Chapter 50: 49 - Killing

Huh, this place is pretty fancy...we'd teleported to some facility, where Director Ziva Silva wanted to test out my shooting skills. I was going to be fitted with the prototype drone that doubled as a jetpack, and then I'd be made to do some target practice. We were currently walking down a long, winding corridor, and this place looked really state-of-the-art. It was just Director Silva, myself and my sister.

"Tell me, Kilzachs, have you ever shot a human before?" Inquired Director Silva curiously. 

"Hm? I guess so, I've shot at my classmates during duels, if that counts. I also shot some Wights, they do count as human, after all," I responded after thinking it over. 

"That's a good point you bring up...what should we consider the Wights as? Humans like us? Or something different? What do you think?" She asked me with a look of interest. 

I don't really like getting philosophical, but it looks like that's what she's looking for... 

"Honestly? I don't care. If you put both a human from the Sanctuary and a Wight in front of me and tell me to kill them both for, say, a certain amount of CredPoints, I'd probably kill them both." 

"...that was an interesting example you picked," She remarked with a glint in her eyes,"If you really mean that, then this test should be quite a breeze for you."

"You, uh, kinda scare me sometimes, Zax," Laughed my sister, a bit nervously. 

"You're one to talk, you were pretty brutal when you fought the Wights," I pointed out. 

"Huh? No I wasn't! I'm pretty sure I killed all of them with one strike each!" She protested indignantly. 

"Exactly, brutal...they never even stood a chance." 

"Hey, it's not my fault that they weren't in my league!" She argued with a huff. 

"Pretty much no one's in your league though."

Director Silva then cleared her throat to get our attention, as we reached a large door. 

"It's right through here, Kilzachs. Let's determine just how much of an asset you can be for us, shall we?" 

With that, she pushed the door open and gestured for us to head in. We complied and walked in through the doorway, my eyes widening in surprise. 

"Woah! This place is massive! Hey, how big is this place, director?" Inquired my sister in awe. 

"It's about six hundred meters on all sides."

Seriously? 

Like my sister said, it was a massive space. The door opened up to a viewing platform with a railing, a sort of balcony that was about fifty meters above the floor. I walked over to the railing and peered down...it was an empty space, with a couple of closed gates on either side. 

"Hey, where are we anyway? There aren't any buildings in the X-Warrior Zone that are big enough to house such a large room, not as far as I know anyway," Remarked Kilella with a confused look. 

"We're probably underground," I replied, looking around, "I haven't seen any windows since we teleported here."

"That's right, we're underground, but you don't need to know specifically where. Now, then, Kilzachs...are you ready? I'm about to tell you what you're about to do."

"Sure, lay it on me."

She then tapped on her I-Watch and made a couple of clicks on her holo-screen, and as she did, the gates on either side of the space below us opened, and some robots came out...each of them with a restrained human in tow. The robots then dropped the humans onto the floor and took off their restraints, as the gates closed. 

"See those twenty people down there? They're all criminals, and you get the honor of executing them. Don't worry, none of them are small-time criminals, they've all committed heinous crimes such as rape, murder, animal cruelty, kidnapping, torturing, and even cannibalism."

For real? 

"Wait, what? I've only ever seen minor crimes reported in the Sanctuary, like small robberies and vandalism and stuff," I replied in surprise. 

"Severe crimes are typically kept under wraps, so that we can maintain the status quo," Kilella informed me. 

"That's right, especially since some of these pieces of trash did their crimes specifically for the sake of gaining infamy. We should learn from the past, there were often times where after a crime is broadcast and the criminal exposed, copycats were inspired. By keeping major crimes and the identities of the criminals out of the public eye, we minimize future potential crimes. At least, that's the logic we follow," Explained Director Silva. 

"Yeah, I can definitely see where you're coming from. So, you want me to kill these people? If they've really committed the crimes you mentioned, then I'm totally fine with that," I remarked affirmatively. 

"You sure, Zax?" Asked Kilella with a worried look. 

