Death System: I awakened SSS rank System

The rift sealed behind him with a soft hiss, and Zakar felt the strange silence of the rooms hit him. His boots clicked against polished obsidian floors, the faint glow of runes tracing themselves along the walls. The air smelled faintly of ash and something sharp, but he didn't have time to think about weather.

He walked into his new room. It was exactly just as it was in their previous room. There was only a slight difference. There was now a small object on every bed. Zakar shifted his gaze and his eyes scanned the corners, adjusting quickly. Then he saw him.

Justin.

He sat curled against the far wall, knees hugged to his chest. His hair was in a real mess, his skin pale, and the arrogance that had once radiated from him was gone. He didn't even put on his proud grin. That was replaced with a tainted look. What Zakar saw now wasn't defiance. It was fear. Pure, shivering fear.

The moment Justin's eyes lifted and met his, he recoiled like a rat caught in the open. His back slammed against the wall as if he could sink through it to escape.

"You…" Justin's voice broke halfway through the word. His fingers clawed at the stone, desperate to keep distance. "You shouldn't be here!"

Zakar didn't answer. His expression lay clueless, unreadable. His footsteps echoed in the silence as he walked forward, slow and deliberate. He didn't hurry. He didn't need to.

Each step was enough to make Justin shrink further.

"Stay away!" Justin cried, his voice trembling. "I swear I didn't want to do it! They...they forced me! I thought I told you this already?!"

Zakar stopped a few feet away, tilting his head. His hand slipped to the hilt of his blade, fingers curling around it with practiced ease. His silence was louder than any threat.

Justin's breath came in ragged gasps. "You think I wanted to fight you? You think I wanted to betray you?!" His eyes darted to the blade at Zakar's hip, then back to his face. "It wasn't me it was them. Always them!"

Pathetic. Zakar drew the blade in one fluid motion, the rune-light catching the edge until it gleamed like a shard of moonlight. He raised it, not with haste, but with calm certainty.

Justin froze. His lips parted in terror. "No...please...wait..."

The blade hovered above his throat. A single thrust, and Justin's pleading eyes would go dark forever.

Zakar's assassin instincts whispered in his mind, cruel and familiar.

'Do it. Finish him. He's weak, helpless. Kill him before he betrays you again.'

His grip tightened. He could feel the old bloodlust stir, the hunger that had earned him the title 'Little Ripper'. It would be so easy. Too easy.

But his hand stopped.

The metallic object quivered inches from Justin's skin, yet it refused to fall.

A different voice echoed in his heart the voice of his oath. The promise he had carved into his soul when he swore to someone dear: 'Never again. Never again will I kill the helpless. I will not be the monster they made me.'

Zakar's jaw clenched. He stared at Justin, not with pity, but with a rage that came from restraint. Slowly, he shifted the blade. Instead of piercing flesh, he slammed it into the stone wall just beside Justin's head.

CRACK.

The steel bit deep, sending shards of stone flying. The sound echoed through the chamber, loud enough to rattle Justin's bones.

Justin whimpered, tears streaming down his cheeks. His breath came in shallow, uneven gasps. "…You're… not… killing me?"

Zakar leaned forward, his voice low and sharp as a blade.

"You're alive...for now. But if you lie to me again, I won't stop my hand next time."

Justin nodded frantically, too terrified to speak. Relief flooded his face, but it was tangled with terror.

Zakar yanked the blade free, dust falling from the wall. He stepped back, but his eyes never left Justin. His every movement still carried the lethal edge of a predator.

"Now," Zakar said coldly. "You're going to talk. About the assassin. About who sent you. And about General Lemon."

Justin stared at him in confusion. He thought he had cleared this up. He had told him all he knew. He didn't even know a damn thing about who those people were.

"Speak!!!" Zakar thundered in anger. Justin froze.

"I'm sorry but I know nothing. Please it is just like I told you before. I know nothing. They captured me and forced me." Justin said and Zakar stared at him sternly.

"Hmph... really? You must think I'm a joke to let you get away thar fast." Zakar and pulled out his blade and swung it mid air. Then it crashed down against the rib of Justin.

Blood splattered across his face but he kept his crimson eyes locked on Justin.

"Argghh!! Gahhh!!" Justin spat out a huge quantity of blood and held his rib in pain. Zakar didn't resist again. He raised his arm once again and this time he aimed for Justin's head.

"If you don't speak I may kill you on the spot. You are not thinking of fighting me are you? Because if you do, you will be dead. I'm pretty sure your system is taking time to recover your HP and until then you can't try anything stupid. I'm still filled up. If I really wanted you dead, you would have been few minutes ago. Now speak!!"

"I know I don't have a chance against you now. I could not even match up to you when I was still in physical shape. I'm not trying to play games but I have to tell you... I was forced into this and there is no going back." Justin said and his eyes flung open.

"You keep speaking of forced. How exactly?" Zakar muttered. Justin stared at him for a while before finding his words.

"I was met by a guy one afternoon and he offered me a contract; to kill you. I tried to reject it but he said that if I declined it, Sera will be killed. So... that's why I'm doing this."

Zakar stared at him in shock. The Negative Entity or what so ever was using the both of then as puppets. If they made the right move,they would come out of this. But how would they do that?