“You abandoned us!”

It hadn’t even been a second when Jacob’s shouts echoed throughout the infirmary, an action that quickly garnered the attention of most within the building as they looked towards the source. Sebastian was alone, Ken was not with him. It looked like the boss and two others against him, and it was probably just what Jacob wanted to see.

Sebastian sat there, stunned. Jacob wasn’t exactly wrong, he had picked Sword up without asking and booked it, but he also watched another person die because of the man’s actions.

“Where is the swordsman? He’ll agree.” Jacob spoke quickly, not giving the bladesman a chance as he looked to Dallas. Unfortunately, Dallas gave a nod, sending someone to quickly find Ken. The boss of the group looked toward Sebastian, smiling wryly.

“You think I really just abandoned them?” He responded to the look, a similar smile upon his face.

“I’m not sure. I don’t see why they’d lie about it, and if you really abandoned them, we have to exile you. It’s the rules.” He shrugged helplessly.

“Then we can wait for Ken.”

“Ken?”

“The swordsman. He saw everything.” Sebastian relaxed. If it was a ‘he said she said’ scenario, he really wasn’t worried at all. He had built quite the rapport with Ken, and he was confident the man had seen more than he let on at first, he just wasn’t as decisive as Sebastian was.

He sat back down and let the man continue bandaging the rat bites, albeit he seemed a little less enthusiastic now, as if hesitant to heal someone who abandons their team. He felt it was a little unfortunate, but ultimately he knew very few people here other than Dallas.

The other employees were acquaintances at best.

He didn’t bother finding another shirt, just using the bandages wrapped around his torso and arms. It basically did the same thing, but the gauze would definitely run out at this rate if it kept being used like this.

At least, during the wait, he finally got a good look at the people in the infirmary.

The room had a distinct smell, a mix of medicine, disinfectant, and iron. The atmosphere was filled with soft groans as the injured that remained conscious did their best to process the pain. The ones who hadn’t yet woken up at all were the unlucky ones.

Missing a hand, an arm, a foot or the whole damn leg. Many people weren’t as close to the supermarket as he was when The Light occurred, and most definitely didn’t manage to make it there without permanent injury as he had. Many were stragglers forced out of their homes or workplaces by the beasts now inhabiting the city, picked up by patrol teams well into the night.

The luck really was just wasted on him.

The wails created an ominous backdrop to the event as their small group was surrounded. Jacob was still walking around, telling his story. It was a shame his Perception remained at five, or he could have heard whatever shit the man was spouting. He cracked his knuckles loudly as he still remembered the promise he made himself.

Mariah was an unwilling participant, but Jacob? He still had a cheque to cash in with him.

Ten or so minutes later, Ken returned with a small smile and a new sword in hand, most likely the best of the bunch. Sebastian had dropped a not so subtle hint to him that Identify works on objects too, and the swordsman clearly tried it out when finding a new weapon.

“Sword, good! You’re here.”

Jacob smiled, walking over to the young man. He placed a hand down on Ken’s shoulder as he stood beside him. Sebastian would bet his life he saw a frown appear on the latters face, almost a wince as he did so.

“What’s this all about?”

“Describe what happened to us out on patrol.”

“We-” The frown deepened suddenly as he gave Jacob a look. He lifted his own hand, grabbed Jacob’s, and suddenly gripped hard.

There was a loud scream of pain as the whole crowd saw Ken crush Jacob’s hand, bringing the man to his knees. He gripped his arm with the free hand, trying to pull it from the swordsman’s grasp, but to no avail.

“If you could stop pressing down on my shoulder, I’d be grateful.” He glared at the man, releasing the hand and kicking him for extra measure, sending Jacob stumbling some few feet away. His expression fell, his skin pale.

Sebastian only sneered as he watched. He had a basic gist of the situation now. He only planned on punching Jacob at first, but now he imagined much worse. The thought of why a level two like Jacob would stick around and protect Mariah constantly had previously floated around in his head, but he didn’t care much for it at first. Now he was pretty confident as to why.

The man was afraid.

Mariah’s perception gave her an added awareness to her surroundings that could save her from many bad situations, proven by when she warned Jacob previously. Something that almost got Jacob killed when he didn’t believe her.

He was so afraid, in fact, that he decided to use his strength solely to protect her so that he could benefit from her increased perception. Sebastian wouldn’t be surprised if the man only survived because they ran at the same time as he did, and Mariah’s perception better let them avoid danger. That and the horde focused on him and Ken, a fact that still disgruntled him.

He was most likely afraid that Sword and Sebastian survived too. He did effectively kill Spear, even if it was accidental. If that got out when he returned, he’d be exiled at worst or simply become an outcast at best. Neither a good option in a new world like this one. Mariah was too shellshocked from the event to even speak at the moment, meaning it was now or never.

So he tried to douse the flames before they even started.

If Sebastian was being honest, it might have worked too. If he hadn’t had the weird bonding moment with Ken, the man might not have wanted to get himself involved and let himself be intimidated. At the same time, Jacob didn’t Identify the swordsman, so he didn’t know they both leveled up. His attempt at intimidating the previously quiet, shy and mellow man backfired spectacularly.

