Just before Willard had stabbed Azeya, memories of his life had flashed before Azeya’s eyes. He remembered when he was young and how he used to play with the other kids. He remembered graduating from the warrior class and how proud his parents were. He remembered his first time hunting in the wild, how scared he was for his life. Now all of this was about to end, and for what? His stupid pride. Azeya was filled with anger and regret. Anger for dying so young, and regret for having courted his own demise.

Azeya’s body fell to the ground like a lump of wood. Willard stared at the dead body before him, like a piece of trash. He was unaffected in slightest bit after he killed his instructor, if anything he was joyous. At least he now had the power to punish someone like Azeya. “If you anger me, I will act. If you act against me, I will punish.” Willard said while walking back to the inn. Right now, Willard felt more at peace with himself. He was once the exalted god of destruction Thanus, not even chief gods in the heavens will act rashly towards him. Why would they? His iron rule was well established, those who anger him, he will act against them and those who acted against him, he will punish without exempt. Now he was mortal, and made to endure great humiliation in the hands of other mortals. He could not forgive, all he could think about was punishing them.

Willard arrived at the inn, he proceeded to go clean himself up and then went to sleep. Willard woke up the next morning feeling quite refreshed. It was the first time since arriving at this mortal world that he had been in a life and death battle. As a god, Thanus grew specifically through his battles. He developed his ultimate attack, the desolation rain, and established his prominence through his battles. He went down to meet up with the rest of the warriors from his village. Willard approaching the warriors could see they were discussing something somewhat serious. As he got closer, he heard one of the warriors, Doluwa, say “He was stabbed in the chest.” Willard could pretty much guess what they were talking about.

“Why do you guys look so serious this morning?” Willard asked as he arrived in their midst.

Doluwa, who was the oldest of the group, looked to Willard with a distressed face. Doluwa was a middle aged man with a bald head, and was the most experienced warrior of this party.“I was woken up this morning by the owner of the inn, who said that they found Azeya’s dead body on the streets.” Doluwa said with a sad expression. Willard maintained his calm demeanor, almost as if Doluwa hadn't uttered a word. “We only just got here yesterday, who would have enough animosity to kill him?” Zuolin, the warrior to Doluwa’s right asked. Zuolin was of the same age group as Azeya, infact they had attended the same warrior class. The rest of the warriors were pondering what could have happened to cause Azeya’s death.

“Oh that” Willard said drawing the four remaining warriors attention. “I killed him yesterday” Willard said with a stern look. The warriors hearing this could not believe what they had just heard. To begin with, Willard should be only 17 years of age and should only be at the 4th level of natural energy. It would be practically impossible for someone of that strength to kill someone of the 8th level of natural energy. “Dont joke around with serious matters.” Doluwa angrily rebuked.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Willard responded. At this point, all the warriors put on serious airs around them. They stared at Willard with menacing looks, almost as if at any moment now they might attack. Willard himself wasn't the least bit intimidated, instead he stared back at them like a beast ready to battle. “Explain yourself.” Baya, the cool headed one amongst them said.

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“On my way back from the restaurant, Azeya tried to force me to write down my martial movement technique and kill me. So I fought him and killed him.” Willard responded directly. Willard did not put the warriors in front of him in any regard. They were all bait to draw out the one person he wanted, Azeya. Now that he had achieved what he wanted from the start he could care less what the rest did. The warriors could not believe what they had just heard. They stared blankly at Willard, trying to assess the situation. What baffled them the most was the fact that Willard claimed to be the killer. If Willard had hired someone to kill Azeya, then they could believe it, but instead he claimed to have killed Azeya all by himself.

“The way I see it, you all only have two safe choices. First, abandon the mission the chief gave you and go back to report what had happened. Second, continue the mission and escort me to my destination. Anything else might result in more deaths.” Willard said with the extreme confidence. The rest of the warriors all stared blankly at the youth in front of them. They couldn't believe their ears. The funny part was that they could feel his tenacity, and thus started to believe he might be capable of killing them.

After a couple of seconds, Zuolin got angry. He charged straight at Willard with a punch aimed directly at his head. Willard stood still, and with a quick movement of his right hand, he caught Zuolin’s fist. Willard held on to the fist with quite some ease, he stared at the rest of the warriors who had looks of astonishment. Now they all started to believe what Willard had said earlier. “The next time you attack me, you will be killed” Willard said as he released Zuolin’s fist from his grip. Zuolin with the rest of the warriors had faces filled with dread. How is it this 17 year old could posses this kind of strength? And how can he have such a hardened heart. They stared at him as if he they were staring at some monster.

“ What have you decided?” Willard asked indifferently. Zuolin turned around and started walking away, Rudley, the last warrior who had kept quiet the entire time followed suit. Doluwa stared at Baya, and immediately turned to Willard. “We will see our mission to the end.” Doluwa said. Willard was surprised hearing Doluwa’s words. He had thought, all the warriors would leave him once they knew he had killed Azeya. “There must be a reason they still choose to follow me.” Willard thought to himself. “Guess I should be really careful from now on.”

“Alright, do follow. We will be leaving now.” Willard said while leading the way.

The rest of the journey was a quiet one, no one spoke to each other, except when they took breaks in between the journey. They spent another night in a transit village, and made their way to Marquis city the next day. At the gates of Marquis city, a solid dark horse emblem could be clearly seen. The emblem was the official seal of the Marquis family, the governing family of the city. Willard had a face full of smiles, ever since he got his memories, he had only wanted one thing and that was to gain strength and ascend to the heavens. This was the first step in his mission for revenge.

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Thanks for reading :)