Schwarz paced back and forth in a dim, large underground chamber. Before him stood a row of kids, lined up orderly. It was like they were part of a military, refusing to even breathe without being given the order. They all had one thing in common, and that was their firm expressions of determination. Each and every one of them gave off an aura of deterrence and were talented in their own right.

Cracking sounds rang out as Schwarz stretched his neck. Of his two eyes, only his single purple eye flashed momentarily beneath the black mask that covered his entire face.

Seeing the man before them, the children didn’t know how to react. They were all of Julius’ disciples, the ones with the most talent, luck, power, and will from several mortal continents put together. At least Julius put up an effort to appear civil, but the man pacing in front of them seemed so unique that they didn’t know how to treat him.

Finally, Schwarz spoke, “...There’s too many of you. I only need one. The one that shows the most promise.”

He glanced past each and every one of them. Examining them like they were nothing more than livestock.

Schwarz shook his head in disappointment, and asked, “Do you children know what Gu and Kodoku is?”

“...”

The room was covered in silence. Some of them started to sweat. They didn’t know what it was, but even if they did, they most likely wouldn’t have answered out of fear. The person standing before them was too intimidating. They were just gathered together and told by Julius that he was a friend, and to ‘follow his instructions.’ That was all. They felt like they were prey being stared at by an apex predator. The eyes beneath his mask seemed to swallow them whole, dissecting their very beings.

However, there were a few deviants among the children. These deviants seem to be unaffected by the pressure Schwarz unconsciously emitted. Some of them were even smiling, like they were excited to feel the pressure of death bearing down upon them. Others never reacted to his words and pressure whatsoever, like they were machines that existed solely to listen and receive orders, or maybe because they just didn’t care what Schwarz had to say to them.

“It’s when the most venomous and poisonous creatures are gathered together, and all sealed together into a single, inescapable place, much like this room...” Schwarz informed them absentmindedly, his mind seemed to be elsewhere, like he was recalling a nostalgic memory.

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“The creatures slaughter and devour one another, and the sole survivor eventually comes out to be the most poisonous…” Schwarz voice trailed off, and he spread his arms out wide, making a single statement…

“Kill each other.”

Three words. A single statement. A simple intention, and yet they carried such a significant meaning behind them.

The children felt their bodies stiffen in shock. They weren’t able to process the words that they had just heard, and thought that they had heard wrongly. Some had even felt that it was a mistake to come here.

The children were filled with confusion and questions.

One of the children began to open their mouths to ask if they had just heard correctly.

That child wasn’t able to speak before they felt a pair of hands wrap around their neck and violently twist. The words the child had intended to ask had come out instead as an unintelligible, jumbled scream of pain, and they felt their consciousness slipping away from them. Someone standing beside them had grabbed and broken their neck.

That child had died just like that.

The chamber erupted into an uproar, and the sounds of fighting resounded within.

A shadow nimbly weaved its way within the crowd of children fighting for their lives. Everything the shadow came into contact with met a swift death. That shadow was the one to make the first kill and had broken the neck of the one standing beside them.

Watching the scene unfold, an unseen smile surfaced beneath Schwarz’s mask. He was filled with indescribable expectation. The Schwarz at this moment was nothing more than a child that had found his new favorite toy. A feeling of euphoria and happiness radiated out from him.

“Kuku, hahaha! Good! Kill one another! Do what the leader, Gideon always says, and: In the name of Paragon, purge the world of all vermin!” The sound of Schwarz’s ecstatic laughter resounded within the chamber amidst the cacophony of screams and death.