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Leo caught the words leaving his lips and, frankly, cringed at them ever so slightly.

It wasn't a feeling he entertained often as he found it ostensibly obnoxious, but every man or a woman who'd lived three decades and onward had those few moments, the ilk that crept into one's psyche when the darkness fell, and caused the entire body to shudder. This one, he mused, might yet enter that library.

While it was a genuine exclamation of surprise, it made him come off far more psychotic than he actually was. Rather, while he was 'ordering' them to leave the forest, he was silently praying that they actually would, and more so for his sake then theirs. While he'd already killed quite a few, he found himself standing at the precipice of sanity at this point; any more, he felt, would have him careening into the bottomless abyss.

And the fact that they were 'weak' played a role in it, too--were they stronger, and had they put up a fight and turned it into one hellish struggle to survive, Leo might have been able to live with taking their lives much better. However, they were... weak. So weak, in fact, Leo suspected they weren't even cultivators. Even when they saw him coming, they didn't--they simply stood dumbly in place, as though he became a ghost suddenly, invisible to the naked eye, all while he approached and killed them.

Even now, the man who stepped out--presumably their leader--was the same.

No, that wasn't it. It was the martial art--that much he had to admit. While he had no means of understanding where they fit world-wise, Leo wasn't so naive to believe that the martial arts system gave him were as ordinary as their names implied. He'd picked up on Yue's and Liang's hushed whispers, especially when the young girl warned her older Junior Brother that the only time he was allowed to use the arts was if he fully intended to kill the other person. There was a secret betwixt the pages they were written on, one that made them what they were: something seemingly impossible to defend against.

"AAAGGHHHH!!" the cloaked and hooded figure fell to their knees, grabbing the bleeding stump that was their remaining arm. Howly weakly reached out with its head and licked Leo's ankle; looking down, the big eyes rounded out with a sense of joy and relief that cracked Leo's heart even further. All of this was not just for Howly--but for all other animals, too. If he could chase them out of the forest without taking any more lives, it would be perfect. If not, however, he knew that he'd have to bear their ghosts upon his soul. "H-how... how?!!" they howled, eyes kindling with the colors of hatred.

Leo winced at the gaze, almost taking a step back--it was mad, as though sanity had been drained and replaced fully by a burning barrel of oil. Howly growled and tired to stand up, but quickly hobbled back to the ground; the wounds were plenty, but at the very least the little thing(?) wasn't in any immediate danger.

He also recognized another thing--while he could let the rest of them go, their leader... he couldn't. There was something deeply unnerving about those eyes, something that signaled all the alarms off inside Leo's mind. Perhaps it was his gut feeling, or his instincts, or even some mythical properties of Qi warning him, but he knew that if he let the person go, he'd come to regret it someday in the future.

As such, he took a deep breath and walked over, all the way in front of them. None of the other people dared move; some, even, stilled their breaths, watching with an odd level of anticipation. The kneeling figure kept their head high, teeth grinding into gums, one arm holding tightly onto the bleeding stump of the other.

"... any last words?" Leo asked, partly out of courtesy, and partly because he wanted to see what it would feel like. He had to admit... he was not made for 'cool' moments. For the most part, it felt as though he was playacting more so than actually commanding the presence with his words. However, perhaps because he so easily wounded their leader, nobody even snorted, let alone made a passing, snide comment.

"Hah, where the hell did you come from?! Why is a human protecting these animals?! You're a traitor! Traitor to your own Race!! You are betraying everything we built! Aren't you ashamed?!" Leo was slightly confused but didn't let it show on his face. He didn't have time to reply either as the person quickly rambled on. "Go ahead, kill me! Do you think this is over?! Ha ha ha! Fat chance, you bastard! We are just one lone band! No matter how strong you are, you will die! As will all the bastards you're trying to protect!"

"So," Leo said. "I should kill all of you instead of letting any go, so that you don't warn these other 'bands' of my presence."

"--ha ha, that's right! Sully your soul further, you beast wearing human skin!"

"You are rather swift at dulling out death sentences to your kin," Leo said. "Pray tell, which one of us is a beast wearing human skin?"

"None of us are afraid to die! For our cause--"

"--bullshit," Leo interrupted, feeling a bit angry. "Cause this, cause that. Only insipid maniacs like you can hide behind such bullshit claims. No one is afraid to die? Everyone is afraid of death, on one level or another. In a perfect world, one bereft of pain and suffering, would not everyone want to live forever? Indulge in all the pleasures? Who are you to so wantonly claim to know whether people want to live or die? Just because you went insane and had gone so far up your ass you've turned deaf to the world doesn't mean that others have. I offered you the courtesy of the last words, but had I know they'd be dregs of the most childish stupidity, I wouldn't have. So, I will make this rather simple," Leo looked away from the bulging eyes and toward the rest of them. "As I said, I will let you leave this forest. However, because of this moron, it now comes with a stipulation: you will have to swear a Soul Oath to forget not just me and this place, but to also hide yourselves away from the world for at least 100 years."

"..." just as everyone seemed ready to begin, Leo raised his hand and added another bit.

"And," he exclaimed. "You will, uniformly, kill your leader. All of you will stab at the same time, and if that isn't enough, I will deal the last blow."

