My mind went blank for a fraction of a second, unable to process what was going on. The instant that I came to my senses, I pulled away and stood up in a rush, before stumbling back.

"What's the matter?" Inquired Gela innocently, before licking her lips with a seductive smirk.

​​

"Wh-why did you-!?"

"Is there a problem? She said she didn't mind, you know."

"M-maybe so, but I mind!"

"That's so cruel, after I gave you my first kiss, too," She fake-cried, before smiling mischievously, "Oh, I get it. You would have preferred it if the cat got your tongue instead of me! Heh...get it?"

My initial nervousness boiled into frustration with the ill-timed, and unoriginal, pun.

"Enough. Just shut up," I snarled, unintentionally entering Bloodlust Mode without suppressing my anger, causing her to flinch a bit.

"Hehe...okay, maybe I got a bit carried away. I couldn't resist though, you two have the best reactions."

"I'm...going to go guard the camp from below," Muttered Persia, standing up and averting her gaze.

"H-hey, wait a sec-," I began.

"What?" She snapped with a fierce glare.

"Uh...nothing, never mind," I replied, slightly taken aback.

We argued and fought all the time, but I had never heard her use that tone of voice before.

"...that was awkward," Quipped Gela, as Persia dropped down and posted herself on top of one of the carts.

"That's enough out of you," I growled.

"Heh, I get chills when you act all harsh."

I decided to just ignore her.

My mind was a mess right now, I need time to let everything that just happened sink in. Right now, I couldn't care less about keeping watch over the camp.

By the time I finished processing everything, our shift had ended and I had been awake for over four hours. I just couldn't fall asleep right now. Only one thing was on my mind, all I wanted to do was to make up with Persia, but...I wasn't sure how to go about it.

Whenever we usually argued, things just sort of...go back to normal as soon as the argument ends.

But this reaction was completely new to me. It had completely caught me off guard, and I had no idea how to go about fixing this. I guess she must have felt awkward and uncomfortable thanks to Gela, and that must have irritated her till she snapped.

That seemed to be the only logical explanation, at least as far as I could think of.

If that's the case, it's not that big a deal, so hopefully things would just return to normal tomorrow.

...

...

Tomorrow came and went.

...

...

So did the next day.

...

...

Before I knew it, it was the fourth day of the journey, and Persia had been totally avoiding me since that night. I had tried approaching her a few times, but she just kept averting her gaze or walking away.

And with each ignore, my mood began to get worse and worse, as my motivation and energy dropped too. We were running into fairly powerful monsters now, which included Ogres, bigger, stronger and slightly faster versions of Hobgoblins, Devilbats, which were human-sized bats with supersonic screeches, and Lizardmen, which were large, agile humanoid reptiles.

However, I just couldn't get into fighting them. In my current mood, I simply had no interest.

"Ugh, there's a lot of negativity in front of me. So, what's up with you? Your expression makes even Fuo's grim face seem like a pleasant smile, and that's pretty much her only personality trait!" Remarked Misen, spinning his spear absent-mindedly.

"Want me to fire an arrow up your ass?" Replied Fuo, with an icy glare.

"Keep talking and I'll kill you," I threatened him irritably.

"Now I'm curious about what's got you in such a foul mood, you're a lot more irritable than usua- woah!"

I interrupted him by flinging a poison needle at him, which he just barely managed to dodge. So close...

"A-are you crazy!? That would have killed me in an instant if it so much as scratched me!"

"Tch...I missed."

That shut him up for a while.

"Hey, stay alert back there! We're close to the halfway point, meaning we'll soon be closer to Goldway than to the Rustlands. The monsters we encounter will keep getting tougher!" Warned Instructor Trocuelo.

My state of mind right now was overwhelmingly negative, but I just couldn't bring myself to care.

I had never been through a prolonged period where I was continuously in a bad mood for multiple days before, at least not like this. I've been mad plenty of times before, but this wasn't anger....I wasn't really sure how to describe this feeling.

I just felt...hopeless.

Our shift soon ended, and I hopped down and began to head into the gift cart. As Persia walked past me, I glanced at her, but she averted her gaze.

