" Status "
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NAME : VANITAS EL DARKTE / ROWAN
RACE : HUMAN
AGE : 17
GIFT : STEALER
BLOODLINE : UNAWAKENED
- STATS-
STRENGTH : 8
AGILITY : 9
HEALTH : 10
INTELLIGENCE : 20
VITALITY : 10
CHARM : 50( VANITAS) / 15( ROWAN)
- SKILLS-
You haven't awakened your bloodline yet.
STEALER
- You can steal one bloodline skill of the person you kill.
- The skills will be awakened after synchronisation.
__________________________
Vaan reviewed his status and resolved to execute his plan.
[Vaan, are you sure you want to do this?]
Axel's voice echoed in his mind.
( Yes, brother. Do we have no other option?)
Following Axel, Nero asked in a worried tone.
"I don't really have any choice here. If i want to change my past, then I have to do this" Vaan replied resolutely.
"Rowan, stay behind me. I'll protect you if any bandits come after us," Daisy instructed, keeping an eye on Jack as he fought six bandits.
"Mm," he nodded sadly, then swiftly rendered Daisy unconscious with a neck chop before gently laying her in the carriage.
"Let's go," Rowan muttered to himself as he emerged from the carriage and hid in the bushes near the sword Jack had thrown away.
He watched silently as Jack continued to kill the bandits one by one. He waited until Jack finished off all the bandits.
When Jack, breathing heavily, began to run toward his friend, Rowan moved. He picked up the sword and, using a movement art he had learned in the past, moved stealthily without making a sound.
Using the night as cover, he moved like a shadow and positioned himself behind the exhausted Jack.
Then, like an experienced assassin, he cut off Jack's head cleanly with a single strike.
- You have killed an intermediate E awakened.
- You have successfully stolen the ENDLESS VITALITY skill.
Multiple messages appeared before his eyes, but he ignored them and moved towards Mark and Grim.
"Now!" Mark shouted as he locked Grim by holding him tightly.
Vaan moved forward and pierced Mark's chest and Grim's heart with a single strike. He rotated the sword and pulled it out forcefully.
Blood splattered all over him as he withdrew the sword.
Mark turned and saw the headless body of his friend and a young boy with crimson eyes, covered in blood and holding a sword.
His legs gave out, and he kneeled down, clutching his pierced chest.
"Why?" he asked Vaan, tears streaming down his face.
The pain of seeing the person they had tried to protect, killing his friend and now him was unbearable.
He wanted to know why?
Why was he doing this?
But,
"I'm sorry," Vaan said softly.
"Even if I tell you, you wouldn't believe me."
That was the only answer Mark got.
"Ahhh, I'll kill you!" With an enraged roar, he tried to blink behind Vaan and kill him, but his skill had already entered cooldown.
"I'm really sorry. I don't have any other choice."
That was the last thing Mark heard before his world lost its color.
With steady steps, Vaan moved toward the person who had made his and Daisy's life hell in the past.
Grim felt a chill when he saw Vaan approaching him, covered in blood like a crimson devil.
"Let me go, I'll do whatever ya tell me. Please don't kill me," he begged, desperately trying to stop the bleeding from his heart.
Vaan stood before him and, without a word, cut off Grim's right hand.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Grim screamed in agony.
But Vaan, as if hearing music, continued methodically, cutting off each of Grim's legs and his remaining hand.
Finally, all the sounds in the surrounding turned silent as the bandit leader's body lay scattered in pieces.
- You have killed an intermediate E awakened.
- You have successfully stolen the skill PHASE.
- You have killed an advanced E awakened.
- You have successfully stolen the skill HYPER PERCEPTION.
Amidst the silence, Vaan saw the messages from his status page and closed it.
He dropped the sword and swept his hair back with his left hand.
After wiping the blood away from his face, he looked at the blue moon in the sky and sighed.
Like he said to Mark, he really didn't have any other choice.
He already knew what would happen if he let the past repeat.
Jack would strike at Grim while Mark held him, but Grim's skill would sense the attack and he would deflect it by using Mark's body as cover.
Then, without their skills, Mark and Jack would die at Grim's hands.
After that, Grim would sell him and Daisy to the slave market.
That grim future was something Vaan could not allow to happen again.
That's what happened in the past, and if he wanted to change that, he had to kill Grim.
But with his current skills, he couldn't kill Grim directly.
Even if he and Daisy joined forces with the guards, it would be useless because Grim's skill would help him sense every attack aimed at him.
The only way to kill Grim was by sacrificing someone.
Because the attack was aimed at Mark, Grim's skill couldn't sense it.
He killed Jack because Jack would never sit still while Vaan stabbed his only friend's chest.
If he lost that chance, everything would go down the drain.
He stood amidst the bodies with an bitter expression on his face.
He looked at his hands, which had taken two innocent lives for the first time.
He had killed thousands of people in the past, but they were all despicable people who deserved to die.
Mark and Jack, however, were different. They had put their lives on the line to save him.
He gritted his teeth at the choice he made but knew he would make the same decision again if he went back in time.
He had already lived alone for 250 years without happiness.
Now, he had a chance to attain that happiness.
So, he decided to become a monster, willing to destroy anything that stood in his path to happiness.
He looked at the bodies of Mark and Jack and decided to give them a proper burial.
After taking all the valuables and items from them and the bandits, he buried Mark and Jack in a place where they could rest peacefully.