Chapter 5: Bowing Before the Truth
"Please, sir! Forgive me… I want to live!" Mark screamed as he collapsed to the ground, his entire body trembling violently. Tears streamed down his dirt- and blood-stained face, and his wide eyes quivered like a man watching death crawl toward him step by step.
He no longer had hands to beg with, so he raised the stumps of his severed arms slightly in a desperate gesture, as if his body itself was pleading for mercy on his behalf.
He crawled toward James, dragging himself across the ground, his voice shattered by terror. Every word carried the surrender of a man who knew he stood on the very edge of death.
James swung his blue Qi-energy sword, the blade flashing before it sliced off Mark's left ear with a sharp strike. The ear fell into the mud, and blood burst from the side of his head.
James repeated the same motion with terrifying calm, and Mark's right ear fell as well.
Mark froze in place, blood flowing down both sides of his head as pure horror consumed his features.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Mark screamed with everything left in his body, a scream mixed with absolute pain and shock, his eyes widening so much they seemed ready to burst from agony. In them, raw terror and indescribable suffering reflected like an open wound.
Edward stood to Mark's right without moving, his body frozen despite his long experience with battle and blood. But this was the first time he had ever seen a killer with eyes like those—cold, steady, utterly devoid of mercy.
James stared at Mark with complete disdain, as if all he saw before him was a worthless insect meant to be crushed without hesitation.
"Huh? Why are you screaming? Weren't you the one who wanted to sleep with my wife just a moment ago?" James asked in a flat, questioning tone, as if genuinely puzzled by Mark's natural reaction to pain.
"I'm sorry, I—" Mark began to speak, but he never finished.
His head separated from his body in a single instant.
Mark's corpse collapsed forward onto his chest, while his severed head rolled several meters away. Blood gushed out, forming a small red pool beneath James's feet.
James's white hair was stained with dark splatters of blood, as were his clothes, completing the terrifying and disgusting scene. He kicked Mark's head violently, sending it flying far into the dense forest.
Edward swallowed with extreme difficulty as he watched the horrific sight.
His friend—Mark—the man he considered a brother, had been slaughtered with ease and brutality despite his desperate pleas to survive.
He no longer knew whether to run or stay to face his fate. Should he leave his friend's corpse behind?
A storm of conflicting thoughts and emotions flooded his mind and heart: sorrow, fear, terror, confusion, tension, pain, and a silent internal scream drowned in tears.
Edward collapsed to the ground, sweat pouring off him like rain, his hands trembling uncontrollably. Sheer terror froze inside his veins.
"Oh, they used to say: 'We're just farmers'… and now… how disgusting you humans are."
James spoke in a cold, mocking tone as he looked at the collapsed Edward on the ground.
His appearance had changed completely—his thick white hair had fallen down to his stomach, partially covering his face and eyes, giving him a wild and mysterious look. His red eyes glowed beneath the strands.
He continued, directing his gaze toward the terrified Edward: "Didn't you say you wanted to kill me? Please… go ahead. Kill me!"
He said it with a bitter challenge, asking them to carry out their empty threat now that the tables had turned.
"Sir, I'm sorry! I have lots of gold coins! Let me take my friend's body and leave, please!"
Edward's voice was choked and broken, trembling as he begged James, trying desperately to buy his life with money.
His bulging eyes clung to any spark of hope, his fear-distorted face turning into a mask of absolute terror. His shaking hands struggled to hold the dirty cloth pouch that contained his small fortune.
In that moment, he no longer thought about revenge or dignity—survival was all that mattered.
He was willing to give up everything, every principle, for one more breath. The scent of blood and despair filled the air, but Edward focused only on James's cold eyes, hoping to see a flicker of greed or missing mercy.
"Oh… gold?" James said with feigned surprise.
"Yes, sir, I have gold!" Edward replied quickly, overjoyed, believing he had finally been spared.
He took out a medium-sized pouch filled with gold coins.At a glance, it held more than twenty gold coins—worth years of food, clothing, and life for James and his family.
Edward extended the pouch respectfully and eagerly toward James—
But the shock that followed was far too brutal.
The pouch fell to the ground, but his severed hands fell with it.
Edward stared at his severed hands, stunned and horrified.His hope evaporated instantly, leaving nothing but emptiness.
Edward stared into James's red eyes—eyes carrying no trace of mercy.
His whole body trembled like a man awaiting execution, all hope drained to the last drop.
He couldn't even open his mouth to beg… despair had crushed him completely.
James raised his hand slowly, deliberately—
Then brought it down with terrifying force.
Edward's abdomen split open instantly, as if carved by an invisible blade.
A muffled scream escaped his core before it, too, was cut short— A second strike hit his neck, sending his head flying, spinning like a blood-stained ball.
But James did not stop. He continued striking relentlessly. Every swing tore away another piece of Edward's body until his form turned into scattered, unrecognizable chunks.