I felt the negative aura around me grow a bit.

With a sigh, I entered the cart and lay down on a crate, staring up at the ceiling as the carts began to move again. My thoughts were a mess right now.

What is even going on?

That kiss wasn't actually my fault, so isn't she kinda overreacting? And why was she avoiding me anyway? Did I do something wrong that I was unaware of?

...I couldn't think of a single thing.

Each time she avoided me, I felt like I was slowly deflating on the inside, like a leaky balloon. Why was this hurting me so much...I just can't understand it!

I guess someone who had been killing people for a good portion of his existence really wasn't cut out for dealing with normal teenage problems in a normal teenage way.

Fine then. If she doesn't want to talk to me, I'm not going to bother trying anymore!

As soon as I thought that, I felt my chest tighten. I didn't want this to continue. I wanted to talk to her.

No, I need to stop thinking like that!

I bit down on my lip and took a deep breath. Have some pride...it's not the end of the world!

Damn it...why is this affecting me so much!?

Suddenly, water splashed down on my face, and I shot up in surprise.

"You okay? You had a really pained expression."

"Damn it, don't startle me like that, Az," I sighed, although that had definitely helped calm me down a bit.

My face dried instantly as he snapped his fingers, the water disappearing.

"Don't shorten my- well, never mind that. You've been acting pretty strange over the last couple of days. Did something happen?"

Wow, even he had noticed? It's not like I had tried especially hard to hide it or whatever, but still.

For a second, I considered talking to him about it. But I quickly decided against it, I didn't want to make a big deal out of this or drag anyone else into my problems.

Besides...Persia was right above us, so she might hear.

"No, I'm fine. And it's not like I'm the only one acting strange, you're not one to usually start a conversation."

"Yeah, that's true. But the gloomy vibe you're giving off is getting worse and worse. Whatever's going on, it'll be hard for you to stay rational if this keeps up for much longer."

Yeah, I already know that.

I'm pretty pathetic. I was this emotionally distraught over someone avoiding me? Even during my three years of torture, I never felt this despaired...I never felt all these conflicting emotions.

Deep down, I knew why...

Back then, I'd never had anything to lose besides my own life, and I hardly even valued that. But now, it felt like I was in danger of losing something really precious...and it was pure agony.

I didn't know how I was supposed to deal with it, so for now...I decided not to, and ended up entering a sort of incomplete version of Bloodlust Mode, just suppressing my emotions without immersing myself in bloodlust. It's not like my problems were gone though, just buried.

Like covering a slate with a white sheet instead of wiping it clean.

I basically concluded that since I'm not emotionally equipped to deal with love trouble, I'll just avoid dealing with it, at least for now. Pretty pathetic, I know. But feeling this cornered was something that was completely unprecedented for me.

...

...

The day ended before I knew it, and we set up camp.

The shifts and groups for night watch were the same as the first night, so keeping watch had been pretty awkward over the last two nights.

I perched myself on a high spot as usual, while Persia stationed herself further away. Gela followed me, much to my annoyance. After what had happened on the first night, I had shut her up with bloodlust-fueled glares each time she tried to talk to me over the past couple of nights. So hopefully, she wouldn't try to say anything tonigh-.

"Hey, just so you know, I didn't kiss you solely because I wanted to mess with you two, though it certainly played a part. I'm not the romantic type, but...I can confidently say that I'm very attracted to you, especially after our fight in the Brawl of Glory."

Guess I had been too optimistic. Whatever, she won't keep talking if I just ignore-.

"Hey, I am curious about one thing....how was the kiss?"

"..."

"Boo! You're no fun at all."

"..."

"You're giving off a weird vibe. It's like that murderous state of yours but without the murder. It feels...blank. What, did your girlfriend ignoring you for the last three days break you? How cute, you're sulkin- woah!"

That's enough out of you.

Without so much as glancing at her, I shut her up by entering full-on Bloodlust Mode, directing all my murderous intent at her and slashing my dagger at her face, leaving a scratch under her eye.

"Shut. Up. Or the next cut with kill you. It'd be pretty stupid to antagonize me right now...especially for you."

