Chapter 169: Shoot Me! Shoot Me Already!

The moment Julius’s finger pressed on the trigger, the world exploded into motion.

Luna didn’t hesitate.

She yanked the pistol from the case, her movements desperate and uncoordinated but driven by pure instinct.

She would shoot her own father if she had to.

There was no question.

Lulu, who hadn’t yet stored her bow, was already nocking an arrow, her face twisted with fury.

She didn’t care about aiming for non-lethal spots.

She was aiming to kill.

Nyx’s hand had drifted behind her back, and when it emerged, a dagger gleamed in her palm—one of several she apparently kept hidden.

Her eyes were locked on Julius’s throat.

And it wasn’t just them.

The entire village moved.

The elves who had been putting away their bows straightened up, hands reaching for anything that could be used as a weapon.

Those on the platforms above tensed, ready to leap down and overwhelm Julius through sheer numbers.

Even the little kids reached down to pick up stones to throw.

They had hesitated before because his finger was on the trigger. One wrong move and he could fire, killing Luca instantly.

But if he was going to pull that trigger anyway?

If Luca was going to die regardless?

Then they had nothing left to lose.

Everyone was ready to move.

Everyone except Leona.

She stood frozen, watching the scene unfold with despair written across her face.

Every fiber of her being screamed at her to act, to do something, to protect Luca the way he had protected all of them.

But the shackles that bound her held her in place.

She could only watch, helpless, as the man who had become something to her stood on the brink of death.

Julius noticed all of this.

Saw his wife paralyzed. Saw his daughters turning against him.

Saw the entire village ready to descend upon him.

But he didn’t care.

In fact, it only strengthened his resolve.

Kill Luca first. Deal with the rest later.

With the Hero dead, they would all fall back in line. He was sure of it.

His grin widened. His finger pushed further.

This was it. The moment of triumph.

This was—

But just then, something happened.

His finger…stopped.

Not because he wanted it to. Not because someone stopped him.

But because his body simply…refused.

It was as if his finger had turned to stone, completely unresponsive to his commands.

But it wasn’t physical. There was nothing wrong with his hand.

It was something else. Something deeper.

A primal instinct buried so deep in his psyche that he didn’t even know it existed had suddenly awakened.

And it was screaming at him with every fiber of its being:

’Don’t do it!’

’If you do, you will be the one who dies!’

Feeling this fear, goosebumps erupted across his entire body.

His face went pale. His heart rate skyrocketed.

Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cooling evening air.

His finger, which had felt so light and powerful moments ago, now felt impossibly heavy.

He couldn’t move it. His body was rejecting the very thought of pulling that trigger.

And when he looked at the source of this sudden, overwhelming fear, he found Luca.

He was still standing there, still wearing that brave facade, still trembling slightly.

But now that Julius looked closer, really looked, he saw something he had missed before.

The trembling was too deliberate. The fear in his eyes didn’t reach their depths. The brave facade was just that—a facade, and a thin one at that.

Behind it, something else lurked.

Something calm. Something patient.

Something that looked at Julius the way a cat looks at a mouse that thinks it’s hidden.

“PULL THE TRIGGER, JULIUS!”

The shout came from behind him—Rufus, who had a hole in his belly and couldn’t wait any longer.

The other male elves joined in.

“FINISH HIM! KILL THE HERO!”

“DO IT! DO IT NOW!”

“KILL HIM, MASTER! END THIS!”

Isaac shouted, wanting to tear apart the man who caused him so much pain.

The chants grew louder, more urgent. But Julius couldn’t move.

He couldn’t pull the trigger.

And Luca noticed.

At first he continued acting afraid.

His shoulders shaking.

His eyes wide.

But when he noticed that his act wasn’t working—he gave it up.

The trembling stopped.

The fearful expression disappeared like smoke.

As if it had never existed.

And then a calm smile slowly appeared on his face as he spoke.

“Shoot me, Julius.”

The words stunned everyone.

Luca tapped his own chest casually.

“Right here.”

His smile widened.

“This is what you want, isn’t it?”

He took a step forward.

“You want to shoot me. Turn me into pieces of flesh.”

Another step.

“To take the throne.”

Another.

“To take over the world.”

His grin grew almost delighted.

“So do it.”

He spread his arms slightly.

“Shoot me.”

But even though he gave such a invite, Julius instinctively took a step back.

Confusion rippled through the crowd.

What was happening?

But Luca didn’t stop.

“Come on, Julius. You have the gun. You know how many bullets it can fire in a second.”

