Awakening Of The New Emperor

POV: Recruit 79

Trust nobody, they said. Those were the few pieces of advice that I'd ever receive from anybody higher ranking.

No speeches, nothing. Just a word about trust.

But it has a lot of meaning, really.

You think you know someone, you really do. But then in a matter of hours, minutes, even seconds, your entire opinion on them could flip in an instant. That's precisely why I attempted to separate myself from others, even though they'd probably wont want to be around me much to begin with, after all, the recordings only proved that.

However, they had no way of knowing that I was Recruit 79. None of them had seen my face, and I hadn't seen theirs before.

So, you'd think, just maybe, we could all stick together to make it home?

I thought so too.

We were all sound asleep, but I slowly awoke to the sound of heavy rustling. While sleeping in the dirt doesn't fair much better than a hard floor, it's nice going to sleep with a full stomach for once. That much, is true.

I was still yet to fully realize that I was awake, fully succumbed to my body that ached for sleep desperately. Yet over time, I slowly came to my senses.

The rustling was occasional, until it became a constant.

'Some stupid animal must be getting into our stash,' I thought to myself annoyingly.

I shift my body around towards where the little of our belongings were held, keeping my eyes closed as to not startle whatever or whoever was going through.

Just as I expected, once I turned, the rustling stopped for a moment. But upon, my assumption, the realization that I was still sleeping was made clear, they continued rustling through our items, almost in a hurry now.

'So.. it's a person?' I ask myself.

I don't think a 'wild animal' would be this aware...

Briefly opening my eyes, I get a glimpse at some sort of shadow moving around. It's definitely a person, that's for sure. But who would do such a thing? Have we been found?

Maybe some scavengers or bandits? This is the neutral lands after all.

Without proper law enforcement, these people don't exactly have much to worry about.

Opening my eyes just a little more and trying to squint, get a better sight, I finally figured out who the entity was. It was a male, in fact, it was one of the men who were with us.

Was he just hungry at night? Surely not, or else he wouldn't be making so much noise, that's definitely out of the question.

Or could he be trying to steal the rest of our food?

My suspicions were correct. He was shoveling all of our belongings into his overfilled bag in a hurry, probably alert of my previous movement.

I stood up quickly, trying to save as much time as possible. "Hey! Stop stealing all of our shit!" I shouted, which quickly awoke the others in an instant, leaving the man in a tight panic. Everybody seemed to catch on fast.

"What the hell is this?" The girl shouted from the far side of our 'camp.' 

The man didn't answer, instead looking around in terror, before dropping a few items he had yet to put into his bag, sling it around his shoulders, and dash for the deep forests.

His eyes were almost bloody, as if he was scratching or even digging deep into his own eyelids like a monster. 'What type of physiological, hellish fantasy did I wind up into?' I asked myself, enraged by the sight of everything.

It seems everyone else wanted to make a move even more than I did, as they all got up even faster than me. One of the men even charged at him, as the others followed closely behind.

With no other option, I as well came along.

What good would it do without our food? Go steal from the same market stall again?

I already felt bad the first time..

The man moved fast, faster than I had ever seen any recruit move, albeit I wasn't exactly the one they wanted to hang around with anyway, but still quite unexpected to say the least. Random instances of food would pop out of his backpack as his speed increased, however we were able to hold a steady pace behind him it seems.

Those in front of me better than mine, of course, covering ground fast. 'So this is the difference between me and... them?' I asked myself in disbelief. I could barely keep up, and sooner or later, I'd be out of breath.

That time quickly arrived as we continued, as I knew my limit would be soon.

While I'm no speedster, the others surely had to have been experiencing some fatigue as well, no doubt, which makes this predicament even worse.

However, as the distance closed, the man looked back, his bloodied eyes still piercing my soul specifically it seems. He bit his lip out of frustration for our persistence, trying to think of a plan by the looks of it.

The man got even faster, which made me forcibly sigh. However, as he bolted through the tall forest grass, he picked up a rock and hurled it back.

Initially, the first man dodged, however the rock's speed caused it to whip and crackle through the air, a genuine projectile of magnitude. The rock slammed into the females face head first, causing her body to sling backwards into a tree, block splattering everywhere.

That definitely killed her.. there's no way a rock just did that...

Could he have used nexus? But it was too quick?

"You bitch" one of the other men screamed as he erupted with speed, quickly catching up to the now considered 'enemy.'

He attempts to throw a bunch, but in that split second, I notice the man licking his lips. Not out of any semi ordinary reason, but out of pure excitement. He was enjoying this.

By the face, he grabbed the man and slung him against a rock before leaping over, pummeling his face over and over again into the hard surface. Blood splattered with each hit as his face became unrecognizable within moments.

"Another down," the man exclaimed.

It was just me and one other. The freak had began running away now, but due to his abrupt stop, we were able to close the gap severely.

I don't know why I'm still here... I haven't even been able to process what just happened...

Was I about to die? Those men were way stronger than I was.

The man next to me wasted no time, seemingly unfazed by the recent events of his bloodied comrades, unlike me.

As he sprinted upwards, the man with the bloodied eyes turned over. "What's your recruit tag, boy?"

"781," he replied calmly. "It'll be the last thing you remember," he retorted.

The man's eyes dripped with excess blood once more, landing on the ground just below. He had almost been disappointed by his answer, like he was expecting something different. Wasn't he a recruit himself? No, there's no way.

Recruits usage of nexus is trivial at best usually. 'No recruit can turn a regular toss of a rock into a practical bullet,' I reminded myself, thinking back to when I had tried to practice nexus more.

I couldn't even infuse my gauntlets properly. Not only was my capability to influence it so poor, it's almost like it didn't even listen to me, a mind of it's own rejecting my order.

Whatever now, I just had to hope this guy wasn't full of himself.

But, of course, I spoke too soon just again. Recruit 781 charged at him with a punch, just as expected. The man had anticipated this, but so did the recruit. He sidestepped to regain his footing after barely dodging a counter kick from the man which came zipping through the brisk air, causing small pebbles to fly away in effect.

781 sent a surge of energy down into his palm, shooting out miniature shots of compacted nexus, attempting to inflict damage.

'Futile', I thought, as I watched them fizzle out just by the man's bloodlust alone.

"You're better than most, I'll give you that," the man spoke calmly as he kept racing deeper into the forest. 

His presence became dim, like he wasn't there anymore.

But I could see him just in front of me, clear as day... until I couldn't. He became blurry, almost like an afterimage, until that turned into just a figment of what it once was, a shadow.

Reappearing from behind 781, he pierced his chest with his clawed arm.

"However, you simply lack strength. I pity your end," he finally finished, taking the remaining life from 781 as his body tumbled to the floor.

I came to a stop, witnessing the events as my legs trembled.

Ultimately, I gave in to my fear, tripping over my own feet and falling back onto the ground. I clutched the patches of dirt and grass that hung around me, slowly dragging myself back as the bloodied man took notice, stepping over in my direction.

"What do you want?" I screamed out of pure terror.

The man smiled back.

"What is your tag, tell me now or else you'll meet their fate," he snapped.

"I-It's u-uh 79."