I burst into the room.

[Where is he?!]

Darkness nearly jumped in fright as I slammed the door open. “W- Where is who?” She stammered out, her gaze nervously darting across the room, yet never meeting mine. Very suspicious.

[Where is the other guy? Shadow? Where is he hiding?]

“You were looking for me?”

Almost as if on cue, the voice came from behind me. What added to my annoyance was that the sound had a slight undertone of mockery. That guy thought he was better than me. I lightly scoffed and slowly turned around.

[Had fun?]

“Hmm? I don’t know what you mean.” He made such an obviously fake clueless expression I was forced to laugh despite my bad mood.

[Hehe… You don’t, do you? Was it nice following me around? The evening air is quite crisp, isn’t it?]

“I’m not sure-”

My body flared up with power and everything slowed down as I hammered my fist into his solar plexus. He was cut off mid-sentence as my attack came out of nowhere, and he slammed into the wall on the other side of the hallway.

[Don’t! Don’t you fucking dare lie to me! You might think I can’t tell when you are trying to fool me, but there are other ways to discern the truth, other than a passive perception of a superior Soul.] He might have been a spy, but he was a terrible liar. Absolutely awful. Probably because everyone stronger could always tell when he was being truthful, and since he never had to lie to those weaker than him, the skill never developed.

It was actually quite pathetic.

I placed my hands on my hips and my shadow loomed over Shadow who was busy coughing and catching his breath on the ground. I punched him at full force, but that didn’t seem like it did too much damage. At least not permanently. That was good to know. While my body was strong, without empowering my attacks with Qi, they were still somewhat lacking.

More than enough to frighten people though.

[More sneaking around, huh? Mind telling me why you thought it was smart to spy on me?]

“H- How did you know?!” He eventually stammered out. The brainless fool.

My lisp curled into a smirk as I tasted victory. That guy was really inexperienced in certain areas. That was a big weakness of extreme specialization. Not something I would ever allow myself to become. I wanted to know everything! And I would… with time.

[I didn’t know jack shit, you fucking idiot. But you just told me.]

I watched with great satisfaction as Shadow opened and closed his mouth many times, yet didn’t speak. In the end, he just ended up looking like a clueless fish. All his conflicting emotions were visible on his face as his brain struggled to process the fact that he just exposed himself.

In the end, he just stood up and patted his clothes, pretending nothing happened. Unable to accept the truth, he went with blatant denial, or something equally stupid. Probably. I don’t know.

I took a step closer until our foreheads nearly touched and whispered in a harsh tone.

[I’ll say this only once. You are forbidden from henceforth spying on me. If I catch you doing it again, I’ll cut off your limbs and turn you into a human nugget. And you are not going to get a regeneration for the second time, mark my words.]

“Hah! I’d like to see you try.” Shadow scoffed.

He just barely finished the sentence when my fist connected with his face. Granted, the blow was somewhat weakened by a hastily created barrier, but his nose connecting with my knuckles at high speed still must have hurt. And hurt it did, if the tears gushing out of his eyes were to be believed.

Shadow stumbled and held his face while quietly moaning in pain. He was really only good at one thing, which was spying. Any common warrior would easily be able to take that punch and remain standing. There wasn’t even any blood.

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I grabbed him by the tunic he wore and pulled him closer, my eyes glowing dangerously.

[Are we clear?]

“Ow! Yes, yes! Please, just let me go.”

The last thoughts of resistance disappeared at that moment and he went limp like a sack of potatoes. I released him and he fell down on his ass and remained there. I saw his defeated expression and followed his glancing gaze.

We stood in front of the door to their room, and Darkness was watching from the distance.

[Talk about embarrassing, huh?] I snickered. Those two might have been blind to each other’s desires, but I was not. But that was good because that way I could use them.

I turned back to Shadow. [How much do you know about Intents?]

He looked up at me. “Like… Killing Intent?”

[Right.]

“I know a bit… Why?”

[Perfect!] I sat down on the ground opposite to him. [Use it on me.]

“Err… What?”

[The Killing Intent, use it on me.] I repeated.

“But-”

[No but! Do it! If I’m going to have to take care of you, it’s only fair you do your part and help me. Or would you rather hand over all the skills and knowledge you gained over the years?] I took an empty Memory Orb and pushed it into his face. [I can accept that too.]

The man turned pale. “Impossible! The Midnight Order forbids anyone from revealing the skills we possess! If I do that, we are all going to be executed!”

