Far away from the path the king and his group took, Jake was well on his way to the Dark Forest.

He didn't know he was very lucky, as he chose a channel not close to the palace, inadvertently stopping any chance of him meeting the escaping group.

While holding a [Light Crystal] in his hand, Jake navigated his channel as he continued hearing tremors from above ground.

This further ascertained that he had made the right decision to leave the kingdom on time.

If he had stayed, he would have been caught in the crossfire and his fate would not be in his hand.

It was easy for him to abandon Aztec.

Quite frankly, it took nothing for him to leave.

Jake was born special. He had no idea of who his parent was, or who he actually was, but at least he understood himself a bit.

Unlike what most people usually thought when they see him, Jake had emotions, just that it was hard to invoke them.

If he didn't have them, he would be too rational and Jake was far from being rational when it came to his behavior.

So, he was able to possess little feelings for things he interacted with.

It wasn't a big deal to him. It was akin to a blessing.

People that possess emotion are usually bound to the target of their emotion, whether it be negative or positive.

It was not bad per se, but it also wasn't good. It sometimes demanded one's freedom and goals for the sake of the target of the emotion.

Sacrificing their lives for the survival of their loved ones.....

This was something Jake could not do. His goal was perfection, and he would rather die in his pursuit than die protecting someone that would still die in the future.

"Hmmm…." Jake stopped in his tracks.

He could hear a footstep getting closer to him.

Wanting to know who it was, he waited, but he didn't hide his [Light Crystal]. There was no need for that.

The tunnel was dark and the only source of light was on his hand. Hence, the stranger would have seen it a long time ago.

After the stranger came into his point of sight, Jake saw his full appearance.

It was a man with a bandaged arm, which screamed danger at him. The man had blood all around him, and Jake could tell that he was gravely injured.

The two of them looked at each other and a decisive mental battle ensued.

They seemed to possess like minds as they both thought of whether to kill the person in front of them.

Ultimately, they decided not to as they had no reason for that.

The man was the first to break the silence, "Oh, a fellow Aztec citizen. It's nice to meet you. You can call me Talon "

The man portrayed himself as a gentle soul, but Jake wasn't buying it.

'His clothes...the blood...and most of all, his bandaged arm,' analyzed Jake.

He could sense a familiar presence hidden in the bandaged arm. This could be discarded as a guess, but when he saw a stream of black blood trailing down the bandage, he understood the identity of the stranger called Talon.

'A zombie hybrid!' surmised Jake.

This was definitely not looking good for him, especially when he sensed a rich [Realm-3] cultivation base coming from the man.

This would mean that Talon is part of the mysterious organization.

Seeing him here, in the underground system, which the masked men were looking for, everything connected!

Talon was probably responsible for the chaos happening above, and his plans involved something buried underground.

Judging from his physical status, it was either his plans were thwarted or he had come out victoriously but sustained heavy injuries.

Either way, Jake could not defeat the man in front of him, despite the injuries.

He introduced himself briefly, "The name's Jake."

A conversation ensued afterward.

Talon responded, "Oh, can you tell me what you are doing here?"

"Escaping, same as you," Jake hinted.

He wanted no more, so he had made Talon think he was successfully fooled.

"Oh, why did you not stay and fight?" questioned Talon.

"Aztec is bound to lose," replied Jake.

His reply gained the curiosity of Talon, and the man tried to recruit Jake, "Tell you what, I'm going to a safe place. You can follow me."

Not liking where the conversation was going, Jake distanced himself, "I already have a destination in mind."

"Oh, why do you reject? You will be safe where I'm going," Talon offered again.

However, Jake did not like the notion.

He knew where Talon was heading to, probably the headquarter of the organization. Sure, it would be safe, but it would also not be safe.

He gave hints to Talon, "I want nothing to do with both sides."

Despite Aztec losing, it didn't mean that the organization was the final victor.

Listening to Jake, Talon smiled as he realized his identity had been deduced.

It also made him understand Jake's moral alignment. A complete neutral, who only acts when it concerns him.

It was a person like that that he wanted!

Understanding that the cards were up, Talon re-introduced himself, "Haha, let start again. I'm Talon, the Second Evil, sub-head of the organization, Necro."

He then got to the point, "I invite you to our organization."

"No," replied Jake with his cold tone.

"No? Why? We, Necro, are on the winning side everywhere. You clearly know that you will have to pick a side, whether you want to or not. Isn't it better to pick a winning side? Plus, we can offer you a new source of power," Reasoned Talon.

'Hmmmm. What he says is right, however, it's not finalized. Though, he implied that they were operating everywhere. So, I can imagine that this invasion is happening globally,' analyzed Jake.

