"I am worse than evil."
CLAP!
CLAP!
"Yeah! Let’s go! Yayy!" Someone cheered and clapped from the crowd as soon as Pablo said that. It was the only person on the whole ground who cheered and clapped.
Pablo knew who that could be.
"Ignore him." He said.
"You don’t have to tell me that." The old man replied and Flashy was successfully ignored.
"You can leave the stage now." The old man said.
Pablo nodded but he didn’t move. "Actually, why don’t you announce the name of all the winners and give them rewards right now on the stage? It’d be a lot faster like that."
"Don’t give him suggestions. He will blow your brain." Cupid spoke. She had seen how the old man killed someone a few moments ago just because he talked back to him.
And just like Cupid, everyone else was tense as well. They were sure the old man would snap.
Pablo, however, was just waiting for the old man’s response.
The old man stared at Pablo for a few seconds and then nodded his head a few times.
"You are a brave man, Pablo."
Pablo gave a slight smile.
"Among all the millions of candidates that have ever come here, no one never dared to give me a suggestion on the first day. You might really pull this off, lad."
’Don’t call me that.’
"You flatter me." Pablo showed respect.
"Haha. No worries. My name is Graham." The old man reached out his hand.
Everyone raised their brows. Even Pablo was a little surprised.
"Shake his hand. Come on. You can copy his Ego now. He made it easier." Cupid spoke again. She wasn’t tense anymore.
’I know. It’s so easy that it’s scary.’ Pablo wasn’t so sure about the old man. He didn’t think he did something for the old man to make him shake hands.
’Ahgh. He will be mad if I don’t shake his hand. Fuck it.’ Pablo reached out his hand as well and then both men shook hands.
"Thank you for ughh.." Pablo’s face turned sour.
’This old shit. I knew it. It can’t be that easy.’ Pablo cursed. His hand was in pain.
The old man stared at Pablo and came closer.
He brought his mouth near Pablo’s ear.
"Don’t you ever try to give me suggestions, fcuker."
The old man gritted his teeths.
"I will rip you apart in so many ways that even the crows will get confused about how to start eating your flesh."
The old man tightened his grip on Pablo’s hand.
CRACK!
Pablo’s wrist broke. But Pablo didn’t flinch. He won’t give the old man the pleasure of hurting him.
’You just signed your death warrant. I will kill you for sure.’ Pablo made up his mind.
’Use both of them, system.’ He commanded and the interfaces appeared.
[ Empathic Echo in use! ]
He used his First Ego and it did its work instantly.
Pablo felt an ever growing air building inside his lungs and Pablo found what this feeling was..
’He is filled with arrogance. Prideful old man. He is also angry at me.’
[ Mimesis Malefica in use! ]
Pablo then used his second Ego and it did its work as well.
[ Hold the Target’s hand for ten seconds. ]
[ Showing you the memories of the Target! ]
[ Please Wait… ]
A surge of memories flooded inside Pablo’s mind and Pablo did his best to not flinch by those.
He clenched his jaw and made himself appear perfectly fine.
The memories would only last for ten seconds. Pablo only had to wait for ten seconds.
The pain on his hand was too much but Pablo had dealt with pain before so he just focused on the memories of the old man.
And finally, ten seconds passed.
Pablo heaved a sigh of relief and the System did its job.
[ Ego Successfully Copied! ]
[ A little bit of life force taken from the Target! ]
[ High Level Ego! ]
[ You will be able to keep this Ego for only six hours. ]
[ Do you want to see it now? ]
’Are you blind? Of course I don’t want to see it now. I am being held by an arrogant old man. But isn’t six hours like a lot more time to keep a high ranked Ego?’
[ The System thinks you will need it for six hours. This is only one time help. It won’t happen in future. ]
’Why do I feel like this is something very close to having plot armor? The Gods made this system so maybe they are helping me.’ Pablo guessed some answers but the System didn’t show anything.
’Go away now.’ Pablo commanded and the system’s window went away. Now Pablo finally gave his full attention to the old man.
"I understand. Forgive me, sir." He said. That was the only way to deal with arrogant people. Give them respect and accept the fault.
"You better understand. You only killed a million. I have killed an entire nation by myself."
’Same pinch.’
