Two men made their way out of the forest clearing, the first a blonde-haired man that struck Jack slightly younger than himself; in his mid-twenties most likely. His eyes were slightly sunken in with dark circles around them and his hair disheveled, dried bloodstains visible on his leather vestments and protective leggings— all in all, he looked pretty normal for the apocalypse, Jack would find himself more suspicious of a man in perfectly unruffled clothing and a fresh, clean face. He had a sword in his right hand, drawn but kept to the side, which indicated that he had experienced enough to not let his guard down.

The other man was perhaps in his early thirties, sporting a lanky physique; his slender arms just had enough muscle to not be deemed unhealthy, and his black leather outfit that Jack immediately attributed to the [Assassin] class did not project an image of friendliness. If the long dagger held loosely in his right hand wasn’t indicative enough. His black hair on the verge of balding, placid expression and plain features gave the impression of a tired office worker in a high pressure environment, like an accountant or a lawyer, perhaps.

Jack scanned the surroundings behind them, while whispering under his breath, “Be ready for anything,” to Sarah.

“Hello there,” The blonde man continued to slowly walk forward, sheathing his sword and raising his arms above his head to indicate a gesture of peace. The black-haired assassin however did no such thing, keeping his hands firmly on his dagger— though from the distance that separated the two parties, there was not much either they could do to harm them from afar.

“We saw your fight, and honestly we’re quite impressed,” The blonde man spoke with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm, especially for someone who looked like he’d been put through the wringer; but his good looks, cheery demeanor and charisma still managed to make it seem genuine, even to Jack. He finally stopped at the edge of the arena, coming close enough to talk properly but not enough to become a threat.

Jack’s gaze continued to flicker, between the man and the forest behind him; his paranoia on full alert. He had no reason to distrust this man, and he could guess at his intentions behind approaching them. But conversely, he had no reason to trust him either, and Jack trusted no one. Moreover, their timing was too convenient- walking out only after they displayed their skills to the full extent, and after they had very valuable items and TP in their possession. If they were meek victims or did not have faith in their abilities, they wouldn’t dare come to challenge the [Blessing]. Which meant that they were either competent or fools, but also opened up a third possibility— they were here to ambush the victors.

“What do you want?” Jack spat out, his tone clearly unwelcoming but not hostile, his eyes flickering between the group in front of him, and the forest behind them but he tried to conceal it.

Sarah maintained a firm hold on her spear, maintaining a defensive position.

“Hey, hey, don’t be like that, man. Relax,” The black-haired Assassin’s soft-spoken, smooth voice urged, as he took a step forward into the arena. There was something off about his tone, a slight undertone of anxiety, or perhaps haste, that set Jack off about the situation.

“Stop!” Jack snapped, the guttural voice that came out of his mouth unlike his usually calm, thoughtful tone. “Stop, or there will be consequences!” he warned again, holding his sword in front of him and calculating the distance to the assassin. It was less than twenty meters, close to fifteen by his approximation. That was enough.

“Hey Max, stop!” The blonde-haired man asserted, grabbing his companion by the shoulder and yanking him back.

“What?” Max retorted, clearly offended at his companion’s reaction. “Just trying to be friendly man,” he said as he slapped the blonde-haired man’s hand off his shoulder.

The blonde-haired man didn’t seem offended, but just sighed. “I’m sorry. My companion has been quite agitated since…. ,” he took a deep breath of air in an attempt to compose himself, or at least that’s how it appeared to Sarah. “... Todd and Sophie died. I’m sure you’ve lost someone as well, so we were just wondering if we could.... team up,” His voice started cracking near the end, and he averted his face to hide his sorrow.

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Max patted him on the back, a guilty expression on his face. Jack’s attention was only half focused on the blonde-haired man, his senses stretched thin. It was then that he spotted a glimmer of movement in the forest line behind him, his increased constitution, dexterity, agility and perception combining together to give him a far more comprehensive ability to spot and detect danger.