"Wh-whatever you say," She replied with a nervous smile, a bead of sweat rolling down her face.

Whatever...I just wanted these two hours to pass by quickly so that I could go to sleep already. Sleep was my one escape right now.

Hmm wait a second, what was that?

Was someone nearby?

No...it's more than one person. Let's see, I count...eight people.

I could sense their bloodlust coming from inside a cave a few meters from the camp. Had they already been there when we'd arrived here? How the hell did I not notice till now? Was I that distracted by my own negative thoughts?

Looks like Gela hadn't noticed...guess she couldn't sense bloodlust unless it was directed at her. Persia didn't seem to have noticed either...oh, right, she dulls her nose using Mana because the heightened sense of smell is too overwhelming.

"Where are you going?" Asked Gela, as I stood up.

"...bathroom break."

I jumped down and weighed my options. Those people in the cave were definitely hostile, their bloodlust made that clear.

Should I take someone with me?

No...this might be just the opportunity I needed to let off some steam. I walked across the camp and then slunk into the shadows and crept towards the cave. I could sense that one of the eight was by the entrance of the cave, probably keeping watch.

In that case...

I scaled up and across the rocky surface until I was right above the entrance. He was about...a meter inside the entrance, and judging by his position and the direction the moonlight was coming from, he was keeping watch on our camp while hiding in the shadow. The other seven were all between forty to fifty meters further in.

I was starting to feel...excited.

It's been a while since I've done this. It's been a while since I've hunted human targets...

I entered Bloodlust Mode and silently swooped into the entrance of the cave and flung a poison needle at the person keeping watch before he could react. As his lifeless body began to drop, I caught it before it could hit the ground and make any noise, and then lowered it down slowly.

I quickly scanned the corpse. A man in a fully white robe and hood, and a ring with a curved X-shaped symbol.

It gave off a very cult-like vibe.

I silently began charging a lightning blast inside my left wrist and headed into the cave, walking along the shadows, until I neared the remaining seven.

They had a Light Crystal between them, illuminating the area they were sitting in a dim glow.

They were all wearing the same creepy white robe.

I was outnumbered, but this cave was quite narrow, so only two or three of them could attack me at the same time without hurting each other.

In that case...there's no need for me to hide anymore. I drew my short-sword and walked out of the shadows.

"Wha- how did you get in here!?"

"One of the targets!"

"What happened to the one who was by the entrance!?"

How interesting...

"Targets? I'm afraid you're the ones who are the targets here. Oh, and I killed your friend," I replied with a bloodthirsty smile.

One of them launched a fireball at me, as I activated Lightning Boost and evaded it effortlessly, before dashing forward and swinging my sword above his shoulders. The blade cut into and across the side of his neck, slicing it off cleanly.

As his head dropped to the ground and rolled away, blood pouring out of the stump, a sense of deep, familiar satisfaction washed over me.

I've killed people in many different ways, but nothing beats a swift, clean decapitation.

It's been way too long since I cut someone's head off. Even with my emotions suppressed, I couldn't stop a wide, murderous grin from breaking out across my face.

A water-lightning combo blast came shooting from behind the falling corpse, I quickly grabbed the headless body before it dropped and used it as a meat shield. I got a bit electrocuted, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

I let go of the body, and shot forward past it, slicing off the Lightning Magic user's head and flinging a throwing knife at the Water Magic user's heart, both dropping dead in an instant.

"Heh...haha...hahahaha!" I began laughing ecstatically, as pure euphoria took over me.

This is...exactly what I needed!

Four more to go.

Spikes suddenly shot out from the ground beneath me, and as I evaded it, a few rocks came flying at me. I twisted my body to avoid them, as one of them grazed past my side.

Damn it, my outfit!

A wind-enhanced fireball came blazing towards me, I was unable to fully avoid it, my back getting scorched. Two Earth Magic users, a Fire Magic user, and a Wind Magic user.

They weren't that powerful, but I didn't have enough room to evade simultaneous attacks.

Oh, well.

I'd have liked to decapitate at least one more of them, but whatever. They flinched in confusion as I sliced off my left hand, a bright, electric glow emanating from the bloody stump, as I grinned menacingly.

