"Please, don't kill me! I was forced into this, I am not a bad—" Before it could finish, Mark pushed it forward and followed as it staggered out of the arena. He was exhausted to find several fools waiting outside, even worse after he’d gotten his ass handed to him by the monster he was meant to hunt down.

They spoke in a language he did no understand, and he turned to the captured assassin. He rested his hand on its shoulders and noticing that it was shaken, he nodded, “It is not bad that you feel fear. Now can you translate what your comrades are ranting? Who knows, I may just spare your life and move on like you never tried to kill me.”

"They were asking if you killed the boss of the arena." The assassin wanted to run, but with Mark's hand firmly gripping its shoulders, it could not move an inch. Rooted in place with the enemy standing behind it, the monster was shaken with fear, wondering how it had resulted in this, "They are thinking to attack anyway, as you look battered and exhausted. Your weapon is also gone."

Oh?

Mark kicked the back of the assassin’s leg, ignoring its painful cry as he forced it to its knees. The cold gleam in his eyes shone as he kept the assassin on its knees, calculating the number of enemies, wondering how much time they were going to take from him. After a second of thought, he took his stance, releasing the enemy who was already pressed to its knees.

There were ten targets in total. Eight were armed with close-range weapons, while the final duo who hid at the back brandished long-range firing equipment. Before anyone could react, Mark had disappeared from his position: the skill [Flickering Madness] was activated, and mirages of Mark were created beside the first five targets.

Before they could react, he appeared in five places at that very instant, and the five targets were blasted away in different directions — all smashed in their faces by his fist. The force from the strike had smashed their skulls into itself, killing them in an instant. The ones who did not die from it were left to squirm in misery until they died in their positions.

“Five to go…”

Mark dashed towards the nearest target who lifted his sword and slashed down in retaliation, a glint in its eyes. Offering his arm, Mark was calm as the sword shattered into a million pieces upon impact, closing in and smashing his fist in the guts of the target. Blood was vomited from its mouth as it staggered back, looking down in horror to see Mark’s hand had already bore a hole in itself.

Mark drew out his arm and appeared behind the next target, grabbing its sword and severing its head from its neck before turning to the remaining trio. He dodged the bullets that were fired at him, grabbing the dead body behind him and turning it to use as a shield before himself. As he charged to the target, more bullets sporadically flew in his direction.

He ignored them all, impaling the target with his sword after getting close enough and watching as it fell to the ground lifeless. He turned to the others, and they turned around to run, but he gave chase. He reached the first target, and in one fell swoop, its head was sent rolling down to the grass, before the other could react, Mark had appeared behind it and buried the sword in its head.

[Kinli’Ku Defeated! 1 XP Granted]

[Kinli’Ku Defeated! 1 XP Granted]

[Kinli’Ku Defeated! 1 XP Granted]

Mark calmed down, straightening his back as he stood straight. He turned to face the survivor who remained on its knees, and he approached it calmly. As he stood before it, he wondered if the dumb assassin was worth wasting his strength on. It looked so submissive now, he felt it would be too wicked to kill it off… What was he saying?

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Mark raised his leg, ready to put it out of its misery when he froze. He could feel Izyrx’s burning gaze in the bushes, and he had a calm thought. He dropped his leg, and the assassin who looked so terrified it was going to wet itself threw itself at his feet and started sobbing like an idiot. Mark felt like smashing into the back of its head with his feet, but he calmed down and sighed.

"Izyrx, do you want this one to die or not?" Mark turned to the one hiding in the bushes, and he felt a raging aura emanating from the always cold and calm Raz'ki. He grinned in his heart, he he had noticed it from the beginning, and he felt like he was going to enjoy this for some vile reason, "The way she will die is up to you."

As soon as Mark was done speaking, he stepped away from the assassin, dragging his leg away from her grasp as he maintained a cold expression on his face. He turned to Izyrx, and after she’d given herself some minutes to think — she dragged herself out of the hiding place, sitting up by the flowers on a high platform adjoined to one of the ruined buildings.

“She was the one who led us into that area! She lied to me, and I trusted her words. She had told us that the boss was not inside the arena, and I could study all I wanted. All we got in the end, was a massacre that still shakes me to this moment.” The rage in her eyes exploded, “I can no longer walk, my brothers and sisters are dead — all because I chose to trust an enemy… I am such a fool.”

"That you are." Mark coughed, not paying heed to whatever scuffle was between the both of them, as he was already done with this run. After a while, he sat himself on the ground and stared into the eyes of his assassin, not an ounce of emotion present in his gaze, "Tell me, should we spare your life? Do you think you are worth salvation?"

"I want her to die, for everything she had done! As long as I am alive, there is no way I would let the enemy breathe the same air as I do!" Izyrx was agitated, and Mark wanted this, not bothering with any attempts of calming Izyrx who on the other hand, grew angrier seeing the pleading expression a vile creature like the assassin wore, it made her flee like puking deep inside.

"But, we don't know who sent them here. I am already late for my mission, rather than wasting my time rushing back - why don't I spend some more with these fools." Mark cracked his neck and stood to his feet, all the sense of haste he had shown earlier disappearing into the wind,

“Why bother myself with pests when I can just destroy their nest? I have had enough of these kind of idiots. You’ll also have to be returned home, and maybe explain the situation to your race.”

Hearing what Mark said, the sobbing assassin suddenly froze up, finally opening its mouth to speak its feminine — by human standards of course — voice, “No! I will not let you destroy that which we have built through countless years of suffering and pa—“

Before she could finish with her speech, a force slammed into the side of her face, and she was thrown over to the side like a piece of trash. Mark, who had a cold gleam in his eyes slowly dropped his leg and pocketed his hands. He had just battled a monster, and could not believe someone who had such a patriotic mouth who led an entire group to their death.

"All I am doing is creating a balance, or did you forget what you did to her people? All I want to do is deliver an equal level of disaster to your home, and then I will return home and sleep happily knowing justice has been served." Mark circled the squirming assassin with his hands deep into both pockets, stopping as he stood between a dropped blade and the assassin.

He bent over and picked the blade up, calmly turning around to one of the ruined buildings. He tightened his grip around the sword and made a slash at an inclined angle. In the next instance, the entire building is separated into two halves, with the upper half collapsing to the ground and forming rubble within the bottom half.

"Of course, killing just a few people related to the mess that happened here would not be very different from slaughtering an entire village. I can imagine a lot of innocents, including children not able to survive a disaster of such a scale…" Mark turned back to face the assassin who was staring back at him with horror in her eyes, "Come on now, are you afraid? I wonder if you have family…"

“People you love, who care for you….”

Izyrx was silent, but she sensed the atmosphere grow extremely suffocating as Mark walked to the terror-stricken assassin. She had not imagined this, but as Mark spoke, she thought that the penalty was far too great. Innocents should not be killed for the crime of one person… but, then… It was trusting her in the first place that dragged a lot of innocents into this in the first place.

Was this her fault? Was she a terrible Raz’ki for signing their death wishes?

“I guess they can all die. What do you say, Kinli’Ku?”