Warning: this chapter and the next following chapters might possess too graphic or disturbing scenes for some readers.
"How dare a commoner's spawn like you," he spat, his voice low and venomous, "someone with only a handful of privileges and talents, threaten me?"
Casper's mouth parted slightly, as if to respond- but no words came, only a weak pained gasp.
Boyle, regaining his composure, let out a chuckle as he released his grip on the sword still embedded in Casper's chest.
"For so long, I've had to endure your arrogance- giving us orders, speaking to us as if we were beneath you. Too bad," he sneered, "it looks like your position just opened up."
With ruthless precision, Boyle yanked the blade from Casper's chest.
A crimson torrent gushed from the gaping wound as Casper's body collapsed, face-first, onto the ground. Blood pooled beneath him, spreading in a dark, ominous stain.
"Casper… Why did you stab him?!" Seth screamed at Boyle, but Boyle simply ignored him, calmly wiping the blood off his sword.
"The instructors are going to find out about this, you know?" Stev said, unfazed by Casper's lifeless state.
Boyle smirked. "Well in that case, we'll just take care of the loose ends." He gestured toward Emily and the unconscious Jacob.
Catching on to what Boyle implied by his words, Seth panicked especially after seeing his gesture to Emily.
"Help! Murderers!" Seth screamed, even though he knew it was futile. Anger and terror surged through him, but this was all he could do. He was outnumbered, outclassed, and outmatched in every way. Even if he managed to take down a few of them, he would inevitably fall.
Annoyed by his cries, Boyle turned toward him and closed the distance in quick strides, his shadow stretching over Seth like a looming specter.
"Shut up and die like the insect you are," Boyle said coldly, raising his sword before swinging it down to end his life.
'I'm going to die.'
Seth's mind drifted into a strange state of tranquility as he watched the blade descend toward his face- his inevitable end looming over him, quite literally. Yet, despite the certainty of death, the fear that had gripped him moments ago was gone. In its place were only acceptance, and a strange mix of familiarity.
And then, everything happened too fast.
Before the blade could strike him, a figure lunged between him and death itself.
Steel met flesh. The blade tore through armor, carving a gruesome diagonal line from the right shoulder down to the left hip.
Emily's body collapsed into Seth's arms. His eyes locked onto her bloodied form, his mind refusing to process what had just happened.
Then, she spoke.
"Cough… I… told you… I'd protect you… cough… young… master…" Emily's voice trembled between blood-filled gasps and coughs, her hand weakly caressing his cheek.
With her final breath, as the last wisp of life faded from her, she placed her other hand on his bracelet, smearing it with her blood.
"Live…"
The whisper was barely audible, yet to Seth, it was the loudest scream he had ever heard.
Her eyes grew lifeless. The hand resting on his cheek went limp, falling to the ground.
Emily was dead.
Holding her lifeless body in his arms, Seth fell into a state of shock. His expression grew vacant, his eyes unfocused, as if his mind refused to accept the brutal reality before him. Then, his breathing quickened- unnaturally so. He was hyperventilating.
Boyle, paying no mind to Seth's condition, let out an annoyed groan.
"This bitch humiliated me at the training grounds in front of everyone. I was looking forward to saving her for last," he muttered with a frown. Then, shifting his gaze toward Stev, he spoke.
"Are you finished?" Boyle asked, glancing at Stev, whose sword was now buried in Jacob's body without an ounce of mercy. The short young noble hadn't even realized how- or by whose hand he had died.
Meanwhile, the rest of Boyle's group busied themselves rummaging through the trio's belongings, searching for any extra badges on the off chance they had more.
"Well, whatever," Boyle scoffed. "I was going to kill her anyway. What's the difference between dying now and dying a few minutes later? Dead is dead, right mutant?"
He directed his words at Seth, who was still hyperventilating.
"Tch, you're no fun," Boyle muttered at Seth's unresponsiveness before swinging his sword down at him a second time.
As the blade neared once more, countless thoughts raced through Seth's mind in an instant- his consciousness running on overdrive.
'Ah… this has happened before, hasn't it?' he thought his mind in a tranquil state despite his hyperventilating exterior.
'I've let people precious to me die before… haven't I?'
Memories resurfaced- fragments of a past buried deep within, steeped in chaos and destruction.
He saw a place reduced to ruin, its structures mere shells of their former selves. The streets were littered with lifeless bodies, all clad in matching attire. Some still clutched weapons in their limp hands- a silent testament to their futile struggle before death.
The sky loomed dark and heavy, thick clouds blotting out the sun. Rain poured in torrents, as if attempting to wash away the blood and gore staining the streets- a feeble effort against the carnage of this massacre.
Grotesque, malevolent creatures, the architects of this tragedy, feasted without restraint. Corpses, livestock, even supplies- nothing was spared from their insatiable hunger.
Amidst the chaos stood a figure, draped in dark attire, his expression unreadable. The creatures, despite their mindless bloodlust, did not attack him. Instead, they shrank back in fear avoiding him like a plague.
At his feet lay three corpses- elderly men dressed in once-vibrant azure blue robes, now tattered and soaked in blood. Their long, pure-white hair and beards marked their age, their wrinkled faces frozen in the stillness of death.
Yet, even in their lifeless state, an unfathomable presence radiated from them. They had been extremely powerful, and that made the figure standing above them all the more terrifying- because he was their killer.
These were the memories of Seth's past life.
Memories of his time in the Azure Sword Sect.
Memories of his life as Lin Jie.