This...was going to be the most powerful lightning blast I've ever fired so far.

"Hahahaha, time for you to die! Take this, Lightning Incineration Canon, Hands-Free Version! "

The recoil nearly knocked me off my feet, and the instant that I fired the blast, everything in my line of sight was nothing but a bright, electrifying, blue glow.

Woah...that was a lot more powerful that I had expected.

The blast had been so big that the cave was a bit less narrow now. And I had to admit...saying my attack name out loud had been kinda satisfying.

Though, I'd still be embarrassed if anyone heard me.

As I reattached my left hand, I noticed something slightly stir in front of me.

No way, did one of them actually survive that blast?

Heh...how amusing.

I walked over to have a closer look.

He was half-buried in rubble, and his body was less than intact. He was somehow still alive though, conscious too. I began to raise my sword, and then stopped. Wait, I should probably try and get a little bit of information out of this guy.

Whew, in all the excitement, I had completely forgotten about that.

It was one of the Earth Magic users, he must have raised a wall of earth in front of him when I fired, along with using his partners as shields. That was the only way he could have survived, the other three had been completely disintegrated, not a trace of their bodies remained.

Still, this guy may have avoided death, but his right arm, right leg and a chunk of his right torso were gone, plus his face was scorched too. His heart was still beating, but he'll probably die soon.

"Heh...that sure was fun. Now then, let's make this simple. You're probably going to suffer and die slowly if you're left alone, so I'll tell you what, answer my questions and I'll kill you painlessly, just like I did with all your friends."

"Who...are you? The...targets were...supposed to be just...Student Adventurers."

"I'm the one asking the questions here. And FYI, I am a student, in fact I'm just a first year. So...who sent you? You don't look like thieves or bandits. Are you part of some cult or something?"

"Impossible...a mere student...from the lowly Rustlands...singlehandedly defeated us? We were told...that we all have...A-Rank level abilities...so how...?"

"So, you're gonna ignore my questions, huh? Well, in that case...you know, torture really isn't my thing, but I definitely know how to do it if necessary," I remarked, slowly crushing one of his fingernails and stabbing the cracked pieces of it into the skin, while streaming a thin line of lightning into one of his eyeballs, slowly boiling it from the inside.

"Ahhhhhhh, damn it...! How is this...possible? Succeeding in this job would have finally...let us move up in...the ranks. And yet...Ahhhhhhh!!!" He screamed, as his eye turned red and exploded.

Ugh...gross.

Yup, torturing really isn't my style, after all.

He wasn't answering my questions, but I was still getting some information from him.

"I think I'm starting to get the picture. Your little group was sent to assassinate us by someone...no, I doubt it was an individual, you said something about moving up in the ranks, and given that you were all wearing the same cult-y outfit, I'm guessing...you're part of some creepy-ass organization."

"How...dare you-!"

"And not to burst your bubble, but none of your abilities were even close to being A-Ranked. Honestly, I'd barely put you at C-rank, and that's being generous. Tell me...before tonight, have any of you ever actually fought a real Adventurer? I'm guessing not."

"..."

His silence answered my question, as did the look of realization on his face. Time to twist the figurative knife.

"Heh, how sad...your organization used you all as sacrificial pawns to...test our strength, maybe? They wanted to know what they were up against. And so, with the promise of moving up in the ranks as motivation, and the lie about how powerful your abilities are in order to boost your confidence and prevent any resistance, they convinced you pawns to embark on a perfectly avoidable suicide mission. So, knowing all that, that you were nothing more than disposable trash to your superiors...are you still going to protect your organization and avoid answering my questions?"

"..."

"..."

"...we were sent by...the Magic Research...Group. You see...we have always been allied and supported by...Platinberg and Goldway. But...the new king of Goldway...wants to cut ties with us. The higher ups...don't want that, since...Goldway is important to the organization...though I don't know...why. So...they plan to pressure the king...till he gives in. Ruining the upcoming alliance...with the Rustlands...is just one...of the many ways they plan to do so. That's...all I know. Please...kill me."

His expression was now showing a lot more pain.