“We moved to the industrial area, entered the offices, took the furniture and barricaded the road. When dawn hit, a swarm of rats came through the gaps in the furniture and attacked us.”

Dallas nodded. This much was true from any account, though no one heard Sebastian’s as the man hadn’t bothered to say anything.

“We circled Mariah to protect her, as she was the best bet at figuring out a way to escape. But the rats were our level, and there were hundreds. They quickly took out one of our members, leaving a gap open. One got through and frightened Mariah.”

“Jacob pushed Mariah out of the way but into another team member, who stumbled into the swarm. Assumed dead. Sebastian saw this, picked me up, and booked it. We escaped through a bathroom window of one of the offices.”

“Either way. The barricade is up, Sebastian is Lv. 4, I’m Lv. 3, and we certainly didn’t abandon anyone who wouldn’t have done the same to us.”

Ken glared down at Jacob on the floor, something that led to a wry smile from Sebastian. The swordsman had previously been shy, mellow and quiet indeed but he had a feeling now that it would be different. He sensed a trace of decisiveness and viciousness in the young man’s eyes now. He was adapting quickly, but hopefully not too quickly.

The reveal of their levels brought out the hushed whispers from the crowd. Dallas had previously identified Sebastian immediately upon meeting after the rescue, yes, but that was a planned discussion meant to instill his continued leadership into the man, not a habit he’d actually built up. He himself was only Lv. 5 now. His brows furrowed in thought before he looked over at the bandaged bladesman.

“And you say the same? That’s what happened?”

“Yep. Levelled up mid fight and got the strength to run through the swarm with one other person, so I took the only one who hadn’t gotten a team member killed yet.”

Dallas looked back to Jacob, his gaze lingering for a few moments in silence, before he sighed. He looked to the crowd as he rubbed his temples gently.

“Who believes Jacob?”

The crowd remained silent as they looked at each other. Maybe if Jacob hadn’t been so eager to defame Sebastian, he’d have been more believable. But with the swordsman’s account, now not a single one believed him.

“Who believes Ken?”

A fair few raised their hands. The duo were now some of the strongest in the group, clearly knowing each other better than anyone else. Who’s to say they wouldn’t protect them later on if they didn’t vote? It didn’t take long after the first few for the rest to all raise their hands.

Dallas looked at Jacob and sighed, before looking at Mariah. He knew she’d be wracked by survivor’s guilt from now on, because of actions that weren’t even her own. If she overcame it, she’d be a strong member of the group going forward. If not?

A liability.

“Jacob is to be removed from the group, his weapon..”

Sebastian stood up abruptly, his body releasing pops and cracks as he tensed his muscles slightly, moving for the first time since the new attributes were added. His control over his strength felt much better, and the feeling of the other substance in the air cleared than ever before as he stood straight.

The sounds earned some fright from the crowd as the few closest took a few steps back as the bladesman started to move forward towards Jacob on the floor. “I’ve made few promises in my life and very rarely any to myself, either.” He tilted his neck back and forth with some more cracks, his body finally adjusted to the new level of control. “I’ve only ever failed to keep one promise.” He stood over Jacob now, the look in his eyes apathetic. “But the promise I made to myself, the one to beat the shit out of you if you survived? I’m keeping that one.”

Jacob yelped and tried to scuttle away, but Sebastian grabbed him by their hair and pulled him back, going so far as to pull him to his feet so he could look him in the eyes, the apathy replaced by a cold fury.

Would he care that much if Jacob only put his life in danger? Not really, fuck that.

But Jacob turned a survivable situation into one that got two people killed. That callousness towards life, that disregard? It pissed him the fuck off. Sebastian reeled his arm back, threatening to tear the newly healed bites and bandages, before sending his fist forward.

The first punch knocked the man’s teeth into his own throat.

The second punch shattered his nose.

The third punch blackened his eye.

He tossed the man to the ground, leaving him to sputter and wail as his face laid in a forming puddle of his own blood, barely conscious, gaining a frown from Dallas, who glanced around at the crowd and sighed; knowing Sebastian had gained some authority, but he couldn’t do much about it.

Sebastian was only a level below him, and Dallas himself had put some few points into Perception and the other mental stats. Their physical stats were most likely matched. He’d need a crew to stop Sebastian, but no one wanted to stop him. If he forced them, public opinion would shift somewhat, and he couldn’t afford much of that.

Dallas coughed lightly, before repeating himself and continuing to speak as Sebastian walked back to his seat and sat back down, intrigued by the weird substance in the air. If intelligence being at ten was all it took to sense it, surely the group had more information on it..

“Jacob is to be removed from the group, his weapon confiscated. He will be given a day’s worth of food and water, and released to an area we’ve already cleared. He will be removed by the patrol teams if he continues to remain there afterwards.” Dallas raised his hand.

“Henceforth, Jacob Maxwell is exiled.”