Ah, the world really didn’t like Fabier in the brief moment after he parted ways with Marcel a few days ago—Oh, sorry, it’s been just a little over seven hours since the bastard set them up to die and escaped, but to Fabier, it feels like it’s been at least three days since they last saw each other.
[Flashback]
After he set up his trap and happily left the dungeon to go see his master, he was attacked by a Shadow Snake. How much he wished he hadn’t killed that little beast and learned of how much he’s screwed up.
Why did the snake suddenly appear out of nowhere while he was leaving? Well, it was attracted to the very same baiting drug Fabier spread all around the group’s camping site and surroundings to lure the glorious horde of beasts that Marcel and his beast companions had to deal with.
Like I said, the world really didn’t like what he did, and he learned that lesson the very hard way.
Unfortunately, while sprinkling the baiting drug unto the camping grounds of the group, he had accidentally left some remnants on his clothes and skin without realizing. He had become a living dungeon beast magnet but unlike Marcel and the others’ case where freezing the powder on the ground and the rest swimming in the air along with dust particles, only a real good scrub and a long soak in water would help his situation; both of which weren’t ideal for his situation. Heck, even the usual magical cleaning spells wouldn’t do much to help him, courtesy of a certain spirit someone.
You can guess what happened as he kept moving forward. He thought this mission was going to be an easy one, not that everything in the dungeon would be out to get him. The world and his carelessness taught him a lesson that would cost him his life: that you never go after who’s probably the luckiest person in the world.
After that snake came multiple beasts of the A and half-S-classes respectively, followed by wounds, then miasma corrosion. He barely made it to the next floor when he collapsed and could no longer go on, right before reaching his goal, which brings us back to the current situation.
[End of Flashback]
Now, gathered three meters away, seeing Fabier in this sorry state made them feel slightly better about what they had to go through. He looked like he’d been mauled alive by a thousand beasts or something, but now… they had another problem.
“What should we do?” Kensuke asked Silva, ready to pull out his sword from his blood.
“Yes, tell us. What do we do, mistress?!” Evan also awaited her response as did the others. Suddenly, they felt unsure of what to do.
Earlier, before meeting Fabier again, they bore thoughts of revenge and plain loathing that they could barely hold back, but now… they were unsure of what to do, or which choice to make.
“I...” Silva said, also unsure of what was right in this situation. Should she even be allowed to suggest the options they have in this kind of situation? Luckily, she didn’t have to ponder for very long. Some else laid out the options for them.
Shalia spoke, “In this situation, we only have two choices. We either save him, then beat him at a later time after he recovers, or we just walk away and let him die. His condition is pretty bad, and in about two hours, he will leave for the realm of the dead. Honestly, he deserves this!” A critical, disdainful Shalia crossed her arms and looked down at the pitiful Fabier who was starting to come to.
“Right, but, if we choose option 1, we’ll need a high-rank healer skilled in miasma purification. We all know normal recovery magic isn’t going to make anything better. Do any of us look like we’re experts at healing and miasma purification? We would have all died if not for Marcel, but I doubt even his blood will magically fix that battered body.” Allan pointed at Fabier whose mind was currently in a state of disarray, wondering how terrible his luck must be to meet his targets in his current state. Did he just hear someone mention ‘Marcel’? That name is the Demon Lord’s… Maybe it’s a mere coincidence! Yes, a coincidence!
Rather than deal with the complex thinking that would come with maybe having learnt one of the century’s biggest secrets, he decided to kick the thought itself to the back of his dying brain.
“Then, what about killing him and ending his suffering? Without a high-rank healer, that guy’s only chance at life will be determined by whether or not his associates can pay the underworld’s price. We should just leave it to his luck!” Valeria stared blatantly at Fabier who writhed in misery as his body and soul were attacked by pain and suffering. He looked ready to fall unconscious any second now but his curiosity to know what was happening around him kept him half-awake.
Fabier slowly looked around to count everyone that had apparently survived his attack and as he counted, he slowly began to feel relieved. From his left to right were Silva, Evan, Shalia, Allan, Kensuke, Daniel and Nigel. As his eyes passed by them one by one, he felt relieved as he couldn’t see the prime target the farther down he counted the number of people around, until… suddenly, he reached the last one.
“No-no-no! Please don’t let it be him…” He thought before he raised himself slightly to look at the presence in the corner of his far corner to the right. He found Marcel.
“NOOO!!!” He couldn’t help but scream internally, “I failed!”
On Fabier’s face was dread and terror when he found Marcel to also be present; not because he was scared or afraid of him, but because his ‘full-proof, no-loophole’ plan had not only been unsuccessful, but had also failed to claim a single life, especially the prime target. It was an epic failure that would tarnish his dignity as an S-class assassin who never missed his mark and a servant of his master. Just hours earlier, he was examining his targets from above, but now, he was the one being looked at from above, like a miserable worm. How ironic!
