Tom couldn’t resist taunting Daniel further, his arrogance showing no bounds as he looked down on him.
“Listen here, you brat,” he sneered, his voice dripping with condescension.
“I don’t know how you were able to kill those men earlier on, but don’t think for a second it’ll work on us”
”I already know that your mana is at its end, and don’t think you can use your weird skills again.”
Tom’s words were laced with insult and mockery, and his confidence in Daniel’s supposed weakness was palpable.
Little did he know that he was gravely underestimating Daniel’s capabilities.
However, Daniel chose not to correct him, instead observing the situation with a sense of amusement, biding his time.
It was as if he was toying with them and playing along with a children’s prank.
Tom’s assumption about Daniel’s depleted mana was quickly adopted by the police and military personnel.
It gave them a false sense of security and relief, sparing them from what they believed would be a grim fate.
This misconception comforted them, and they let their guard down, thinking they were in control.
“Listen to me, everyone, and to all the residents!”
Tom shouted, turning toward the onlookers who were recording the scene with their phones.
His voice boomed, echoing in the air as he continued, unaware of the impending twist of fate.
The onlookers, both the curious and the frightened, watched and listened attentively to Tom’s words, unaware of the dramatic events that would soon unfold before their eyes.
With an air of arrogance, Tom raised his hand, relishing the moment as he continued to feed his own ego.
The crowd watched, partly fascinated and partly convinced by his confident demeanour.
“Do not fear this murderer’s powers,” he declared, his voice carrying over the assembled crowd.
“As he must have used some trick, and neither can he use it again, and I can guarantee you that.”
Tom’s words resonated with the gathered onlookers, who were more inclined to believe the authoritative figure than to seek the truth directly from Daniel.
The illusion that Daniel was powerless began to settle in their minds, leaving them less fearful and more willing to side with the Guild members who had arrived on the scene.
The perception of Daniel had shifted dramatically in the eyes of the crowd.
Once seen as a devil with rampaging powers, the presence of the Guild members, who were held in unimaginable trust, began to sway public opinion.
Guilds played a pivotal role in safeguarding the citizens’ safety, and their reputation for reliability and competence was well-established.
The residents saw them as a source of security and placed their trust in the Guilds, making them more inclined to believe and be persuaded by their words.
In this tense moment, the balance of power had shifted.
Daniel found himself not only facing the authorities but also contending with the weight of public perception that had been manipulated in favour of the Guilds.
“I, from the Guild, Champions of the Sun, will use our guild name to vanquish this evil human, and fret not that I won’t lose to—”
Before Tom could bask any longer in his self-assured grandeur, Daniel chose to put an end to this theatrical display right before him.
With a casual flick of his finger, Daniel unleashed an unstoppable force, a shockwave of power that travelled with breathtaking speed.
It hit Tom and his friends with such ferocity that they barely had time to comprehend what was happening.
In an instant, those who had aligned themselves with Tom were obliterated, their bodies reduced to nothing more than a gruesome, bloody mist.
The sheer force of the impact was cataclysmic, and their remains were scattered like dust on the wind.
But the force didn’t stop there.
It surged onward, a relentless tide of power that reached the police and military lines.
The unfortunate souls caught in its path met the same gruesome fate, their bodies disintegrating into a crimson haze.
The onlookers, once shocked into silence, now erupted into a chorus of terrified screams and frantic cries for help.
Daniel’s display of power had left an indelible mark on their minds, a chilling reminder of the true extent of his abilities.
The ground beneath them bore the brunt of Daniel’s unleashed power.
It cracked and shattered as though a seismic event had struck, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
If he had chosen to employ even more power, the consequences could have been catastrophic.
A whole city might have been at risk of crumbling under the weight of his abilities.
It was almost terrifying to think that what had just occurred was merely a demonstration of his raw strength.
Perhaps one could call it a ‘Normal Flicker’ in the context of what he was truly capable of.
With a tone of both amusement and power, Daniel addressed the stunned crowd, “All of you babbled too much, and who in the world claimed that I ran out of Mana?”
For Daniel, guilt and regret were luxuries he couldn’t afford, especially when it came to dealing with monsters or even humans themselves.
His experiences had shown him the true nature of humanity, and he often saw them as monsters in disguise.
He harboured no illusions of being a saintly figure.
The miracle opportunity that had transported him back to the past hadn’t transformed him into a hero out to save the day.
Instead, he remained a survivor, determined to navigate the treacherous waters of life as best as he could.
His ultimate goal was to undo the mistakes of his past, even if it meant making morally grey decisions along the way.
Daniel understood that in both worlds, survival often required one to embrace their inner side.
Indeed, some might label Daniel as a murderer for his actions, even if those lives he took were innocent.
But for him, it was always a matter of not giving a damn.
He was, by his own admission, a selfish man, and it was this very selfishness that had allowed him to survive and make it as far as he had.
In the future where kindness could be mistaken for weakness and hesitation could be fatal, Daniel had learned to prioritize his own survival above all else.
It wasn’t a choice he made lightly, but it was a choice he felt compelled to make in order to undo his past mistakes and secure a future for himself.
The guild groups, once so confident and brash, quickly realized the gravity of their mistake and started fleeing for their lives. ．𝚌ｏｍ
“R-Run! It’s a monster!!”
One of their members shouted in fear, and panic spread like wildfire among the rest.
All their bravado crumbled in an instant when faced with an opponent they deemed unbeatable.
A single flick of Daniel’s power had wiped out Tom and his friends, shattering their illusions of invincibility.
“No way, you guys are running away from me,” Daniel said with a sinister smile.
As they scattered like frightened chickens, he summoned dozens of fiery orbs that appeared all around him.
With precision, he directed these fireballs towards the fleeing guild members, turning them into charred, lifeless figures in a gruesome display of power.
Their desperate escape only led to a more horrifying fate at the hands of Daniel’s wrath.
“AAAAAAHHHH”
“It hurts!!!”
“Help me!!!”
In agonizing screams, they experienced the horrifying sensation of being burnt alive, their cries echoing in desperation.
Some fell to the ground, their scorched bodies writhing in pain, as they futilely attempted to crawl towards the police and military forces, their hope for salvation clinging to the distant figures.
“H….H…Help…..M….Me,”
One of them choked out with a voice that barely resembled a human’s, his outstretched, charred hand reaching for help.
It was a haunting sight, a stark reminder of the merciless power that had just been unleashed upon them.
In the end, the lifeless bodies of the guild members dropped to the ground, and as they made contact with the earth, they crumbled into charred dust.
It was a gruesome spectacle, leaving no trace of their existence except for the ashen remains.
In a matter of minutes, a total of 5 groups from different guilds, totalling 25 members, had met their demise at the hands of a single man.
The police and military, on the other hand, stood frozen in shock, their minds struggling to comprehend how 25 individuals had been killed by one man in such a short span of time.
It was a scene of unimaginable power and destruction that defied all rational explanation.
The police and military had initially planned to overwhelm Daniel if he made any aggressive moves, but the sheer display of power he had just exhibited had left them paralyzed with fear.
Their well-rehearsed procedures had been forgotten, and now they were at a loss on how to proceed.
Trembling and sweating, even the Captain, who should have been giving orders, found himself rendered speechless.
The entire scene, including the spectators and those witnessing it online, had left everyone in disbelief.
It was a shocking spectacle that defied any reasonable explanation, and if words could capture the collective sentiment, they would have echoed, “What in the actual world is going on!?”