Transcendent Gene
Chapter 254: First Kill [4]

Chapter 254: First Kill [4]

Fighting humans was...different.

The four djinns didn’t give Gio’s party the time to think or strategize about anything. They rushed forward with their weapons and attacked within seconds of speaking.

Gio blocked with a sword he summoned and pushed back the skinny man who originally spoke, separating him from the rest of his group. Neriah put up a wall of earth between herself and Shiro, blocking a large, fat man from touching any of her comrades.

Serene and Shiro were surprised at first, but it wasn’t as if they’d never fought humans before. They’d sparred several times, so their instincts saved them from embarrassment.

Serene threw her hand up and summoned a bubble around herself that completely blocked her enemy’s mace. Shiro created a wave of fire that forced his enemy back.

Four individual battles were created by the two groups. The cannibal Sequencers absolutely believed in their chances to win this encounter. They were going up against children, after all.

Many had the thought to wait for the four of them and take their energy, but they were the ones who took the spot. The only person who disagreed became a corpse on the wall.

They were people who were not only used to combat, but also actively living in it almost every day.

Unlike them, Gio’s group was filled with the inexperienced.

Shiro and Serene had never seen combat outside of safety. Every time they’d fought a human, it was while they were being supervised by teachers. They’d fought beasts before and they could now say they’d fought monsters, but none of it compared to something like this.

Humans knew how humans moved. Humans were smarter, trickier, and more complicated to face. It wasn’t a matter of having more power with humans. There was much more involved in a battle between them.

"Fighting" humans wasn’t the issue.

The issue was what happened at the end of the fight, though neither Serene nor Shiro had quite considered the issue yet.

Bang!

Gio pushed his sword out and threw back his enemy. The skinny man was heavily outskilled in close combat, but his energy was definitely not weak.

’He’s probably a Stage 3 Sequencer even without suppression. He wouldn’t be too far out of my strength range regardless.’

Gio pushed forward and summoned a ball of flames that he threw at his enemy.

Bang!

The skinny man opened his mouth and spat out a ball of green acid in retaliation. It touched his energy and melted it into nothing before it could reach him.

Whoosh!

He jumped in the air and opened his mouth once more. His tongue extended like the tongue of a frog with the strength of a whip powered by Aether.

The spiked tongue shot at Gio like a speeding bullet. He turned his body to the side to avoid it, however, it swung with his movements and tried to wrap him in its grasp.

Boom!

Gio dropped a bomb on the ground before creating a gust of virtual wind that shot him into the air and filled the explosive with more volatile energy.

As the "Boom!" came from below and engulfed the tongue in an energy storm, Gio entered the air along with its owner.

’You won’t last much longer.’

He seemed to say it with his eyes.

Neriah was giving her opponent a similar message.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The big man made it immediately clear that he was built like a tank. He had strong physical power and a body that could take any hit, making him a walking fortress that couldn’t be stopped until one’s skull was bashed in

Well, such builds often had weaknesses. One of those weaknesses was a barrage of equally powerful forces.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground sunk several inches every time Neriah attacked.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Huge chunks of stone and a cement-like material were torn out of the ground, walls, and ceiling. They were thrown one after another at the fat man, giving him less than a second to rest between impacts.

It didn’t matter if he was built like a tank. If he tried to move, the world fell on his back and forced him still.

He was being worn out by someone who didn’t look to be wasting even a bit of energy from her maniacal actions.

He waited, plotted, and looked for the moment Neriah let down her guard even a little bit.

But what could he do with such a moment?

Even when he found it, it was false.

Boom!

He lunged forward and slammed his fist towards her. Using movements much faster than what he could make, she sidestepped his fist and drew two swords that soon turned into a flurry of crescent moons cutting into his body.

"Keagh...!"

The sound of his muffled groan was loud enough to be heard across the chamber.

Neriah and Gio were fine. They were used to fighting other people, and these people weren’t even enemies they could consider real threats.

Serene and Shiro couldn’t say the same.

For them, this was an experience like no other, and one that was forcing them to face a very difficult decision.

Shiro realized how abrasive his flames could be.

He didn’t directly comprehend it, but his mind understood that he was in a life-or-death situation early.

His enemy also used flames, only they were of a deep red color rather than bright gold. Those flames smelled like blood, and whenever they came near, Shiro could feel a strong aura of death from them.

It felt like the reaper was looking into his eyes and telling him that he couldn’t stay soft for much longer.

The first burn he felt on his own arm was a moment of awakening for him. Serene experienced it around the same time as well.

She was good at protecting herself. Her enemy hadn’t yet learned how to pop her bubbles, keeping her safe from his attacks.

However, every time she sent a bubble out and willed it to explode against his body, she realized that she wasn’t sparring.

Her bubbles were let loose at full power. They barraged her opponent with energy, sending his blood flying in all directions.

Neither of them could hide from the thought.

’This is a real person.’

’This is a human being.’

They were fighting enemies that wanted their heads. They would die if they didn’t win these fights.

However, even winning was not enough. If it was possible, djinns were handed over to law enforcement so they could be interrogated.

In a Scenario Quest, it wasn’t possible.

The only choice was to allow them to live and risk them returning for revenge...

’...or killing them.’

The thought of killing another human was incomprehensible. It simply couldn’t be processed in their minds.

There were two sides to Sequencing.

The first was celebrated. The fight against monsters and beasts drove everyone to desire a life of Sequencing and feeling like a hero.

And the other was hidden. The other side was only seen after one had spent enough time outside in the world.

Humans could be just as bad or worse than monsters and beasts. Sometimes, as a Sequencer, the only way to help humanity was by standing against humans.

If they couldn’t kill those who needed to be killed...

Boom!

Shiro pushed his enemy back with flames and retreated.

Serene retreated as well, trying her best not to do too much damage with her bubbles.

They couldn’t make that decision.

They couldn’t take that step and become murderers even knowing that it was necessary.

It was impossible for anyone to do it. At least, until–

SHIK!

Both of their eyes shot in the direction of the sound. It was a gross sound that made them shiver when it entered their ears.

It was a squelch followed by a much more gruesome squishing. When they found the source of the sound...

They saw Gio with a virtual sword impaled in the throat of his enemy. The skinny man’s tongue hung out of his mouth and limply bounced against the floor as blood spurted from the wound in his neck.

As Serene and Shiro watched, Gio twisted his wrist, allowing chunks of the skinny man’s throat to fall through the gaps around his blade before he yanked it out, leaving nothing but a cold corpse in his wake.

Their eyes shook in horror.

But after seeing their comrade do what they dreaded, they couldn’t run from it any longer.

They also had to take that step one day.

They also had to understand how to end evil when evil entered their eyes.

It was a necessary skill for any good Sequencer.

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