Last Pact Standing (15)

"Ahhhhhhhh—!"

*Thud!* 

*Thud!*

*GASP—!*

The crowd recoiled in terror as they watched the commander's legs get violently launched in the air, showering blood like rain on them.

The commander's body slammed onto the podium with a bone-jarring thud, before crashing to the ground in a disorienting tumble. 

He writhed and convulsed, letting out a chilling, high-pitched scream that cut through the chaos of the horrified crowd. 

"Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhhhhh—!"

"Oh. My. God!" The Players in the crowd exclaimed.

"Even the commander is not safe…"

"I don't think grouping together is the best way! We should separate and run!" Someone in the crowd suggested. 

Despite the suggestion, the crowd did not move and stuck together.

"No! Separation would worsen the matter." The smart minds of the group said in unison. 

"Remember, the safe zone is going to shrink, so you would be concentrated in one place anyhow."

"Separation would give the threat-Player a chance to individually kill us."

"Folks, remember, he's not eliminating, but killing!"

"There has not been a single elimination message despite Players going missing, and the number of teams left still shows 58."

The crowd collectively gasped at the revelation, dread taking over their faces. 

"A m-m-monster…" Someone in the crowd said in her panic-stricken voice. 

"I wanna get out of this trial! I don't wanna do this!"

"Me too! I don't wanna be a Player! I'll go back to the farm and help my grandpa!"

"Waaaah! I don't wanna be a Player either!" 

One by one, few weak-willed Players cried out in unison 

Their cries however didn't affect the intelligent Players in the group and they kept their thoughts rational. 

Soon…

Someone in the group shouted amidst the cries of others, "Stop crying! I think I've figured out a way for us to leave."

"What!?"

"What!?!!"

"For real!?"

The crowd erupted and caused a mild stir. 

The intellectual individuals had to shout again and keep them silent. 

"Listen! The only way to get out of here is to eliminate ourselves! We can only do that by depositing our tokens in the token deposit center."

"Oh no…"

Fear overtook the weak-willed Players in the group as they realized going to the token deposit center was next to impossible. 

They had to separate from the crowd to go there, and this was definitely not safe!

"Yes, it's understandable why you would be worried. But Players, there's no other way. If we don't eliminate ourselves, the man will!"

"And he won't eliminate us from the trials, but from living!"

The crowd went silent.

It was eerily quiet for a few moments as everybody contemplated.

"Everyone, one thing we know for sure is the token deposit center's location. It's in the East. How far? That's unknown, but we will find it if we go in the eastward direction."

"Let us all slowly take a step towards the East and make our way there!"

…..

Away from the crowd, watching them from a tall tree were Jackie and Julien.

The crowd was moving like a herd of sheep in one particular direction. The scene was bizarre.

"Their strategy is not bad." Julien said. He was the brains of their small team while Jackie was the sword and Amelia was support. 

He wasn't particularly knowledgeable about warfare or battle, but had enough logical and critical thinking capabilities to get things done. 

"What will we do now, Master?" Jackie asked with concern. "And also, what about that leader of theirs? Why didn't Master finish him off in one go?"

"Since he was the leader, I assumed that he might be sensitive to danger or may have some protective artifact on him. The strike I made at his legs was to test. But oops…"

Julien chuckled. 

"…I seemed to have used too much strength and overestimated him." 

Jackie smiled and shook his head. "I told you before, with Christopher and the Loph twins gone, the rest aren't as big of a threat."

"Yeah, you're right." Julien nodded. "We can easily eliminate those guys with direct conflict. Though, that would be too time and energy consuming."

"Yes, definitely."

"Hm… so… what if we let them go?" Julien suggested. 

"Hm? Let them go?" Jackie asked. 

"Yes. Like let them succeed in eliminating themselves and get out of this trial. That way we'll save energy and won't have to get more blood on our hands. No, not our, but your hands." 

Julien had not killed anyone yet. It was all Jackie. 

Julien's role was to grab the Players, weaken them, and get them to Jackie, while the latter's job was to finish them. Then, Amelia would pitch in and do the cleanup and it would look like nothing had happened.

Jackie shook his head at Julien's response. "Master doesn't need to worry about me. These many won't make a difference even if I kill them."

"Alright. If you say so." Julien shrugged. "But give me one reason for why we should kill them. I'll give you one reason for why we shouldn't."

"Sure." Jackie said calmly. "They will go outside and tell everyone that there's a world-level threat that has emerged from the trial. Then, a bounty would be placed on Master's head and at every living second, Master would need to worry about his safety. The people that would then come to hunt Master won't be puny novices."

"…"

That… that was quite a reasonable explanation and caught Julien off guard. 

Clearing his throat, Julien replied, "Well… that is indeed a fine reason."

Jackie nodded and didn't comment further. He waited for his Master to speak.

"Though, if do we let them live and they go outside, we would be able to hide better. Like for instance…"

If everyone was killed and just Julien's team survived, it was definitely going to raise suspicion. 

Julien's team would be targeted and it would result in endless trouble. 

Letting them go would confuse the various powers of the world and suspicion could fall on anyone. 

"Master is indeed right about that, however, one thing was missed." Jackie replied. 

"What is it?"

"Those guys are specifically told that there's a nun with the threat. That's how they were able to recognize Master and attack."

Julien frowned. "What?"

"Yes. I interrogated a few and they were the ones that said it. Their leader had told them to look for a team with a nun in it. And so far, there's only one nun in this whole trial."

"Oh no…" Julien clutched his head. 

This was bad. This was really bad.

If these people went outside and spilled this information, it wouldn't take them long to figure out it was Amelia's teammates that were the threat. 

Julien could separate himself from her after going out, but that was too much of a dick move. 

He was cursed with immense bad luck and an ex-porn addict, but not a pussy. He wouldn't abandon the lady that had sworn loyalty to him and been through life and death situations. 

Amelia had taught him many things and Julien was ready to kill these people than to abandon her. 

"You know what, Jackie?" Julien turned to the boy with a serious expression.

"What, Master?" Jackie asked with similar seriousness. 

"I think you're right. Letting them live would cause more problems than outright killing them." 

"Oh." Jackie felt glad to hear that. He smiled and asked, "So that means…?"

"Yes."

Julien turned to look at the crowd. 

He squinted his gaze and said with determination burning in his eyes:

"…it's genocide time."