Everything was happening too quickly. I felt like my mind would not be able to hold up.

First, mother died. I became an orphan. After I somehow managed to survive on my own, crawling at the bottom of the barrel, trying to bear the ridicule and disdain in everyone’s eyes, it suddenly became a real battlefield o survival. I actually killed someone, but it all came to nought. There were just too many I had to fight against. And now that I have decided to make a break for it, this is where my life leads me.

Klan was fighting against someone.No, that is the most hopeful analysis I can give. If you want for an unbiased opinion, Klan was being toyed around by someone. A man clad in black from top to bottom. Black over coat with a hood draped over their head. Black pants with a black mask. If i were to describe the feel I was getting from them, it would be that of a killer gone insane.

Seeing this struggle even I could tell, Klan was barely hanging on by a thread. If this man desired so, Klan could instantly lose his arms, legs or even his head. Yet he was alive, struggling to defend against the light swings of his curved sword. An overhead swing to the shoulder. Klan placed his sword above his head horizontally to defend, but the force was great enough that even with klan using both arms to defend, the man’s sword still pushed through.

With Klan struggling to stop the sword, then man suddenly moved the sword away, giving Klan some breathing room, but the next instant the sword swiftly cut through the air, coming in an upward slash. The sword was coming for Klan’s torso, aiming to slash it from his waist to his right shoulder, looking unstoppable.

In my impatience and fear I shouted out, “KLAN!”, and both their swords stopped. Klan seemed to have noticed me out of the corner of his eye without looking away from the robed man, but the man leisurely turned towards me. Apparently, he did not see Klan as a dangerous opponent but as a prey caught in a trap. But apparently he hadn’t heard that when cornered, even a rat will bite the cat.

When the man was looking at me, I felt a change in his atmosphere. Perhaps it was just that I was extremely alarmed towards him, my instinct was telling me the man had turned his interest towards me.

Klan seemed to have noticed it as well. He stepped forward and with all his might slashed at the man. The man did not seem to notice. He did not seem to move. I too stood there looking at him, trying to keep his attention on me for even a bit longer, hoping that the attack will be successful enough to leave the man unable to use his sword properly, if not dead. But, the god was not with us. When it seemed that there would be no way for the man to survive, his sword moved at an incredible speed, and —

clang~

A clear sound of swords colliding resounded. His movement seemed much more refined than before, as if he was a completely different person. His atmosphere changed to one of a killer, making my hair stand on end. Klan who was near him seemed to have it much worse. But, that was just the beginning. The man seemed to have gotten irritated at Klan for disturbing him while he was observing his new toy, which, not surprisingly, was me.

He started exerting strength in his hand, pushing Klan's sword towards the ground. With a flick of the man's hand, their swords separated, and he took a position for the swing. Klan and I both noticed, that position was not of a light swing, but a full powered slash. My body took a step forward, without giving me time to think, however, before I could reach them, the sword had been swung.

I felt it all happen in slow motion. Every part of my body was focused on what was happening in front of me. My body felt incredibly slow, as if it had become mud. And the man's sword moving towards Klan's head seemed like a remainder, that if I did not make it in time, I would lose another person who had filled my heart. But, no matter how much I desired the speed to move fast enough to reach them before it was too late, my feet will not carry me, my skill would not activate quickly enough, and, as expected, I could not reach them.

The sword cut through Klan's neck. I saw it all happen, every moment of it engraving itself on my very soul. As the sword passed through his neck, his blood started to spurt. Coming out as if an incredibly juicy fruit is being cut by applying an incredible pressure, and by the time the sword had stopped, Klan's head started falling down.

The thud it fell with resonated in my head like a clear bell, but not like one that would wake me, but one that was there to make me stunned. The headless body soon followed after its missing head, falling forward on the ground, not to move ever again. I stayed still for a while, but as the reality settled in, I started losing myself to anger.

<< The level of Flash skill has increased>>

There was an announcement, but I was in no state to pay it any attention. Tears streamed down my cheeks, my vision became blurry. But even in that blurry vision, I could clearly see that black figure, responsible for Klan's death. The next thing I know, there was a dagger in my hand and I was running towards him.

As I was running towards him, I thought about the spectacle I had seen before. He was facing Klan, and at the last moment, he stopped Klan's blow at an incredible speed. That speed is not something I can take over. Moreover, from looking at him, it is clear that he has a good amount of strength as well. My mind was in a state of chaos, but somehow, I could think about a strategy to face him. The strategy I came up with was a simple one. An all or nothing strategy.

I kept running towards him until I was a few steps away from him. I pulled back my right hand which was holding a dagger, and firmly placed my foot on the ground. Due to anger and trepidation, all things had left my mind, except for me and him. I was extremely focused on every move he and I were making. I felt mana move inside my body. It gathered at my legs. Almost all the mana in my body gathered in my legs, and at the same time, I felt them becoming more powerful.

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I bent down, and like a beast, I sprang towards him. Activating the skill flash, I pushed out my hand that was holding the dagger. The result, my body was launched like an arrow, and I was moving towards his neck at an incredible speed. This was the highest speed I had experienced in my life. And I had a feeling, I might not be able to experience it again. I poured all I had into my skill. The dagger aimed at his neck was getting closer. With my heightened perception, I could see it all.

