Chapter 1: No Escape
"Is that it?"
"From the way you couldn't stop trying to get yourself killed earlier, I imagined you'd last a bit longer." A floating figure said with amusement.
"Huff... huff... huff." Shallow and pained breaths escaped the swollen lips of the young man being held in his grasp by the ankle, several feet above the blood-soaked ground below.
The crimson hair of the man and what remained of his Renegade uniform were drenched in his own blood. His face was battered, and his chest sliced open in several places. His broken body was filled with numerous life-threatening wounds.
The floating figure smiled as he noticed the man stir slowly.
"You're still alive? How commendable. Maybe I spoke too soon. You are truly a worthy toy!" He roared as he threw his head back with a boisterous laugh. His long raven-dark hair danced in the wind as his laughter filled the quiet battlefield.
His cold blue eyes landed on the Renegade again when he was done. He glanced past him for a moment, taking in the gruesome slaughter and carnage he had caused below them.
Hundreds of Renegade bodies were crudely piled together like heaps of trash filled with broken dolls. The ground was bathed in blood and viscera from his fallen foes. The fragrant air of the planet now reeked endlessly of copper, causing a wide smile to slowly spread across his face.
The floating figure, Ronin, had been sent to this planet with a single mission: kill every sentient living being on it. He had succeeded, and admirably so.
Men, women, children. It made no difference to him. He had slaughtered them all and enjoyed doing so. It was an exhilarating feeling he could never get enough of.
Not since he reincarnated into this universe.
As of right now, the only living creatures left on the planet capable of thought were him, and his captive seemingly on death's doorstep.
Ronin was one of the many souls that had been sent here at the lowest point in his life. He was once a simple office worker from a planet called Earth who died forgetfully in a truck accident. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a white void, coming face to face with something he had never imagined was possible.
A supreme existence known as the Primordial.
That being had given him his abilities—or golden fingers, as he liked to call them—and sent him here, into a universe it called Rendes.
When Ronin arrived, he was taken in by Reincarnators like him and taught various things about his new reality.
He was given everything he had ever craved, and everything he had ever desired. Wealth, women, power, even a family of sorts, all at his beck and call. It was unbelievable to him for a time, until he finally embraced his new life. All he had to do in return was help his fellow Reincarnators carry out the Primordial's goal. His past life as a bullied nobody that no one cared about paled in comparison.
Ronin let out an audible breath in disappointment. In his previous life, when he wasn't drowning in monotonous work, he would spend all day reading about murim martial art battles that shook the heavens. He finally understood what that felt like after his life-and-death battle with the Commander stationed here. Only an hour had passed since then, and yet he already missed it.
His soul essence was completely depleted now because of it, but he still had no regrets.
He also enjoyed the sensation of ripping apart the inhabitants of the planet, like he often did in the RPG games he used to play. He had quickly become addicted to the feeling after the first massacre he was sent on.
He just wished it lasted longer.
His hanfu—resembling those often seen in murim manhwas—rustled gently in the copper-filled air as he studied his final victim with intrigue. The young man was a human like him. Half-human, he would guess.
"Your existence still astonishes me." Ronin said. "Tell me, which human fathered a bastard like you with the creatures of this world?" He asked, finding the circumstances amusing. That was the main reason he kept the Renegade alive for so long.
The young man at death's doorstep said nothing, causing Ronin to wonder if he was already dead.
"What a shame." He sighed. "It seems you've finally succumbed to your fate like the others."
Ronin straightened, glancing around him one final time as he prepared to drop the corpse. "I suppose I'm already done here—"
"...St... p" The young man in his grasp whispered.
"Oh, you're still alive!" Ronin exclaimed in joy as he stopped himself. He jostled the Renegade, bringing him closer to listen to what were perhaps his final words.
"What did you say? I couldn't hear you well, bastard. Louder," he snorted.
Naturally, he understood it was almost impossible for the Renegade to speak coherently considering the state of his loose jaw and severely damaged throat.
Still, Ronin enjoyed whenever his prey groveled like a worm and begged for mercy from the man that had just slaughtered their loved ones. It gave him the feeling of superiority that he craved.