"Ha ha ha, you've gone mad! You think your pathetic promises--"

"--hush," Leo used threads of Qi to patch the lips together and force on the silence. "Nobody was talking to your demented self. If you truly do not want to do it," he added. "Kneel by their side, and I will make it quick. Speaking of quick, you have ten seconds to make a choice." Leo hoped that the combination of little time and hope for life would dissuade any remaining maniacs from offering their heads to him. And, from the looks of it, it worked--one by one, men and women began to raise their arms against their chest, mumbling softly an identical prayer, promising even more than Leo asked.

In the end, they all drew their weapons and surrounded the figure whose eyes were spitting fire, lips in want of curses. It was evident this was beyond expectations--but there was no more time to distill it into reality.

Leo, ultimately, was unneeded.

Cultivators, for all their strengths, it seemed, were still made of flesh and bone--the rage and madness vanished from the eyes like a falling snowflake hitting wet dirt. The body toppled over, the others scattered, bowed toward Leo, and quickly disappeared between the trees. They'd split up into several groups, and there were some that even went out on their own, but Leo didn't have the energy to care.

He'd hope that the Soul Oath was as important as every person who visited him made it out to be. Perhaps, in the absolutes, it was a moronic decision to let them go. After all, they were ways to 'hint' at his existence without outright mentioning him, and that would likely be more than enough to warn other groups of him. Perhaps he should have donned the crown of an executioner, killed them all, and learned to live with their ghosts.

But there was always a but.

In so many ways, for this world, he was a child. It was one way to frame his actions and make them make sense--unlike others, who grew up in conflict and strife, and were molded by it like blades pressed into anvils, he never had that. To him, death wasn't a solution, a jubilant outcome that was to be celebrated. For this world, he was merely a few months and some change old--a baby, an infant ignorant of everything. In fact, even reframing his actions tonight chilled him ever so slightly--though he struggled, deeply, he still ended up taking nearly twenty lives.

He killed nearly twenty people. An absolutely insane thought that turned him nauseous as soon as it manifested. But he held it back.

Even if he wanted to preserve this naivety, at least to a degree, he understood that the world wouldn't always be so kind to follow along. It would defy, fight back, and perhaps even try to burn everything that he was trying to build. And for that, he had to at least have the capacity to do what must be done.

Ultimately, it was just excuses. Means of exorcising the worming devils inside his mind, and grant him whatever little peace he could muster.

He was woken from his drifting thoughts by Howly who bit into his robes and pulled him.

"Ah, sorry, sorry," Leo quickly fetched some stew and fruit juice from the spatial ring and gave them to the wolf who happily gobbled it all up. Within moments, his flesh wounds healed up and he seemed to have gained a new lease on life, standing up on all four and harking his head toward the sky, belting out a howl that shook the forest itself. "Damn, you've been holding that in, huh?"

Leo was always aware that the wolf was rather... large. In fact, he was in competition, size-wise, with the mysterious black tiger. But it was never as evident as right now--the beast looked at him from the side, and they were almost level. In fact, Leo was barely a few inches taller and he suspected that wouldn't be the case for long.

"... always," it was silent and unspoken, but Leo knew that Howly was thanking him. The former smiled, stretching out his arm and gently petting the top of the wolf's head. "I'm sorry that it took me so long. I couldn't hear you. Yeah, ha ha. We ought to be louder and freer. Hm? There's another one?" Howly led him to the central platform where Leo just now noticed another silhouette trying to bury itself into the ground, away from his eyes.

It was a rather short man--perhaps just barely five-two--with flaming red hair and a pair of silver-stained eyes. He was shaking, glancing up at Leo and immediately looking away every once in a while. Though the latter found it ever so slightly amusing, he wondered why nobody bothered to swing by and pick him up on their way out.

"They left you, huh?" Hm? Can't I just ask this guy where the other groups are? Hoh, aren't I kind of clever, ha ha? Dispelling the arrogant thoughts, Leo crouched and undid the Qi binds on the man's dantian and his arms, freeing him. "So," he added. "Will you join your leader, or will you come with me?"

"... I--I'll come with you!" the man exclaimed with a rather strange sense of joy, quickly jolting to his feet as though he was waiting for it. Leo looked at him oddly, wondering whether it was the best decision to bring someone like him back home, especially considering Shui'er was there.

"Don't make me regret it."

"Never."

"I've never trusted any one word less in my life."

"..."

"Anyway, let's go," Leo said, but suddenly paused, awkwardly scratching his nose and glancing over at the wolf. "Howly, uhm, could... could you lead the way back? I... I'm kind of lost." both the wolf and the red-haired man looked at him in the exact same way, causing the kind of hurt that transcended physical. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I was moving through the dark, and Chilly--you know, that damned crow? He gave me the directions! I had no idea where I was actually going the entire time! Aww, come on! Don't go silent suddenly! That's even worse than outright judgment! Howly? Hey, Howly? Uhm, please don't tell the others. They already think I'm a directionally-challenged idiot. Yes, yes, I may have, on scant few occasions, gotten lost and needed someone to guide me, but, you know, it's a big forest! And it's big trees! And--ah, whatever. Let's just go..."