A smile of satisfaction rose on my face. My opponent had not managed to react to my attack. The attack was going to be a success. As I was thinking so, I missed by a very small margin. My opponent had been surprised by my sudden burst of speed, yes. However, he had enough experience to deal with unexpected situations. The proof of this showed in his actions. Even though I was moving towards him at a very fast speed which might be difficult to perceive. He not only perceived it, but also took correct actions.

As I was getting closer to his body, the masked man, bent his body forward, and came towards me. The dagger that should have aimed precisely at his neck, instead landed on his chest bones. There was blood coming out, and the dagger was embedded into his chest. However, since it was bone, it could be said, it was far from a fatal wound. I had failed to win this all or nothing bet.

Moreover, the hand which I had used to hold the dagger had become unusable. My elbow had bent in opposite direction. My body was feeling exhausted due to the usage of the skill, and I was feeling sleepy as well, which I could roughly guess was due to the overuse of mana. Perhaps I had exhausted all the mana in my body. I was utterly exhausted.

However, that was the least of my worries. As the momentum behind flash disappeared, the dagger slipped out of my hand, and under the fatigue, I fell down on the ground. As I looked at him from below, I could see that the man was looking at me and the dagger which had almost half its blade embedded in his chest. He grabbed the dagger roughly with his left hand which was not holding the sword, and pulled it out. Throwing the dagger away, he looked at me.

"Now you've done it, brat." The voice that had come out of his mouth for the first time since I saw him was cold. It was a voice as if he was talking to an insect. In the next instant, I felt a strong impact to my side. I could not even let out a sound as my body flipped over and I was made to lie face up. The man had kicked me, with force great enough to make me almost lose consciousness, however, somehow I barely managed to hold on.

However, in the next instant, I regretted my decision. The man raised his leg, and stomped on my stomach.

"AAAAAHHH!"

I let out a scream which literally came from my gut. However, the man was not done yet, he continued to stomp on me like a madman, without letting up.

"AAAH!AAAH!AAH!AH"

With each stomp, my screams grew shorter and I became out of breath. As he continued to stomp one me, my consciousness threatened to leave me, however, I did not let go. Or rather, I could not let go. The pain was too immense. After some time, he stopped his barrage of kicks. I felt a little relieved, however, I was assailed by an even greater pain in the next instant.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

The man had stabbed his sword through my right arm. I could not help but shout like a madman. The pain of having a sword pass through your arm was immeasurable. It felt as though my arm was burning from inside, but I could do nothing to stop it. As I was shouting and writhing from the pain, the man then stabbed his sword in my left leg.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

I shouted again. Tears were flowing from my eyes like waterfalls. Saliva was dripping from my mouth, but I could do nothing, It had become almost impossible for me to move my right arm or my left leg. However, the man was not done yet. He stabbed his sword through my right leg and my left arm. And then raising my body with a single hand while I was writhing from the pain he said to me —

"Listen up brat. I am going to give you a painful death. Now that you know how it feels to have your body stabbed, don't you think you should know how it feels to have your body burned too?"

I was afraid of this man. He was powerful, to the point that even with a surprise attack using Flash I could do almost nothing to him. And now, I was unable to even move my body. Then, the man slowly removed his mask. I gasped at what I saw. It was a face that had all its skin burned. I could see the muscles in his face clearly, the eyeballs visible to the naked eye felt surreal. His face was like that of a monster. Like a skull that have been granted eyes.

"Now then, since you have seen what you will look like after you die, do you want to apologise? If you apologise, perhaps I will let you go?"

The man said with a grin on his face. I felt fear at the realisation that he was enjoying all this. With all my might, from the bottom of my heart, I said "I-I AM SORRY!!". Tears were rolling down my face as I said so, but I could not care less. There was a chance I could save my life.

"Good boy. I like your attitude. You know how to respect your elders. Alright, I will not kill you." said the man while nodding his head. I was feeling relieved that he was not going to kill me, however, the words he said next with an evil smile on his hideous face took the life out of me. Literally. "However, I am not letting you go. You will have to escape on your own."

I did not understand what he meant. However, in the next instant, I was thrown in a nearby burning house. The situation was changing too quickly, I did not understand what was going on. Before I could understand, A sword pierced my upper arm. As I screamed, I looked towards the blade to see that it was the same sword Klan had been holding before he died, and the masked man had stabbed it into my upper arm.

"If you can escape this, you will live. HAHAHA!" Saying this and laughing, the man left the house. I could not do anything. My arms would not move because of the pain, and even if they could I would surely be unable to get away with my legs in this condition. Even if I managed to crawl out of this predicament, I would surely die of blood loss. As I was feeling tension, the house started cracking. The roof started coming down. Although the pillars supporting the roof were still there, the roof had undeniably gotten closer to me. Perhaps it will not be long before I die.

Thinking so, I reflected back on my life. Although I am a kid, I think I was much more mature that others my age. After all, I was forced to mature. If I had not gotten out, perhaps I would have died the same day my mother died. Or perhaps a few days after that. The life after that was hard. I had to work all day to earn my daily bread, and among all of that, learning to swing the dagger a little had been a challenge. I had thought that if I were to become able to use a weapon, people would not look at me with disdain, however, it was just wishful thinking.

Thinking back on it, it was a totally worthless life. But I think you would not find any worth in a kids life, even if you wanted to. While having such thoughts, my consciousness faded. I had a feeling I knew the cause of this. Blood loss. And the effect was amazing. I could not keep my eyes open. As I struggled to open them, just before my consciousness faded, I saw that the ceiling was coming closer.