"Yeah, I don't have any qualms with killing these people. I mean, they are the type of people that'd be better of dead...right?" I responded with a shrug. 

"Yes, that's right. It's not true that everyone deserves second chances, some people are beyond forgiveness," Nodded Director Silva approvingly. 

With that, I equipped the drone-jetpack and put my X-Blasters on long-range mode at twice the minimum output. 

"Wait, how do I fly this thing?" 

"Oh, right...that might have slipped my mind. Well, it takes some getting used to actually," She replied sheepishly, "In that case, I'll control the drone this time, so you focus solely on your shooting. Is that alright?" 

"Well, uh...do you know how to control the drone?" I responded warily. 

"Yes, I do, I've practiced with it...admittedly, a little bit out of boredom, but as a result, I'm fairly confident in my remote control skills." 

"...not gonna lie, I'm a bit skeptical, but fine, I guess."

After I finished strapping on the drone and put on a wireless communicator on my ear, she brought up remote control access linked to the drone on her I-Watch, and began tapping away. I then found myself floating upwards, before hovering forward and above the criminals, who were all staring up at me hungrily...ugh, they're making my skin crawl. 

"Hey, why don't you come down here, young man? I'll show you a good time!" 

"No need to be afraid, we ain't gonna hurt you!" 

"Yeah, come on down, we-!" 

Before the last one could finish his sentence, I fired straight down at his open mouth, which burst through the back of his neck, killing him. 

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"The next person to talk will be the next person to die. So, any of you lowlives got anything to say?" I inquired coldly. 

"Were you...aiming for his mouth?" Director Silva inquired into the earpiece. 

"Yeah, specifically, I was trying to blast his tongue off. He fell facedown though, so I don't know if I hit my mark." 

"I-I see...now, then, I'll instruct you on which ones to target and where to strike them. First, make them panic and run around, moving targets will make for a more informative display."

"Sure, that's easy enough," I replied, before turning my attention back down to the criminals, "Hey, I'm gonna start blasting you pieces of crap now, but guess what, if you manage to dodge when I target you, you'll be spared! So, go on...start running!"

Panic spread through the remaining nineteen of them like wildfire, as they desperately began to get away, running as far away from me as possible...this was a large space, but...if I hovered around the middle, then the entire space would be well within my range. 

"Do you see the woman with long blonde hair? She was found kidnapping children and torturing them, skinning them alive bit by bit...shoot her hands off."

Let's see, long blonde hair...ah, there we go. I locked my sights onto her hands, took aim, and fired...she let out a scream of pain as I hit my marks, her fingers getting blown off and blood pouring out of her mangled hands. 

"Now, shoot her in the head."

I fired a shot at her head, as it pierced through the back of her head and burst out of her face, her screams fading as she collapsed onto the ground, blood pooling around her head rapidly. The panic amongst the rest of the criminals was starting to grow, as they stared in horror at the puddle of blood. 

"Next, the bald man with the scar on his neck...he's a serial rapist, so shoot his crotch."

I spotted the person she was referring to, he was running away with his back turned to me...I took aim and fired down, my sights locked at the base of his spine. My shot went through his lower back and burst out his front from below the waist, blood spraying out everywhere. He instantly collapsed forward, limp and unmoving. 

"Did he just die of shock from his dick getting blow off?" I inquired, as he showed no signs of movement. 

"E-er, perhaps...but just to be safe, shoot him through the heart."

I complied, blasting his heart through his back. 

"Alright, which one next?" 

I have to admit...this is kinda fun. I could feel my heart rate increasing, adrenaline pumping through my veins... 

"Let's change things up a bit. I'm going to start moving you around randomly, and while I'm doing that, you kill all the remaining criminals with headshots as quickly as possible." 

"Got it, no problem."

My drone-jetpack started darting me around sharply, but it didn't take me long to get the hang of it...she said she'd be moving me around randomly, but after a few seconds, I started to get a feel for the pattern she was moving me around in...she probably didn't even realize that she wasn't exactly moving me around randomly. 

