A Thousand Cuts

Seeing Grant standing in front of her, the woman was frozen in place.

Grant had no qualms killing people if the situation called for it, but even to this day, he had yet to kill a woman and he hoped to keep it that way.

He knew that women could be just as evil if not more so than men, and he knew that if he was forced to, he would kill a woman without hesitation. However, part of him wanted to feign some semblance of morals so he wanted to refrain from it at all costs, if only for his own conscious.

Besides, a certain curly eyed chef managed to pull it off in one of Grant's favorite manga's, and he was the third strongest person in the group!

After a tense second or two, the woman still didn't move, but Grant suddenly felt a small amount of danger and pressure being exuded onto himself.

The only person who would even remotely be capable, would be Andrew, and sure enough the young man was bounding towards Grant.

He was currently wielding a shield in his left hand that looked like it had appeared straight out of the Spartan era and a spear to match in his right hand.

Grant was interested to see how Andrew was going to engage him with the spear and shield so he took a few small steps backwards and brought his sword up, ready to parry any strikes.

As Andrew approached, he brought the shield up to chest height and pulled the spear back in what appeared to be a thrusting position.

When Andrew was close enough to engage, the spear came shooting out from behind the shield and penetrated directly... through the chest of the woman who was still standing between Grant and Andrew before mercilessly pulling it back out from her chest.

The woman, Athena, now with a small hole that pierced all the way through her body, struggled for breathe as she slumped to the ground. Grant could see in the corner of her eyes, tears starting to form before the woman struggled a few more times for breathe and then ultimately died.

Seeing Andrew brutally and seemingly without any semblance of hesitation, murder one of his own people, Grant was first stunned, and then infuriated.

"What the fuck are you doing?! Isn't she one of your subordinates?!"

Andrew, like the psycho he was portrayed to be by Leonard and Martin alike, started laughing hysterically like he hadn't just done what he had.

"She disobeyed my orders by letting you get in her way. She didn't deserve to live. Besides, I only kept her around and let her join in our raiding parties because she had a nice rack. She was basically useless anyways."

Hearing what the psycho in front of him said, Grant's mind seemingly went blank.

Grant knew he himself was no saint but to treat people who placed their faith in you the way Andrew seemingly did, was absolutely unforgivable. Not even when Jeff and Matt had betrayed him or when he had to watch Tres sacrifice himself, had Grant ever been so enraged by the arrogance and selfishness displayed by humans.

{Congratulations on learning the skill: Unbound Rage (Level: 1)

Skill Type: Passive

Skill Tier: Unique

Skill Description: In moments when the User is overcome by rage, Unbound Rage will activate and increase all Stats by 100 while forcefully clearing the mind. Effect of the skill will last for 1 minute with no subsequent penalties. Skill cannot take effect more than one per hour. Keep Calm and Rage on.}

Before Grant could even read the notification for the new skill, it immediately activated.

{Passive skill Unbound Rage has taken effect. For the next minute you will experience a boost of 100 to stats and a clear mind.}

As if he was experiencing some sort of out of body moment, Grant slowly took a few steps forward and bent down and placed a hand on the head of the now lifeless Athena. He may not have known her, but even then, she did not deserve the ending she received.

Although the movements appeared to be slow in Grant's eyes, in the eyes of Andrew, it appeared as if Grant had just flashed from one place to the next.

"What the fuck was that?! How are you so fast?! I'm a level 26 on the Path of the Berserker and I've never come close to that speed!"

Grant however, completely ignored Andrew and said a silent prayer for the young woman.

Enraged at the fact that he was being completely ignored, Andrew thrust his spear down towards Grant.

"Hey fucker! Don't ignore me! I asked you a question!"

Although the spear would have appeared to be moving at a high rate of speed in the eyes of a normal person, for Grant, it appeared as if everything was moving in slow motion.

After having pumped a large portion of his Strength into Agility and then having it further boosted by the new passive skill, his Agility was well past 500 and anyone else on the planet.