He had not yet understood the full picture, so, he couldn't act.

Jake confessed the true reason he declined the invite, using ambiguous words, "I seek perfection, and you are not perfect. You are unstable. Even though you are stable, you are unstable."

His words might not make sense to a normal person, but they made sense to both of them.

Jake had an innate sense of perfection. He was able to determine when something gained an inkling of it.

Talon felt like someone who had a higher zombification quality than the rest he had encountered, but Jake was sure that it still wasn't stable.

It was not worth it in the long run. The whole secondary source of power was actually detrimental.

Feeling annoyed by Jake's words, despite them being true, Talon wanted to teach Jake a lesson.

He fired up his body, but Jake had predicted it and tried to run away.

Jake bursts away from Talon, but Talon attack didn't need physical touch!

Talon's body exuded an indescribable fragrant that was addicting to the nose.

It spread wide to Jake, who was running away and stopped him.

Smelling the fragrance, Jake's eye dulled and his focus was gone. He entered a forceful sleep mode while standing.

Walking up to Jake, Talon ruffled his hair and whispered into his ear, "This would teach you a lesson to not belittle. I'm going now. I'm sure we would meet again…..if you survive, that is. By that time, you would know that we are the winning side!"

He knew that Jake would be able to hear him despite being under his technique.

His technique, [Phantasm Allussion], was his greatest achievement.

It used messed with one's brain and reversed the concept of hypnotism.

Instead of a person being subjected to hypnotism via a second party, his technique confused its target's mind and made them hypnotise themselves.

This would be highly effective against those with a stronger mental mind, like Jake, as they would be battling themselves.

His hypnotism was mixed with illusion. The [Phantasm Allussion], via a special fragrance, made one relive the worst day of their live over and over again.

It allured one's mind as they wouldn't think to break away from it. It was something of their creation, like a dream. People don't break away from dreams, only if they were nightmares!

Talon felt satisfied and left Jake to be haunted by his dream.

......…..

One might think that Jake didn't have regrets…...that he never had any worst moments.

Well, they were wrong.

Jake had definitely seen worse days.

Infact, he was currently seeing one...….

After being attack by Talon, Jake found his vision shifting away and discovered that his location had changed.

His body was translucent. So, he could tell that he was not really here. It was more like a dream. He was already used to such dreams.

Looking at the location, Jake found his emotion going haywired.

Surrounding him were ruins of a building that had just been destroyed.

They were noises coming from everywhere, but the one Jake heard clearly was a voice that resembled his.

Walking nervously, Jake founded himself looking at a young man, a bit older than him, like a year older.

The youth had attractive blue eyes and silky black hair that were curretly messy.

What actually got his attention was what the youth was doing.

His right hand had extended into the chest of a young lady beside him, burying itself deep in it.

Watching this, Jake's emotions spiked as he softly muttered, "I know this scene."

It was his younger self, and the obscured young lady, without a clear face, was the only friend he had ever had.

The two of them had unique thought process, that was why she could be his friend.

Her face was now obscured due to Jake trying to forget about her. He didn't want to think of matters of the past and his mind recognized that.

He didn't love her. She was more like a friend, his closest friend, who could understand him within the blink of an eye.

It was scary to be exposed, but he later managed to adapt.

The same friend he killed when he set himself loose and unleashed the beast within him.

Jake watched as his past self conversed with the dying lady. He couldn't hear them, but he could understand.

After the lady died, his past self tried to cry. Yet, he couldn't.

He wailed and wailed, but there was no sound. Just a voiceless cry, that was much more painful that normal cries.

The past Jake could only muster a stream of teardrop that trailed down his cheeks. That was Jake's first time crying.

It was a sort of inhumane way of showing his sadness.

All of a sudden, the scene skipped back to the point where the past Jake had just stabbed the young lady and repeated itself.

All over again, Jake had to watch his past self cry.

He watched the third time.....

He watched the fourth time.....

The fifth time...…

The sixth time.....

It got to the point where he couldn't count anymore.

Meanwhile, he had no idea that in the physical world, outside, a stream of tears was also produced on his face.

After an umpteenth time of watching the scene again, it broke like a glass mirror and shattered to pieces, freeing him in the process.

Jake found himself back in the normal world and went silent for half an hour.

His emotion were hard to control, and he needed time to digest what he had experienced.

After enough time, Jake wiped the tear off his face and walked silently out of the underground system.

No expression was shown on his face, nothing to represent his inner thoughts.

He just walked, like an empty man.

His destination was the Dark Forest.