Collaborating with him? The twenty-nine disciples shuddered.

“Quick! Grab your weapons and hold your positions!” One of the older disciples screamed, acting as a temporary leader. Holding a spear, he stared at his foe.

None of them took the child lightly, not after they saw their leader die like that. And as if that wasn’t enough, their own heart thumped crazily at the slightest glance at the black scythe he held.

All of them were armed to their teeth. Normally, they would be attacking with no worries, and yet, they all stood still, waiting for their foe’s next move.

They didn’t have to wait for long.

The scythe they were so dreadful of stabbed the floor, piercing through it easily. Just as their attention was occupied by it, the child grabbed the violin and began to play.

Rnn! A sharp sound came from it, announcing the coming of the darkness. The chandelier grew dark, not a single speck of light downing from it anymore.

“What?!” Panic filled the heart of the disciples. Their formation broke as fast as it had formed, and some ran away to the exit. But…

“Where is the exit?!”

It was gone, replaced by just walls.

“Aah!” Just as the disciples fell further into a panic, a sigh came from amidst the darkness. Not from the disciples, but from Himo himself. While I can decrease visibility, it applies to me too! Furthermore, even if I could get to a realm where I can see through the blackest darkness, the same would apply to my opponents...

He shook his head and turned to look at his four allies. The four had drawn their weapons, standing calm even in such a situation. The opponents were just at the Acupoint Opening phase, so they didn’t pose a threat as big as that of the banalis.

“Don’t help me, I’ll fight them by myself. I will use this chance to experiment with my two cursed weapons.”

The four were initially against it, but hearing the second part of his words, three of them stood put like puppies, wagging their tails with glistering eyes and bright smiles on their faces. Speechless, the fourth could only agree to watch the fight(?) from the side.

Hearing their consent, Himo raised the bow once again, meeting three strings of the violin. Light returned, accompanied by a layer of thick dark fog reminiscing the one they had found in the violin’s hall. 

The disciples’ leader used the chance to order to regroup. Himo didn’t stop him.

He instead fiddled with the violin. Only a single aim filled his mind—testing out if he could summon something only he, and he alone knew.

A robotic sphere surfaced his mind, one that could fly, talk, and held autonomous thought. Its size no differed from a regular basketball, presenting a semi-transparent green sphere enclosed by an unnamed metallic material of silver colour. But what truly stood to the eye was something else; a red code printed on it.

"Lower Elite Squad Member — N47".

A spheric figure issued before him, floating in mid-air.

Seeing that, Himo’s eyes lit up. “It work… ed.” But were soon replaced by a disappointed expression. The spheric figure fell on the floor, its material mere silver. It lacked both the ability to fly and any intelligence.

Himo scratched his head. That old man was right, there’s a limit to how much I can bend reality—not only I can’t create something nonsensical, but I also can’t summon a being with sentience. It seems that it’s impossible to bring a troop from Orexis...

[Orexis?]

Ah, yes it’s my drea— oh, right. Himo’s lips curled up. This information is locked. Please pay 5.000.000 BS points to unlock it.

The system was speechless.

A few seconds later, just as Himo was about to give up, an idea came to him. Let’s try this...

While Himo kept playing the violin, the twenty-nine disciples had regrouped. Each of them stood at a few steps from each other, guarding against attacks from each side. They stood at the center of the great hall, which, for some reason, was devoid of dark fog.

None of them uttered a word. Their ears perked up and their hands grabbed tightly their weapons. Despite their numerical superiority, none of them underestimated their opponent.

After a silence accompanied by the melody of a violin which seemed to last forever, a child walked out of the fog, stepping leisurely toward the disciples. In his hand was a scythe, and yet, the sound of the violin kept sweeping through the air.

Seeing their foe, the disciples had a single reaction. Killing it.

Many of them chanted a fireball spell, forming a barrage of spheres of fire. The sheer volume of fire seemed to cover the ceiling, but Himo’s face was expressionless as if none of that mattered to him.

Without bothering to parry as the attacks fell on him, the child kept strolling forward. Explosions, bursts, and flames covered him, the temperature far past that of a few metals’ melting points.

A foot stepped out of that burning hell, soon followed by the rest of its body. The child had not a single injury, his clothes as good as new.

“What…?”

Disbelief swept to each of their faces as they staggered backward.

Capitalizing on their shock, the child dashed forward, invading their ranks. With but a spin, the scythe in his hands chopped five disciples in half. Even as he did that, there wasn’t a single hint of life in his eyes.

Knowing that it was a fight or die situation, the others reacted immediately, sending attacks from all sides. Slashes from swords, magic spells, and physical blows from hammers and punches rained onto him continuously. 

The swords shattered, magic spells got nullified, and physical blows seemed to hit the hardest shield. It was a massacre. Despite vastly outnumbering the child, the disciples only saw him as a grim reaper which took their lives with seemingly no effort.

As several of them fell, despair clouded their hearts, and many began to ask forgiveness. Some of them even resorted to stabbing each other’s back, hoping to gain the child’s favor.

But the result was different from what they hoped for. At the same moment that one of them stabbed another, the atmosphere in the great hall changed entirely. 

Killing intent and coldness pervaded the air, weighing on their skin. Goosebumps arose throughout their bodies. Their heart stopped beating as if scared to enrage whoever caused the change. None of them dared to make a sound.

Himo stopped moving, his gaze slowly turning to the one who betrayed his own ally. He took a step toward him without turning his gaze. The disciple’s features resembled that of an eighteen years old male. Brown hair and silver eyes. It reminded Himo of a friend he knew back on Earth—a friend who had betrayed him—but he didn’t dwell on those thoughts.

