"Put down all your weapons and get on your knees! You know that I, a demonic cultivator, would not hesitate to kill him, right?!" The man taking Mars hostage screamed intimidatingly.
"Hehe, kid, you know that two fists can't rival four palms, right? Just surrender, you might just live." From the shadow of the alley, another man walked in with a spear on his back.
Mangrel sneered hearing them speak: "Nonsense. I surrender and you will let me live? You speak interesting things while letting out such a bloodlust. Two fists can't rival four palms, but a sword can surely rival one of your lives!"
"Even if I die here, I will take at least one of you down with me!" Mangrel's sharp eyes looked at both the cultivators.
Such overbearing words and the corpse beside Mangrel, made both the cultivators freeze in their position.
Mangrel could kill Dervhin, this showed that he was not a normal person and He appeared unharmed too. He might take one of them down if they fought, they didn't want to die, so they hesitated.
The man increased his grip on Mars's neck, "Surrender or else I will really kill this brat!"
Mangrel smiled at the man with no fear: "You can go ahead, I will be sure to avenge him. A life for a life, only then can his soul rest in peace."
Mangrel was still unmoving, showing no sign of throwing away the weapons in his hand.
The man froze instantly, Mangrel's words clearly meant that he would aim for his life if he killed Mars.
'To a selfish and demonic cultivator, threatening their life is the best way to stop them. Fighting them would only harm me.' Mangrel closely watched their reactions.
Both the cultivators exchanged gazes, exchanging words through their eyes. The heavy and threatening air around them loosened up.
Mangrel looked down, hiding the glint in his eyes.
"Come with us to the boss, if you pay an appropriate price, our organization would not go after you." The man standing near the alleyway said, spreading his hand to the side.
It could be said that they had taken a step back, making a place to strike a deal. Their comrade had died, but they showed an attitude appropriate to be called a demonic cultivator.
Coldly calculating the merits and moving on with that thought, with no regret or hesitation. This was one of the facts that made demonic cultivators the most treacherous, morale was nothing but a foreign matter to them.
"Alright," Mangrel spoke calmly.
Mars looked at Mangrel, feeling the palm gripping his neck loosen up. He felt a strange matter moving in his body, giving rise to an ominous feeling within him.
At that moment, Mars saw Mangrel looking at him. Cold sweat formed on his face and his breathing grew rougher — what stared at him were absolutely cold and apathetic eyes. It was the first time Mangrel showed such a face to him.
'...What's happening...?' Mars felt his body growing colder by the second, chill rose all over his spine.
And then, Mangrel's second trump card was activated.
Dark path art — sacrificial spear.
It was an art used to take the opponent down with the performer's life, however, it could be used on others too. Giving it a rather versatile list of usage.
Using it means giving up all the life energy within yourself.
It all happened in an instant, not giving anyone even the time to react.
A black spear extended from Mars's back and pierced into the heart of the cultivator holding his neck.
An instant death and...
"Argh!!" Mars coughed out blood mixed with a creepy black liquid substance. His internal organ took a large amount of damage, he was not far from death too.
Both the cultivator and Mars fell to the ground at once.
The first thing after Mangrel took a bath was to use this art on Mars, saying that it was for protection. Which was not particularly wrong, it was for his own protection.
Mars was going to be used as a sacrificial pawn from the very beginning.
'I didn't want to kill him if it wasn't necessary, but that is just a thought on my part. Human intention would not change the situation in reality. I can't defeat two of them at once, that is a fact, only by taking one of them down would the path to the future open up.'
Going to the beggar organization's leader would be no different than seeking death. Mangrel had no intention of negotiating with these two, to begin with, he was just waiting for the trap he laid down to activate.
Mangrel's body shifted to the cultivator still alive.
"What? Why aren't you running away yet? Do you think you can defeat me alone?" Mangrel's blank voice with a tinge of threat reached the cultivator.
Before they were two, hence they could push Mangrel to a corner, however now with him alone, it wasn't possible to verbally threaten Mangrel anymore.
'So what will it be, fighting me or running away?' Mangrel closely looked at the cultivator's next action.
His worries were pointless in the end, the cultivator began retreating quickly. He turned out to be a cautious type, not taking risks in the slightest.
'Well, he would have escaped if we were to fight too, so it would have been immensely disadvantageous to me. Unlike the first man, this cultivator doesn't seem to be the type to be controlled by his emotions.'
'Other than that, the first cultivator that I killed, he was expecting reinforcement, therefore he waited and fought me. Whilst, these two would most likely run the moment things went downhill.'
Walking beside Mars's body, Mangrel looked at his condition closely, shortly shaking his head.
Mars was alive but it wouldn't be long before death arrived.
"...Why...?" Mars saw Mangrel with his blurry, bloodshot eyes. There was clearly resentment in his eyes. He understood what happened in no time, he was used by Mangrel.
"Hmm? Still conscious? As I thought, your potential for cultivation is really high. The sacrificial spear didn't kill you. As for the question, it was so that I could survive." Mangrel answered back while musing to himself.
'To survive...' it was a word, Mars could not retort. Wasn't he the same? He ate corpses to survive too.
However, Mars's resentment toward Mangrel grew, thinking about the amount of trust he put in him.
Mangrel brought the dagger to Mars's neck to finish him up, leaving a person with a grudge was not an option for him. Fate likes playing jokes with us after all, who knows what might happen.
And a twist in Mangrel's life happened.
"Hehehe, truly a demonic cultivator through and through. Not sparing even your comrades! Your actions from the moment you got out of that house, were truly a sight to see. I have decided!"
Mangrel got up quickly as his skin crawled in goosebumps.
Spiritual communication!
A skill only possible for a one-star spiritualist to perform. In other words, a one-star spiritualist was in this area!
"Who might this senior be? I can compensate you if I have offended sir in some way." Mangrel said to the thin air.
"Pfft! Hahaha!!"
That laughter was the last thing Mangrel heard, before losing consciousness.