The rogues slowly began to surround him, no matter which way he looked there was one of them. The reasoning behind their intent, however, was not clear, why had they decided to do this?

"Don't suppose you're here to invite me to your celebration, I didn't think you guys liked me, but I never imagined it was to this extent," he looked all around for a possible way out as he spoke.

This was the worst case scenario, rogues were suited to fight one-on-one, anything else would half their capacity to fight. Rogues weren't like mages who could do attacks with area-of-effects, single targets were their Intended target.

"Don't take this personal, we spend some time thinking, and we all agreed, you gotta go," one rogue spoke, "We aren't going to kill you, but you won't be participating in this upcoming test."

They don't want me to participate? But why?

"What's wrong with me participating? It won't affect your chances at all," even if he took part, it shouldn't have much to do with the other rogues.

"While you were out having dinner with the instructor, we were at the Guild hall, we heard some interesting news about the upcoming test," the rogue who I had sparred with answered, "The test will likely limit the amount of people who can pass from the same class based on performance, they said only half of each class will pass the test."

The new information made everything click in his head, the current situation made a lot more sense, it was starting to look bleak, "You're good, we acknowledge that, but that's bad news for us. If we let you participate then only two of us five will pass, the other three will fail. If you don't take the test, then a slot will open and three of us will pass, in order to increase our chances we want to you to wait for the next test."

Solid plan, they want to make me sit this one out because they believe I will be guaranteed a spot in the ones that will progress, there's just one problem with that plan...

"Sorry, but I'm going up," his words immediately drew the fury of the rogues, their raised swords were proof of that, "So I'm not going to stay here like you wished, what will you do?"

It was a complicated situation, he hoped that they would lose their nerve and just leave him alone. However, the group already had come too far to simply go back with nothing.

"Then we'll make you stay." at his words, they began to slowly inch towards him. With each second his chances of escape grew slimmer and slimmer, he needed to do something.

"Arghhh!" came a shout from behind him, it was more than enough warning for him to turn around and clash his sword with the blade that tried to cut through his back. Just as the first attack was being deflected, another attack managed to cut into his arm.

The feeling of his flesh being cut was foreign, the blade's edge ran through his skin and left a burning sensation on its wake. The pain was sharp and it made him suck in a breath, but he did not make a noise. He did not want to give them the satisfaction.

They had not learned anything from the training they received, the first guy's attack was so predictable, to the point he even shouted, and the attack that came afterward was sloppy. It left his opponent unguarded for a few seconds after the attack was finished, he wanted to retaliate with an even deadlier strike. But he couldn't.

It would certainly connect, but he needed his blade close to himself right now, otherwise, the others would make him into mincemeat in no time. He needed to focus on defense.

He slanted his sword in front of himself, just like Eira had done. His sword was short, not like Eira's rapier, but it would have to do.

The next attack came from the front, he focused completely on defense, discarding all other thoughts. Defense and nothing more.

Attacks came at him one after the other fast, but he was faster. The sound of metal clashing and scraping against each other filled the dark alley. His eyes took everything in, although defense was needed right now, it would not win the fight. He would have to strike eventually.

Another sword was redirected as it tried to reach him, although it was difficult at first, now a pattern was beginning to form amongst his five attackers.

Two swords came barreling at him at the same time and that was his chance.

Instead of blocking the attacks, he dodged to the side and moved out of the way by mere centimeters. They were both open for an attack, his blade moved but they reacted too slow.

Assassinate!

The feeling of power as his blade sliced through the first guy's neck was a new feeling, his sword met no resistance. The only other time he had slashed flesh was when had struck the Minotaur, but that thing had tough hide, nothing like the soft flesh of humans.

He hadn't wanted to kill him, but the situation he was placed in left him no choice, he had no room to give mercy here.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

As the rogue fell to the floor, gasps and shock emerged on the other rogues' faces. The sudden death of their comrade had them completely flabbergasted, their attacks had stopped and their guard was down.

His body has several nicks and cuts from stray attacks, but the biggest injury was the one he received at the beginning. The slash he got in his arm, the blood from the wound was already pooled on the floor. He had wanted to retaliate at that time but was unable to do so. It came as no surprise that this was the target of his next strike.

A blue screen appeared but was quickly dismissed with a thought, there could be no distractions right now.

His target was not even looking at him, opting out to instead look in horror at his buddy's body on the floor. The strike was as precise as it was silent, the man never knew what hit him. The rogue's dead body falling to the floor was the sign of another life expiring.

