Domin and I ran past the breaking point of the blackened forest and onto the beach to see a large crowd of people forming a circle. A safe distance away, Dani was sitting behind a rock, nervously bouncing around and scanning her surroundings. Once she saw Domin and me, she motioned her hands to come and join her behind the rock.

"Dani! What's happening?" I asked her. She set her hands against the rock, pointing into the crowd and explaining what had happened.

While making the shelter, Ullr got a glimpse of the axe we were using and walked in to demand it for the group. He wanted the 'group' to use it, but even I could tell that was a lie. He wanted it because he could use it as a weapon. At this point, a dire need for unity was necessary. Without it, Ullr would establish a lead with an iron fist and ruin our lives.

I wanted to run and hide from this, to move the opposite direction and be with the four of my friends... but that's not likely anymore. The closer and closer I listened into that circle, I could hear Ullr swing his fists around. He was beating people up in that circle.

Dani continued to explain the situation. There was another man who stepped up to be the leader of the group, but once Ullr heard his plea, he punched him in the face. After that point, it was a slippery slope where Ullr and others are beating each other up to see who's the strongest. We can't have leadership based on that.

"Domin, let's go in," I said, tightening the grip on the axe. Domin refused, he said that nothing good would come from jumping in there, and if we forfeited the axe, we would lose everything.

"Are you sure you can even do anything? Ullr has a lot of muscle and... well... you don't..." Dani said, scratching her head and looking off in the opposite direction. I nodded at her, handing Domin the axe.

"If I don't, then it would be the end of our lives under Ullr's lead. Are Carl and Red in there?" I asked Dani. She nodded, apparently Carl was the first to be beaten up, and Red was saved for later on. I moved past the rock and walked towards the crowd.

The fear of being hurt, of losing my life, of being hunted, it all disappeared within moments. My legs stopped trembling when I got closer and in fact, I got angrier than anything. After attempting a compromise, after attempting to leave... this is how we were treated?

I pushed my way through the circle, pushing people to the ground and sliding in between to finally make it inside. Blood was scattered along the sand, people either unconscious or brimming between the line of consciousness were scattered along the edges as Ullr grunted while punching people in the face. The people around him were excited, knowing they wouldn't be hurt.

"Hey! You don't think we can choose a leader any other way that doesn't involve this much blood?!" I yelled at Ullr. He finished beating up a guy attached to his fist and threw him to the floor, turning to me while wiping blood from his face.

"There's my favorite scrawny boy! Hey, I saw you had that cool tool in the forest! Say, if I become leader, I'm taking it. Bid farewell to it, I'm kind of killing it right now!" Ullr continued to punch the man on the floor.

I grabbed his arm as he was about to land another punch, visibly upsetting him. He stopped in place, standing up and turning back to me. "I think you should check yourself before I kill you on this beach in front of your friends." He told me. The anger in his expression almost put the fear back into me.

"Think what you want. I don't give a shit what some meathead like you thinks about me." I told him. Just as I finished, Ullr threw a punch directly at my nose and sent me straight into the ground. The pain I felt was unlike anything I've felt before. It wasn't like the deer falling onto my body and squishing me, it wasn't like tripping and falling to the floor. This hurt, and there was blood this time.

"Are you still awake?! Look at this guy! I think he might be dead," He smiled with pleasure while stomping on my chest repeatedly until Red ran into the middle of the ring as well. Red slammed her fist into the back of Ullr's head, dazing him this time around.

"That's my friend to beat up, not yours you giant prick!" Red yelled out to Ullr. The crowd went silent as Ullr began to laugh again.

"No matter, that just means I have to put you shit heads back into place." He said. With one smooth movement, Ullr deflected a punch, lifting Red into the air by her neck, and throwing her to the ground. She was out the second she collided with the sand.

I wasn't sure what this new feeling was in my body. Like an amplified rage deep within the center of my chest, it climbed up my throat and made it hard to breathe. It was desperation from within, telling me to throw punches at Ullr until he was in my position, and in an even worse condition than Red was.

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"Now that these two are down... who are we getting rid of first?" Ullr asked the crowd, raising his hands like he was some supreme overlord.

That feeling in my chest was rising to my jaw now, barely sprouting from my mouth. I heaved into the sand, sucking in the air as much as I could. I couldn't tell if this was some sort of unknown anger or anxiety.

It wasn't until I looked back up to Ullr that I understood my situation. Here I am, sitting on the ground, afraid to do anything. I was waiting for time to freeze so I could do something, but that ignorance would kill me. I pushed my body up, wiping the blood away from my mouth as it dripped from my nose.

