What Does It Take To Kill?

Hiro’s POV:

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A loud whistle resounded through space, which origin was none other than Anest’s lips. As it spread in the nothingness, a few tens of thousands of people suddenly turned around and ambushed the other cultivators. This was true on all fronts and all levels. The elders were no different. We expected that something like this would happen, but for it to be this big…

Elder Aiko appeared behind us, while another Elder we didn’t know, appeared in front of us. Noticing this, Narihi and Poirlion tried coming closer, but it was for naught because they were attacked continuously. The rioting students didn’t help them either… For a moment there, we freaked out, but Aiko’s shouting calmed us somewhat. “Onas! You old dog! Are you one of the traitors as well? I’ll make sure that you pay the price!”

Onas laughed at her and then attacked her. Fearing that we would be caught up, we quickly fled from that place. The dragonkin in front of us was Anest. We were sure of that much. [We should merge… quickly!] Alice shouted in my mind, feeling worried. I put my paw on her back and my body slowly dissolved, turning a part of her. Although we had two hundred and thirty-eight Crypt in this form, Anest had two thousand three hundred and twenty! We were like a joke in front of her!

[Wait… relatively looking. Is it even worth merging? She has to attack two targets if we are separated…] I couldn’t help but question Alice upon realizing that it didn’t matter which form of ours, we used.

[Well… we have twelve heads like this, so we aren’t lacking in mouths and we can use twelve stacks as well, so it’s still better. But this whole thing is ridiculous. So this Elder Onas was the damned traitor, right? I’ll eat him for sure!] Alice fumed in her mind, already imagining Onas’ despaired and terrified face. We should stay alive at first… I thought helplessly.

Our only chance was to use Anest’s draconic blood. She wasn’t using Dragon Qi. So controlling her was impossible. She probably knew that we could destroy her if she were to use it. She appeared in front of us in a flash and swung her blade towards us with an unwilling face. Thanks to her hesitation, we were barely able to dodge her attack. Even her hesitating attack was quicker than we… Space cracked in its path, leaving behind that gray matter.

We quickly charged at her. “PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPON!” Alice projected her command towards Anest’s mind, who turned her symbiote into a shield to protect herself. Her movements stopped for a moment, which was enough for one of our heads to graze her left shoulder. Upon feeling our poison and the pain, she regained her control and slapped that head. It exploded into a bloody mist and even that neck of ours was torn off. We quickly backed away, fearing another attack.

“Damn you, little shits. If not for your damned origin, you’d be dead long ago!” Anest shouted angrily in our mind. I poured our mixed Qi into our missing neck and it started healing with a visible speed. All it needed was only ten seconds, but Anest wasn’t just looking at us. She appeared behind us, with a halberd in her hands and swung it towards our back. We flew downward, but our back was still split open and even our souls were damaged. Our own world trembled and shook. Since we made numerous Soul Restoration pills in these last days, we quickly took out one and devoured it.

With our souls healed, we evaded her next attack, which came horizontally. Although we lost another head, it would grow back… Ten seconds are such a long time! We need to cut down from that! I thought, feeling worried because only half a second passed by. If this continued, then we would stay headless!

[Hey! Gulp down that damned Pill of Destruction! Now is the best time! We are being damaged anyway… I’ll focus on healing our body, you will fight.] Alice quickly instructed me and got to work with three of her minds. Normally, she had three minds, while I had seven. But when we merge, both of us gain as many minds as we would have at the tenth level. This meant four for Alice and Twelve for me. So we always had four minds in store, which could be focused on healing. But this time, Alice will mostly focus on healing.

A green light shone and took the shape of our missing necks and heads. It started materializing quicker than ever before, but the energy it took out of us was too much even for our symbiote. Seeing the sudden change, Anest frowned and quickly made a gripping move with her left hand. We felt the empty space coming down on our bodies and crushing it, but before that could happen, Aiko helped us out with a snap of her fingers. That crushing feeling disappeared. Although she didn’t have the time to help us, this much was manageable.

“Tch… Old cat bitch,” Anest cursed silently with a click of her tongue. Sedna and the other director were still fighting, so we had no help. But that was fine. We were on the losing side. And? What does it matter? We just have to stand up again! I flew towards Anest with a sudden movement, making feel surprised. But that surprise soon turned into a happy one, as her weapon took the shape of a spear.

