"What do you think humans have but ignore?"
"..."
"Its murderous nature."
"Although one might argue, saying that I've never killed in my life, that's not true."
"As long as you've walked before, you've killed ants, flies, and cockroaches. One can say that your very existence leads to the death of any other creature."
"Morality is aesthetic. If something looks beautiful, killing it is a disgusting, inhuman act. If it's ugly, not many would bat an eye."
"To live is to kill, and to kill is to live."
"Boy, once you claim your first human life, you gain the eyes of a devil—one who doesn't follow the 'morality is aesthetic' rule."
****
As the four bangs rang through the mansion, Leonard thought of a conversation he had once had with a mysterious man. It wasn't Caesar's memory, but Leonard's alone.
Blood was coming out of his mouth, some returning through his nose attempting to drown him in his own blood. His ribs felt broken and his lower body felt numb. Leonard was in severe pain.
But despite all this, when he saw Richard touch his stomach where four consecutive bullets had hit, a smile found its way onto his face.
His golden eyes had signs of madness.
Leonard was fully prepared to end Richard's life. Most would feel guilty towards doing this, but strangely, Leonard didn't have such guilt in him.
He was almost numb to it; it was like it was nature.
'Ah, I understand it now.'
'To live is to kill.' At this moment, Leonard had finally understood what the man back then had meant.
Leonard could no longer be considered human. He lost that privilege when he killed people—humans.
The "beauty is aesthetic" rule no longer applied to him.
Despite being in excruciating pain, he launched himself at Richard. Once he did, he pushed two of his fingers where the bullets had pierced.
If one bullet were to pierce Richard, he would only receive twenty-five percent damage due to his Qi, but now that four bullets had pierced him in the same spot, it was now like a normal bullet had pierced him, absorbing one hundred percent damage.
Leonard ruthlessly pushed his fingers into Richard's wound. While his fingers were still in, he lifted his right arm, which was holding his revolver, and hit Richard's head.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. The sound of metal hitting something rung through the room. Looking at Leonard's brutality, everyone was quiet, not expecting the turn of events.
Be it Melissa, who knew Leonard for most of her life, or Lillian, who was Leonard's sister, all were quiet at this moment witnessing the scene in front of them.
Alexander and Elizabeth weren't that shocked by the turn of events. Alexander had a neutral expression; however, Elizabeth had a sinister smile on her face.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Leonard continued to hit Richard in the head while lunging his fingers into his wound. Richard's eyes were slowly losing their luster; his concentration was reducing.
Lillian or Garrett could've interfered in the match, but they didn't. Despite how it looked, Richard was most likely going to survive. Unless a huge wound was infected, those with a Rank were hard to kill. At most, he would lose his consciousness.
Morgana didn't interfere as she knew this fact as well; if she did, she would also be directly shaming the Agnes family.
Melissa was the only one who had a right to interfere as she was his legal fiancée, but she didn't. To her, as long as Leonard chose to do something wholeheartedly, she had no right to interfere. As long as Melissa didn't interfere, no one would, and she did just that. She watched Leonard's brutal violence until he stopped.
Richard had finally lost consciousness. Once Leonard noticed that Richard lost his consciousness, Leonard fell to the floor, giving in to his injuries and losing his consciousness.
***
In a narrow road, a man in a black suit with slightly long white hair could be seen walking slowly. It was currently nighttime; his facial features couldn't be seen, but his hair's unique color could be seen.
Gas lamps nearby provided light. Once his face was illuminated by this light, his facial features were shown.
He had two different eye colors: the one on his left was black, while the one on his right was green. He had quite an attractive appearance with a scarless face. He seemed to be in his twenties.
If one paid enough attention, they would have noticed that he had what looked like a knife in his back pocket. He also had a holster under his left armpit which hid a gun.
He spotted a young lady walking on the road he was on. She was walking in his direction while he was walking in hers. A gas lamp provided a brief pool of light.
The girl was able to see the man's features; the man also saw the lady's features. She was of average appearance with slightly long black hair, wearing a long black dress.
They both walked past each other, but suddenly the man stopped.
"Do you know what it means to be hungry?" the man suddenly asked.
Hearing his voice, the girl turned to see if he was the one talking to her. A brief illustration of light let her see that the man was looking at her with no one else being around.
"Um, sorry sir, are you by chance talking to me?" the lady asked politely.
"Yes, I am," the man replied, then asked, "So, have you ever experienced true hunger?"
Listening to the man talk, the girl was confused. If the man was asking her out or asking for something, she would have given a fast reply, but the man was asking about experiencing hunger.
Everyone had, at least once in their lives, been hungry. The question had an obvious answer.
"Yes, I have, sir." Although being skeptical of the man, the lady replied, wanting to be over with the issue.
Hearing her reply, a proud, confident and predatory smile found itself on his face.
"Enough to wait a whole decade?"