“You know that if you hold the trigger for even five seconds, you’ll put enough lead in me to kill a dozen men.”

He spread his arms wide.

“I’m right here. Even a Hero can’t survive that. So do it.”

Luca step forward and Julius stepped back.

“And you want to know something?”

Luca continued, his voice light, conversational.

“If you aim here—” He pointed to the left side of his chest. “—that’s the heart. One good burst and it’s shredded. And here—” He pointed lower. “—that’s a lung. Puncture that and I drown in my own blood. And here—”

He tapped his temple.

“That’s the brain. Quickest way to end it all.”

Julius’s back hit a tree. He had nowhere left to retreat.

Luca’s grin turned almost manic.

“But you know what? I’ll make it even easier for you.”

He crouched down, rubbed his finger in the dirt, and drew a small X right in the center of his own forehead.

“Right here, Julius.” He tapped the mark. “Right on the X. Shoot me here and it’s over in an instant. Clean. Quick. No suffering.”

He took one final step forward, closing the distance completely.

And before Julius could react, Luca’s hand shot out and grabbed the barrel of the Tommy gun and to everyone’s horror—

—he pressed the muzzle firmly against the X on his forehead.

“Now…”

His voice dropped to a whisper, but it carried through the silent clearing like thunder.

“Now is the perfect time. You don’t have to worry about missing. You don’t have to worry about me dodging. Point blank range. A hundred rounds straight into my brain.”

He pushed his forehead harder against the gun.

“So do it. Finish it. If you have the balls to pick up a gun and point it at someone, then you should have the balls to actually shoot it.”

His smile turned mocking, contemptuous.

“Unless, of course, you’re just a pathetic imbecile who can’t even kill someone literally offering themselves to you on a plate.”

“In which case, by all means, stand there like the worthless coward you are.”

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper that only Julius could hear.

“Prove me wrong, Julius. Prove you’re not the pathetic, worthless coward I know you to be. Shoot me.”

The male elves couldn’t contain themselves any longer.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Rufus screamed, his face purple with rage.

“Just shoot him already! He’s literally BEGGING for it! The man is suicidal! FINISH HIM!”

Isaac stepped forward, shaking with fury.

“Why are you hesitating, master?! This is what we’ve been waiting for! One pull of the trigger and it’s OVER! DO IT!”

The other males joined in, a chorus of frustration and bloodlust.

“SHOOT HIM!”

“KILL THE HERO!”

“END THIS NOW!”

They couldn’t understand why Julius was hesitating.

The Hero was right there, pressing the gun against his own head, practically offering his life on a silver platter.

What was there to wait for?

The female elves, meanwhile, were caught in completely different confusion.

“What is happening?” One whispered to another. “Has the Hero lost his mind?”

“I don’t understand—he’s practically inviting death!”

“Did something snap in him? Is he really suicidal?”

Lulu and Luna turned to Nyx, their faces pale with fear and confusion.

Nyx’s expression was grave, but she didn’t move, didn’t speak. She simply watched, her eyes narrow and calculating.

Taking their cue from her, the sisters forced themselves to stay still, though every instinct screamed at them to intervene.

Julius heard it all. The shouting. The confusion. The pressure from every side.

But he couldn’t move.

Luca’s voice was so tempting, so sweet, like honey dripping into his ears. It sounded like an invitation to paradise—just pull the trigger and all his problems would be solved.

The Hero would be dead.

The village would be his.

Everything he wanted, just a finger twitch away.

But his instincts screamed louder.

This wasn’t the voice of an angel.

This was the voice of a devil, inviting him to sign his own death warrant.

Every fiber of his being knew that if he pulled that trigger, he would not survive the next five seconds.

And that knowledge infuriated him.

He hated himself for trembling. Hated his body for betraying him. Hated the hero for making him feel this way.

But he still couldn’t pull the trigger.

And seeing that he still hasn’t done anything, Luca’s patience finally snapped.

His expression shifted from that honeyed temptation to cold, hard fury.

His eyes narrowed and when he spoke, his voice struck Julius like a hammer.

“DO IT, JULIUS!”

The shout made everyone flinch.

“Stop being a fucking coward and just DO IT! SHOOT ME! RIGHT IN THE HEAD!”

“FINISH IT, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!”

He grabbed the gun barrel with both hands, pressing it harder against his forehead.

“If you have even an ounce of pride! If you have any shame! Any honor! If you have BALLS hanging between your legs—”

His voice rose to a roar.