Edward's head smashed into the ground, while the right half of his body fell in one direction, the other half flung far away, and his entrails spilled across the earth like a bucket dumped at once.
Within seconds, the ground was coated with a thick layer of hot blood, crawling between the stones, while James stood expressionless… as if he hadn't killed a human being, but simply wiped a bothersome insect from his path.
James looked at the scattered remains: severed hands, a mutilated body, and a pool of dark blood gathering around it. He didn't even blink—his gaze was cold to the core.
He walked steadily toward the pouch of gold, picked it up without even glancing at it, then approached Mark's corpse and began rummaging through it without a shred of respect.
After a moment, he found another pouch containing gold and silver coins, shoved it into his pocket, then pulled Mark's sword out from beneath him.
He wasn't done.He searched Mark's body again, flipping it harshly as if it were a filthy rag.
After confirming there was nothing else of value, he tossed it aside.
Then he turned to Edward's remains. He bent over and rummaged through the shredded clothes, finding a black dagger decorated with dark red patterns, radiating a strange power.
He held it with faint admiration, then took Edward's sword as well, carrying it like a cold trophy before continuing his final search.
When he finished searching the corpses, James stood still for a moment, staring at the chaos around him—torn remains, splattered blood, and a sharp stench filling the air.
The scene was truly horrifying, so much so that even James didn't want to leave it as it was.
He thought for a moment about what to do with it all, then an idea sparked in his eyes.
He smiled lightly and said calmly, as though he had found the simplest solution:
"Easy… I'll burn everything and be done with it."
James took some wood from the yard and lit a fire until the flames rose nearly two meters high.
Then he took Edward's mangled limbs and threw them into the fire without hesitation.
The smell of burning flesh and blood filled the air.
He did the same with Mark's corpse and severed head, tossing all remains into the flames.
Once he made sure the fire was consuming everything, he took a wooden bucket full of water and poured it over the blood-soaked ground once… twice.
The water mixed with the blood, but it didn't disappear completely.
This put him in trouble—how would he explain this much blood to his wife and children?
He looked around anxiously, searching for a way to erase every trace.
James brought another bucket, but water alone did nothing—the blood still screamed its color onto the ground.
He pressed his lips in irritation, then turned toward the fire devouring the corpses.
He waited until thick black ash accumulated around the edges of the fire pit, then took a small shovel and gathered a large amount—ash mixed with charred remnants of bone and flesh.
He returned to the bloodstained spot and poured the ash over it slowly. The damp ash absorbed the red color like a sponge absorbs water. He scrubbed the ground with his hand and his boot until the blood turned into a layer of dark mud.
Then he poured a little water on it again, and the place took on the color of charred earth—no trace of the massacre that had occurred minutes earlier.
He breathed deeply as he looked at his work.
No more blood, no more remains, no thread to reveal what he had done—
Only the lingering scent of ash and burnt flesh drifting through the air.
James stood in the middle of the yard, staring at the ground, then at his own blood-soaked state from head to toe.
His long white hair, reaching his stomach, was streaked with dark strands of blood, hanging heavily as if carrying the weight of what he had done moments ago.
He didn't want his wife and children to see him like this, so he removed his stained clothes and threw them into the slowly dying fire.
Then he walked toward a second bucket of water, lifted his long hair with one hand, and poured water over it, letting the blood drip from its ends to the ground.
He washed his face, his shoulders, his chest, scrubbing hard until his skin returned to its natural color.
When he passed his hand over his shoulder, he felt a hard swelling—Edward's strike had been stronger than he expected, but he ignored the pain as he always did.
He kept washing his long hair until it regained its bright whiteness, then let water run down his soaked pants without trying to dry them.
He took a calm breath, then walked toward the house.
After two or three steps, he placed his hand on the door… and opened it.
As soon as he did, he found Rona and the children sitting on the floor, crying and trembling as they clung to her tightly.
Rona lifted her head toward him, tears still on her cheeks, fear filling the children's eyes.
But James smiled—a smile of deep relief, as if the sight of his family safe was the only thing capable of calming the storm inside him.
He walked toward them quietly and knelt before them, extending his hands to comfort them with a soft voice.
He embraced Rona first, holding her tightly as if trying to erase all the terror she had felt.
Then he took little Rin into his arms, lifting him and kissing his forehead, and the child's crying slowly faded.
Then he pulled Jin into his other arm, giving them both the same sense of safety.
For a moment… James seemed as if he had not come from a field of death, but from the arms of his family.
"Are you hurt, James? Does anything hurt? Are they gone… those men?" Rona asked in a trembling voice, firing questions rapidly as she ran her hands over his body searching for any wound.
"I heard their screams… what exactly happened?" She continued, staring at his face with clear worry.
James smiled gently and said: "Nothing happened… what matters is that you forget about them completely."
Rona's expression froze for a moment.