I then switched to sniping mode since some of the criminals were now well over a hundred meters away, and began blasting them one by one rapidly, the screams of terror slowly growing quieter and quieter as I shot through their heads and dropped them like flies. 

Including the few seconds I took to get used to being moved around by someone else, it took me just over twenty seconds to kill them. That was pretty easy. The smell of blood was in the air, as the several corpses laying on the ground below bled out rapidly. The drone then flew me back to the balcony, and I took it off after it landed me. 

Like I'd said before, I have no qualms with killing people...but I wasn't as unaffected as I thought I'd be. I expected to feel completely indifferent by this, but...I...I really enjoyed it. Seeing them desperately trying to get away in vain, as they never stood a chance of surviving against me...I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. I felt powerful in that moment...their lives were in my hands, I had complete control over whether they lived or died...and I savored that feeling... 

"That was...even better than I expected," Remarked Director Silva, walking up to me, "I'm confident that we'll be contacting you soon, Kilzachs. Oh, and this goes without saying, but...keep all this to yourself. If word gets around that we're potentially planning a massacre of, what are essentially, mutated humans, there are bound to be some 'ethical' voices of opposition from our civilians, and the last thing we need right now is internal conflict. From my point of view, it's quite simple...we eliminate any threat to the Sanctuary by any means necessary."

This whole time, she'd maintained that they were only considering attacking the Wight campsite, but...something told me that they were already moving forward with that plan. 

"Sure, mum's the word, or whatever."

"From what we've learnt from interrogating Hebi, the Wight that was captured, their ammunition as far as firearms are concerns is very limited. They've managed to manufacture a supply of more primitive explosives, gunpowder and dynamite, so that's a concern, but they accomplished that very recently, so it's not an immediate problem," She informed me, "As for XFE, I believe we have the upper hand...they do apparently have a few powerful XFE users, but their power levels overall fluctuate drastically. After all, their XFE isn't modulated like we do using the chip that's installed during the Awakening Procedure."

"Yeah, come to think of it, the ones we fought had some pretty weak XFE capabilities, right, sis?" I remarked, recalling the battle. 

"Yeah, that's true, they weren't a challenge at all."

"Oh, wait...actually, they might have been strong, but since you're so overpowered and took them out in a matter of seconds, they didn't have the chance to display their abilities...yeah, that's more likely if you ask me," I said half-jokingly. 

"Hey!" 

"Kilella, you and the other Aces will also be a part of this, of course. Originally, the plan was to bomb them and take out as many as possible, using the XFE bombs that were proposed to be manufactured, and after that, the best of our X-Warriors would swarm the survivors and kill them. But now, we can scrap the making of the bombs, and instead bombard them with an aerial assault using X-Warriors who can fly, that includes you, of course. And as for you, Kilzachs, after that display just now, you will likely be selected to lead the aerial assault."

...cool, thanks for the casual bombshell. I'm gonna unpack that later. Also... 

"I thought you said that this attack plan was only a possibility...but you're talking as if it's a certainty," I remarked with a smirk. 

"You're sharp. I suppose there's no need to be vague about it...yes, it's true, we plan to go ahead with this, probably within the next thirty days, if all goes according to plan. Now, then, let's head back, shall we?"

As she walked on ahead, my sister stepped up next to me with a slightly concerned expression. 

"What's up, Ella, something on your mind?" 

"Well...I don't know, it's just, that massacre earlier...yeah, I know they were all criminals, but something about it just left a bad taste in my mouth is all, you know?" 

"I kinda get what you're saying, but-."

"Oh, by the way, Kilzachs...I'd like you to move to the X-Warrior Zone, on a temporary basis, of course. For two reasons, first, because that'd make it easier to contact you, and second...because I think you should be the one to keep guard over that Wight...you are the one who stopped him from getting away, after all. Don't worry, he's quite cooperative, so it'll probably feel more like having a roommate than guard duty."

"...wait, what?"

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