First Trial (5)

After uttering those words in a grave tone, Alex disappeared as if he were the wind itself. What remained was the squalid scent of urine that emerged from the area between Carl's hips.

Carl collapsed and landed on his knees. The scent of blood quickly overtook the scent of his urine, but his humiliation ran far deeper than yellow liquid. His face quickly turned crimson as blood collected due to his facial muscles relaxing.

"That fucking…" He trailed off.

*

Swish! Smack! Slit!

Alex dug his sword into soft flesh after kicking his victim in his torso. As blood emerged from the flesh, Alex's eyes glittered with excitement. He violently turned his head to gaze at the screen, which displayed his achievement in large, gold text.

[Total Kills - 2693]

[1. Alex Horatius - 1000 Kills]

[2. Carl Thompson - 743 Kills]

[3. Maxwell Thompson - 349 Kills]

[Rewards]

[1000 Kills - Durendal (D-Grade) (Claimed: Alex Horatius)]

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

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

As he viewed the screen, a bright light shone above his palms. He quickly extended his arms to catch the item that formed from the particles of light. The item was shrouded in light at first, but the color soon bled into its original state.

A sleek and thin blade rested in Alex's arms. It seemed fragile but was one of the best items available in the first month of the tutorial. A golden hilt was connected to the shiny, silver blade that glowed in all its glory.

Durendal was originally the sword possessed by Roland in French Literature and was considered the sharpest sword in existence. That, of course, was not true. However, the sword still maintained its legacy as a legendary weapon, nonetheless.

'There should be a special ability, too,' Alex commented inwardly. 'I'll be able to view it once the system is unlocked in one month.'

Alex sheathed his crimson blade as he held Durendal high in the air. Sunlight reflected off the sleek, silver blade as several eyes turned towards the sword. Several hungry eyes, to be precise.

By now, almost all of the survivors had established some sort of technique or pattern of attacking, as they had been fighting for 16 hours consecutively. Those with companions had taken turns fighting while the others slumbered. However, that resulted in many betrayals by close friends and family members.

The bottom line was that everyone was tired. Now, when Alex received such an item, many people decided to team up and ambush him. Alex, having already predicted such a basic and predictable outcome, pointed the blade at the survivors.

"Come at me," Alex whispered inaudibly, but everyone had understood his intentions after studying his actions. He chuckled as he tried to calm his heavy breathing and heaving chest, which seemed to be caused by exhaustion.

Even for someone who had absorbed many Stones of Soma, exhaustion was inevitable. Moreover, his mental capabilities were still weak due to not having absorbed any Stones of Psychi.

Alex charged at the crowd, while the latter watched with grim expressions. Their desire to attack was great, but Alex's cyan eyes kept them at bay. That was the difference between someone who possessed mana and could sense it, and someone who didn't.

Alex swung his sword vertically from bottom to top, slicing a middle-aged man in half from his groin to his head. As the man's body fell to the floor with a loud thud, Alex's smile grew wider. The crowd shrank away like ants, but Alex persisted. He approached with a deranged expression, killing all those that he possibly could.

The next reward, Merlin's Magic Dust, was an item used by many top-rankers of Telos Dou Dromou when on important missions. It boosted magical capabilities greatly, which is why it was guarded by clans as if it were their lifeline.

Not much of it existed in the world; barely a kilogram or so, and was divided among all the clans. Moreover, since Merlin had perished long before people from other dimensions began appearing in Telos Dou Dromou, there was no way to acquire more. That was, unless one could locate his workshop.

It was truly a blessing that such an item could be obtained from the tutorial, even if the requirements were nigh impossible for a regular person to be able to fulfill.

Alex lowered his head slightly to dodge an approaching pocket knife, kicking the perpetrator in the abdomen before lunging and swinging his sword horizontally. Startled, the crowd began surrounding him in order to reduce casualties caused by a single swing, yet no one could suppress a demon holding an angel's sword.

Alex coated his blade with mana as he formed an arc, releasing the particles of the substance evenly across the circle. Several fatal wounds were delivered as he continued his barrage of strikes without rest.

*

"That man… he really is a monster," Carl muttered to himself, resting his head on his palm as he sat in a corner. He had already given up on the possibility of receiving those rewards, and the humiliation he had suffered had spiked his killing intent towards Alex. "Division 1, 2 and 3… kill him."

After ordering his men to assassinate Alex, Carl headed towards his brother, who sat on the other side of the vast room. As Carl approached Maxwell, the former's eyes widened. The atmosphere around his brother had turned sullen as if it were a dark, stormy night.

The air contained a certain type of pressure that a normal human could not withstand without severe discomfort.

Carl halted his steps as he stared at Maxwell with fearful eyes. His brother had turned into a monster. Carl's eyes trembled as he struggled to cope with the scene. He didn't particularly adore his brother, but such a sight was difficult to handle. Moreover, the pressure Maxwell exuded kept him at bay.

"Maxwell…?" Carl spoke, a trembling voice akin to a squeak exiting his mouth. His voice was almost inaudible as it did not reach the ears of the petite boy. "Can you hear me?"

Maxwell slowly lifted his head as he revealed a bright light that emerged from his eyes. His pupils had practically disappeared, and all that remained was the shape of his eyes along with white light.

Chills shot down Carl's spine as he extended his arm, only to retract it once again. However, he grit his teeth and tried once again.

Crack!

Carl's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he felt thick liquid engulfing his shoulder. His eyes trembled as his expression distorted. A deafening, blood-curdling scream emerged from his mouth as he stared at his arm, which wasn't attached to the rest of his body.

A pool of blood lay a few feet away from his body, and atop the liquid lay his detached arm. As the adrenaline wore off, Carl found himself screaming in pain as blood leaked from the wound. Not having experienced such pain in his entire life, he was oblivious to the procedure of first-aid.

He could only stare at his brother with fearful eyes as he passed out due to excessive bleeding. What he saw before passing out was the figure of a monster… not his brother, but a monster.

*

A mountain of corpses lay atop the cold, hard first floor of the Bryxton Tower. Above the mountain sat a boy named Alex. He wore black pants and a loose, white shirt which he had stolen from one of the victims of his massacre.

In his trembling hands, he held a navy-blue pouch laced with golden stripes. He breathed heavily as his glittering eyes scrutinized the pouch from every angle. 'Merlin's Magic Dust,' he thought.

His eyes caught a glimpse of the silver sword that hung on his waist as a smile finally blossomed on his face. As he rubbed the sword with great care, Alex jumped off the mountain of corpses, not even taking a glance at the 1000 survivors excluding himself.

There was one person left. One person needed to be killed to begin the next trial. As he trotted through the crowd of sorrow towards the only person he knew, Maxwell, his eyes fell on a certain individual in the distance.

"Carl?" Alex scrunched his eyebrows as he noticed the obscene condition of the teen. His arm had been ripped off, while his abdomen had been pierced.

Alex fell into deep thought, as there was currently no one who could take on Carl, who had more than a hundred members of his squad along with his individual strength.

'Who managed to kill him in such a short amount of time?' Alex wondered as he searched for Maxwell.

As Alex walked around the room, his eyes widened. Intense pain and heat emerged from a certain spot in his body; to be precise, his abdomen. As his hands immediately investigated the wound, he realized that a bullet had pierced through his body.

A scream emerged from his mouth as he felt his soft flesh as well as the hot blood trickling down. His eyes turned bloodshot as he directed a glare towards a platoon of men, who, after confirming that the bullet had had impact, rained down a barrage of bullets.

"You fuckers!"