“This is sick,” Jacob heard another kid say.

“It is. It’s ever worse than sick. It’s horrifying, dreadful, twisted. Find all the adjectives you want, but you are going to do it all the same. Because they would kill you without thinking twice. So, you think twice all you want now not to do it when you meet them next. Have nightmares about it, talk to your loved ones, and curse the terrible acts you had to do.”

Jacob would not relent. He would not take one step back.

He had guided some promising youngsters in his past life, but many of them had died because their enemies had been much more ruthless compared to them. Jacob cherished the charitable and benevolent attitude some people had, but he also had to teach them how to be ruthless and avoid getting killed in a world where Demonic Beasts and terrible humans would not hesitate one second to rip them apart.

So, even though it would be heavy on them, even though it would break some of them, even though it would lead some on the wrong path, Jacob still had to do it.

Whether they liked it or not.

“You are not going to kill me if I don’t,” the kid dropped his sword and sneered.

“I really wish you hadn’t said that,” Jacob grimaced and then kicked the kid’s knee, breaking it. The teenager fell forward, screaming in unimaginable pain.

Everyone took a step back, and even Juliet gasped. Only Epagogia was nodding toward Jacob.

He took the kid by his hair and made him stand up.

“There is no pity for those who put other people’s lives at risk. I’m sorry. So, either kill the vice-mayor, or I will need to kill you to teach the others this lesson. When you hesitate in a battle, people die. And if you are willing to let other people die because you can’t do what’s necessary, you might as well die first and avoid other people dying in your place.”

Jacob took back his sword and had someone hand their own weapon to the kid. Then, he took up one of the axes that had been taken from the temple.

Jacob asked again.

“What’s your name?”

“Liam,” the kid said with tears in his eyes from the pain.

“Well, Liam, are you ready to kill this man, the one who organized a serial raping-system? Or do you want to die, effectively proving that a life of a murderer and raper is worth more than yours?”

Epagogia felt the anger of the man she was restraining and suddenly freed his mouth, knowing something good would come out of it.

“Rose, you fu**ing wh*re! You should have been beaten to death! I regret not using your filthy—” Epagogia put her hand on his mouth again. The vice-mayor had screamed with crazed eyes, more beast than human. The bastard knew he was going to die, and he had just lost it.

Jacob nodded toward Epagogia, silently thanking her.

Now, the tide was shifting. The vice-mayor hadn’t read the kid’s insecurity well enough, and Liam had just bore witness to a truly inhumane display of rage and hate.

With Epagogia on his side again, Jacob remembered what it meant to manipulate people’s emotions. It wasn’t good. Honesty was always better. But sometimes, you needed to do what was necessary to have people survive and grow, even if it turned out to be very ugly.

Jacob supported Liam and slowly brought him in front of the vice-mayor. Unfortunately, Epagogia twisted the man on the ground and exposed his neck.

“You should be strong enough to decapitate him in one swift motion. But, trust me, take your time to angle the strike well. You don’t want to take too long for this animal to die. It will turn even uglier than it is now,” Jacob said with a reassuring tone, trying to guide the kid.

Liam was shivering. He had just experienced pain, fear, anger in quick succession, and now he had magically found himself in front of the man, ready to kill it. All had happened so fast he had barely noticed.

…

Juliet saw Liam swing the ax with some uncertainty but still managing to decapitate the vice-mayor. Right after, the kid fainted, overcome with emotions.

“Well, he did well. Jacob put Liam on the ground and set his knee straight. Unfortunately, he had broken a couple of ligaments and dislogdged the joint; it would take almost a year to heal in the past world. Now, Jacob took out some paste he had made for himself and removed the kid’s pants. He applied the cream and put the pants back on under the astonished gaze of the crowd.

“His knee should be good in two days. Let him rest inside someplace here. Juliet, can you take him?”

Juliet went over to the guy but first told Jacob: “I can be next.”

“You don’t need to. I know you wouldn’t hesitate,” Jacob smiled toward the girl.

It was going to be a long bloody day. People would hate Jacob to his guts, call him a monster, deranged, but in the end, it wouldn’t matter. This was just the beginning. This was the easy part, the one with the enemy not trying to tear you apart.

Maybe Jacob was wrong, and there was another way to make warriors out of the motley crew he had in front of him. But he wouldn’t be gambling away lives just to be nice.

In the apocalypse, more often than not, there was no nice.