I guess his body must have gotten briefly numbed when my lightning blast took off most of his right side, and now that the numbness was fading, he was starting to really feel the pain. Well, he'd given me plenty of information, so I'll keep up my end of the bargain.

"I appreciate your cooperation," I stated, slashing off his head swiftly.

I stood up, sheathing my sword and exhaling contentedly. That...had been awesome.

And so nostalgic.

My ears suddenly twitched as I heard footsteps approaching the cave. I didn't sense any hostility, so it was probably someone from the camp. Well, my lightning attack had probably been pretty loud, and this cave was no more than eighty meters away from where we had set up camp.

"Is someone in there!? Show yourself!" I heard Instructor Trocuelo yell cautiously from the entrance of the cave.

"It's just me, Kuro!" I yelled back.

I made my way to the entrance, where nearly all the others were peering in.

"What happened in here?"

"I sensed people hiding here, so I snuck in and took them out. Don't worry, I got plenty of information before I killed the last one," I replied, before quickly relaying the information I'd learnt.

Everyone listened in silence as I explained.

"Hmm...this is pretty problematic. If what you say is true, we'll probably be running into an ambush or two within the next three days," Surmised Instructor Trocuelo, frowning.

"Ugh, this is the worst. Let's just turn around and go home, I don't want to have to deal with this crap," Groaned Instructor Uensh, scratching at some mosquito bites around the gills on her neck.

"I have to say, it was rather foolish to come in here by yourself. You would have probably been killed if they had been stronger," Remarked Fuo.

"Too bad they weren't," Mumbled Misen.

"I'm not that easy to kill, you know. And I regret nothing, this was a really therapeutic experience for me," I replied with a satisfied shrug, "Well actually, I do have one small regret...I wish I had been able to avoid getting my outfit all torn up."

As I exited the cave, I noticed the representatives nervously peeking out from the carriage.

"Did something happen?" Inquired the worried-looking prince.

"Nothing to be concerned about, your highness. There was a small issue, but it's been dealt with, there's nothing to worry about at all," Assured Instructor Trocuelo.

"Wow, lying to royalty...that might be considered light treason," I quipped under my breath, just loud enough for the instructor to hear.

After a long, long dry spell...killing eight people in one go had significantly improved my mood.

"We can't exactly tell them that we're in danger of being attacked by a dangerous cult," He quietly replied through gritted teeth.

"Well, anyway...there's still over an hour left for my shift, you all should probably get some more shut eye," I suggested.

Five minutes later, everyone had gone back to sleep in the tents and carts. I changed out of my damaged battle outfit and sighed. I only had one set of this outfit left now. I should probably save it, I'll wear one of the new outfits I bought instead.

I wore a black tank top and put on a sleeveless black hoodie over it. Only the top part of my battle gear had gotten damaged, so I kept on the arm guards and trousers.

Hey, this was really comfortable. And it looked kinda cool too. Then again, anything in black looked good to me.

I emerged from the gift cart after finishing changing, and headed for the high spot I had posted myself at earlier. Gela was unfortunately still up there, but it was still the best available spot to keep watch over from.

I had regained some motivation.

I doubted that anything would happen again tonight, but you could never be too careful. I walked past Persia, and before I could stop myself, my eyes shifted across to glance at her. To my surprise, she met my gaze. For the first time in a couple of days, our eyes met.

And as soon as they did, I felt my heart begin to race and my body heat up. Before either of us could start to say something, I averted my gaze and kept walking, unable to stop myself.

...wait, what am I doing? That had been a perfect chance to talk to her!

What was that I felt just now? Is this...guilt? But why, I hadn't done anything wrong!

...no, I already knew why. It was that kiss.

With this guilt looming over me, it felt wrong to even think about telling her how I feel, or even face her. And since I had been the one to avert my gaze this time, I had just made it even harder for us to talk to each other.

I internally groaned in despair and climbed up, sitting down as I reached the top.

"I can't believe I missed an opportunity to see you in your murderous state, you should have taken me with you," Greeted Gela, with a pout.