I took the orb back with a frown. [Yeah… I thought so. So what are you waiting for?! Use your Killing Intent! Do it!]

Shadow grit his teeth and became serious. “Fine! But I’m only doing this because you said so. Don’t blame me if anything goes wrong.”

[Stop blabbering! Get on with it!]

I was seriously getting pissed off with that guy. How badly did he live to completely lose his spine? I guess that’s what happens when you live your life in the shadows. Hah!

Luckily he finally gathered himself, and with a determined look on his face, focused. I felt an oppressive aura spread from him that made me feel slightly uncomfortable. But that was about it, it didn’t even do anything. I was seriously disappointed.

The intense murderous desire and intent for violence I felt from Tan Gong was nowhere to be found. It was like a newborn pup trying to tear you apart by biting your finger with his toothless mouth. Not very effective.

Worse yet, I noticed Shadow was struggling with even that much. It took all my mental strength not to roll my eyes and give him a slap for the terrible performance. Instead, I decided to just berate him.

[What are you doing?! You call this Killing Intent? My 20-year dead grandma is scarier than you! Put some strength into it, man, I can barely feel it!]

“I’m sorry!” Shadow cried and stopped, looking helpless like a child. “I’ve spent decades hiding my presence, this goes completely against what I have been training all my life.”

I threw my hands up in exasperation. [Useless! Even Darkness there can do better than you, and she’s a girl!]

“Hey!” Darkness shouted, but without any power behind it. It was more like a pleading “Please don’t drag me into this shit.”

[No, no… We need to find something to boost your emotions instead of suppressing them…] I said, thinking of new ideas. [How does torture sound? No? Yeah, that just brings fear, huh? Fucking coward. Hey, what about Darkness? You care about her, right? What if I torture her instead?]

“No!” Shadow shouted.

[Ye, ye, ye! I think it’s a great idea! I can even get some healing pills so we can go for longer.]

“Don’t you dare!”

I spoke the stream of consciousness out loud. [We can start by pulling her fingernails, and then move on to crushing her fingers… Maybe boil her skin and then hang her on hooks like a piece of meat…] I carefully kept track of both their emotions, and while Darkness was slightly scared, Shadow was practically boiling with rage. He just needed a little push.

[… And maybe, for the final act, I could strip her down, and-]

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Shadow jumped up, roaring, and released the most powerful wave of Killing Intent yet. I took it in stride and just slightly squinted my eyes, more to protect myself from the flying spittle than anything.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t done there and jumped at me like a mad beast, ready to kill. I sidestepped his attack, and he missed, allowing me to land a solid punch into his gut. It was enhanced by my Qi that time, and he doubled over, breathless.

[Hmm… Marginally better. I’ll give you a 4/10 for the effort. Now hold it like that for a few minutes, will you?]

“M- Minutes!?” Screw minutes, Shadow instantly released the Killing Intent and then deflated like a punctured balloon, collapsing on the floor once more. “I can’t do that, I just can’t...”

As soon as he realized I was messing with him to get him riled up, everything went to shit and he revealed his useless cowardly side. He would probably say otherwise, but his opinion wasn’t important. In my eyes, he was and would remain a coward until he did something to impress me.

His attack was a good start, but that was fueled by pure rage. Rage that he couldn’t sustain for more than a few seconds. Talk about useless.

Having exhausted the guy, I turned to the girl. Darkness. At least he showed some promise when she poked me with Killing Intent at the Heavenly Peach.

[You!] I pointed at her. [Got any hate for me in that weak heart of yours?]

“I’m not scared of you!” She shouted back, her trembling voice clearly saying otherwise.

I rolled my eyes, beyond frustrated. [Not fear, woman! I’m asking if you have any hate. Genuine hate! Like this!]

My face twisted in rage, and my heartbeat skyrocketed as I entered a mindset of absolute murder like countless times before. My mind became flooded with pain and death so vile and thick, I could almost taste it.

The Intent began to leak out of me despite the inability to direct it properly. I just let it flow naturally, the sheer volume of death I have witnessed or was personally responsible for, allowing for bottomless reserves of rage and fury.

However, just as quickly as my emotions blasted into the stratosphere, they cooled down and returned to the earth, not creating a single ripple. I controlled my emotions and not the other way around… most of the time.

[Something like that, but more focused. I’m trying to figure out how to use it in a fight.]