"Wh-what the fuck is wrong with you!?", came the surprised yell of one of the rogues who ambushed him, "Holy shit, what the fuck!"

The break in character was enough to stop Damien's assault, he stared at the remaining assailants and they stared back at him in shock.

"What the hell have you done? You killed them!", one began to shout at him, he was seething, "Why did you do that!? You're crazy!"

Now Damien was extremely confused, they had just attacked him, tried to kill him even, so why were they acting like this?

"What are you talking about? You ambushed me, you attacked me five-on-one," he really was confused, this development was not what he was expecting at all.

"We weren't going to kill you though! Just scare you off from participating!", he countered.

It might have been that when they got together to discuss how to deal with Damien that they said they would only use scare tactics, but in their adrenaline-filled bodies they forgot all about that and seriously tried to kill him.

"You could have fooled me," Damien didn't lower his sword, rather he shifted his stance, "Leave."

For a moment, no one said anything, but a rage that was growing at seeing their friends killed spoke for them, "Like hell I'm just leaving after what you did," he raised his sword to meet Damien's, "I'll make you pay."

However one of the three remaining rogues began to slowly back away, Damien, who had been keeping a close eye on them noticed, but the other two did not.

The two rogues who did not back down rushed at him, one leaped off the ground and brought his sword back to strike. The sword movements were wasted, there was lots of room to improve the attack. In order for an attack to be successful, there are two needs that must be fulfilled: the swiftness to overcome your opponent's reaction speed, and two, the technique to ensure your target did not have an easy way to circumvent your attack and block it. Damien noted this swing had neither.

Before the sword could even be brought down on his head, his sword cut through the air and made a long gash on the rogue's belly. The leather armor he wore did little to protect his flesh from the decisive blade.

The sudden wound and the blood that spilled out was enough to make the man lose his strength and drop his sword on the ground. The metal whined as it bounced once on the stone floor, it echoed in the deadly silence.

The last remaining rogue soon realized that he was the last one left, three of them had been killed and the other had run away, he was alone now. Damien approached him quietly, like a cat stalking a mouse, it was over.

The fear that gripped his heart was paralyzing, he tried to run away but his legs would not budge, he wanted to scream. So he did, "HELP! HELP! HE'S GOING TO KILL ME!"

As Damien grew closer his legs began to give out before he found himself on his knees, looking up to see Damien he only found the face of death.

"Is this really how you want to go? Pick yourself up, at least die on your feet," his eyes pitied him.

"N-no, please spare me! I didn't want this! I just want to live!" his voice cracked and sounded like that of a child, Damien truly felt bad for him.

But still, something drove him to kill him, a feeling within him would not let himself be attacked like this and take it lying down, "It's strange, you know? The threat to my life is over, but somehow I still feel the need to kill you."

The man's face twisted in terror at these words, "You don't have to! You can let me go, please!"

Sensing that he would continue, Damien raised his sword to silence him, "You're wrong, I have to. Do you remember anything about your past life? I don't, sometimes I get blurbs here and there, but they always vanish from my grasp. But something remains, even after all this time I still feel it within me, and thanks to you guys I finally know what it is."

"Please please please," he had broken down into a trance, the fear of death was too much.

"The one rule I live by, always return what is given to you ten-fold. That's why I have a hard time receiving help, because if I am given something, I feel compelled to return it with interest," he readied his sword for a final strike as the man kept begging for mercy, "I think this is the path to goodness, return kindness with more kindness so it will flourish and give malice back to those that give it room to grow, that's why..."

His sword came down and beheaded the man who was on the floor, his head rolled and stopped at Damien's feet.

He looked at his sword which had been bloodied and swiped it in the air to get rid of the stains, for the most part, the blood was cleaned. He would have to run it down with a cloth later but it would prevent rust for now.

Why did things end up this way? Is killing a crime? If we were in the streets instead of the back alleys then a City Vanguard would have stopped us already, so maybe it is. Didn't I get a System prompt?

Remembering that he had seen a blue screen after he killed the first guy, he brought up his status but was met with a new prompt.

Quest!: I, Alone.

Twist fate in your favor and become an indomitable blade.

Requirements:

- Kill other rogues (4/5)

- Make it through the test on Level 1 as the only rogue

Rewards:

- Indomitable Title

- Arcane Assassin Class

- Perfect Strike Fighting Style

- Fang of the Initiated (D) dagger

- +50 Skill Points

A quest?