Calming down, Ertex tossed a ring towards Arga. Putting it on, she struggled to not faint due to the sudden massive increase in her power.
"Not everyone reacts the same way to this. Got it."
Ertex moved closer, patting her back and making her hold onto him.
"You have to get used to it, though."
Arga nodded, her breath slowly stabilizing. While she recovered, Ertex continued to upgrade the ring.
"How much will you pay to have this back, Arya? I've upgraded it too!"
Seconds passed but no answer came.
"Now that I think about it, I keep seeing notifications pop up for tons of people from their sponsors. Why am I not getting anything?"
"Maybe it's muted? I know it's possible since I've muted my sponsors myself. They've been nagging me all the time."
"Really? Quite convenient."
Looking at his panel, he saw there was an exclamation mark right after Sponsorships.
"Turn.. it on?"
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
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.
[??? asks you...]
[??? is showing...]
[??? wants to...]
[??? says...]
[??? ...]
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[??? ...]
"Turn it off! Turn it off!"
The panels suddenly disappeared.
"Fucking hell... No wonder you've been fucking muted!"
"Just like that were mine too. Of course, not on this scale, but you get the idea."
"I'm not doing this again anytime soon. Impatient motherfuckers.."
Putting the last ring created on his finger, he wondered if he should upgrade his sword too.
'Maybe later..'
"Now... Where would we found these two?"
"I don't care. I'm going to see if I can rent a house. I want to cook something today."
"Why would you want that? It's not like you know how to cook."
Arga squinted her eyes and slapped his arm, leaving him behind.
"Just kidding, just kidding."
Laughing, Ertex followed his mother.
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"So we are forced to buy?"
"Yes."
They've been looking for a while but everyone told them the same thing: buy it or leave.
Ertex frowned.
The audacity. Why must they buy a house from a city where they won't stay permanently in? Who made the rules?
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It was getting late.
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"Are you married?"
He pointed towards the ring the man in front of him had on his finger.
"Huh? What does that-?"
"Are you?"
"I... am."
The man was confused. Why did he answer? He was going to tell them to leave, but something forced him to answer Ertex.
Ertex nodded.
"Do you want to see her tonight? To fuck her, or whatever married couples do here?"
"Y-yes."
What was happening? Why did he keep answering him?
Ertex smiled at him.
"You see, my mother here wants to cook just as much as you want to fuck your wife. Just let us rent this, and everyone can go and do whatever they want. It's that easy!"
The man looked away for a second.
"I'm sorry, I can't help you. Please leave."
Ertex nodded, not losing his smile.
Arga glanced at him.
"Fine. Fine."
He approached the man, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I want you to know that it's just your fault."
"My -"
The man was stopped as he felt Ertex's finger tearing through his neck. He began coughing, starting to suffocate with his own blood.
Ertex took his finger out, cleaning himself on the shirt the man wore.
The man started to panic more and more once he realized that he couldn't heal himself.
[Irrecoverable (Error)
The target is unable to heal after being hit by you.]
Ertex caught the man by his head when he saw he wanted to run.
"Don't even try. It's useless anyway. I've severed your carotid artery, so you've got around... 2 minutes left to live. I suggest you reflect on everything that happened in this short period of time. Just think about it... If you had just agreed to what I said, you would have been home right now. Alive."
The man looked Ertex in the eyes, pleading. Ertex just snickered, covering his mouth.
"But look at you now... Begging to be saved, your house stolen, and... your wife widowed. All because you were a greedy fucking dumbass. Poor you, right?"
The man lost all hope. It wasn't because of Ertex's words, but because of his eyes.
They were... simply scary.
They weren't empty, though. The man wouldn't have felt such hopelessness if that was the case.
They just lacked... any sympathy. Any regret. Any sadness.
The man struggled more and more to breath, his eyes slowly closing, with a tear rolling down. Never once in his life things were going right. His life was full of sorrow and misfortune, always desperately trying to live yet another day.
'What did I do wrong? I just wanted... to survive. If that's so wrong...'
"WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE SUFFERING?!"
"..."
"Because you are dumb. You don't even know how to read the room. But don't pity yourself too much, being able to stay alive until now is a miracle as it is."
Tears kept rolling down, the man trying everything he could to heal himself.
"One.. O-ne more chance... Please, God.. If you-"
Ertex punched him in the face.
"Don't go crying to that bitch now. There's no God helping you. All you have is yourself. Failing to realize that... is just disgusting."
Just after he finished, another voice was heard.
"Oliver!"
The man, now known as Oliver, felt his heart drop. Why? Why did it always go wrong?
He quickly turned his head towards the voice, seeing exactly who he didn't want to.
'Why is she here?!'
"RUN!"
"Pfft..."
Ertex's laugh echoed throughout the street.
"The hero! The hero came! God has really helped you!"
He placed a hand on his eyes, throwing his head back, his laugh amplifying.
"I changed my mind!"
Ertex rested his foot on Oliver's head.
"Don't blame me. Don't blame yourself either. The only one to blame... is that God of yours!"
"Stop! Why are you doing this?! Oliver!"
The woman rushed towards her husband trying to shake Ertex off, but he only grabbed her hair, forcing her to look at him.
"You are kinda ugly. Not my taste. Well, Oliver, one more reason to not be scared, right? Upon your death, I at least won't cuck you."
Ertex took his leg off after he threw her on the ground and lowered himself.
"Well, any last words?"
"..."
"I... h-hate you... with e-every... fiber of my being!"
"Why, thank you!"
The last thing Oliver saw was Ertex's mocking smile before finally dying.
"Oliver! OLIVER!"
The woman desperately shook Oliver's dead body, tears falling down her face. When she saw he was unresponsive, she screamed, clenched his clothes and, placed her head on him.
"..."
"Don't suck a dead man's cock, you weirdo!I'm no voyeur."
The woman snapped. She got up, looked at Ertex with disgust and hatred, and rushed towards him, grabbing him by the collar.
"YOU PIECE OF -"
Ertex didn't let her finish, kicking her in the stomach and making her cough blood.
"Don't touch me without my consent. That's sexual harassment."
He grabbed one of her legs and smashed her on the ground. Seeing how she still wanted to fight back, he smashed her again, harder.
He did it again and again and again, until he destroyed all her will. Her tears stopped.
She looked towards the only person that was here besides them, hoping to get help.
But that person was Arga.
After seeing that Arga ignored her silent begging, the woman... gave up.
Ertex looked at her and grabbed her left hand.
"Very cheap wedding ring. I doubt you married him in this place, so you must have lived pretty modestly, huh? It doesn't look like anything changed here, yet you were still happily together? I feel bad now."
He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her towards Oliver.
"I'm a good guy, you know? I'll send you off to meet your husband again."
"May God bless you."
He severed her third cervical vertebra, paralyzing her respiratory muscles, letting her die slowly.
He placed his hands in front of him, in a praying position.
"Oh you almighty Creator, hope you've been once again entertained by the people you love oh so much!"
"... you fucking bitch."
He snickered, turning towards Arga.
"Let me change my clothes and then we'll go shopping!"
"Alright."
Ertex stepped on the married bodies, entering the newly acquired house.
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In a place very very far, a certain bloodied someone giggled.