"Your legs are trembling. I swear... you people who oppose me are all weak. You just want a leader that would cater to your weak minds. That's not what this is, I'm not sure if you're competent enough to understand our situation. We're on a beach, we have no food, no water, no shelter, and here we are. You refuse to listen to me, so now I'm thinning out the horde of weaklings so the strong can finally build some sort of community. How much longer do you want to stand in my way?" Ullr asked me.

"That's really rich coming from the meathead covered in blood from what he thinks to be his followers. Do you see that as any way to lead? Genuinely? Do you believe beating sense into people will get them to like you? I'll tell you this... I was lucky enough to only receive one of your hits, but I'll hate you until the day I die." I told him, spitting the blood falling into my mouth onto the ground.

"Then hurry it up and die." Ullr went to throw another punch at me and time slowed down accordingly. I could see the knuckles get closer and closer to my face, but time didn't speed up. I sat there like an idiot until I understood what was happening.

There was a blur in my eyes, my left eye could see clearly, but my right eye was blurred completely. I took advantage of the clarity in my left eye and dodged his punch, slamming the side of my hand into his throat and pushing my body against Ullr's to push him to the floor.

The sand was kicked up and he choked on the punch I shoved into his throat. He pushed his body off of the ground and the crowd went silent once more.

"You... THERE'S YOUR STRENGTH! I KNEW A KID LIKE YOU HAD IT IN YOU! NOW, AGAIN!" Ullr yelled out at maximum volume to me. He startled me at first, not because of the sound, but because he seemed to be enjoying this.

Ullr charged in again and I was lucky enough to dodge his first punch. Before I could jump out of the way of his second, he grabbed my shoulder and shoved his knee straight into my sternum.

I wasn't prepared to give up and clutched my entire body around that same leg, tripping him to the ground. Once he hit the floor once more, I dodged out of the way and caught the breath back that I lost from impact. Ullr wasn't scathed at all, yet I felt myself getting weaker as time went on. I would lose this battle of attrition.

Ullr stood up once more and waved his hand at me, guiding me to attack once more. "This next punch will shatter your skull. Pray to whatever you believe in." He said, charging in.

I waited for him to come at me. Little did Ullr know, I was smart enough to understand I couldn't beat him out in raw power. I picked up a handful of sand on my way up and was waiting for him to get closer to me to throw it at his face.

Just as he was six feet away from my body, I rose my left hand over and above my right shoulder, scattering sand in front of his path and stunning him for a moment.

"Gah! What the hell- that's dirty," He mumbled. I learned from my mistakes, his stunned body was my opportunity to win.

I slammed my fist into his face, just as he did to me, pushing him back a little. By the time he wiped the sand away from his eyes, I slammed my fist against the same position again.

Again, and again, and again.

Ullr was dazed and falling backward at this point, moving the crowd back from where he stumbled.

Again, and again, and again.

My knuckles were breaking and already bruising against the base of his nose, but no matter the pain I felt, the satisfaction I needed to get rid of the feeling in my chest was starting to turn dire. Like I could scream in excitement to stop it from spreading to the rest of my body.

I couldn't think about things like Domin could, I couldn't keep a level head as Carl could, this was proving it. I just wanted to kill Ullr right now. Beating his head into the sand and turning this beach into red sand was all my body wanted as the unstoppable urge of caving in his skull coated my entire body in pleasure.

System Alert! Corruption is Imminent!

Again, and again, and again.

System Corruption at 90%

Blood started squirting from his face and covering mine now. I could feel it in my mouth as I smiled. The euphoria from beating his head in was pulling me under. I couldn't even think straight right now.

System Corruption at 95%

Activating Safe Mode

Just as I rose my fist to strike again, red strings sprouting from my White Stone coated my forearm and froze my entire body in place.

I was cleansed of all violent thoughts and I was back to breathing at a steady rate. I still had my injuries, but everything was clear now. I looked beneath my body to see Ullr on the floor with a broken nose, blood sprayed out everywhere around us, including my fist and my body.

I stopped him... not consciously, but I stopped him. This was it. I wanted to be like Domin, so I cleared my mind as much as I could, understanding the situation from all perspectives. I appeared to be a violent monster, even more so than Ullr... but maybe I was.

"This is how we treat people who pull apart from our community! Ullr has no business being in any leadership role so long as I'm here. I will guide us to safety. I won't force you to listen, but I'll prove it from here on out. I hope you guys will give me the opportunity." I shut my eyes, waiting to be ostracized.