I Became A Zompirewolf

Everyone around them gasped when they heard Ashton chat with the commander so nonchalantly. After all, the man in front of him was possibly the strongest C-grade brawler in the galaxy. Heck, even quite a few B-grades tried to not engage him. He was just that capable.

But to see a mere child go head to head with a man like that filled them with anxiety. If the bastard pissed off the commander, every single one of their lives would be in danger.

"You sure are fearless, I'll give you that." The man uttered with an expressionless face, "However, I don't know whether you're stupid or brave to cause chaos on my turf. Apologize to everyone, and then I just might let you live."

"With all due respect," Ashton kept staring straight into the man's eyes, "I do not give a fuck whether this is your turf or not. I tried avoiding this situation for as long as I could. It's your mercenaries who constantly egged me on until I did what I had to. For that, I'm not apologetic. Not a bit. If you like apologies that much, go ahead. I won't stop you."

Leon ignored Ashton's comment and continued, "So you're saying, if I were to harass your... female companions here, you'll kill me as well?"

"If you didn't let them go and apologize, then sure."

Silence. Absolute silence. The kid might have been strong, but he just signed his death warrant. That's what everyone was thinking. However, Ashton was confident in his abilities, that's why he kept fearlessly countering the commander. He might be at a higher Grade but Ashton wasn't fazed.

Sure, he might have to transform into demonic form to fight. However, considering he pushed a freaking A-grade Xyran to his limits, a mere C-grade brawler would not have been able to do much. On top of that, he had a plethora of skills that would come in handy.

Especially [Heaven's Downfall]. If he used that skill... well, let's just say he would end up killing a lot of people. And no one wanted that to happen. In other words, there was no reason for him to back down.

"Cocky bastard, I would love to see Euphoria break that confidence of yours." The commander smirked before pointing toward the lady, "I think introductions are in order. She is Lucia Zhask, my younger sister and the deputy commander of this zone and I'm Commander Leon Zhask. As you might have guessed, we are Talegorians."

"Ashton Fenrir, from Earth."

Ashton gave them a curt nod upon sensing no hostility from them. However, his eyes were carefully analysing both of them. Considering one of them had tried to kill him mere moments ago, he had no reason to act all buddy-buddy with them.

"A fine name, Mr Fenrir. You can leave, for now, however, if you cause trouble again I would not hesitate before slicing your head off of your shoulders." Leon sternly remarked.

"You're more than welcome to try."

Saying so, the earthling turned around and joined the queue. To their surprise, as Ashton walked ahead, everyone stepped aside. They had essentially cleared the queue. They did not know about the kid but if Leon avoided fighting him then he had to be somewhat strong. Thus, they didn't want to piss him off.

"You're just going to let them go?"

Lucia asked her brother. Clearly, she was annoyed as she was hoping Leon would at least kick the arrogant bastard's butt at least once. After all, their zone was considered the most violence intolerant zone on the planet.

"Yes, because this time," Leon turned towards the leader of the mercs, "this bitch crossed the line. Kneel."

Leon whispered and all of the mercenaries dropped to their knees. However, their action wasn't voluntary. It was due to Leon's innate skill called: [Soul Speech]. This skill was the reason why even people having higher grade beings had trouble going up against him.

[Soul Speech] was a skill that highjacked anyone's mind. Basically forcing a target to obey the caster's every command. That is as long as they had lower intelligence than the caster. However, this part of the skill was purposefully hidden from everyone else and they thought Leon's [Soul Speech] was absolute.

"Forgive us..." The lady barely managed to mumble, but her efforts were immediately met with a hard smack right to her face.

"Giving forgiveness is not my cup of tea." Leon replied before getting awkwardly close to her face, "Break."

A mere word caused a mental breakdown of all the mercenaries in the vicinity. Their loud cries gave the onlookers the worst case of goosebumps they ever had. Meanwhile, the worst memories ever experienced by the mercenaries flashed again and again in front of them, making them lose their minds.

Lucia shook her head and left, while Leon kept watching them suffer. The more he watched them, the calmer he got. After all, Ashton had done a number on him. Even though he showed he wasn't affected by the kid, on the inside, Leon was boiling with rage. A feeling he hadn't experienced in quite a while.

'That kid had more intelligence than me...' Leon thought while 'disciplining' the mercenaries.

Leon knew when, where and with whom to pick his battles. But to do that, he had to confirm whether his [Soul Speech] was effective on the target or not. Thankfully, he could easily do it by casually bringing up something in their conversation.

Back when he asked Ashton to apologize, he already used [Soul Speech]. The fact that Ashton did not obey him, simply pointed out that the kid had more intelligence than an average E and D-grade being like him would usually have.

If it works, he would get a new toy to break. But if it doesn't then he would not try to escalate the situation and try to evade fighting as much as he could. That was the way he ensured his survival.

Most of the C-grades and even B-grades usually prioritise investing their points to increase strength, HP, mana and whatnot, over intelligence. Thus Leon had no trouble going against opponents no one at his level would. That was the secret to his strength and skills.

Moreover, his zone had been the least troublesome because 99% of the people that came to Euphoria were weak E and F-grade beings, seeking to get stronger. Hence bullying them around was nothing for him. As for the 1% that had higher intelligence than him, were much weaker and this could be subdued easily using brutal force.

But Ashton was different... he was strong both mentally and physically. This fact worried him to the core. There was something about Ashton that made Leon uncomfortable... very uncomfortable.

'That kid is trouble... I should report him to the higher-ups. But first...' He turned towards the mercenaries and whispered, "Perish."

Suddenly the cries were replaced by silence as the lifeless corpses of the mercenaries slumped over. A mere word took the lives of countless humans.