tried to quickly stand up and run, however, before he could, Luck had suddenly planted his foot onto his chest.

"Heuk!"

His chest felt heavy under the pressure exerted by Luck, making it difficult for him to move and breathe. Before he could beg for forgiveness, Luck suddenly grabbed his other arm.

Using his strength, his powerful hands had snapped his other arm like a twig.

Snap!

"AHHH! S-stop, please! I promise to do whatever you tell me! I'll do anything!" The boy screamed and pleaded, his voice unsteady due to the pain.

Hearing his desperate words, Luck gave a reply.

"I'll try to make it quick..." 

With his words, the boy felt a cold chill run down his spine...

After he made sure the boy couldn't resist, Luck gently placed the dagger against the boy's neck. 

"N-no!"

Letting out a sharp breath, Luck's eyes flashed with determination as he pressed the blade down.

Slash!

In one swift motion, he applied pressure and drew the blade to the side. Scarlet-red blood immediately flowed from the boy's neck.

The boy's pupils constricted as his vision quickly turned blurry.

Luck observed the boy's expression, the light in his eyes gradually dimming.

Soon, the boy's expression had become completely lifeless...

He was dead.

Luck had taken his first life.

A human that had a conscious. A being with emotions. 

With his very own hands, he had committed murder...

Observing the boy's expression — fear, bitterness, anger, and sorrow, alongside the thick scent of blood. It all coalesced into an unforgettable image, making Luck feel slightly nauseated. 

Luck didn't know what to feel. He felt partly disgusted and sick, but he also felt a slight sense of gratification.

Such a sensation felt extremely unpleasant to him. Yet all he could do was remain silent.

Perhaps his years as a scientist had made him somewhat numb to life and death. 

Luck knew that death was inevitable. It was merely the course of nature. Even when one's starting point was much higher, you'd eventually end up at the same destination as the rest, becoming nutrients for the world, existing so the cycle of life and death can revolve around endlessly.

Life is as fleeting as the wind, passing swiftly and silently, leaving only memories in its wake. Like a candle burning in a storm, each existence shines brightly for a brief moment, casting light and warmth, until it flickers and fades into nothingness.

Luck had extinguished such a flame before it had its chance to brightly burn.

Sighing deeply, Luck turned his head to the frail boy, making him slightly flinch as beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

He had witnessed such a terrifying scene. 

"I-I'm sorry! I'm an idiot that was tricked by his words! P-please, don't kill me!" 

The boy immediately dropped to his knees and begged for his life.

Luck casually waved him off, causing an expression of delight to form on the boy's face.

"T-thank you! Thank you!" He shouted.

As he got up and scurried away, Luck was left alone.

'This kid probably won't survive for long. Even if he were an adult, without life essence, those wolves would slaughter him. He might have been able to hide, too bad Lord Thel had prevented it with the beast luring powder.' Luck sighed.

Placing his attention back on the corpse of the arrogant boy, he mumbled.

"Severed arm, huh?"

...

"Hoh?" The cloaked man raised an eyebrow.

He saw a boy with bloodied rags and a wound on his stomach carrying a severed limb. He guessed that the boy had just come out of a fierce battle.

He hadn't expected someone to already use the new rule he implemented. The kid seemed rather ruthless. Judging from the fact he came by himself, Lord Thel could guessed what had happened.

The group probably encountered a dire wolf and saw the disparity between them, likely losing one or two lives, causing a conflict to emerge between the surviving members.

He estimated that raising the difficulty of the Trials by this much was a slight miscalculation on his part. 

The dire wolf was a silver-ranked beast in the mortal world. However, he had only kidnapped the ones that had yet to become an adult. Furthermore, he had starved them for quite a while to dull their combat efficiency.

He believed that three bronze-stage practitioners should be able to kill it with some difficulty. But he quickly realised how that only applied if the children's fighting experience was good enough. Furthermore, their bodies still haven't fully developed.

In less than four months, every child's combat prowess varied immensely. Some were geniuses, others were so-so. Life essence was like a knife. Give it to an experienced adult, he would use it much better than a baby.

Taking the limb from the boy, he sighed. 'It seems there's going to be quite a lot of deaths in this trial. I will also have to spend some time cleaning this place up.' Of course, Lord Thel didn't care about their deaths in the slightest. 

The life essence doesn't immediately disperse even when devoured by a beast. He can still harvest it from the remains of their bodies or he can just kill the beast directly. The life essence should still be inside if everything was devoured.

He only frowned because some of the children who died wouldn't be able to reach their full potential. It was such a waste of life essence and resources. 

But he needed quicker results.