Death, Devotion, Dissonance

"You're already failing your brother's test, Decatur," Evin said.

"What are you on about?"

"He approached me yesterday and told me his plans to let you rule the county for a bit. Told me to keep an eye out for you, so you don't abuse your powers too much," Evin said. Obviously, it was a lie, but it was nice to see Decatur's stricken expression. "How does it feel when your own brother trusts me, a complete stranger, instead of you? Maybe that rumor about you two not sharing the same blood has some truth to it, after all?"

Hearing the taunt, Decatur became unable to keep his posture and dashed at Evin with inhuman speed. Time seemed to have slowed down just for Evin, as he noticed the rubble in the corridor cracking under the strength of Decatur's steps. Every cell of his body must be filled with Life energy, strengthening it way beyond what was considered normal for a human. At this point, even Evin, the instigator of the incident was starting to doubt his decision.

But a loud boom from above him interrupted his thoughts, quickly followed by another.

"Gah! Shit! You fucker, what did you do?!"

In front of him, Decatur was screaming and cursing in pain, holding his bloodied palms on his face. Seeing the scene playing out in front of him, it took Evin's everything to not have his face break from the sudden sense of guilt.

Two of the noble students hesitantly approached him to bring him back, all while being careful to not get shoved away by Decatur himself.

"I'll kill you! You hear me?! I'll fucking kill you!"

<Isn't that overdoing it?> Evin asked inwardly.

<No. This is the only way forward for us for now…> the Voice explained grimly. <I'll explain why in a bit, but now you need to repeat after me.>

Evin sighed and repeated its words.

"First! anyone who crosses the halfway mark of the corridor will receive a bullet as a welcome gift! If multiple people come at me at once, one of you all will receive a one in their eyes! Do hope you're not one of them, because I'm not so confident in its power and accuracy not being enough to kill you, since I'm still a beginner at the spell!"

"Second! If you think you can rush at me with your eyes blocked, do expect an ice spear to go through your fucking guts! Make sure you don't dodge, as I don't want to accidentally hit something important!"

"Third! Even you manage to come through the ketricite corridor," Evin said and paused to create a spell. Another explosion took place right in front of the door, and Evin continued, "you will receive an explosion to your faces! Remember that even if you can strengthen your bodies with Life energy inside the ketricite corridors, your skin and eyes cannot receive its empowering effects!"

"Fourth! By all means, if you want to start throwing spells at me from your end of the corridor, I'm all up for shooting at you guys from here! I'll be sure to aim for someone's eyes at random intervals so hope you can find something to block it!"

"And finally! Whenever you want to stop, just tie up Dec over there and throw him into the ketricite corridors! For your efforts, you'll receive a Card that allows a group to get a meeting with the Ruler!"

The students' gazes turned dark at the declaration, but Evin could also see hints of fear in their expressions.

<Good, now sit down casually, pull out some of your food and water, and start eating. Actually, you can bring some of the broken-down stones over there and make a makeshift seat out of it.>

Evin did as it suggested and tried his best to look unperturbed by the situation. He calmly arranged a seat for himself, brought out a beef jerky from his bag and started chewing. During this moment, the Voice explained its thought process to him.

<We both know that in a straight up fight against the 13 of the nobles, we won't be able to stand a chance. But thanks to the ketricite corridor blocking their path, we have a chance to at least keep them at bay,> it began. <But that doesn't mean we should be sitting here waiting for the enemies to rush at us all willy-nilly. We need to make them think that there's a price to be paid for rushing at us.

This'll be good to remember for the future as well. If you find yourself in a desperate situation, even if there are consequences to your actions, you must always choose the method that makes your enemies fear you.>

Evin listened to the Voice's speech and found that he was interested in the topic. The random talk also helped him focus less on the students on the other side of the corridor, glaring hatefully at his direction.

<What do you mean, I have to make them fear me?>

<Hmm,> the Voice thought for a bit, before answering. <Let's say you're a prince of some country who got abducted by a losing enemy country… and you're only 6-years-old. But your five personal guards did a very good job of protecting you and managed to cull down the party of 20 people down to only two people, who also got hurt pretty badly. This makes it so that they can't just tie you up and carry you on their backs towards their hideout, nor they can cripple you because you're an important hostage, who will play a key role in saving their country. Sure, they could do these things, but they'll want to preserve their strength for whatever accident that may happen later on.>

<Won't they just use magic or something to get away? If they're abducting a prince of a country, surely they would hire a Cosmic or something for the job?>

<Ah… Let's say there's no magic in this prince's world. And there are also no magical flying beasts, with horses being the only form of long-distance transportation.>

<Alright,> Evin said, and began to imagine the situation for himself.

<So, due to the aforementioned situation, they can't manhandle you and carry you away in a bundle of ropes. They will force you to walk with them, but of course, they'll try to avoid crowded places so you won't be able to visit towns… Alright, now that we're done with the premise, let me tell you what you have to do. For the next whatever days they spend transporting you, you need to try your best to make their life hell.

Any chance you find, you use it to attempt an escape. Whenever you feel that a stranger's close by, you'll start screaming at the top of your lungs. Obviously, these actions will have consequences where they beat you up, but that's fine as well since you're never going to allow them to do these things without paying a price.

Every time they hit you or kick you, you clutch at their limbs like a roach and take a bite at it like you're a rabid dog. If they shove you on the ground and start pummeling you, you start talking about how important you are, and if they inflict a permanent injury on your body, your country will surely annihilate theirs without mercy. Never let the enemies hurt you without hurting them back. Especially if you're allowed to. Do these things enough, and they'll eventually start to fear you and start leaving you alone.>

<But… that's so stupid. Surely those two people who are carrying me will know that I won't be able to do much if they push me to the limits.>

<Yes, but that doesn't mean they want to get hurt doing it. Just like those students who know that there's a chance of rushing through the corridors and beating us up, but are afraid to commit to it, because they don't want to be the one who gets their eyes ruptured by my spell.>

…