“—THEN FUCKING SHOOT ME! END IT! END IT, YOU FUCKING RETARD! END IT!”

And then—

To Julius’s absolute horror—

Luca suddenly moved his hand toward the trigger.

Almost as if he was about to pull it himself.

He began pushing Julius’s finger downward.

That was it.

The last shred of Julius’s composure shattered.

With a strangled cry, he wrenched the gun away—not to shoot, but to throw it.

The Tommy gun clattered across the ground, spinning to a stop far from both of them and Julius collapsed backward, falling onto the grass, staring up at Luca with eyes wide as saucers.

Sweat poured down his face. His whole body trembled uncontrollably.

He looked less like a man who had just threatened someone and more like a rabbit staring down a wolf.

Seeing this shocking change of events, the clearing was dead silent.

Luca looked down at him.

And on his face was the most disappointed expression anyone had ever seen.

“You had the guts to point a gun at me.” Luca said quietly. “But not the guts to pull the trigger.”

He shook his head in disdain.

“You really are pathetic. Useless. A complete and utter waste of space.”

He leaned down slightly, his voice dropping to something almost intimate.

“Tell me, Julius. How does it feel to be at the very bottom?”

“To be so worthless that you can’t even kill a man who’s begging you to do it?”

“How does it feel be less then a maggot that crawls out of the asshole of a man’s corpse?”

The words were brutal. Harsh enough that even some of the female elves looked away, unable to witness such naked humiliation.

But Julius didn’t feel the sting.

All he felt was relief.

Overwhelming, bone-melting relief.

He had escaped.

He didn’t know how or why, but he had escaped something terrible. Something that would have destroyed him utterly.

He was alive.

That was all that mattered.

Luca stared at him for a moment, then sighed.

The truth was, he had known Julius was coming for the gun.

From the moment the male elf had started sneaking toward the cases, Luca had noticed.

He noticed everything. And instead of stopping him, he had let it happen.

After all, he had wanted this.

He wanted Julius to point the gun at him. Wanted him to threaten. Wanted him to pull the trigger.

That’s why he made sure that one gun was right there for the taking.

This was all because the moment that bullet entered his body—the moment Julius actually made contact, actually committed the act—the rules would change.

Self-defense would justify anything.

He could do whatever he wanted to Julius.

Tear him apart. Interrogate him. Extract every secret he held. Make him suffer in ways that would make this moment look like a pleasant memory.

Luca had even been willing to take a thousand bullets.

Willing to feel them tear through his flesh, to push them out afterward, to endure the pain.

Because the prize at the end—the freedom to unleash everything on Julius would have been worth it.

He had even played the role perfectly.

The brave face hiding fear. The trembling hands. The desperate provocation.

Everything designed to make Julius pull that trigger.

But unfortunately…Julius hadn’t taken the bait.

Maybe he had sensed the trap. Maybe he was just too much of a coward.

Whatever the reason, the plan had failed and Luca’s bloodlust still burned inside him, frustrated, hungry, desperate for release.

After all, he had been so looking forward to this.

To pulling Julius apart piece by piece.

To removing his eyes, his nose, his lips, his ears.

To extracting his fingernails one by one, then his fingers, then his toes.

To peeling back his skin and learning exactly what made him tick.

To making him talk—about Leona, about the hold he had over her, about everything.

And now that plan was ash.

This was because the rules were twisted in a way that it didn’t help him at all.

Threatening wasn’t enough. Intent to kill wasn’t enough.

Only actual contact—actual commission of the act triggered the breaking of rules set by the Gods above.

And Julius, coward that he was, had failed to commit.

Thinking of this, Luca’s lips twitched. His hands clenched into fists.

But then he realized—why contain it?

Why hold back?

And once he realised this, a slow, terrifying grin spread across his face.

Julius, still catching his breath, looked up and saw it. His blood ran cold.

But Luca ignored him and instead walked over to where the gun had fallen.

He picked it up, checked it casually—loaded, safety off, ready to fire.

“You know…”

He said conversationally, turning back toward the frozen crowd.

“It would be a shame to let all these bullets go to waste. After everything we’ve done today—all the setup, all the demonstrations—it seems wrong not to use them.”

He looked at Julius. At the male elves behind him. At the female elves watching with wide eyes.

“So I’ve decided.” His grin widened. “Today, we’re not just shooting at targets.”

He raised the gun, aiming it directly at Julius.

“We’re going to use a live demonstration.”

His grin turned devilish.

“I’m going to show you all exactly what it looks like when bullets go into a living person.”

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