Return of the Woodcutter

Juliette glared at the direction of the sound with concern. 

'That's impossible… no challengers should be able to break my earth wall.' 

An instinctual fear seized her. She ran towards the entrance, preparing to use Stone Bullet and Earth Wall just in case. 

She peered into the darkness, looking for her target, only to find Aito aiming a short crossbow at her. A bolt flew in her direction, lodging in her frail shoulder.

"Ah, bastard!" She stumbled backward from the pain and gritted her teeth, trying to focus on her skill. 

Due to her experience as a challenger, Juliette was accustomed to pain but not enough to concentrate properly, delaying the formation of her spell. Moreover, she was still tired from being held captive. 

Before she could close the entrance, Aito climbed out of it, soaked, steaming due to his gift, a furious glare in his dark eyes and his ax in hand. 

Juliette started to tremble, "P, p, please, I'm sorry, it, it, it was just a misunderstand—" 

Aito didn't hesitate, dashed towards her, severing her left leg in one hit. 

"AAHHH!" 

"You reap what you sow," he said in a vengeful tone. "You bitch." 

Juliette lifted her hand to plead for mercy. However, Aito crushed it under his foot, thinking she would shoot one of those hateful stone projectiles again.

"Once but not twice," he said with a clear disgust for the woman.

At first, the other challengers watched from the side with incomprehension. However, they quickly figured out what was happening. Just looking at the situation made it quite obvious. 

Despite knowing everything, Xu Chi rushed to his companion's aid, daggers in hand then… halted midway, immobilized by barely visible threads. 

Aito tried to cut off Juliette's right leg, but was also stopped midway. Unable to move his arms or legs, he looked aside to see the face of a man who had saved him before.

Sleon, the moderator of the fourth floor, flew down from the air, landing next to him, "Hold your blade black challenger and calm yourself." 

A thread so thin it was invisible to the naked eyes, entered Aito's brain, tingling up his mind. After it retracted, still vengeful, he felt somewhat calmer as his Gift Fury deactivated. 

"What did you do to me, Sleon? And why are you interrupting me?" He said. 

Although he said that, he knew why. According to Gwen's knowledge, the battle surgeon would save as many lives as possible and that, no matter what. It was impossible to save every challenger during rush hours, yet he has managed to save a lot of them until now. 

Without him, the Tower would probably have close to half the number of challengers it currently had. 

"I simply tempered with your brain a bit so that you wouldn't find yourself in a shattered state like before." Sleon replied, "As for why I'm saving this girl despite what she's done, it's because every life has its purpose and worth. Mine is to save people. Also, at this rate, there won't even be two thousand graduates from this batch." 

Aito scoffed. Thanks to his armor, he could feel the threads binding him progressively loosen, "Like I care. That's not my problem." 

On the ground, Juliette pleaded for mercy. Seeing that it pissed off Aito, Sleon forced her mouth shut. 

"You know that this is mostly your fault if we have fewer challengers this year? From the moment you've arrived until now, you've killed nearly three hundred challengers on your own. Death is a part of the Tower, but we cannot afford to lose too many challengers this year, particularly with a storm brewing on the horizon," Sleon said with a plain face and a calm voice. 

'That bastard…,' Aito knew the man was expressionless but to shamelessly stop him from getting his revenge without even showing an ounce of emotion. That was a first. Moreover….

"Despite knowing what she did, you still want to save such a despicable bitch? I saved her, Sleon! And what did I get in return? I was stabbed in the back out of pure greed! She wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for me! Yet she betrayed me for TPs? Had I known this I would have killed her and fed her to goblins." 

Sleon sighed, showing his first sign of emotion in a while, "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. To take a life is to deny a possible future. Killing isn't just the end of a person, it is the end of a road that might just lead to the outcome we are all fighting for. So, who are you to deal out death in judgment?" 

Also, had you not seemed capable of escaping on your own, I would have helped you. However, I expected Gwen's apprentice to be able to do this much. Even more so since he is the black challenger." 

That moderator started to annoy Aito. What Sleon had just said couldn't possibly apply to the case of this challenger, right? Such a greedy woman ready to kill her own savior would never lead Iris to a brighter future, right? 

Sleon's argument didn't make much sense to him in the first place. Also, why should he care about what happens to Iris if he took the life of someone that threatened his own? Where was the fairness in that? 

There was none. 

Aito noticed the bindings surrounding him loosened. Probably enough for him to deal a killing blow to his target that was supposed to be bleeding right now. However, Sleon was apparently healing her wounds while speaking to him at the same time. 

"I don't care about what happens to Iris, Sleon. All I care for is the people that matter to me and my own goals. Not the gods'. Not yours. Not anyone else's. I am truly grateful you saved my life back then. But you cannot ask me to back out from this just because of your principles. I will not leave this place empty-handed, Sleon. I am taking her head with me." 

The moderator shook his head, "I'm not asking you to leave here empty-handed, Aito Walker. Tell me, what do you intend to do with all the items you have taken from the goblin's treasury? You can't be possibly thinking of bringing all of this with you. So, this is what I'm offering. If you let this woman live, I will buy everything you have looted from goblins for a million TP."