Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 100 - Razorblood

Previously:

The day of the practical exams is finally here and Kiel is inside a large arena created by the Replica Dungeon. Kiel attacks the person next to him and manages to slay him while barely dodging a hidden dagger thrown by the person.

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The man never expected for the spikes he had cut off previously to be the most lethal ones. Not only did they remain flying in the air instead of dropping to the ground, but they even shoot towards his chest with flawless precision.

At the moment that the man sliced off the tips of the first two spikes, Kiel had already started casting an Acceleration spell on the discarded tips. However, the man was too distracted by the spikes he hadn't cut yet and the danger of the approaching Kiel, to notice such a slight change of mana flow.

And even if he had managed to detect it, he wouldn't have been able to dodge a pincer attack from two sides. If he chose to guard against the small flying spikes, then he would have failed to guard against Kiel's slash which was perfectly coordinated with the attack of the spikes.

If the inconspicuous dagger that the man had sneakily shot towards Kiel had managed to reach Kiel in time, perhaps the outcome of this battle would have been different.

Kiel's eyes never left the man. Even when his ears caught the clatter of the dagger falling near him, his eyes still didn't leave the man's body. He wouldn't give his opponent a chance of retaliation, no matter how slim. Even before the man's body managed to fully slump to the floor, Kiel had sent another slash his way, separating his head from his body.

After ensuring that the argel was "deader than dead", Kiel turned away from the corpse, swiping his sword from left to right swiftly. With a sharp swish, this seemingly meaningless slash made the blood soiling the sword splash outwards, returning the blood red sword to its original silver color.

Kiel's cold, emotionless eyes surveyed the remainder of the battlefield. His body stood tall with his back straight. His composure was declaring that this short skirmish couldn't be considered anything in his eyes. That the result of it was completely within his expectations.

His poise was flawless, his aura was chillingly icy. Yet no one knew that under this superficial calm, his heart was beating wildly.

Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump. His heartbeat echoed inside his head, overpowering all other noise.

The bloodshot eyes of the man he had just killed lingered inside his head and the stench of blood was so unbearable that he stopped breathing through his nose entirely.

He had never killed a person before. He had watched people die in the arena, so he was used to the gruesome sight. He thought that the entire process would be simple, that he wouldn't be phased by it. After all, what he was killing was simply a Replica. Regardless of whether he killed it or not, a Replica would disappear after the 30 minutes were up.

He told himself that Replicas weren't really people and that he wasn't really killing them. But everything was just too real. The sound of blood dripping down the spikes to the hard ground. The emotions of pain and disbelief reflected in the man's eyes. The uncontrollable shivering of the man's body before it completely stilled. The atrocious metallic stench of blood assaulting Kiel's nostrils.

He had heard it, he had seen it, he had smelled it before. Yet, why was it that this time it felt different? Why was it that he found it hard to bear when it came as a result of his own actions?

He wasn't wrong to kill this person. If he didn't do it, some other participant would have done it. He would have died either way. In fact, this person wasn't a person at all. It was a Replica.