"Yes, sir. I was too naive. Forgive me." Pablo didn’t break his character.
"Now scram from the stage. I will do things my way." The old man finally let go of Pablo’s hand.
Pablo sighed and left the stage. He walked fast. He didn’t want to anger the old man more.
His wrist dangled left and right and it was filled with pain, but Pablo treated it like nothing.
He was going back to his previous position on the ground but then he felt eyes on him.
He raised his head and saw the source.
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It was Adolf Hustler. Now he was gawking at Pablo.
’Now he will show me the middle finger. Two at that.’
Hustler raised both his hands and just as Pablo predicted, he showed the middle fingers of both his hands.
"Heh." Pablo chuckled and kept walking.
He ignored everyone else and stood beside Flashy.
"Um.. what happened out there, Boss?" Flashy asked. He got the feeling that Pablo was in a bad mood but he still asked.
"What do you think happened? What did you see from here?" Pablo asked Flashy in return.
"Well, I saw that old man praise you, he shook your hand and then you both talked about something and now you are here. And since he sent you here, it means he didn’t accept your suggestion as well." Flashy shared what he figured.
"I’ll keep it short. Try to understand what happened there." Pablo showed his right hand to Flashy.
"What are you talki-" Flashy’s eyes went wide as he saw the dangling wrist of Pablo. Even an idiot could tell it was broken.
"He broke your wrist? And you let that happen? Wait. Then why was he praising you? Was that a lie?"
"Yes. He is too full of pride. But I will show him his place."
"I am sure you will."
They stopped talking after that and the old man began his work.
"Alright. Now it’s time for the last winner. The person in the third position. He killed less than Adolf and Pablo but he still killed enough. Please welcome.."
"Who do you think it will be?" Flashy asked.
Pablo smiled. "If I chose the right person, then I am sure it would be him."
"Oh. Let’s see." Flashy went silent and the old man took the name of the person who came in third.
"Draxus Wick!"
"Nice." Pablo commented.
"What nice? Who is Wick?" Flashy didn’t get it.
Pablo rolled his eyes. "Draxus has the same surname as the King of this Kingdom. It’s only natural for him to change his surname. He couldn’t be telling everyone that he has some royal connection."
"Okay? So you told him to change his surname?"
"No. I told him nothing. I wanted to see if he had the brains to think for himself. And turns out, he has."
"Great." Flashy replied short and just watched the stage.
Pablo did the same.
One man came out from the crowd and went to the stage.
Everyone saw his face and it was really Draxus. Pablo’s right hand man.
’It’s good how he didn’t come out of a shadow. He should keep that as a secret. Not everyone should know about his power.’ Pablo talked with himself. He always does that.
Draxus bowed to the old man and showed his token.
The old man looked at it. "Hmm. What do we have here? This man has a purple ranked Ego, everyone. How wonderful."
"Yeah."
"The man with the green one came first and the white one came second. What good are the ranks anyway?"
"Useless."
No one acted surprised by Draxus’ level as their beliefs were broken by Adolf and Pablo.
"Well, pay them no mind, young man." The old man returned the token to Draxus.
"This man killed fifty thousand people today. That’s all. You may go now. Or you can stay if you also have some suggestions for me?" The old man glanced at Pablo while saying that.
’Having fun, eh? I wanted this man’s support but this is what I got instead. My luck is great.’ Pablo showed no reaction on his face.
"I have nothing to say, sir." Draxus said and like a good man, went to stand on the ground.
The old man then continued his speech.
"So now that the top three winners have been declared, it’s time to know their rewards. They should get something for performing so well, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"Good. So the reward for Adolf who came first is…"
The old man paused, creating a dramatic effect. Then he bellowed :
"That he will get a good advantage in the next test. It will be very very helpful, young man. You will like it."
’He didn’t disclose the exact reward.’ Pablo and many others thought that. They wanted to hear what advantage would Hustler get but it seems they would get to hear it later.
Adolf only gave a nod to the old man.
The old man nodded back and carried on.
"Now, the next reward. The person who came second shall receive this reward. Pablo Castillo will receive this reward. So everyone, his reward is…"
The old man did the same thing as before and in his loud voice and dramatic manner, he hollered :
"A Comrade."