Seeing the incoming spear, I quickly enlarged our body and the tiny spear barely made a hole on one of our hearts. Using our right paw, I slapped her left side, making her fly through space. Stopping only a few meters away, she looked down, only to see a large gash on her left side. While she was looking down, I didn’t miss the chance to bite her. Since with such a size I was slower, I had to shrink our body. Even like this, she could have escaped if not for Alice’s commanding shout to stop and my Bolt of Silence.

Six of our heads were quick enough to bite her arms and shoulders. Unluckily, she evaded the one going for her head. Our poison entered her body, slowly spreading through it. Although her strength was too much, and she was able to resist it, I still managed to tear off her left arm and tear out a nice chunk of meat from her right arm.

Focusing on restoring her wound, it took but a moment. As she made a somersault to counterattack, the staff in her right hand smashed into the center of our body, crushing six hearts and two heads on the spot. If not for Blank, then we would have died, probably. Suddenly, Rin appeared beside her, and bit into her right shoulder from behind, tearing off her wings with her paws.

Anest screamed out in pain upon feeling Rin’s sharp teeth tearing out a large chunk of meat from her right shoulder, along with her skin, scales, and even her shoulder bone was broken. [That was a critical strike!] I tried lightening the mood with a stupid joke, though not even I was affected by my own joke…

[ARGH! FUCK! So much work!] Alice cursed and whined in her mind to ease the pain we felt. But it was good in its own way. The pain was necessary. It made us feel alive.

After another sun-like light, the center of our body healed and stuck together once again. Now we had to heal our heads again… Eight stacks… this could kill her if she wouldn’t teleport away. But if I were to use it now, the pill of destruction would kill us…

Anest snapped her head backward, which had a protruding blade on it. Naturally, it was her symbiote. Expecting it, Rin reacted quickly and turned into a black fog and then disappeared. “FUCKING SHITTY MONSTERS EVERYWHERE!” Anest screamed out angrily, using some kind of space law as everything started trembling. Gulping down a pill, her wounds started healing with a visible speed. The meat on her shoulder grew back in no more than a moment and her right arm also started recovering. With her brand new body, she jumped towards us.

We also had eight heads by the time she attacked. Using her right leg, she wanted to kick us. A long blade grew out of her leg, not so unexpectedly. Alice commanded her to stop once again, which caused a slight delay in her movements. Rin appeared under her and literally bit into her butt, while I evaded her right leg and bit into it. Naturally… she cut down those two heads once again.

[This is so annoying…] Alice thought grumpily while focusing on healing that head. Suddenly, Anest teleported above us, and with a hammer in her hand, she wanted to strike our back. A broken spine would have been our smallest problem. Luckily, Alice was using that single remaining mind of hers to watch out for such moments. She controlled our body and flew to the side. The hammer struck our left side, crushing it completely. But that much was manageable.

[You do know that I have to restore our blood as well… We should lose less because that’s taking half of my focus. Damned critical wounds everywhere!] Alice remarked, feeling annoyed. I couldn’t help it… Anest was too quick and powerful. With her right and left arm back, she slapped behind herself, hitting Rin’s nose. That part of her head was crushed, while her head was almost torn off. She quickly disappeared and focused on healing herself.

[Careful, little Rin. Once you attack, leave immediately,] I told her through our blood bond. Alice took out a few souls and devoured them to restore some energy because we were very low on it. Anest was also panting slightly, though she was doing it because of the pain. In our monster forms, we had fewer pain receptors and they were quite far away from each other, meaning that we felt much less pain than her.

Suddenly, she started smirking as she took out a white sphere. When our fight started, she put it away. Although our heads grew back, and we were once again ready to fight with our full strength, both of us felt bad. That sphere made us feel terrible… A guy charged towards our back out of nowhere. I simply kicked him with my left hind leg, killing him on the spot. I focused a large amount of our mixed Qi into our mouths, causing our energy to liquefy. It made me remember of the Fel from a game in my past life.

Since we were in space, it simply levitated beside us, but it didn’t freeze as it wasn’t a simple physical matter. “I see that you are ready for our last round. But you know… I have something better in mind for you than life. I call it death… Although thanks to that damned ‘godly’ feeling in my heart, it’s terribly hard to even attack you. Thank the heavens that it’s like that or else you would have died a painful death long ago,” she said as we stopped fighting. Neither of us was the kind which liked to listen to these speeches, but this time we made an exception.