"An... ed"
"Hmm... One last time, what was that?" Ronin asked, enjoying the moment more than he should have.
.....
"I said shut up... you deranged idiot," the Renegade whispered directly into his ear as he shot up in a sudden flash, his previously broken arm lashing out and seizing Ronin's arm in an iron-clad hold.
Ronin blinked in shock and confusion.
"...What?"
SLAM!
Ronin's eyes widened a moment later as the Renegade's right boot crashed into his jaw with enough force to nearly shatter it. He screamed as they plummeted from the sky.
BOOM!
The earth trembled violently as they crashed into the blood-soaked ground, rubble blasting outward in all directions. Ronin grunted as he struggled to stand, having been slammed face-first into the ground by the Renegade who had twisted mid-fall and used him to absorb the impact.
He struggled to push himself up, then froze suddenly.
Standing before him was the Renegade, his hand still clamped around Ronin's wrist while his legs seemed to have been driven deep into the shattered ground beneath them.
"Finally," the Renegade muttered with a raspy and cold voice. "I caught you."
For some reason, the Renegade's bloodied figure seemed far more menacing to Ronin than it had been before.
His crimson hair hung in clumps, framing his emerald eyes that burned with fierce and unrelenting hatred.
Ronin's surprise and shock deepened when he noticed the chest wound of the Renegade throb, the torn flesh slowly knitting itself back together.
He stared in disbelief as all of the Renegade's injuries disappeared one by one, as if they had never been there in the first place. The blood left behind was the only sign that he had even been injured.
"How is that... How are you still alive?!" Ronin yelled in rage. His speech was slightly slurred due to his damaged jaw.
At this point, Ronin had tormented the Renegade the longest out of anyone at this station. And yet here he stood, now unharmed.
He was certain that the Renegade did not possess a Heart Shard like his Commander. Which was why he had never expected such a sudden reversal.
The Renegade's sharp eyes met his, a scornful expression crossing his pale features. "Not your concern."
Ronin's expression darkened as he finally recovered from his stupor, his composure and haughty attitude returning in full.
His eyes briefly glanced at the Renegade's hand still holding onto his own as he rose slowly, dusting off the dirt from his favorite hanfu.
"So, you must be one of those trash offsprings that inherited your better parent's abilities," he grumbled. "No wonder you were so hard to kill."
"The Second Chance did warn me about a few of those running around without a leash. Living amongst the filth of this universe," he continued, his tone suddenly more conversational.
The young man said nothing in response as he continued to glare at Ronin.
That made Ronin more anxious than he was willing to show.
"Well, I suppose that isn't important now. I'm sure you've had your fun here. You can head somewhere else now that I've wiped out the planet," Ronin said with a forced smile.
"Don't worry, I won't tell the Second Chance group about you, since I'm feeling generous. So just..." he grunted as he tried pulling his arm back, only to find the Renegade's grip unshakable.
A lump rose in his throat as he spoke. "Do you need anything else? Or.... don't tell me you want to fight? Let me just tell you now, that won't end well for you," Ronin snarled as his other hand gestured to the bodies around them. "Your power seems rather useful, but you're no match for a true human like me."
Silence stretched between the two of them as seconds seemed to crawl by.
"Why don't you cut out the act already," the young man said finally. "We both know there's nothing you can do. Not anymore."
"Not when your ability can't help you."
A cold shiver ran down Ronin's spine as he tensed.
"That's right. I know you're out of juice," the young man sneered.
"Your fight with the Commander must have really drained you. The fact you're still in my grip is all I need to confirm that."
Ronin's face twisted into a frown as he glared at the Renegade.
"What are you—"
"I couldn't be sure before, that's why I let things go on for that long." the Renegade interrupted.
"But I noticed your speed that made you almost invincible disappear as time passed, until I could see everything you did quite clearly."
"I'm sure it boosted your physical strength too. Since your punches also felt weaker overtime."
"Now, you seem just as strong as a blue Mornan." The young man's grip tightened around Ronin's hand.
Ronin tried not to show the fear worming its way into his heart the more the Renegade spoke.
