Chapter 51: Chapter 45: Bath
A/N:
Warning: This Chapter contains graphic content that involves coercion and child abuse.
I do not endorse or promote abuse of any kind, be it mental, physical or sexual on anybody regardless of age, gender, or affiliation.
Do not forget that this is just a dark fantasy novel and even here, abuse is not cool.
You have been warned.
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But that wasn’t the reason behind his shock. It was because he could feel Will fluctuations from the image. When did infusing objects with Will become so easy? Even if it was his own blood, it shouldn’t have been able to hold on to his Will like that. Maybe it was because of the Rules of this world. But if he could master this ability, it would be a big help back home, even if it was weakened.
He decided to name it Intent for now. Maybe the strong people in Murim already had a name for it. Now that he was done with the technique for one of the Three Treasures, he decided to move to the next one. But he decided to do it the next day because he was feeling tired. He had a meal and went to sleep. He woke the next morning to commotion.
He went outside his cabin, and saw that Rank 2, Rank 4, and Rank 7 were arguing.
Over the month, the trainees had divided themselves into groups with these three at the centre. Rank 4 was a boy with a big body that was packed with strong muscles. That was his unique feature. He was big. Like really big.
He had chosen a warhammer, a weapon befitting his physique. But despite his looks, he was a cool headed guy. Rank 7 was also a girl. She had red streaks in hair, and was, to put it neatly, a karen. Her weapon of choice was a whip. She had the most trainees in her group, 30, followed by Rank 2 with 25, and finally Rank 5 with 21.
The argument seemed to have reached its peak as the three of them had grabbed their weapons. Their groups behind them also readied their weapons. Zeke muttered, "Why do they have to do this in the morning?"
He went back in and grabbed his weapon before coming out. He walked to the barrels and understood the reason behind the conflict. The instructors had sent less food today. Zeke shrugged his shoulders. The amount didn’t matter as long as he got what he needed. He took the meat and started going back.
As he was going back, he heard a voice, "Rank 1, wait a minute."
He paused for a second before continuing. A whip suddenly hit the ground where he was about to step on. He turned around and it was Rank 7. She said, "Rank 1, now that the amount of meat has decreased, you should also take less. We should divide the food based on the amount of people each group ha-"
Before she could continue, Zeke interrupted her by saying, "Did I ask?"
Rank 7 was stunned. She said, "Huh?"
Zeke walked towards her and said, "Did I ask what we should or shouldn’t do? Even if I did, I’m not a part of any group. According to what you’re suggesting, I would have almost no food. Also, how dare you point your weapon at me? I guess what happened to Rank 9 wasn’t enough of a warning for you. Well, I guess I should remind you."
He walked towards the barrels. He pointed at the half full one and said, "I’m taking this for myself."
Then he pointed at the other two and said, "Rank 2 and Rank 5, you can take one each. If you or any of your group members share food with Rank 7’s group, your whole group will face the consequences."
He picked up the barrel that he had chosen and took it back to his cabin. He had a big meal since he didn’t want the meat to go bad. With his training intensity, he could easily afford to eat a lot more. After eating, he started training. A few days passed and everyday, he would take the barrel with the least meat in it and leave the rest for Rank 2 and Rank 5.
Rank 7 and her group’s base.
Rank 7 was gritting her teeth. She had thought that Rank 2 and Rank 5 would back her up but those cowards didn’t even say a word. She looked at her group and sighed.
Although her group had the most members, a majority of them ranked low. She had to think of a way to get the food back from Rank 1. Sure he was strong, but she wasn’t alone. She refused to believe that he could defeat all of them alone.
She gathered her group and said, "We’ll kill Rank 1 tonight."
Her group members were shocked. She continued, "You’ve seen how he trains everyday. There’s no way that he isn’t completely exhausted after that. While he’s training, some of us will sneak inside his cabin. When he returns and falls asleep, the ones inside will attack, while the rest will stop him from running."
Rank 72 said, "But Rank 1 is a monster. If he gets even the slightest idea, there’s no telling what he would do. I think that this plan is too reckless."
Some of the other members also expressed similar thoughts. Seeing this Rank 7 said, "If you’re cowards, just say so. No need to make excuses. Well, you will only mess everything up so you don’t have to participate. But you won’t get the food. And you will stay here the whole day lest you rat us out to Rank 1."
The members shook their heads. They preferred starving for some time much more than dying. Finally, it was evening and Zeke was about to return. As they had planned, Rank 7, along with the three strongest members of her group sneaked inside his cabin. They extinguished the torches to make it as dark as possible. And then, they waited. Soon, Zeke returned to the cabin.
He didn’t even light the torches and just went to sleep. Rank 7 waited some more, because she didn’t want any surprises. Half an hour later, she took out the dagger that she had taken from a member and went to Zeke. She brought the dagger above her head and stabbed Zeke’s throat.
But the expected feeling of piercing flesh did not appear. Instead, her forearm had been clamped by something.
Then she heard a voice that seemed to come straight out of hell, "I guess you really are a dumb bitch."
It was Zeke. He had sensed that something was wrong the moment he had entered the cabin. So he pretended to not notice anything and that he had fallen asleep. And lo and behold. A wild dumbass appeared. He knew that he was going to have to set an example.
Rank 7 screamed, "NOW!"
The hidden trainees also jumped to action but before they could reach him, Zeke’s arm had already penetrated rank 7’s chest and come out of he back with her heart in his hand. The trio froze in terror. Zeke dropped the heart, took out his hand from her chest, and stood up. He muttered, "Now I have to move out because of this dumb bitch."
Then, he rushed towards the frozen trio. He twisted the first one’s neck, stabbed the dagger into the second’s eye, and shattered the third’s heart with a rapid punch.
He dropped their dead bodies and walked out of the cabin. He knew that there must have been more of them. And he was right. As soon as he walked out, he was ambushed by seventeen trainees. He muttered once again, "I didn’t expect that my first bath in such a long time would be a bloodbath."
That’s exactly what it was. A bloodbath. The poor fucks didn’t even get a chance. Hearing their screams, Rank 2 and Rank 5 came along with their groups. They were absolutely terrified to see Zeke covered in blood, just sitting on the ground like he was on a fucking picnic, with corpses lying behind him.
Seeing them, Zeke actually smiled and said, "You’re here. I was waiting for you guys. I guess that the noise disturbed you. Well, you should be grateful to me because I solved a major problem for you."
He pointed at the corpses and said, "Now you won’t have to worry about the food being less. So, I guess you owe me"
He stood up and said, "Why don’t you be a lamb and do me a favour. One of you, get rid of these corpses with your group. There are four inside as well. Don’t touch anything besides the corpses or I’ll turn you into one as well. The other one, fill a barrel with water. All this blood is bothering me and I need a real bath."
This reminded him of something, causing him to chuckle. But to the other trainees, the Zeke right now, looked much more terrifying than the Mara Demon.
Rank 5’s group collected all the corpses and dragged them to the centre of the cavern and burned them. Rank 2’s group filled an empty barrel with their share of drinking water. That day, every trainee decided that they would never provoke Rank 1 ever again.
