Criminal X : Epitome Of Evil

Pablo asked for the Egoes of all the hundred soldiers present in front of him below the stage.

The air was filled with tension and questions as to why they should risk their privacy and tell everything about their Ego. Even if it was their Marshal who was asking it.

They could tell Pablo briefly about their Ego but the man wanted every last thing related to their Ego. The strengths and most of all—the weaknesses.

Nevertheless, no one had the audacity to rebel or raise their voice against Pablo.

But from what they had seen, the soldiers knew someone among them whom Pablo would listen to, therefore each soldier's pupils went to that man.

Draxus Maverick. Or Draxus Wick, as the military knows him.

Seeing the soldiers' gazes, the man frowned. "What?"

One soldier spoke: "Sir, Draxus."

"Sir? You all were calling me Draxus a few days ago. And some of you weren't even calling me."

"Forget the past, sir. Help us. Tell your Marshal friend to not ask for our Ego." One soldier spoke on behalf of everyone.

Draxus heard them and chuckled. "That's all? Heh. I can help you with that for sure."

The soldiers' eyes lit up. "Really? Thank you, sir. We will never forget this deed of yours."

"It's nothing. Let me come in the front."

"Yes. Yes."

The soldier standing in front of Draxus moved and Draxus replaced him.

"Marshal!" He shouted.

Pablo looked at him. "What?"

The soldiers watched the exchange with bated breaths.

"I want to tell you something." Draxus said.

The soldiers rejoiced silently.

"Speak." Pablo ordered.

Draxus nodded. "It's about our Egoes."

Pablo squinted his eyes. "What about it?"

The soldiers gulped. But then, they rejoiced again because Draxus dropped the bomb.

"We won't give you the details…"

Pablo's brows shot up.

The soldiers pumped their fists. They won. But..

"... Yet."

Draxus dropped another bomb.

The soldiers pumped fists died.

Pablo smiled.

"I wasn't even asking for them yet. Just give me the details before the night. I'll be sleeping in the candidates room number 1. Come there."

"As you say." Draxus bowed and… stopped talking?

All the soldiers jerked their heads at him.

The soldier standing behind him muttered with gritted teeth:

"You bastard."

Draxus' lips curled up. "No sir this time?"

"Fuck the sir. We told you to change his mind regarding his demand, not to accept the very same demand!"

Draxus sighed. "Use your brain, shit heads."

The soldiers gasped but before they could complain, Draxus took the lead.

"He is, like a leader, boldly taking the responsibilities of your lives. He will be in the front if you all get exposed in the Hollow. He will be tortured for answers. He will be killed, he will die if anything went wrong with the mission. You all would just watch and the Cannibals might let you all go and send you back to this kingdom with a message saying don't mess with the Cannibals. So he is the one who stands with the most risk of us all and if he can do all this for us, you lot can't even write some fucking words on a piece of a goddamn paper!?"

Draxus' voice reached at the every part of the ground in the end and all the soldiers just gawked at him with their mouths agape.

Pablo heard every word of it and he had even the heard the mutterings from before thanks to his Vampiric senses.

But Draxus' words mattered the most.

Not only he defended Pablo, he even managed to do this:

"You are right, Draxus. I will give the details."

"Yeah. He can kill us even without knowing the weakness of our Egoes. What can we achieve by hiding it anyway?"

"Yes. We will give everything about our Egoes to you, Marshal."

"Before you sleep, you will have everything related to us in your hands."

All the soldiers agreed.

Draxus' words made the soldiers agree.

Pablo didn't even had to do anything, Draxus did all the work for him without even Pablo's order.

He was truly a good subordinate and that's exactly why… Pablo had no smile on his face right now.

Cupid saw this and she rolled her eyes. "You can smile, you know? He did a good thing. He is the best subordinate you can have. Too good."

Pablo stared at Draxus, keenly.

'Yeah. He really is too good.'

Cupid scowled. She felt something off and Pablo's words registered in her mind a little too late and when she grasped them, her mouth opened wide, gasping.

"You DID NOT just said that!?"

Pablo sighed.

Cupid shifted closer to him.

"Did you just suspected Draxus? Are you really doing that?"

'I never said that.'

"You never said that clearly. But your words suggested something along those lines. Draxus is the most loyal of your allies. Even Flashy betrayed you for a second, but Draxus, ever since he vowed his loyalty to you, he never looked back. You suspecting him is a betrayal from you to him!"

Cupid panted heavily. She acted like she dropped the mic in a roast battle.

Pablo was almost impressed with the passion she showed and couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

Cupid saw that and her gaze softened.

"Yes. Everything is right, Pablo. Don't think too much. All is right."

'Yeah. It might be, sure. But for all my life, Angel. I have known one thing..'

Pablo took in the respectful gaze of Draxus towards him.

'When everything is fine, it's the intentions that are wrong.'

Silence lingered between Cupid and Pablo for a while until…

THUP!

Cupid smacked her forehead.

"You are impossible. There is no talking with you. Keep doubting everyone and you will be left all alone when you die."

'Don't curse me like that.'

"You care about it?"

'Nope.'

Cupid shook her head and before Pablo could shut her up, she stopped talking herself.

After that, Pablo focused on his soldiers again, putting Draxus' matter deep back on his mind.

He locked eyes with the now silent soldiers and finally began the last stretch of his speech.

A speech worthy of being given before a war.