Chapter 300 Skewed Justice II
The young lizardman shrieked in fear as he looked around. His hands shook slightly with fear, but he remained calm.
The lizardman soldiers didn't know what to do but didn't cower away. They were warriors, ones whose duty bestowed upon them from a young age was to protect their village and loved ones.
Their families hid in camps. Their wives and children, grandparents and aunts and uncles. Even if they couldn't stop these enemies from destroying their homes, they would undoubtedly die trying. Or else, their effort wouldn't be satisfactory.
Seeing these brave expressions on the faces of the lizardmen, Lyrian couldn't help but think to himself in slight regret.
'I wanted to come here because it was open, but I didn't expect this sort of human reaction from these creatures.'
He looked around to see many more lizardmen, not fit for battle, hiding in their huts and eyeing him from afar.
"You noticed we were following you, huh?" One of the veiled bandits asked Lyrian. His voice caught Lyrian off guard, as it wasn't like a kid's, as he was expecting. Instead, it was like an adult's. It was rough and fearful deeper than any kid's voice.
On top of that, Lyrian now noticed the stature of these bandits. They weren't nearly as short as him. They looked to be of adult human size. Lyrian had a clue of what was going on as soon as he noticed this.
"An assassination? Is that what's going on here?" He said, looking at the faces of each of the bandits in front of him.
"Ha..." One of the bandits let out a slight laugh.
"Who was it that employed you?" Lyrian exclaimed out to every bandit.
There was nothing but silence. Finally, a bandit spoke up.
"Boy... don't you understand that we aren't supposed to say that type of stuff?" This bandit stepped slightly closer.
Another spoke, "Why do you want to know that? So you can pay us more to not hunt you?"
This one also neared him.
Soon enough, every bandit began walking toward him, as Lyrian's eyes darted around.
"No. I just wanted to confirm my theory."
As soon as he said this, one broke out into a peal of laughter.
"Pahaha! So you're telling me that you don't want even a little chance at surviving?"
"You know... you might be able to win us over. That depends on your pay, of course."
"Haha, that's right! Although... the pay the other noble-looking kid gave us was top-notch. I doubt you could ever pay us that amount."
This bandit looked Lyrian up and down. Lyrian had basic clothing on. A pair of baggy pants that got bigger from his waist down and slimmed up at his ankles again. And a simple cloth tunic.
"Chance at surviving? Che!" Lyrian scoffed, a grin forming on his face. "Looks like there's been a misunderstanding. I'm not paying you guys... because I'm not gonna let a single one of you escape here with your lives."
"Huh?"
"W-what? What is this brat talking about..."
After a few seconds of confusion, all the bandits broke out into a laugh at once.
As they bawled their eyes out from laughter, Lyrian swiftly moved forward. With a stern expression, he took all the spears from the lizardmen without them even noticing.
"N-no! He took our weapons!" The young saurian exclaimed in shock.
"After him!" Another yelled as the lizardmen began chasing Lyrian.
Lyrian's run wasn't very far away, however. All he did was run farther down the street and stick all the spears down into the ground face up in a circle.
The lizardmen stopped in confusion, looking at what the boy did. As Lyrian walked back, the lizardmen simply let him go past them without saying a word or doing anything.
"What the..."
"It seems he didn't want to fight."
"How could that be? His war cry..."
They were left bewildered but weren't complaining either. Instead, many went back to check on their families. Some, however, stayed to watch what was going to happen next.
The young lizardman and his father were a part of this group.
The bandits all turned to look at Lyrian approaching as they calmed their laughter.
"You will kill us all, you say? You? Kill us? Pahahaha!"
"Maybe if you were some sort of higher noble, or even a noble, we would struggle. But from the looks of it, you are the weakest of the weakest in this school!"
'These assassins... they were sent to kill me. If I was weak as they said... they would rip me apart and leave me for dead. They are heartless, ruthless monsters.'
Lyrian mused without a shred of real emotion behind his eyes or his words. He was simply stating the facts.
'Then, I must punish them like they deserve.' He looked at their laughing expressions behind the lining of their tight veils.
'They have most likely slaughtered many others, so I won't hesitate to slaughter them. If they want to kill me, it is only right for me to kill them in return.'
...
'It is only fair.' Lyrian declared inwardly, his skewed sense of justice contrasting sharply with the world.
Lyrian unsheathed his blade, before suddenly disappearing from the bandit's sight.
'They all have an OP of 7...' Lyrian mused, having jumped in the air above all of them.
The bandits stopped laughing as they felt a ruthless bloodlust seep into their bones. Their eyes widened, and they quickly took out their daggers.
"Where did he go!?" One shouted out in confusion, looking around.
SLASH
At once, his head slid off his neck and fell to the floor. The blood gushing out of his stub of a temple showered all of his acquaintances, as his body thumped onto the floor.
The bandits froze in shock.
"Keep your guard! Find where that little cunt is!" One of them shouted as the bandits began looking around again.
SLASH
Another head flew into the sky, landing in the hands of another bandit. The veil of the decapitated head came off as a lifeless figure stared at the holder of it.
The one holding the head instantly gasped as he threw the head to the floor, "Damn it!" He exclaimed in frustration.
The lizardmen observed in pure awe, fear, and astonishment at what was happening in front of them.
Then, right in front of him, a bandit was brutally stabbed to death in a fury of multiple vicious thrusts that tore through the stomach of the bandit.
Lyrian looked into the veiled eyes of the bandit, enveloped in the most despair-filled fear that one could imagine, and sliced his head off without any remorse while grabbing onto his hair.
SLASH
Another one bit the dust.
"Catch him! Don't just stand around!"
They all dispersed at once, running around the village. Between allies and houses, they found themselves free from the boy's wrath for moments.
"How is he this powerful!?" One bandit that went off alone said to himself in utter frustration.
"I can't die here! I have an actual family to take care of!" He said gripping his dagger, as a figure appeared in front of him...
It was another one of the bandits. "Jalil! Escape from here!" The other bandit said.
"W-what?!" The bandit addressed as 'Jalil' said in shock. "That's your number one rule. We cannot ever run from a mission... and you want me to break it!?"
"Screw the damn rule! It looks like none of us will survive here."
"Are you going to run too!?" Jalil cried in genuine worry, "All of you... are you going to run too!?"
The other bandit paused for a moment before replying, "No... we will all stay and fight."
"Then I will to--"
"NO!" The other bandit roughly exclaimed.
"..." Jalil was speechless.
"You will leave here, and that's final! You aren't like the rest of us."
"I get it! It's because I'm new, but I'm still valuable to the team!"
"It's not because of that! It's because you are still pure."
"W-what?"
"You are a good person, damn it! You have never killed a single person in our missions... you have a family, unlike the rest of us, who are worthless rouges kicked out of their villages for being failures. You have a life! You need to leave! You don't deserve this fate!"
"What!? And you're saying you do? You're saying you deserve to die in a place like this?!"
"..."
The other bandit paused again, looking toward the floor, and then back to the sky with teary eyes.
"Yes... this is only right. I knew this day would come." He paused again, before suddenly wiping his tears, "Run, Jalil! Don't look back."
The bandit pushed Jalil into an alley, where the forest was nearby. He paused for a moment, not knowing which direction to go.
One was his life, his family, his village... and one was his brotherhood, his mission, his saviors.
Although he was extremely conflicted, Jalil hesitantly ran toward the forest, tears trickling down his face.
"Damn it... damn it all!"
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