"I've... been waiting. Waiting for this moment," the Renegade spat as his eyes met the floor. "Letting you torture me as you saw fit while I waited till I was sure I had a chance."
The young man looked up as he stared hatefully into Ronin's eyes. "And now. That chance is finally here."
Panic flared in Ronin as he finally lost control of his expression.
He reacted in fear upon sensing the killing intent coming from the Renegade.
He shot upward, desperately trying to lift off the ground and into the air with his flight ability that could still work with minuscule amounts of soul essence. He planned to return when he had recovered fully and make the half-human pay for the humiliation he had suffered.
But the young man didn't let that happen.
Ronin found himself unable to ascend any higher as he was pulled back down by his arm. "Let go!" He shouted as he tried pulling the Renegade up with him. He realized how fruitless that was when he noticed the Renegade had dug his feet deep into the loose ground and rubble to anchor himself and therefore him.
Ronin struggled frantically, trying to wrench his arm free. "L-let go of me! Let GO!"
"Not... happening!" the young man snarled as he viciously slammed Ronin back into the blood-soaked ground.
His free hand curled into a ball as his fist dug into Ronin's gut a second later, almost folding him in half.
"Ahhh!!" Ronin screamed in agony as he lifted off the ground, trying to fly off again and again, to no avail. He felt as if he was trying to move a mountain.
Each time he attempted to escape skyward, he was brutally yanked back to earth by the Renegade and slammed into debris of the destroyed base and rubble from the shattered and blood-soaked floor.
Ronin's resistance crumbled soon enough, allowing the Renegade to get the upper hand in their struggle. The young man's free hand was balled into a fist that came down on Ronin like a hammer. Over, and over, and over again.
At the same time, he drove a knee into Ronin's ribs, grinding them to powder.
"Stop... stop it please!" Ronin begged as he came to his senses through the pain. But the Renegade didn't stop, didn't stop for even a second.
"What's wrong? Is this no longer amusing for you?" The young man asked as he pounded Ronin's head deeper into the surface.
"Tell me, you monster!"
Ronin could feel himself slipping in and out of consciousness as time passed. Eventually, he resembled one of his many victims.
The young man's hand slowly wrapped around Ronin's throat and lifted him up like a broken toy. Ronin's head lolled, his blue eyes dimming, as he pleaded through the haze.
His words were even more incoherent now.
"P...lease," he cried. He decided to return to doing what he had been best known for in his previous life.
He begged. "We're... both humans, right?... You're just like me... Please forgive me. I promise I'll change. I.. I'll pay for everything I did."
He pleaded. "What do you want from me... MoNey? Information... on Second Chance?.. I can give you everything!, anything!"
He groveled. " Just don't kill me... please!"
The young man stared at him with contempt and disgust filling his eyes. That was fine with Ronin. He didn't care about what others thought of him as long as he got out of the situation. That was how he had survived for most of his previous life.
"You humans... Truly are despicable," the Renegade growled. "There's nothing you can offer me. Nothing besides your life!"
He said finally as his fist drew back once more.
Ronin couldn't comprehend what was happening to him. He was supposed to be the chosen one. Blessed by a Primordial entity. A man that would be an invincible existence, in time. Yet, here he was, about to die.
'How... did this happen?' Ronin thought, twitching desperately.
Then, the blow fell.
Bone cracked as Ronin's skull caved in, his brain matter bursting out in a spray. His body finally went limp. In an instant, Ronin's life had ended for the second time.
The Renegade dropped the corpse. Ronin's body hit the ground with a dull thud, settling among the very corpses he had created.
The young man stood in place for a long time. His gaze swept over the carnage, taking in the broken and beaten forms of his comrades.
"Ble—!!" Suddenly, his hand flew toward his mouth as he tried to stop himself from throwing up.
"Blargh! Blargh!!" He failed, kneeling over, his eyes watering as he retched.
Several moments passed as he remained there, his eyes lowered, seemingly unwilling to stare at the gore a moment more. Then, he stood slowly, the faint sounds of his boots crunching against the sand as he moved toward what was left of the destroyed outpost.