For each step he took forward, the disciple took one backward. 

The pressure weighing on the disciples overcame anything they had felt before, rendering all of them helpless, unable to move. Like swimming in the deep sea, feeling crushed at all sides. It was no skill, nor a real pressure. It was just an instinct. Their bodies screamed to each of them, “move now and you’re done”.

But all of a sudden, that pressure vanished as if it had never existed, leaving only the sweat on their backs testifying for its existence.

Himo sighed. “My bad, I lost control of my emotions for a second.” And as he said so, his scythe beheaded the betrayer.

The disciples inhaled a mouthful of cold air. Looking at Himo, two sentences appeared in their minds. Sentences that their temporary leader voiced immediately. “It’s either us or him! Grab your weapons and fight, fight until you can’t stand up anymore!”

They all issued a roar at those words, charging toward the child. But like the previous attempts, they were unsuccessful, and their numbers thinned quickly down to ten. Soon, the fog covered everything in the hall once again.

Left alone, a disciple braved through the place, chasing after the continuous clangs. When suddenly, Himo emerged from the fog in front of him, scythe raised and about to strike.

“Hiik!” He stepped backward in fright, only to hit a hard object. Not caring about what it was, he grabbed it and tried to parry the next attack… but the attack never came. He instead lost control of his body—only then did he notice that the object was another scythe!

Two scythes? He paled as the scythe he held aimed for his own body. With but a thrust, he then—

A kick crashed on his face, sending him flying. The scythe dropped to the ground.

It was then picked up by Himo, who stared at the disciple he had just kicked. The disciple gawked at his own hands and muttered, “I’m alive!” Any sign of being controlled had disappeared.

Himo scratched his head. This means that the ‘suicide curse’ isn’t reliable at all. Quite disappointing. Understanding that, all he could do was to behead the disciple as he shook his head.

Soon enough, only five of them remained. They stood in a tight formation, staring at Himo. With one blocking at the front, two at the sides, and two behind chanting a magic spell, their formation seemed devoid of flaws.

Himo stepped toward them without putting any guard, as if strolling through the streets. Calling such an attitude careless would be an understatement.

Meanwhile, the two disciples in the back completed their chant. Pointing their hands forward, the two shouted with all their strength.

“Earth spear!” 

Like a torpedo shooting out of the water, a massive spear of earth shot from the floor. It sped to Himo as it tore the air.

“Eh?” Left with no time to react, the child got pierced by it, a massive hole forming on his stomach. His legs lost their strength and he slumped to the floor.

The disciple in the front didn’t waste such a chance, slashing Himo’s neck with his sword.

“Hahaha! We won! It serves you right!” With sneers on their faces, the five celebrated their victory. Accompanying their festive mood, the music from the violin flew to their ears—

They stiffened.

“Who is playing the violin?!”

Only then did they remember that there were still four enemies. 

“Stay behind me.“ Under the gazes of the four behind, the fifth disciple stepped forward—

An explosion sounded from where he stepped on.

“Aaaahh!” A blood-curdling scream etched to their ears, coming from the disciple in front. He tried to grasp at where his leg should’ve been, but could only feel the sticky river of blood flowing down from his torn leg, paired by an ever-burning sensation.

The four paled. The corpse of Himo had exploded and took a leg with it. “This is—”

“A surprise!” A chuckle sounded from behind them.

“Ah?!” Turning around, their faces writhed in fright. “You- wha- how- why?! Why are you not dead?! Why?!”

"How rude. Why would I be dead?" Shaking his head with a cheeky smile, the child pointed a finger at their direction. A ray of flames gushed from his fingertip, incinerating three of the remaining disciples, who were too shaken to react.

The remaining two stared vacantly at the place where their three allies once were. "D-dead?" They had vanished, just like that. Unable to pose any sort of resistance. 

Clouded by despair, they fell to their knees. "If even they died like that, what can we do by ourselves?" One of the two mocked himself as the other shook her head frantically. “C-can you at least tell us how you killed all of us so easily? At lea-least, please, as a last wish.”

Their request startled Himo, but he didn’t refuse. “Sure!” He clapped his hands and his body exploded in a myriad of confetti. The music from the violin halted. 

The exit reappeared as the fog thinned out. As if it were thanks to magic, the corpses of the disciples weren't destroyed, remaining mostly intact. If not for a few cuts, bruises, or burns present on them, it would seem that a battle never occurred in the first place. And yet, even with such seemingly shallow wounds, all of them were devoid of life.

The sight drew shock to the heart of the two disciples. But with the blade of a scythe lingering on their necks, they knew that raising a single finger would make them lose their life. Thus, they stood still. Even when freedom appeared before their eyes, they held no way to attain it. 

At last, the voice of a child sounded from behind.

“It’s simple, really! Your leader created an illusion realm by using the violin—and I stole it! What you fought was just a fake me, an empty shell I created and controlled remotely! Now, you might be guessing why they died, right?”

Seeing that he held their attention, he continued.

“The reason is the so-called placebo effect, aided by the effect of the illusion realm. Not that you know it, but it’s basically being so sure of something that it ends up affecting your body—your own khenqi will go berserk and destroy your body in the way you believed it would get injured!”

The two paled. Their gazes wandered amidst the corpses of their former allies, each breath getting shorter and shorter. It was true. Paying attention, they could see that their fatal injuries were internal ones.

Grinning, Himo then added, "How interesting, don't you think so? Believing to be dead to the point that your own strength retorts against you until you die for real!"

Having respected their last wish, he pulled the scythe.