Axios leaned closer, his breath almost cold against Itsumi's ear.
"The next trial is... delicate, decisive, and swift. If you don't choose, I will — and trust me, you won't like my decision."
His voice was soft, almost fatherly. But his words were poison.
"Just remember this... Nothing you feel is real. The truth only shows when you stop thinking."
They walked in silence, passing down a dim corridor lined with thick metal doors. Each one buzzed faintly. Each one sealed pain inside.
They stopped at the first.
Axios opened it with a casual swipe of his hand. Inside: a small, grim room.
A woman knelt in the corner, holding her two daughters — one barely a teenager, the other no older than five. They trembled when the door opened.
In the center of the room, a pedestal. On top: a sealed glass capsule containing a single pistol.
Axios opened it and placed the weapon in Itsumi's hands. The cold steel felt heavier than anything he'd ever touched.
Then came the command.
"Choose who deserves to live."
For a moment, the room froze.
Itsumi's breath hitched. Even with the emptiness in his soul, even with the silence inside, he couldn't process it.
He was not ready to kill.
Not like this.
Axios grinned wide, drinking in the shock in Itsumi's eyes.
"You hesitate?" he mocked. "Do you think your silence matters? Let me remind you… if you don't decide, I will. And no one will like what I choose."
The mother pleaded.
"Take me. Let them live. I beg you..."
The elder sister stepped forward, shaking.
"No! Take me instead. Let Mom live. Let her protect my sister—"
The youngest clung to her mother, eyes wide and wet, unable to form words.
Itsumi couldn't think. He wasn't a god. He wasn't anything.
But he knew Axios was watching. He knew that hesitation would lead to something worse. He could see it in the man's eyes.
He closed his own.
Breathed in.
And pulled the trigger.
A single shot.One life ended.
The older sister collapsed.Blood pooled.The mother's scream pierced the room.The younger sister stared, frozen in trauma.
"Excellent choice," Axios whispered, patting Itsumi's back.
And then... the door opened to the next room.
A father with his two sons.Similar age. Similar fear.This time, Itsumi shot the younger.
Then another room.Five sisters.He eliminated the one with the median age. The middle link. The stabilizer.
Again. And again. And again.
Room by room.
Choice by choice.
Bullet by bullet.
At first, the cold returned. Then, nothing at all.
Axios was pleased.
He clapped slowly after the final cell.
"You're learning," he smiled. "Not just to shoot — but to think. You knew I'd punish them if you hesitated. And now? Now you've saved them."
Itsumi didn't respond. He just stared at the last blood-stained floor.
He didn't feel anything.
Axios leaned closer.
"Soon, my boy... you'll be the most lethal weapon this world has ever known."