What she said was also true. If not for our ‘bond’ with her, then she could have killed us long ago. Holding up the sphere above her head, she continued. “This… you see is a really great toy. I bought it specifically against Divine Beasts, which contains you are. But do you know what does it do? It freezes your energies for two seconds.”

“Now the best in this is that I can select my targets, meaning that every Divine Beast on your side will turn into a useless scum for two seconds. It’s really good that the Abyss has such treasures, don’t you think? Unfortunately, these things are very expensive and they are separated into categories, but it will work just fine on both you and that damned turtle. I’ll see how you die!” She finished her monolog, scaring the shit out of me for a moment. It was only a five centimeters tall sphere, but its effects were terrible.

She closed her fingers, crushing it. A white light shone and spread through the whole battlefield. We felt our energies freeze completely. Although we could still move, using only our body strength against cultivators who had energies was a joke. Our scales were tough only because of the energy we rotated in our body while fighting. This didn’t mean that cultivators at our level could damage us easily, but without our energy… it wouldn’t be impossible.

The Turtle God quickly pulled his whole body into his tortoiseshell and colorful lights started bombarding him. We had nine stacks up, yet we couldn’t use it. In just a tenth of a second, two people also appeared, which we knew. It was Mariton and Yakine… how nice. Everyone came! If only we could attack… Rin was counted as a Divine Beast it seems because she couldn’t use her energy either. This meant that we had no way out.

With evil smiles on their faces, they held their palms towards us, and then released one powerful attack after another. Thereafter came the soul attacks. Anest didn’t even move as she was only looking at us with a smirk. “Hahaha~ You will feel sorry for this in the future. Believe me. I’ll make you.” We turned back into our humanoid merged form and sent such thoughts into their minds. I stretched out my arms to welcome the incoming attacks.

In the next moment, I opened my eyes widely because I saw Elder Aiko appearing in front of us. She held up her shield, but Onas’ attack also arrived. She crashed into us and the approaching onslaught of attacks destroyed not only her body but even half of ours. Using our soul force, we attempted to put up a barrier, but it didn’t help too much. Still, only a few attacks grazed her soul, damaging it heavily. “This will be painful…” I warned her as I pulled out the soul of the Bane Spider and started mending hers.

I felt her soul trembling and shaking, she probably felt a lot of pain. Seeing that we were still alive, they shrugged their shoulders and were about to send another attack, but our energies returned. Rin also arrived beside us, so we threw Aiko on her back and then with a staff in our hand, we spun it around our waist. With nine stacks, our attack was released. It crushed the incoming wave of the attacks and dispersed in every way. Unfortunately, Onas was also here, so he blocked our attack by cutting us out of space.

Our attack exploded in that little block of space we were in, not damaging anyone. As space cracked, we quickly rushed out of that block. It happened at that time, that a huge booming sound spread through space and a divine light shone far away. Everyone turned around to look at it. The other director was nowhere to be seen, but a green haired woman, who looked almost the same as Sedna was standing there.

Right after turning around, Onas immediately disappeared. Yakine and Mariton also followed him, with everyone who had the ability to teleport. Feeling anger upon seeing Anest’s sad face, who was about to leave, we screamed out with an inhuman voice, telling her to stop. We felt our blood boiling and rotating with a speed like never before. Her body stiffened up and her eyes opened widely.

“OBEY YOUR BLOOD!” We shouted and she fell into a kneeling posture. We flew towards her and stopped right in front of her. Grabbing her throat, we raised her up. We moved our face close to hers, almost touching it. Her eyes were moving continuously, in a panicked way. We strengthened our grip on her throat, which made her look us in the eye. From that point on, she couldn’t turn away. Seeing wrath in our eyes, her shoulders and body slumped down.

Taking out a few souls, we devoured them, reaching the threshold of the World Realm. Upon stepping into the Temporary Law Realm, we had to learn some kind of law. The Law of Killing, I shall choose you. We thought with Alice at the same time.

What does it take to kill? What makes us kill? We thought. It was an interesting question in its own right. The killing wasn’t simple. It was one of the hardest things to do. It seemed simple. Just move your hands, your energy, your weapon and take the killing blow.