"And why would I have done that, Featherhead? You're literally the reason I needed to blow off some steam in the first place," I growled, flicking a small spark of lightning at her face, which she narrowly dodged.

"Wow, your mood has seriously improved. You actually replied. I was expecting another slash," She remarked, pointing at the cut I'd left under her eye.

"Yeah, well...I do like to kill," I shrugged, "Now stop talking to me, I may be in a better mood, but you're still pretty irritating."

"You're being dramatic, both you and her. I was just trying to make things a bit awkward because I was bored and thought it'd be funny, I didn't expect to cause such a rift, especially since you two are usually so close. Well, I don't mind apologizing if that'll make you feel better, but I won't mean it. I don't particularly care what happens between you two, after all. Though this does make it easier for me to make a move on you now," She winked seductively, coming closer.

"No thanks, I'm good," I replied in exasperation, pushing her face away.

"Aw, why not? Not to brag or anything, but I'd say I'm fairly attractive," She inquired with a smirk.

"Sure, your appearance is fine...but on the inside, you're just creepy and annoying," I responded bluntly.

"Hehe, keep talking like that to me and I'll only end up wanting you more. I am still a girl, I feel sexual attraction and have...certain desires...," She whispered slowly.

"Cool, well find someone else...I'm not interested."

"You're not fun at all, it won't kill you to play along a bit, you know," She finally backed off, sticking her tongue out at me.

A bit of peace and quiet at last.

The remainder of my shift was uneventful, as was the rest of the night.

The next morning, we took some time to discuss a change of tactics, as monsters were no longer the main threat we needed to watch out for.

"We'll be passing by a lot of overhead caves as we keep heading forward, and those are ideal spots to set up ambushes, there's every chance that we'll get dropped down on from above. And don't let yourself forget that monsters are still very much a threat, we'll only keep running into stronger and stronger types as we keep going. So, any suggestions on how we can improve our formation?" Inquired Instructor Trocuelo.

"Yeah...let's reverse the current formation and head back home," Suggested Instructor Uensh, yawning.

"..."

"..."

"...any real suggestions?"

"What about sending a scout ahead?" I chimed in, "I can use Lightning Boost to go ahead, check for enemies, and take them out if I find any."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea. There are three of us here who can use that technique, so we can take turns at being the scout."

"Hey, wait! Why am I being dragged into this too?" Protested Misen with a look of dismay.

"Well, duh. You're the fastest person here, after all...what, are you scared?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

The job of a scout comes with an important responsibility, screw it up and everyone could die. Of course, the scout themselves were in the most danger.

I was pretty sure that Misen wasn't in the least bit afraid of running into any enemies, he just didn't want to be saddled with any responsibility. But I was the only one who knew that, everyone else would just assume he was being cowardly and fearing for his own life, so...he wouldn't protest too much.

"Is there some kind of problem?" Inquired one of the representatives, coming over to where we were all having this small meeting.

Misen flinched and quickly wiped off the unhappy look on his face. Oh, that must be his father.

"Not at all, sir. We were simply discussing additional tactics we could use since we'll be running into more powerful monsters soon," Replied Instructor Trocuelo reassuringly.

A few minutes later, we continued to move, as I activated my Lightning Boost at x2.5 and ran ahead.

I cleared my mind and entered Bloodlust Mode, sharpening my senses and keeping a sharp eye out for any bloodlust around me. After about five kilometers with no sign of any enemies, I stopped and waited for the group to catch up to me. A few Lizardmen came slinking out from behind some rocks as I waited.

They were pretty vicious fighters, and could also spit out powerful acid, but their attacks were wild and easy to predict, so I had no trouble.

Well, I suppose you couldn't expect too much more from unintelligent monsters. As I took them out, the carts caught up to me.

"Good work. Run into any trouble?" Asked Instructor Trocuelo.

"Nope, all clear so far."

"Alright then, I'll switch with you-."

"Nah, I can keep going for a while longer," I replied, before charging ahead again.

I can work on my Lightning Boost while I'm at this. Also, I don't want to miss out on any potential killing opportunities.

As I charged forward, eagerly hoping to run into some enemies, I would soon find out...be careful what you wish for...

_____________________________________________

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