"No," she laughed softly, "People who thought they were smarter than everyone else."

Boom!

Water burst beneath her feet as she accelerated again.

This time, Cassien noticed it clearly.

’She uses water mana to reduce friction and boost movement... clever.’

Sophia wasn’t overwhelmingly strong physically, but her control over movement and fluidity made her dangerous at close range.

An assassin-type fighter through and through.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Rapid strikes forced Cassien backward through the forest pathway while lanterns above them swung violently from the pressure.

"There we go." Sophia grinned wider, "What happened to all that confidence?"

Cassien calmly ducked another slash aimed toward his throat.

"Hold on, let me analyze."

"Huh?"

"You’re emotionally unstable, impulsive, and your mana circulation spikes every time you get irritated." Cassien tilted his head slightly. "You rely too heavily on speed to compensate for poor fundamentals."

Sophia’s smile disappeared instantly.

"You really do deserve to die."

Water mana exploded harder around her body.

Shhhhh!

Several streams of water suddenly rose from the wet ground nearby before launching toward Cassien like sharpened spears.

’Environmental control too?’

Cassien immediately stepped backward toward the trees instead of engaging directly.

Smart. Fighting a water-user near open terrain was stupid enough already.

The moment Sophia closed the distance again—

Bang!

A gunshot exploded through the forest.

Sophia’s eyes widened as the bullet grazed across her shoulder instead of piercing directly through it.

"Thc!" She jumped backward instantly, blood dripping down her arm before mixing with the water around her fingers. "You mixed close combat with a firearm..."

Cassien spun the pistol calmly, "Yeah. Revolutionary concept, I know."

Sophia’s expression darkened as the interface showing the number of [participants without kills] briefly flicker near her.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Participants Without Kills: 173]

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Cassien clicked his tongue, ’People are dying quickly.’

Sophia noticed his distraction instantly and chose to use her max control. Water surged beneath Cassien’s feet, destabilizing his footing for only a split second.

But against someone who moves like an assassin? That was far more than enough.

Shkk!

Sophia lunged immediately, her dagger aiming straight toward his eye. But Cassien smiled beneath the mask, "Got you."

Thin yellow mana threads suddenly wrapped around Sophia’s wrist, Cassien pulling out another dagger.

"What the?"

[Mana Threading].

Cassien yanked downward violently, Sophia’s balance completely collapsing as her arm twisted awkwardly from the sudden force.

Cassien drove his knee directly into her stomach.

"Ghk!"

Her body folded slightly before crashing backward against one of the lanterns.

Cassien pointed the pistol directly toward her forehead while Sophia stared upward, one hand clutching her stomach from the breathless attack.

"Damn it."

"You seem in distress, let me fix that."

Sophia grit her teeth before laughing through the pain, "I seriously hate people like you."

Cassien tilted his head, "And I seriously hate unstable extras trying to kill me because their manipulation tactics failed."

Sophia wiped blood from her mouth, "Don’t you feel horrible having to kill an actual human? We most likely used to chat online in the paragraph comments together as well. The only difference now is the setting. You killing me now still means you’ve murdered a human. How could you live with that?"

Cassien’s smile faded slightly beneath the mask. The forest grew quieter around them, only the crackling lantern flames and distant screams remaining.

Sophia slowly looked up at him. "So what now? You shoot me and move on to your next objective? You’re nothing more than a serial killer. They should’ve tortured you back on Earth."

Cassien stared down at her silently.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Time Remaining: 00:58:12]

━━━━━━━━━━━━

One kill was all he needed. And Sophia was already defeated.

Cassien’s finger rested against the trigger calmly while Sophia laughed weakly.

"Come on then, you devil!"

"You talk too much," Cassien didn’t show any hints of excitement anymore for some odd reason.

Bang!

The bullet fired instantly, not at her head though.

Sophia’s eyes widened as the shot pierced directly through the ground beside her face instead.

"Huh...?"

Cassien lowered the pistol afterward, "Get up." He said.

The forest’s silence returned. Sophia stared at him like he had lost his mind.

"You’re sparing me?"

Cassien walked over to get some sticks, ignoring her question entirely. He then took out a lighter from his pocket, stacked the wooden branches, and set up a small fire.

Cassien began to pour more mana into it to make it grow.

"There."

She repeated her question differently this time, "What’s wrong with you?"

Cassien then sat himself on the ground, "Everything." He whispered, "Everything’s wrong with me." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Sophia thought about killing him right there for a second while he looked vulnerable, but for some reason, she wanted to know the reason behind the sudden indifference in his persona.

"J-just..." She pointed her hand at him, as if he were a burglar, "Just who are you?"

Cassien smiled faintly while looking at the moon, "Since I’m about to kill you either way, I might as well speak my mind."

Each time someone other than himself brought up the fact that he was a serial killer, Cassien felt the need to speak his mind.

No matter who it was, he calmed himself down and simply wanted to talk.

"Speak your mind...?"

"My life back on Earth."

...

2018, June 8th on Earth.

"But it wasn’t me! I’ve never done such a thing!"

"Alex, sit down. If all your classmates are vouching that it’s you, then it must be you. You’re the one who tossed Emma into the lake out of spite and jealousy! How dare you lie in front of her family!"

"B-but," a much younger version of Alex shook, "I swear it just wasn’t me!"

"I saw it!" A boy faked his cry, "I saw him push her into the lake! She died because of him!"

The classroom wanted to make little Alex explode entirely.

"Murderer!"

"He killed her..."

"I always thought he was weird, but this is crazy."

He looked around desperately, but no one believed him. Not the teachers, not the students, and not even the police officers standing beside the classroom door.

And worst of all? Not even his parents, either, who sat there watching him like a pathetic little problem child.

Because he was. And they were happy to finally get rid of him.

Cassien looked down at his fists, "And then it happened."