Nah… you had to know what you were doing. This question wasn’t about fighting, talent, or strength. But the knowledge of what you were doing. Every person had a world of their own. Just look into the eyes of someone and you’ll see a world lost in them. Not physically. Their souls, their past, what they are, what they were, and what they want to be. When you wanted to kill, you had to know that you were about to destroy one such world. Someone’s life. Something they represented. Something they were. Once you kill, you’ll take away all those things.

Yet we were doing it so easily. Was that because it was natural? Of course, that it wasn’t. Every time we killed, it took a part of our own souls as well. We’d remember them. Not in our minds, but in our souls. It felt painful whenever we thought of the lost souls. However evil or cruel they might be, they were still representing life, which was important and worth a lot. Kids and mindless people were still only talking about killing, not knowing what it truly meant. Maybe we were wrong from other people’s perspective. But we believed in this.

In my past life, I loved my grandparents. But it was funny to see… that I never cried when they died. Nor after their burial. For a long time, I thought that I was a terrible person. Maybe I still am. But a new concept formed in my mind. After thinking about it… I never thought about their death, that they were no more. When I did, I tore up and cried. That was the only time. This made me realize, that as long as I wasn’t thinking about their death, I wouldn’t cry.

No, I wasn’t sealing it away. I knew that they were no more. I just didn’t bother myself with it. I understood, that sooner or later, everyone was going to die. Hoping for Eternity? It sounded like a stupid dream. Yet now… it was in front of us. It was also in front of many people and we! We were taking it away every time we killed someone. The point is… that killing was a complete obliteration of a life. The people we killed had friends, and maybe a family. But we simply didn’t bother ourselves with them.

Dying was a part of nature. Dying sooner or later didn’t matter that much, did it? If you didn’t have the strength and the will to stay alive, then you was the one who lost. There was nothing more to it. So the answer was simple. What does it take to kill? Uncaring…

That was all it took. We didn’t care about it. We didn’t think about it. We didn’t bother ourselves with it. This might seem too simple and stupid. But sometimes less was more.

Upon getting that far, we felt our body, soul, and mind evolving. With our newfound strength, we opened our eyes to look into Anest’s eyes deeply as Blank turned into a dagger in our hand. We didn’t do it quickly. It slowly and nicely penetrated her skin, passed through her flesh, between her ribs and stopped in her heart. She still couldn’t move under the strength of our blood. It was actually… a question of will. We willed it and she did it. We channeled our soul force through our knife and attacked hers. Her eyes started dimming out as her soul started falling apart.

We were taking away what she was. We were taking away her world. And we knew it, yet we still did it. Such was the Law of Killing. It was a strange art, you could say… Her eyes opened widely as she took her last breath. Her body stiffened up, while her warm blood trickled down the knife and dirtied our hand. Its smell felt like iron. Its color was dark red.

Without any light in her eyes, her body slumped down. We pulled Blank out of her body and she stayed there in space, unmoving and dead. Her tale has come to an end. We stood up straight. We breathed out a sigh of relief, knowing that we survived. Although we had the Phoenix Medal, we didn’t wish to ever ‘use’ it…

Looking around, we saw many people looking at us with strange looks. Well, we just killed someone at the peak of the Temporary Law Realm. Seeing our mood, Narihi and Poirlion didn’t jump at us with happily. They just stood in the crowd silently. Those who had the ability fled long ago, while the others were overrun by the high-level cultivators and were killed.

But something strange was happening. Dark clouds were coming towards us, even though we were in space. Thanks to the souls, we broke through beforehand, but the tribulation couldn’t be left out! So it came a bit late… Since it was only at the level of someone who was about to reach the sixth level, it was like the attacks of children for us. Teleporting away, without even bothering ourselves, we took it on with our body.

When we were done, we teleported back to the crowd of people, who were looking at the green haired woman and Sedna. Looking around, the unknown woman talked in a playful tone. “Gaia-sama is back~ Hahaha~ Did I surprise you?”

Some people made dumbfounded faces, while others just held their faces and shook their heads sideways… We felt equally surprised since this whole thing seemed impossible! Why was she alive? With her world in our possession, shouldn’t she be weak, or even dead? Her life made no sense!

But before we could jump at Gaia to question her, Rin brought back Aiko, who was still unconscious with her soul wounded. Looking at her, we knew that we still had something to do...

We had a world to restore!