14 "Morals of the Naïve"

Azrael, closing with his hand, finally caught Markis's hand. He tilted his head a little down, the air around him a little frigid, and his hair covering his eyes.

At that point, Markis thought the deal had been struck, and Azrael was just feeling a bit down, but then Azrael drew out his dagger and cut of Markis's hand in a split second! Then ran far away from Markis before he could be attacked.

Markis grunted in pain and froze over the hand that had been cut. Markis could not move for a few moments as pain surged through his body. Trying to bare it he grit his teeth and yelled "You piece of shit! How dare a lowly non awakened do this to me? Much less a little white-haired brat!" He started gathering power in his last functioning hand; he said, "What is your name? You know mine!" he bit his lip. "*Once this brat tells me his name, I am not just going to kill him; I am going to kill his whole fucking family, hah, hahaha*" Markis started to grin in pain as he laughed maniacally in his own head.

"What? You're afraid to speak, you piece of shit?" Markis knew that the boy must be shaking in his boots, "*He cut someone for the first time?*" Markis thought.

"Well, I don't care, I will torcher your name out from your comrades, ANY LAST WORDS BEFORE BEFORE I END YOUR PITIFUL LIFE!?" he lifted his hand up and never even waited for a response; Azrael stood there. He swapped out the dagger back to the sword.

Azrael said nothing; he waited, barely moving. His legs are still, his hands gripping the sword handle, and his chest pulsating as he breathes. Markis released the magic straight towards Azrael at speed. Azrael stood there as it hurled towards him, his hair still in front of his face.

"You know what? I never thought I would have such a feeling towards another person before. This feeling is nothing like me being sad, and it feels far more valiant than the anger I felt for my sister when she was kidnapped..." Azrael breathed in, and then as he breathed out, the air slowly came out his mouth on the sides.

"... whatever this feeling is. It is telling me to KILL YOU!" as he lifted up his head, his grey eyes darkened. His glare sharper than any knife looked straight at the very man who decided to attack him.

Azrael disappeared in a flash and arrived behind Markis, "I will never join hands with someone like you, never! I might have only met these people, but they are more honest and have better intentions than you! I will never disregard the lessons my father taught me about being a man!"

A few minutes ago, when Azrael had been walking up to Markis….

"*Will he give me anything? Will he be able to give me the pill? I mean, I turned down the princess offer, so I have no reason to accept. But I also felt bad for always taking things from her and never giving back. All I need to do is give up, and I can get it?" Azrael started to walk forward at that moment.

"*But, I shouldn't trust someone like him, because dad always said: "Never trust some with a broken sense of justice and no moral code to protect the weak, the young, the old and women. People like that see life through a broken lens, only give in to their desires, and never show restraint. Because if they are willing to do that? What makes you think they won't betray you with that broken moral of theirs?", he just wants to use me, right, dad? I won't let you down! No, I can't let my new friends and you down! I must protect everyone who wants to hurt the people close to me!*" Azrael had put his resolve on a plate in his heart.

The more Markis spoke, the more Azrael got irritated. The more he insisted on being able to give Azrael women, money, and whatever he desires, the more Azrael wanted to cut him down. That hatred that was fasted in those few seconds had become the reason his plan now would never succeed!

Azrael swung his blade twice around and cut on the same spot two times, making the wound inflicted deeper. Azrael's muscles were twitching, not because of fear but because of hatred which had his whole body fired up and flexed.

"I will make sure the evil in this world will never spread like the disease it is! We as the people, no me as a person, is where it will start, and any weed that I find that infects the others, MUST BE CUT DOWN!" Shouted everyone's word, he spoke with the deepest part of his heart; the hatred could be felt in every swing to the back, the legs, the arms, the back of Markis's knee, and his thigh.

"What~~*Spits out blood*~~how~~*Spits out blood*~~? I was~~*Spits out blood*~~ supposed to~~*Spits out blood*~~ be the stronger~~*Spits out blood*~~ one?" he looked into Azrael's eyes. Markis, who had been cocky a few seconds ago, left that body faster than the speed of light, and in came fear he had never felt from such an oppressive force.

Azrael dashed forward with all his might; he swung the sword to cut off Markis's neck, "I hope you know the world could have been a better place if you guys were not alive!"

"Azrael! Stop!" A voice from a distance caused the blade to stop just at the neck of Markis. The wind came rushing past Markis, who passed out with foaming and a small cut by his neck where the blade stopped.

"Azrael! We need to investigate them!" it had been Alhoi who had called out his name. She had already incapacitated Meli and Willow, who she had been fighting.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I kind of lost myself in the heat of battle. Hahaha," he looked up at alhoi and placed on a fake smile while rubbing the back of his head.

"*What did I just witness? I stood there, decided to watch, and jump in when he might have needed help, but he took on the lead all on his own? What is this child eating? And it's not like I can let a little kid start killing people at his age, sigh.*" Alhoi's thoughts left her puzzled but proceeded to tie up the 3 with steel rods.

"Hey kid, let's get going; we might need to help the others." alhoi started running towards the forest with Azrael. They arrived, and finally, the group took down the other members swiftly.

"*I was about to kill someone?*" Azrael looked at his hands which had been tatted with bruises from him gripping his sword so tightly while fighting.

"*But why did we not just kill them? Could it be saving others from getting hurt? What happens if they escape then what? Why would we need to keep them alive?*" Azrael, who still could not fathom the reason behind the group's act of keeping them alive, decided to find answers by asking them directly.

…

In one of 'The Cages'...

"Hi~~" Azrael came in, speaking softly and trying not to draw attention. But everyone decided to shift their gaze towards him.

"I wanted to know, why don't we just kill them? I mean, they are bad guys, right? Don't they deserve to die?" Azrael sprung on question after question why not just 'Kill them?'

"Azrael, please don't act naively. How do I put this?" Lauren spoke down on Azrael as she sat at the front end of the long table.

"Azrael, we need first of all to extract the information from them. Who was their supplier, why did they attack us, how did they know our route, and what was their goal? If you know these answers, then tell us, and if not, that means we have to find a way to get that info, and the best way is through them. Secondly, everyone here knows that killing them would be the better option. But if we kill just like them, what makes us so different? And last of all, the justice you seem to believe in does not exist." Lauren looked at Azrael, who stood as if paralyzed.

"I never really wanted to tell you since you seemed to be a happy kid who enjoyed his view of the world, but at some point, you must realize that the world you dream of does not exist and never has. Everyones 'sense of justice' is only based on their desires and how they can get something out of being the 'hero.' Every hero gets paid in secret even if they don't accept direct gifts from the people they have saved. All they really care about is what they can do that seems like 'justice' to make their pockets and desires come true. Here's an easy quote for you to memorize { Love and hate are products of the impure desires of humans, justice or good and evil are moral constructs we great for ourselves. Those that are 'evil' are either truly evil by doing acts that are not morally acceptable by the gods or evil because their sense of 'justice' does not align with the dictionary definition of the people. In the end, everyone believes they are correct, and the person or people they are fighting are wrong} This is the world we live in." Lauren spoke in a subtle and slow tone. But every sentence had a punch to it that struck Azrael mentally.