Grant easily dodged the spear, grabbed the dagger that the young woman had been holding, and slowly rose to his feet and stared at Andrew whose face was becoming a twisted mix of anger and shame from being made to look like a fool.

"I want you to understand one thing Andrew.

You will die momentarily. It will not be quick and it will not be painless."

Rapidly losing his mind, Andrew ignored the threat and started to jab outwardly with his spear in an attempt to end the existence of the man who was quickly destroying his infallible image.

"Argghhhh!!! Just fucking die you piece of shit!!!"

Easily dodging all of the spear strikes, and with Athena's small dagger in his hand, Grant took very small and subtle steps towards Andrew.

Andrew, who had long since activated the only skill that he had at his disposal, realized that victory was not going to be something that he would be able to achieve so he was preparing to turn tail and run away.

"You will stand right there and you will wait for your end, obediently, like the miserable existence that you are."

{Terrorize has successfully influenced 1 individual. To contribute towards the skills growth, maintain control for the next 59 minutes 52 seconds.}

Unfortunately for Andrew, with how much Grant had shaken his confidence and mind, he became susceptible to the one skill that would make it easy for Grant to kill him.

In his state of clarity, Grant knew that the Terrorize skill would not hold for long, considering how unstable Andrew's mind was, but all he needed was ten seconds.

"Frenzy of Time"

{Frenzy of Time has been activated.

For the next 10 seconds, everything within 25 feet of you will be frozen in time. All forms of manipulation, whether it be damage, movement, or otherwise forced upon entities within range of the skill will be experienced during the skills activation at an exponentially slower pace than in reality.}

With the activation of Frenzy of Time and using his immense speed, Grant used the next ten seconds to relentlessly slash Andrew using Athena's dagger.

He made sure never to cut or slice Andrew in a way that would allow him a quick death.

He was trying to accomplish the ancient form of torture known as, a death by a thousand cuts.

As the skill came to its end and time resumed for everyone within range, a blood curdling scream rang out throughout the night.

Andrew, now laying on the ground in a quickly forming pool of his own blood which was slowly trickling from his wounds, was writhing around in pain and misery.

Seeing the state that Andrew was in, the surviving members of his entourage quickly threw their weapons to the ground and looked at Grant with terror. If he was capable of doing that to the strongest of their group, what chance did they stand?

Grant simply glanced at them to acknowledge their surrender before focusing once again on Andrew.

Grant, feeling that Andrew had not suffered enough for not only Athena's crimes, but the crimes committed against the people of the camp, turned his head and faced one of the streets that appeared to be empty.

"I know you're there Leonard. You really need to stop snooping bud.

I also know that it's not just Ethan and you. Why don't you lot come out from hiding?"

Sure enough, a moment later, a large group of men and a few women who were holding all kinds of normal household items that could be used as a weapon, appeared in the clearing.

Before acknowledging the rest of the people, Grant faced Leonard and spoke to him directly.

"Kid, I know this man has caused you a lot of grief and suffering. I will give you the chance now to take your revenge."

Grant simply held out his hand with Athena's dagger resting on his palm, presenting it to Leonard.

Ethan, who looked worried beyond belief, tried to convey his concern to Grant using his eyes, but Grant simply shook his head side to side to dissuade Ethan from interfering.

After a few moments of hesitation, Leonard walked forward and grabbed the dagger from Grant's hand before slowly approaching Andrew who was barely clinging to life.

Grant didn't necessarily want the young man to kill Andrew, but he wanted to give Leonard this opportunity. Depending how he handled the situation would give Grant a small insight into the way that Leonard's mind worked and would allow him to more quickly determine the likelihood of training the young man to be strong.

As Leonard stood over Andrew and stared down at him, he glanced back at Grant, only for Grant to give him a small nod.

Leonard slowly raised the dagger up and held it there for a few seconds.