The continuous existence of Marcel in the land of the living only went on to increase his inner turmoil. His confidence as an assassin was quickly diminishing and his pride tarnished by a single boy who wasn’t even old enough to be considered alive compared to him. He was feeling utterly humiliated.
As Fabier had his little mental breakdown, the group further discussed what to do with him, and currently, they had reached a simultaneous, final decision.
“Then end his misery, it is!” They each thought, but… this decision itself, brought about one more problem: Marcel.
They feared that killing a person in front of the little hero was an act too graphic and extreme to taint the eyes of their ‘pure’ and ‘innocent’ baby who had… probably never done anything more than bathed in the blood of dungeon beasts…
Ha, seriously! That sounds like the most impure thing ever; bathing in the blood of dungeon beasts, that is.
“Absolutely not! We can’t taint Marcel!” They thought simultaneously.
‘Marcel was a pure being that must always be protected from the evils of the world,’ and ‘Only I am allowed to taint Marcel again,’ we know very well who thought that last one, and thoughts like these flowed through their minds. Sadly for them, they were about to witness a sight that would further ruin all their moods for the rest of the day.
While still absorbed in their thinking, they were pulled out of their thought hazes by a Marcel who slowly walked towards Fabier who looked ready to cry out for help but failed to do so because it was of no use.
“I’ll do it!” Marcel proclaimed before kneeling down before Fabier’s body.
The others were in disbelief when they heard Marcel. Actually, not disbelief; they were stunned. Um… did their angel just say that he’ll kill Fabier so that they don’t have to? How nice~, but…
“But, you won’t be able to carry that burden after you’re done! Let us take care of that! It would take away your innocence!” Shalia yelled at he who kneeled before Fabier. Her voice sounded a bit unsteady, as if she was having difficulty finding words to properly convince him. It was like every part of her was having trouble believing that Marcel was even capable of something as unholy as deliberate murder of something with a fully developed consciousness.
“Yes! You can’t do it!” The others agreed with Shalia.
“Killing someone is hard. You can never return to having a sound conscience after that. It’ll ruin you!” Silva, the voice of logic, spoke once again.
“Hard...? Ruin me...?” Marcel looked stupefied, as if he didn’t quite understand what Silva meant.
Once more, he glanced at Fabier who breathed erratically and seemed to be on the verge of screaming, if he could in that moment, with pupils that swished around like he was going into shock.
Yes, Fabier also couldn’t believe that his prime target was going to kill him, and the thought of never seeing his master again… He was scared! Very scared!
After Marcel looked at Fabier, he took a glance at his friends, and for the first time in a while, displayed something that could only be described as irregular behavior.
He went between staring at Fabier, then his friends, and as he did so, his eyes slowly turned dark and inhuman. Despite how constantly pure his aura was, the atmosphere around him changed.
He paused from his paced stares at both Fabier and his friends to only stare at Fabier, and with a back turned to his friends, he said something in a low, almost mechanistic tone,
“Ha, looks like my past won’t stop hunting me… You know guys, I’ve killed someone before. Actually, an entire noble house of someones. After that, I went home and it was as if nothing had happened. This is exactly the same. I won’t feel any different when I end Fabier’s life.”
Marcel then took a small dagger from his Informer’s inventor; a dagger with an obsidian handle, a slightly sharper dagger than the kitchen knife that he used to cut apart extremely tough meat.
Uh-oh! Allan could suddenly see the latter part of his dream from last night in clear detail, because… it happened right in front of him.
With his obsidian handle dagger in hand, he reached for Fabier’s body with a swift motion full of brute force, piercing his flesh and stabbing his heart before saying, “I’m sorry!” in a monotonous tone. The blood splattered across his hands and Marcel’s hands bathed in the warmth held within as it slowly faded away and grew cold, the warmth leaving with the last of the assassin’s consciousness left in his body along with his soul.
Marcel’s friends moved swiftly to prevent him from performing the deed but it was already too late. When they got to him, all they could see were blood-covered hands of their angel and those eyes… The eyes of their little hero were those of someone who’d killed thousands, or at least that’s what they felt like: the eyes of a hardened murder who felt nothing anymore after performing the deed. His aura still brimmed with purity and the aura of Fabier that sought to bind itself to its killer and change him, was nowhere to be found on him. It was innocence followed by such brutal act like killing Fabier that sent shivers down their spines.
Innocently, he smiled towards his friends and spoke,
“I am not in the mood for any more adventures. I want to go back home. This trip is officially ruined now, hehe. Sorry!” Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one who felt like this. He’d had enough of this day.
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