CHAPTER 46: RAMPAGE
A quiet voice whispered: Kill them all.
And that was exactly what john wanted to do right now. For a while, silence filled the place, and john himself stood motionless, his eyes locked onto the injured boy.
The boy was still clutching his stomach, his face pale with pain.
One of his teammates caught him before he could fall.
He hesitated for a bit and spoke.
"You know… I didn't want this. None of us wanted this."
John didn't give a reply; he just continued staring at the boy.
The boy continued, "I won't say I am sorry because I know it doesn't matter. It was either you guys or us, and we chose ourselves."
That finally got a response from John.
He gave a light chuckle before exploding into a full-blown laugh—but even then, tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
Through it all, the boy and his group were still watching him cautiously when,
Finally, John stopped.
"Yes, you are right, I don't know why it took so long to understand." his voice became colder as he continued, "… so I won't feel sorry for what I am about to either."
Flash Step.
He moved before the words finished leaving his mouth.
The second he reached his target, he used his fastest move
Silver Flicker
All the victim saw was a reddish-black light before a clean slice appeared over his neck. He tried to reach for the wound, only for his head to slowly start falling while a fountain of blood exploded.
The blood splattered across John's face.
For a moment, he didn't have any reaction, but then a small smile crept onto his face, and his eyes seemed to darken slightly.
There were five attackers in total, including the boy. But now only four were left.
The others froze for a moment before the one supporting the injured boy shouted, "Everyone, attack!!"
And attack they did. The injured boy, Conner, started throwing out his wind attack to try and distract John, while the one who was supporting him, Jay, handed him to one of the team members and started throwing out spears made of water and stone.
Jay quickly started to shout out orders, "Sam, start masking us. Theon, quickly heal Conner and you, Conner, help me keep this guy busy."
Sam, the one who was tasked with masking, started his work, and everyone disappeared from John's view, including the spears and wind slashes.
But unlike the previous time, John didn't close his eyes and try to sense where each attack was coming from. Instead, he used Storm Wall to form a large dome that encompassed all four attackers, then started shrinking it inward.
The walls of crackling lightning tightened around them.
They tried everything to fight back—but nothing worked. The wind slashes dissipated against the barrier. The water spears evaporated on contact. Sam's masking shattered under the pressure, their forms flickering back into view.
But it wasn't without cost.
John's nose began to bleed.
The strain was getting to him. His head pounded. His vision blurred at the edges.
[John, stop!] Echo's voice cut through the chaos. [You're pushing too hard!]
John ignored him and pushed harder.
The lightning crackled as it compressed the space. The attackers dropped to their knees, gasping, their bodies convulsing as the energy ate through their defenses. Theon's healing light flickered and died. Sam's masking dissolved completely. Conner tried to throw a wind slash, but his arm wouldn't move.
The dome shrank, tighter and tighter. Their screams turned raw, filled with desperation, as the lightning seared through muscle and bone. Eyes boiled in their sockets. Flesh sloughed off limbs like overcooked meat. The crackling energy ate through them, and the smell of charred fat filled the air.
Then the screaming stopped. Only the sound of sizzling remained.
John released the dome.
All four attackers lay on the ground, smoke rising from their charred bodies. None of them were moving.
John stood there, breathing hard, blood dripping from his nose onto his lips.
Then he looked up.
Other participants had started surrounding him.
***
Nico gasped.
His eyes shot open. His hands flew to his chest—patting frantically, searching for the wound that had killed him. Or at least, the wound he thought had killed him.
But he was fine.
"What the—"
He sat up so fast his head spun. He was lying on the floor, which felt strangely familiar. He looked around and soon found out why.
He was back at the banquet hall.
Everything was the same—except now, the place was filled with other participants sprawled across the floor, just starting to stir. Some sat up groaning. Others lay still, still unconscious. A few were crying.
Nico stared at his hands.
I'm alive.
The thought didn't make sense.
I died. I know I died. There was a spear through my chest. I felt it. I—
"Hey."
He turned.
Amara stood there, arms crossed, ears flat. Her expression was a mix of relief and annoyance.
"So. How was death?"
Nico opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"...What?"
"Death," Amara said flatly. "You died. Remember?"
Nico blinked.
"I'm pretty sure I'm still alive. Unless we're both dead and this is the underworld—but I know for a fact it's not, since this is the same place I was in before the trial." He paused. "So could you explain what you mean?"
"Yes and no." Her claws flexed. "You did die. But it wasn't real. The Supreme One conjured a simulation. To make things more 'interesting'."
Nico stared at her.
"That's... messed up."
"This is the Covenant, of course, it is messed up." Amara shrugged.
He looked past her. Nyara was at the back, fiddling with a Rubik's Cube, completely absorbed. Liora stood off to the side, her ink-black eyes fixed on one of the floating screens. Thalia was beside her, arms crossed, also watching intently.
Nico frowned. "Did you guys... die too? Like me?"
Amara shook her head. "Me, yes. Them, no."
Nico blinked. "Then… how are they here?"
"They cleared their entire bracket, though it was mostly Nyara." Amara's ears twitched. "She went full beast mode, showing no mercy. At least, that's what they told me."
Nico stared at the quiet girl with the Rubik's Cube. The one he'd always written off as an oddball.
She… she cleared a whole bracket? But that would mean she…
He shook his head. Then he remembered something.
John.
"Wait—where's John?"
Amara's expression shifted. "See for yourself."
She pointed at the screens.
Nico looked up, and His blood ran cold.
"Holy shit."