A Split Decision

Avic's fingers sank into the rotten flesh at the back of a Drowned's neck. He then tossed it to the side before another one jumped onto his chest. It immediately bared its mouth of small rotten teeth, ready to sink into his flesh.

Avic hissed. Just by the look of it, a single bite would be enough to infect him with a fatal illness. He couldn't allow himself to be bitten. Fortunately, before the Drowned could bite him, Chaz came to his aid and kicked the Drowned from atop his chest. This allowed Avic to quickly regain his footing.

"Thanks..!" Said Avic gratefully.

"No problem. We need all the help we can! We can't allow anyone to die just yet..!" Answered Chaz.

"Help me! PLEASE!!" Shouted a female voice.

Avic and Chaz then quickly looked a few feet before them, only to realize that the girl was slowly being dragged away by a group of Drowned. She had fallen and hadn't been able to get up. Fortunately, Drowned's weren't very smart monsters. But it was only a matter of time before they all decided to attack her at once.

"Tsk! That's it! I'm done playing around with these annoying pieces of shit! I'm going to incinerate them!" Shouted Zane.

Getting his sword in front of him, Hemo Energy quickly began wrapping around his blade. Avic immediately realized what he was trying to do.

"Wait! You can't use a Bloodline Art! She'll get hit with it too!"

"It's her fault for being too weak! She's a necessary sacrifice to save the rest of us!"

Zane then took a deep breath as flames began engulfing the blade of his sword.

"Bloodline Art: Flaming Fury!"

With a bright flash, a sea of flames erupted from the blade of his sword, quickly cutting down the Drowned in a wave of heat. However, Avic couldn't stand by and watch as the girl was burned alive. Due to this, he clenched his teeth and ran forward as fast as he could.

He kicked and slashed away at the Drowned with everything he had. However, Zane's Bloodline Art was right on his tail. Finally, at the very last moment, Avic dived toward the girl and covered her with his body. He did this while simultaneously creating a weak wall of ice around them to lessen the impact of Zane's Bloodline Art.

With a small explosion, all the Drowned were burned to crisps in an instant. The scent of burnt flesh and smoke quickly spread through the air. The bodies of the Drowned littered the pathway before them with steam and smoke erupting from them. Even Avic's wall of ice had mostly been melted.

Avic groaned as he looked down at the girl who laid beneath him. Her eyes were softened with fear but fortunately, he had managed to protect her from the flames. The only issue was that his back had been burnt just a little due to covering her like a shield. Luckily, this was not a terrible injury.

"Man... This is all such a massive pain, it's not even funny... Urgh... Are you okay..?" He asked painfully.

"I... I am. Are you..?"

"Well, I wish I could have just stood by and watch you get burnt to a crisp but that's an even bigger pain than doing nothing at all. Damn that bastard, Zane..!"

Avic then groaned as he picked himself up. His back felt as if a hot flame was dancing across it. But he didn't complain. He endured it and rose to his feet.

"What an idiot you are. You must think you're some kind of hero. Did you think it would win you points with her so that you could get in-between her legs or something? You're a joke," cursed Zane with disgust.

"I really can't understand jackasses like you. Aren't Sicarius supposed to protect innocent people? Not burn them alive!" Argued Avic.

"You just said it yourself. Sicarius are supposed to protect innocent people. Not other Sicarius! Especially if you have to go out of your way to do it. Chaz saved your ass, didn't he? Did you see me bitching about that? No, because he didn't have to go out of his way to save you. On the other hand, you went well out of your way to protect that girl. When on the battlefield, trying to perform heroics like the stunt you just pulled will get you killed. Only save someone if it's logical. Not out of a sense of justice or emotions! Sicarius are responsible for their own safety!"

Avic was prepared to continue arguing. However, before the words could leave his lips, a slight rumbling came into play. At first, they didn't know what it was. They believed that another hoard of monsters was about to be released on them. But that wasn't the case.

They watched as two smaller pathways opened up on either side of the walls. One pathway led somewhere to their right while the other led somewhere to their left.

"What is this..?" Muttered Avic.

"It seems like they're telling us to choose a path. They might lead us to an exit," answered Chaz.

"I can feel strong Hemo Energy coming from the one on our left. But the one on our right has a weaker level of it. I don't know what this means but I'm going to play it safe and take the route with the weakest level of Hemo. I'm going with the one to the right," declared Zane.

Avic pondered. He too didn't understand what the two pathways were trying to tell them. However, he had a strong feeling that he should choose the one to his left.

"I feel like it's the one to our left."

"What? You're a bigger idiot than I thought you were. You're seriously going to choose the pathway that has the most Hemo Energy emitting from it? That's obviously a sign of dangerous monsters!" Argued Zane.

"I don't know. Maybe it's a trap. I know I'm not the smartest guy around but don't you at least think they're making it too obvious? The most expected choice is for us to go to the left because the Hemo Energy there seems weak. This could just be a case of reverse psychology."

"That's just based on assumption. As Sicarius, we're supposed to always make the smartest and least dangerous decisions to ensure survival!"

"I swear I could die just listening to you. It's good to listen to rules but even rules can have flaws. Sometimes it's best to just follow your gut and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

"Tsk! Fine then. Go ahead and kill yourself. Chaz, let's go. We're taking the left pathway."

Zane and Chaz then promptly left as they walked into the left pathway which closed behind them. This left Avic and the girl alone.

"Well, the pathway to the right just closed so it seems you're stuck with me. Let's go."