Allowing him to preserve enough strength to retaliate and pull his attacker off his back. But vital or not, the wound wasn't in a good place, "Sixteen!" he called his teammate for help as the attacker came again to finish the job.

But before Sixteen was able to to help his friend a tail latched on to his neck and pulled him into the muddy water. He struggled with his arms to pull himself out but the wet ground just absorbed his strength and sunk him deeper into the water. It didn't take long for the kid to run out of breath as five climb out of the water, dagger in hand.

Two was definitely bigger than both of them by two years, despite the lack of speed, just his strength alone made it difficult for them to come close as he swung his longer hands wildly around. They circled him, moving apart once in a while to get into his blind spot, but like them, he'd been trained well.

As Thirteen stood as a vanguard, Five made the observation, tapping on Thirteen's back to signal the next move.

Thirteen lunged forward first, drawing the hand with the knife. slipping just enough to lock it as Five came in and jumped up. Two raised his hand to s.h.i.+eld against the knife from making a fatal cut, but in mid-air Five switched the direction of the blade, cutting the boy's hand which was still being held by thirteen.

The young boy couldn't help but squeal at the sight, seeing his arm in such a state the boy scrambled backwards. Taking a spare dagger from his pack, he slit his own throat to the horror of both Thirteen and Five.

But it only lasted a while for them. They understood what this was about, and even if the boy managed to survive, they doubted if he could end up keeping his life which such an injury.

Five tried to shake it off and move forward, but seeing Thirteen's face blanch, Five decided to rest for a moment. "Having trouble with killing suddenly?" Five tried to joke.

"No, killing has already gotten easy, too easy, this... this is something else entirely." Thirteen looked at the boy's eyes, already lifeless and yet still open, twisted in a mix of pain, fear and sadness. Thirteen turned to Five, "You could've gone for a kill strike."

"You're blaming me on this? it was us or them!" Five shouted in anger.

"I know!" Thirteens voice rang out, silencing Five's outburst, "I know, but it doesn't mean he had to feel this before dying." Thirteen walked over and closed the boy's eyes.

"Oh great! an a.s.sa.s.sin with a conscience!" Five's hands were thrown in the air.

"It's not a conscience, it's a code." Thirteen spoke.

"What's the difference?" Five looked over confusedly.

"Our job requires us to kill," Thirteen explained. "And I've gotten over that fact a long time ago, but even if I have to kill, there are somethings I refuse to do... You get it?" Thirteen looked at Five.

Looking down, Five could only sigh in exasperation, "Sadly... I think I do... But one day that code of your's is going to get you into trouble."

Unbeknownst to them, it was going to happen sooner than they could ever expect.

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This was their final exam, out of the hundreds of Children they were separated into pairs of their own choosing. In the swamps they were thrown into, they would have to eliminate all other teams in their group to graduate and finally call themselves a Blood child. It was their dream as it was also their only path to freedom, the other alternative was to die here.

Like all other years, one or two people always tied to escape as soon as the event started. but their bodies would soon decorate the center of their respective areas as a warning to the others, quelling the hearts of any hopeful opportunist who were considering the act.

After 4 days of continuously killing their peers, Thirteen and Five finally finished off all the people in their area, moving towards one of the invigilators who would tell them whether they had pa.s.sed or not. They arrived, ragged, wounded and pale, but elated at the very least.

As they looked up they saw the invigilator looking at them, for a while they stared at him not sure how they were supposed to ask this, but Finally the invigilator himself got tired of waiting.

"It seems you've both pa.s.sed the semi-finals, time for the final exam." He spoke coldly.

"Aren't we gong to get some rest first?" Thirteen asked, having a bad feeling about this.

"Don't worry it'll be quick," The invigilator showed a s.a.d.i.s.tic smile. "The one who kills the other will be graduating!"