The Author's POV

Swooosh—

A gentle wind blew past a forest as the leaves rustled.

The gentle moonlight shone from above, creating a tranquil environment.

"Hey, Kevin, hold up, where are you going?"

But the tranquility did not last for long as it was soon broken by multiple individuals who ran through the forest. To be more precise, it was four individuals chasing behind one individual, Kevin.

Halting his steps, Kevin scanned the surroundings. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he had not noticed the others behind him.

'The old man told me to go out this way, but where is he?'

The forest was huge.

So huge that Kevin estimated that it would take him a whole day to explore it. Finding Ren inside of the forest was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Kevin!"

Suddenly, Kevin heard a voice coming from behind him. What followed after was the sound of rushed footsteps.

Kevin slowly lifted his head.

Coming over from behind a couple of trees were Emma, Amanda, Jin, and Melissa. They were all looking at him with weird faces.

"…huh?"

Caught off-guard by the unexpected sight, Kevin stared at them with a dazed look. Then, quickly recalling what he was here for, he spoke up.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"That's the question we want to ask!"

Emma frustratingly said, walking up to him. Stopping a couple of feet away from him, she looked around the forest.

"You suddenly started acting weird out of nowhere. I called out for you multiple times but you never replied so I followed you here."

"You followed me?"

"Well…hm, yeah. You had a very serious look on your face, I thought that something was up."

Emma turned her head.

"You guys also followed for the same reason, right?"

Everyone silently nodded. Clearly siding with Emma.

Staring at them, Kevin scratched his head. He had been so focused on looking for Ren that he had lost his composure and ended up worrying the others.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you guys like that."

"Whatever."

With a deep sigh, Emma rubbed her face and then looked at the moon in the sky. 'At least she doesn't look too pissed'. Kevin sighed in relief.

But then Emma frowned and glared at Kevin.

"Oy."

"What?"

"You still haven't told me why you're here."

"Oh, right..."

Kevin turned his head before he scratched the back of it.

"Not gonna say anything?"

"…you see, things are kind of complicated."

Not satisfied with the answer, Emma's glare intensified.

"I think we deserve an explanation after you made us worried and caused a whole scene."

"Ugh." Kevin groaned. Lifting his head and staring at the others who were looking back at him, Kevin let out a deep sigh. 'How should I tell them that I was looking for Ren?'

Would they even believe him? Maybe Amanda as she already knew, but what about the others?

"…Ehew."

Eventually, he let out another sigh. He trusted everyone here, and so he didn't mind telling them about his skill, inspection. Whether they believed him or not, it was up to them.

"Haaaa!"

But just as he was about to open his mouth, a muffled shout rang in the distance.

Everyone's head snapped in the direction of where the sound came from. Then, everyone exchanged glances with each other.

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

Emme tried to speak up, but before she could say anything, Kevin had already run off towards where the sound came from.

"Kevin, wait up!"

Staring at Kevin's disappearing back, Emma called out for him and rushed from behind. Amanda, Jin, and Melissa followed suit as their figures slowly disappeared into the forest.

***

Not so far away from them, overlooking the forest from above, with his hands behind his back, Douglas stared into the distance.

He appeared to have a solemn and pensive look on his face.

"Haaaa!"

With each scream that rang out, his brows would knit further.

"Should we interfere?"

Next to him, Waylan had a worried look on his face.

Staring at Ren in the distance, from the way things were going, he could tell that something horrible was about to happen.

Squinting his eyes, Douglas did not reply.

"Haaa!"

Another scream rang out. Turning his head, Waylan urgently said.

"He's already lost control of his rationality. If we don't stop him now, he'll end up killing that kid."

At all costs, they couldn't let Ren kill Aaron. The consequences of such actions were too detrimental for them.

They had done this in hopes of helping Ren get over his mental demons, but from the looks of it, things may have backfired.

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

Unable to watch the scene any longer, Waylan decided to make his move. It would only take him a second to arrive at the scene, so he should have no problem stopping Ren.

"Wait."

But before Waylan could act, extending his hand towards the right, Douglas stopped Waylan.

"What is the meaning of this?" Waylan asked in frustration.

Raising his hand, Douglas pointed towards a certain spot in the distance.

"Take a look over there."

"…huh?"

Skeptical, Waylan turned to look in the direction of where Douglas had pointed and his eyes opened.

Looking at Douglas again, he muttered.

"You're not telling me…"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you.

***

"Haaaaaa!"

Aaron's scream rang out. His pained and agonized scream felt like a beautiful piece of music to my ears.

I craved for more.

"You see...In order to not have my face revealed, I had to scar my face using this blade over here."

Disappointment suddenly flashed through my eyes as I stared at the dagger in my hand.

"Unfortunately for you, I ran out of the poison long ago, or I would've used it."

Don—

Taking out a small flask and removing the cap, I smeared the liquid inside of it all over my dagger. The liquid was pale yellow in color and was quite viscous, which was perfect as it stuck on the dagger quite well.

