Criminal X : Epitome Of Evil

Young won.

Each and every soldier and all the eight slaves won their fights.

Young fell on the ground face first, panting. The ground never felt more comfortable to him.

But amidst this joyful situation, everyone was tense.

Cupid was the only one who was relieved as Young was alive. That was all that mattered.

But why was everyone else tense?

Pablo knew about it and before he could speak, some people came forward on their own.

They were Nike, Snow and Flashy.

Nike had retracted his sword and stored it inside its scabbard tied around his waist.

The two slaves had their heads hung low but Flashy was standing straight.

Pablo ignored Flashy and addressed Nike and Snow.

"Speak."

Nike and Snow looked up and Nike did the talking.

"I am sorry I interfered with the fight, sir. I know you wanted Young to figure it out himself but I interfered. Forgive me."

Snow said the same thing after Nike and went silent.

"Hmm." Pablo remained seated cross-legged. "Why did you interfere?"

Nike bowed. "Young is my friend. He is like my little brother. I can't just watch him die, sir. If I hadn't done anything, his death was evident."

Snow bowed as well. "Same here, sir. He is like my brother too. I felt like it was my responsibility to protect him."

Flashy bowed too. He opened his mouth but Pablo raised his hand.

Flashy shut his mouth.

Pablo then looked at the other soldiers.

"Tell me, everyone. What should I do with these people? They interfered with Young's fight. What should be done with them?"

The soldiers looked at each other.

Murmurs spread around the ground and after a few seconds, in unison, all the soldiers said:

"Forgive them, sir. They did nothing wrong."

Pablo smiled. "But they interfered with a fight."

The soldiers nodded and replied again in unison.

"If they hadn't interfered then we would have interfered, sir. Young is our friend. And in the military, we don't let our comrades die."

Pablo's smile turned wide and he finally stood up.

The soldiers kept their eyes on him and their Marshal did something that they hadn't expected.

CLAP!

CLAP!

Pablo began clapping.

The soldiers looked here and there but they saw nothing worthy of being clapped for.

Only Draxus and Flashy were not surprised.

Nevertheless, Pablo didn't keep the other soldiers in suspense for long as he stopped clapping and shared the reason for his smile.

"That was the answer I wanted to hear, everyone."

The soldiers frowned.

Pablo explained.

"Yesterday, you all trained against each other and became friends. Today, in this training I wanted to see if you really became friends or not. And all of your answers told me that, yes, you all have become friends. Comrades. The training of yesterday worked and now you all see each other as one. I am proud of it. Good work."

Nike and Snow's brows shot up.

"So you aren't angry at us that we interfered with Young's fight?"

Pablo laughed. "Why would I be angry about something which I had allowed myself in the first place?"

Everyone furrowed their brows.

"It seems only Draxus and Flashy understood my praise."

Draxus smiled.

Flashy pumped his chest.

Pablo wasn't surprised at Draxus understanding it but Flashy really came out of syllabus.

Pablo knew that Flashy understood because he wasn't afraid like Nike and Sera.

Nike and Sera looked like they had made a mistake helping Young but Flashy stood proudly as he was sure that Pablo wouldn't say anything to him.

Pablo's claims were confirmed when Flashy pumped his chest after hearing his praise.

But the soldiers were still in the dark and Pablo decided to help them.

"Soldiers, after you won your fights do you remember what I said to all of you while praising you?"

The soldiers thought and in a second, they remembered.

Pablo nodded. "Yes. I had said that now you can do whatever you want. Just don't leave the ground. And by saying that, I had already given you the permission to help others who would struggle in their fights. Also, I only said this praise to those who had their Egoes. I didn't praise like this to those who didn't have an Ego. Because I wasn't fully sure that they would be able to help others."

The soldiers heard him and all of them said Ohh. They were not smart enough to understand the hidden meaning behind Pablo's words.

Also, Pablo could have just said this same thing directly, like he could have told the soldiers clearly that they were allowed to help others. But the Marshal didn't do that as he wanted to see if his soldiers were smart enough to understand him or not.

Nevertheless, Pablo found the result good.

Even if the soldiers didn't understand the meaning of his words, they were still ready to help Young. So that counts as a win.

Heck, Pablo was expecting that all the eight slaves would need the help of the soldiers but he was proved wrong.

The slaves managed to win their fight themselves. Excluding Pimple and Young of course.

Pimple got some help from Draxus and Young got help from three people.

Anyway, whatever happened. Pablo was satisfied with the result. So much so that he had already changed the plan that he had made for the slaves for the Hollow kingdom.

The soldiers, meanwhile, heaved a sigh of relief as they were afraid Pablo would kill them for even thinking of helping Young in his fight.

Excluding Snow, the other Egoless slaves were still lying on the ground and all of them had fallen asleep.

Pablo didn't mind them and carried on.

"This camaraderie will come in handy, this will help you all in Hollow and in the war. Stay like the friends you are and all of us will come back alive."

"YES!"

"And tomorrow, we will leave for the Hollow Kingdom and commence the WAR!"

"YES!"

"LET'S Go!"

"Kill!"

The soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs and they were all smiles.

Everything ended well.

Everyone was smiling.

Everyone was happy.

Everyone wa—

THUMP!

Someone landed on Ground 2.

Dust arose around the spot.

And before the dust could settle down, a voice came from behind it and it said:

"We have to commence the War today, Pablo. The Gong has been rung."