Chapter 107 - Past Self

Right before Tanya could slap Lou, a hand reached out and stopped her. 

"Don't you think you're being too harsh on your friend here?" said Yuki while he held Tanya's wrist. 

"Go away you delinquent, it's not like you would know anything about having friends. Even if we don't kill you, someone else will. That's how the world works. Good always overcomes evil," Tanya was just ranting in anger, however those words had been taken seriously by Yuki. 

Yuki's grip on her hand had loosened due to him hearing those words. He thought about the possibility of that actually happening. 

"Could I actually die here? Even with all the knowledge I have, would it be possible for someone who's my equal or stronger than me to target me and kill me for fame and money? No! I won't die. I'll make sure it's not a possibility," Yuki told himself.

While Yuki was having his inner monologue, Tanya had managed to escape his grip and slap Lou for his misbehaviour. The loud smacking sound of Tanya's palm hitting Lou's face brought Yuki back to reality. 

"I've had my fun for today. Fooling around like this is a waste of time. I'll let the new Meurig continue to train but maybe I'll make him move to the 2nd dungeon while I go on to the 3rd. He should be finished by now I think."

"I'll call him once this is over," Yuki said to himself as he grabbed Tanya by the back of her head and lifted her in the air.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to me!" Tanya lashed out as he tried to break free. Everyone else watched as that was all they could do. Whether be a swordsman, tank, healer or mage, they all knew that they didn't stand a chance. It would take a couple dozen debuffs to actually bring down Yuki. 

Lou stared at the agonized Tanya as he cried for Yuki to let go of her. 

"So what do you think?" Yuki asked Lou.

Lou was caught off guard by the fact that Yuki was speaking to him but he responded as it was the best thing to do at that moment. He didn't know what Yuki would do if Lou had ignored him. Even death was a possibility for Lou. 

"Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean," replied Lou. 

"I'll make this simple. Kill her and everyone else gets to leave here without a single scratch. I advise you to think long and hard about this. There won't be a saviour which will come to rescue you along with everyone else if you refuse to do so. This isn't a superhero comic. It's either her life or everyone else's. So what do you say?" Yuki asked. 

The choices given were unfair. Even if Lou did kill Tanya, there was no guarantee that Yuki would actually keep his end of the promise. However even with that, it would be better to kill Tanya to at least give them a small chance of survival if a little bit of kindness remained in Yuki's heart. Right before Lou answered the question, someone spoke out. 

"Either no one dies or we all die!" Rina yelled to Lou as she tried to convince him to not kill Tanya. 

Hearing her words made Yuki angry. Lou's decision was supposed to be a test to show how he truly felt. If his answer were to be influenced by pressure through friends, the test would be meaningless. 

"Oh, is that so? Then let me give you a choice as well," said Yuki.

"Activate ability: Fire Control"

Yuki used his ability to create chains around Rina's arms and tried her to the ground using said fire chains. 

"You can pick the response which Lou has to pick then. If you bear those flames for 1 minute, I'll let everyone go, including Tanya. However if you yell even once during that 1 minute, Tanya along with you will die. Lastly, if you want to be let free from the chains, just tell Lou to kill Tanya and you'll be set free and be allowed to live," explained Yuki.

"Sounds good? Then, start," said Yuki without allowing Rina to answer. 

The moment Yuki increased the heat to his flames, Rina's eyes were filled with tears as she couldn't bear the agonizing pain which was being inflicted on her. She felt as if she was being suffocated by thousands of magma constructed snakes. Each one plunging its fangs into her skin at the same time as it released its venom into her. Not even having 4 seconds pass, Rina yelled out to Lou. 

"Kill her already! I can't bear this pain anymore," Rina yelled. 

Hearing this made Yuki burst out laughing. He had expected her to give up eventually but not that soon. It was almost guaranteed that Rina would give up as the temperature of Yuki's fire constructed chains would drastically increase every 10 seconds, however even before the first increase had occurred, Rina had given in. Even hypothetically, if she had the willpower to hold out for the full 1 minute, she would die as that was what Yuki had programmed the fire chains to do. 

"A wise choice. So what do you say?" Yuki asked Lou. 

"There's no need to over think this. You've seen the way she mistreats you. She had absolutely no respect for you. She humiliated you in front of all these people. Imagine if she was in your shoes. Do you think she would've thought about letting you live? No. She would've killed you without a moment of hesitation," Yuki told Lou. 

As much as Lou wanted to deny the words that came out of Yuki's mouth, he couldn't deny the truth. It was as if the same scene from the final stage of the 2nd dungeon was taking place once again. This time Yuki was Hades while Lou took the place of Yuki. 

"But why me? You could've placed this burden on anyone else so why me?" Lou asked for an explanation. 

"I hate that question. In most cases I would laugh at you and tell you that there's nothing special about you. However, this time there is. I see my old self in you. I don't want to look at that pathetic thing or anything resembling it ever again. In other words, I'm trying to make you evolve so you don't get treated like a lowly dog," replied Yuki.