She realized James had done something bad—something he didn't want her to know— But her fear for her family was stronger than her curiosity.
She swallowed her questions and buried them in silence.
…
Thirty days passed after the incident, and it was time for James to receive his reward from the system.
He obtained the 150 points he had been promised, but what he did not expect was the special gift the system granted him in addition to the basic reward…
The system gave him a full twenty years of internal energy as a reward for completing the mission beyond expectations.
That massive increase in energy raised his level directly to a low-rank knight of the fifth tier—an advancement he never could have imagined in such a short time.
With the points he earned, he purchased from the system a special technique for cultivating internal energy, so that he could train his two children, who had now reached the proper age to learn…
During that period, James did not limit himself to training and energy. He also traveled to the city, determined to change his family's life entirely.
He hired a group of builders to construct a new home for him—large and spacious, befitting his family's rising status. It cost him about three hundred silver coins, but he didn't hesitate to pay.
Then he visited the marketplace and bought his wife many gifts and luxurious silk clothes in soft, bright colors—so many that they no longer fit in a single bag.
He didn't forget his children either; he bought them new clothes, good shoes, and everything that could make their lives more comfortable.
As for himself, he purchased durable yet elegant clothing, spending nearly another hundred silver coins…
But he was completely satisfied. It was the first time he felt he could give his family a better life without fear.
…
In the evening, inside James's room—
"James… I want another child, a girl this time. What do you think?"
Rona said softly as she lay beside him, wrapping her arm around his and holding it gently, lifting her eyes toward him with a gaze full of love and shy tenderness.
James froze for a moment. "A… daughter?" he repeated in surprise, staring into his wife's bashful eyes.
This was the first time he had ever heard such a request since arriving in this world.
Although he had lived with Rona for a while—sharing kisses, embraces, and warmth—
He had never approached her as a husband in truth.
He had never been intimate with her, so he felt both surprised and slightly flustered by her directness.
Rona stared at James's bare chest with warm eyes, as if seeing the very home of her safety.
She lifted her hand slowly, placing a soft touch on his skin, like a whisper.
It wasn't just a touch—it was a silent attempt to tell him everything she couldn't say in words.
When her fingers reached his heart, she felt his warm pulse beneath her palm, and a small shy smile appeared on her lips, filled with love and gratitude.
She leaned closer, pressing herself gently against his arm, closing her eyes as if drawing enough strength from his presence to last a lifetime.
James smiled, then reached around her waist lightly and flipped her with ease, sitting above her as though he held his entire world between his arms.
He lowered his lips to her neck, brushing against it as if reading it, then lifted them to her lips and kissed her—a kiss that ignited something inside him.
[ +10 days of internal energy ]
A warm current surged through James's body, an unfamiliar power flooding his limbs and heightening his senses.
He paused, confused for a moment, then realized the wave of energy had come from… the kiss alone.
To confirm, he cupped Rona's face and kissed her again— A deep, full kiss that mingled their breaths, sending another wave of power through his veins.
[ +30 days of internal energy ]
The truth became clearer: Every intimate act with his wife granted him system rewards.
For a moment, he looked back—he had kissed her before, embraced her many times.
So why hadn't he received anything then?
But he quickly discarded the thought. What mattered now was far more important.
He looked at Rona lying beneath him—relaxed, flushed, offering no resistance— Just trusting him completely.
He smiled softly and whispered: "Shall we… begin for real?"
His hand slid to the edges of her clothes, removing each piece slowly, as if unveiling layers of light.
The more he revealed, the deeper he sank into the beauty unfolding before him. Rona's breathing grew quicker, a soft moan rising from her—but he caught her lips before she could speak, swallowing her voice into his kiss.
When James finished, he lay beside her for a moment, catching his breath. Then he turned toward Rona, who lay beside him in a deep, peaceful calm, like a white cloud resting on her chest.
He gently pulled the moon-colored silk blanket and draped it over her, wrapping her in a soft warmth.
He said nothing—he simply watched her. He observed her serene face, the faint lines of exhaustion near her eyes, the blush still coloring her cheeks, and the soft smile resting on her lips even in sleep.
She looked to him like a precious treasure he never wanted anyone else to touch, as if the world itself had quieted to make room for this moment alone.
He felt a strange gratitude… Gratitude for her presence, her warmth, and the energy she had unknowingly given him.
As he watched her, he realized his new strength meant nothing if he wasn't the shield that protected the woman who had become the center of his life.
He moved closer, running his fingers through her hair scattered across the pillow, and whispered:
"I do not protect you because you are weak… but because you are the most precious thing I have."
[ +10 years of internal energy ]
A massive surge of power shot through James like a bright bolt of lightning piercing his spine and flooding his limbs.
In one instant, he leaped from a low-rank knight—seventh tier—straight to the ninth tier.
His muscles hardened, his senses heightened, and his power grew so much that he felt the world itself was no longer large enough to contain his new body.