Jack saw a glint of steel that confirmed his suspicions, realizing why he hadn’t been able to spot him earlier; he was hiding on top of a tree, instead of aiming from the ground— an archer as he suspected. He did not know if their intention was to kill or wound and then loot, but this was enough for Jack to make a decision.

Maintaining a placid expression on his face, he drew his hand closer to his face; caressing his facial hair as if he was in thought, obscuring his lips for a second. Preparing himself for pain, he bit down on his lip, feeling the warm blood trickle out into his hand, and then began coughing the next instant.

Sarah recoiled, looking at Jack with concern and leaning close enough for him to whisper out a word in between coughs— ‘Archer.’

Her expression widened in surprise, but with great difficulty she managed not to do something rash.

“Are you okay man?” The blonde-haired man’s voice rang out with concern, and Jack wiped the blood on his leather vest while sealing his lips, to give the man the impression that he was wounded. Licking away the internal bleeding with his lips, Jack could feel his powerful constitution working on repairing the tiny, inconsequential wound.

“Yeah,” Jack replied, his face expressionless. Sarah no longer seemed concerned about him, but rather tense—her eyes taking sneaky glances at the forest.

“Look man, we know you can fight. But it doesn’t seem like the last fight was easy on you, and if we join forces we won’t have to worry about surviving this hellhole,” The blonde-haired man made a final impassioned plea, before taking a breath. “If you don’t agree, just say the word and we’ll leave,” he finally added, with reluctance in his voice.

“Leave then,” Jack immediately retorted. “Go on, get lost,” he added, just in case the message wasn’t clear enough. But Sarah’s grip around her spear tightened, her posture poised for battle.

The blonde-haired swordsman and the assassin both seemed stunned, looking at Jack with confusion in their eyes, before their expressions hardened. They guessed that he knew, but did not know how.

The blonde haired man raised his left hand in the air, but Jack had long expected such a gesture.

“Dodge!” He screamed at Sarah, just as the sound of an arrow cutting through air sounded out in the background. Jack dived to the left, in the opposite direction of Sarah; now accustomed to performing feats of athleticism in combat, extending his hand and rolling forward to land back onto his feet. The arrow whizzed past where he had been a second ago, smashing into the arena and leaving a small dent in the rock, indicating that it had been empowered with Qi.

The shifty assassin was the first to charge, heading directly for Sarah— knowing that the gig was up the moment the arrow was fired. Qi flared under his footsteps, and Jack guessed that it was the Assassin skill [Qi Steps] that he had utilized to significantly boost his speed. Sarah’s reaction time was slower than him, still in the process of reorienting herself while the assassin was ten meters away from her.

When Jack turned around only to see the Assassin charge toward Sarah with his augmented speed, his body trembled; not from fear, but anger. Pure rage coursed through his body, rage so potent that Jack had only felt it once before in his life; when he’d realized that his parents' death was not an accident, but a murder. An incident that had shaped the man he had become today, one that he always carried in his heart but could never share with others. The kind of secret that got people killed just for inquiring about the matter.

Jack let out a scream of primal fury, no longer able to contain the rage in his mind; and at that moment, he realized that he’d come to value Sarah as something more than a companion. Once again, others wanted to take those that mattered away from him. [Qi Blade] flowed through his sword, sapping at his near drained reserves— they had chosen to attack them at his and Sarah’s weakest, but this was an attack he had never displayed before. The next moment he cast [Qi Projection] and immediately felt his Qi reserves dip down to one remaining point, before slashing out in a sideways sweep.

An arc of luminescent blue Qi erupted from his sword, cutting through the air with ferocious momentum before passing through the Assassin— the entire process a matter of seconds, before silently passing through him, five meters before he made contact with Sarah. Had the Assassin not being moving in a straight line, confident in his ability to strike Sarah before she could fight back, he would have a chance to evade the [Qi Projection] attack.

The Assassin’s eyes were wide with shock, as he fell backwards onto the ground, while his torso tumbled forward, bisected in two, perfect halves; his expression forever frozen in time.