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Last Pact Standing (12)

The sun shone brightly overhead in the expansive blue painting of the sky. The third trial of the tutorial had almost a day left to end and Declan was getting bored. 

The first two trials were so much better when he had to work alone. Being placed in a team now was just awful. He couldn't act or do things as he wished. 

He was the fifth member of his team and they all did things as per the majority. 

Currently, the majority had formed an alliance with the rest and he was forced to stay here in the large group. Apparently there was a monster of a Player who was supposedly a world-level threat.

World-level, my ass! There's no way a beginner from a tutorial could be this dangerous. These guys are overreacting tremendously…

Declan spat in disdain as he walked over to take a piss behind a tree. The rule about not straying more than 20 meters from the group irked him, adding to his frustration.

Noticing that no one was paying attention, he edged a bit further, taking a couple more steps until he was 21 meters away, hidden behind the tree.

Declan showed his middle finger to the group and with his other hand, started unbuckling his pants. 

"Fuck you—"

Before Declan could react, a hand gripped his neck, plunging him into darkness.

In the blink of an eye, he was facing a boulder, his mind struggling to process the sudden shift. 

He had only just collected himself when the world around him spun violently.

Orre…? The thought barely formed before everything became a blur.

The last sound he heard was a dull thud and his gaze locked onto a headless body, standing eerily still.

His vision dimmed and the last thing he saw was the headless body crumple to its knees. 

His mind went blank and his thoughts stopped as he got pulled into the cycle of reincarnation.

On this boring day, Declan's life came to an end.

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.

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"Holy shit—!"

Julien cursed out loud as his eyes went wide and his heart thumped wildly. 

Right in front of him, Jackie severed the man's head without any hesitation. He had seen him kill them before, but not so swiftly like a cold-blood killer.

The scene was more grotesque than what Julien had imagined.

Thankfully, the shock died down in a few seconds and his mental health turned stable. 

In the last two rounds, Julien had been through many things that solidified his mental fortitude. Watching a real human get killed right in front of his eyes, that too by his own subordinate, was a new experience, but he could live with it and not have any trouble sleeping at night. 

Julien took a deep breath and looked at Jackie. The boy was standing still, looking at the corpse, with his sword hanging at his waist, dripping with blood. 

"Get his token and loot, Jackie." Julien instructed.

"Yes, Master." Jackie gave him a nod and went through the man's belongings. 

He didn't have much things on him other than a few healing potions, stamina elixirs, and one stealth related item. 

This item was useless in comparison to Julien's Shadow Cloak. However, it could be used at any time while the cloak could only be used in darkness or shadows. 

The item masked his scent and erased all sounds of his steps like the Shadow Cloak, but it did not turn him invisible. He would still be there in the open and easily visible. 

Still, this was better than nothing and he took the badge-like item and placed it in his pocket. It activated with some Essence points. 

"Be ready. I'll be back soon." Julien said. 

Jackie nodded and did a backflip into the bushes, disappearing. 

Julien activated the teleportation scroll and vanished from his spot, appearing on top of a tall tree. He looked for his next prey and upon finding him, teleported again. 

This time, it was a young girl. 

Julien had conflicted feelings about this and teleported out at a bit of a distance from Jackie. 

He hit the girl's neck from the side of his palms and knocked her unconscious. 

"Master?" Jackie asked from afar as Julien walked closer to him with the girl.

Julien shook his head and said, "I don't know, Jackie. I don't think killing these people might be the best idea. Look at this young girl. Do you think she could hurt—"

"Master." Jackie placed his hand on Julien's shoulder from the front and looked him in the eyes. "This is a cold world. Such emotions of yours would only shorten your lifespan and put you at risk."

Before Julien could reply, a soft voice rang in his and Jackie's ears. 

"Jackie." Amelia got close to Jackie and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Master's emotions are those of compassion and empathy. There's nothing wrong with having them. Do not influence him to be devoid of emotions."

Jackie turned around and looked up at Amelia. He stared at her red blindfold covered eyes and said, "Sister Amelia, while I appreciate your comments, I don't think this is right for Master. The world's much much crueler than you could think of."

"Compassion and empathy are things that would accelerate your chances of dying. You would never be able to progress in the Tower with that."

"If you don't believe me, how about we test things out?"

Jackie turned to Julien. "Master, can you please get two more people from the group there? After bringing them, wake this girl up and see how her reaction would be."

"Why? I could just wake her up now and see her reaction." Julien replied. 

"That won't do." Jackie shook his head. "She'll simply plead for mercy and start crying as she would feel cornered and intimidated. It would be best if you bring two random people from there."

"Alright." Julien didn't argue with him and decided to test the waters.

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