"Don't worry though. I've got the perfect replacement for it."

Lowering my head and staring at Aaron who was barely hanging onto life, my head tilted.

Putting the dagger down, I took out a potion from my dimensional space.

"I spent quite a bit of money on this, so be grateful."

Placing my hand on his chin, I opened his mouth and chugged the potion down his throat.

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

Weak muffled noises escaped from his mouth as I shoved the potion down his throat. A horrified look manifested on his face as he flung his arms around. It was clear that he was trying to protest, but I didn't care. I just watched his body slowly start healing right before my eyes.

Then, once the burns on his face slowly disappeared, pressing Aaron onto the ground I brought the knife closer to his face and traced it down his face.

"Khhaaaaa!"

Aaron screamed in agony as a long black scar traced down half of his handsome face. Ignoring his screams, I continued to cut his face.

"...It hurts, doesn't it?" I asked, tracing the dagger along his face, creating more and more scars.

The more I traced the dagger on his face, the dizzier my head became. It was strange...it felt as though a part of me was slowly losing control. But I couldn't quite grasp what was happening. I was too immersed to care about anything else.

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

With the aid of the potion I had given Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to him, and his words started to once again make sense.

Once I heard his words, my hand suddenly came to a halt. I then lifted my head.

"Did you just say please?"

"Haaa…haaa…"

Instead of an answer, I was met with Aaron's rough breathing. Standing up and leaning my body forward to take a better look at him, I noticed that Aaron's eyes were not focused. They seemed rather dull.

'He already broke?'

"Haha, of course, he didn't break."

I laughed.

There was no way he could've broken with just this little pain.

"Come, I'll make you return to normal quickly."

Getting on my knee, I once again fed Aaron with another potion. The injuries in his body healed at an even faster pace. I was satisfied.

"Let's continue."

Taking out the dagger, I traced it along his face once again. Fresh blood dripped down from the side of his face.

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

Tracing my dagger along his face, I got no reaction from Aaron who just looked up toward the sky with a blank look.

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"

I called out, leaning my ear close to him.

"Haaa...haaa...."

"No,no,no,no,no! You can't break now!"

Grabbing Aaron's face I shook it. Trying to get a reaction out of him.

But no matter how many times I tried to shake his face, he wouldn't respond.

"No…no…"

My heart froze.

What he went through was not even remotely close to what I went through. For what he did to me, he did not suffer enough!

"Wake the fuck up damn it!"

Spit flew from my mouth as I grabbed Aaron's head and repeatedly shook it,m. But regardless of how much I tried to shake it, all I was met with was just a blank look.

"No! No! No!"

I shouted in the air.

Standing up, I paced around. Bringing my hand towards my mouth, I bit my nails.

'This is not enough…this is not enough…this is…he's useless…he needs to die…yes, that's right. He needs to die. Since he can't suffer anymore, what's the point of keeping him alive…'

Turning my head, my eyes focused on Aaron on the ground.

'Kill him.'

A voice said inside of my head. I scratched the side of my face.

My head throbbed.

Biting my nails, my eyes continued to stare at Aaron on the ground.

'Kill him.'

The voice once again rang inside of my head.

I scratched the left side of my face this time.

'…should I just kill him?'

And it wasn't long before the fake thoughts inside of my mind completely overtook my rationality as the only thing I could think of right now was Aaron.

The more I stared at him, the darker my thoughts became.

'Yes, he should die. He's useless…why should I keep him? Just like he tried to kill me, I should kill him, no? Right...'

I took a step forward, in the direction of where Aaron was.

Then, walking all the way before Aaron, my footsteps came to a sudden halt. Lowering my body, and getting to my knees, I extended my hand towards his throat. Reaching out for it. Wanting to grasp it.

'End him. Get rid of the one responsible for everything.'

"Yes, he needs to die."

My mind was blank. The only thought I could process was Aaron's death. I had long lost all sense of reason and rationality.

"Khhhh."

My hand soon touched Aaron's throat. Feeling his warm skin, I blinked a couple of times before I slowly started to squeeze.

'Kill him…'

"Die."

With both hands on Aaron's neck, I squeezed as hard as I could and Aaron's face slowly turned from pale to red to then blue.

He was dying.

'Die! Die! Die!'

With each second that passed, the wider my eyes became. In anticipation of his eventual death. I suddenly felt this sudden rush of adrenaline.

"What are you doing Ren!"

But just when I was about to completely kill Aaron, a familiar voice sounded from behind.

With my hands still on Aaron's neck, my body froze completely...all thought processes inside of my head came to an abrupt halt.

'That voice...'

Turning my head slowly, my eyes soon paused on a few figures. The figures…I knew them.

They were Kevin, Emma, Amanda, Melissa, and Jin.

The people who I had seen for a very long time.

"…ah."

A weird sound came out of my mouth as our eyes met.