Thud.


    In the quiet room, another faint sound suddenly mixed in, as something hit the floor.


    It was a sound that, even for someone like Christian, who prided himself on his sensitivity to sound, was not discernible now that he had fallen asleep.


    Rustle.


    Following that was the faint sound of clothes, even softer, barely audible, so quiet that even Christian''s breathing sounded louder.


    A man dressed in ck had actually entered through the window. He had an imposing yet slim frame, with a hood covering his head and a mask concealing the lower half of his face. Aside from his glinting eyes, which seemed to mock the situation, nothing else about him was discernible.


    He moved toward Christian''s side, each step slow yet steady, having waited long enough for him to fall fully asleep.


    Now, he seemed intent onpleting his task.


    Perhaps it was the rush toplete his job, or maybebecausehe was simply underestimating his opponent. But, despite his careful steps until now, as he stood over Christian with a knife in hand, ready to deliver the final strike, he allowed a slightpse in his professionalism, a small, careless sound escaped him.


    It was hardly a noticeable sound, barely even a mistake. But Christian, with his heightened sensitivitydueto hisconstitution being atten, and havingonly just drifted off and wasn''t in a deep sleep yet. He twitched slightly, then slowly, groggily opened his eyes.


    Seeing Christian''s eyes open, the man lunged forward with the knife, feeling a sh of irritation but confident it was still a done deal, and knowing Christian hadn''t fullye to his senses, he kept hisposure, dismissing any need to panic.


    In that split secondafter opening his eyes and seeing the knifeing toward him, Christian''s survival instinct kicked in, fueled by his masteredmartial arts, and with the help of his trained body, despite his grogginess, hereacted swiftly, he raised his hand and intercepted the descending knife with his palm.


    But, despite his swift reaction, the surprise of the attack and his vulnerable state made it difficult for Christian to fully grip the man''s hand. Instead, his grasp closed directly around the knife''s de, feeling its cold, biting edge against his skin.


    With the blood dripping down his face and the searing pain from the cut on his palm registering in his head, sobering him uppletely, Christian felt like screaming.


    But with pain came awareness, and the desire to scream and vent was pushed aside as he clenched his teeth, as with that awareness came realization and understanding.


    It was an extreme situation, a situation wherea suspicious man, wearing all ck, had intruded into his room at midnight with a knife in hand. So, it was clearthathe was an assassin, here to take his life.


    And under this extreme situation, Christian''s constitution,prehension, and even his skills seemed to be screaming into action, screaming to do their intended roles.


    In this fucked upsituation, his brain went into overdrive, with his first thought being of his sister, what would happen if she heard him scream, woke upand came running in now?


    It was already a killorbekilled situation, but even worse, his sister could be put in danger if the man decided to silence her or take her hostage.


    He also wouldn''t be able to go all out, knowing he would be worrying about her.


    Realizing the possibility that he could be killed, that his sister couldalsobe killed, Christian''s head became nk, as knowing what was on the line right now, just a single thought remained, with all his concentration and attention focused on it.


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    It was to kill the enemy, defend himself, and protect his sister.


    [In response to the lifethreatening situation and heightened concentration, the skill Danger Awareness has been created.]


    Under the amalgamation of many elements, Christian entered a strange state,pletely unaware of the system message in the corner of his eyes.


    Most importantly, understanding everything and making his resolve took just an instant. Now, all hisfocuswason theassassin. Whofacingwith such a situation, was actually surprised, as his information had indicated that Christian was just a normal high school graduate kid.


    Still, it wasn''t the first time he had been put in an unexpected situation, so he quickly shifted his mindset.


    But it was already toote for the assassin, as he was still under a big misunderstanding about his current situation and his target.


    As Christian, still lying in his bed, seeingthe man now held a second knife, preparing to strike with it. Immediately, moved his other hand.


    Unlike the first time, when it was a surpriseattack, Christian, now fully alert, immediately struck with his fist at the assassin, using his learned martial arts to incapacitate him from holding the second knife. Then, with a swift movement, he rolled himself and the assassin together.


    Now positioning the assassin under him, their positionspletely changed, Christian quickly seized the knife with his injured hand, grimacing as the de cut deeper into his palm. Then, with a swift, decisive movement, he pivoted his body, leveraging his weight to deliver a powerful punch to the assassin''s jaw, his fist connecting with athud that echoed in the room.


    The assassin was by no means weak; in fact, he was quite strong. Butpared to Christian, who possessed a peak body in the current normal worldand had mastered Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as well as was in the process of mastering his main hand-to-handbat skill, the assassin still came up short.


    On top of that, there was the strange state Christian had entered, and the surprise element that had been the assassin''s advantage was now gone, reced by Christian''s advantage instead.


    Thud!


    So, when the fist connected with the assassin''s face,andthe sound echoedin the room as the man grunted in pain, or at least tried to. In an instant, Christian, using the momentum from the rapid unfolding of events, grabbed the assassin''s head tightly and covered his mouth.


    With his other hand, moving even quicker, Christian delivered a swift strike to the assassin''s neck.


    "Augh."


    The assassin''s eyes widened in extreme shock and pain, his voice muffled by Christian''s grip on his mouth, but the light in his eyes had not faded.


    And noticing that, Christian immediately pulled the knife out of the assassin''s neck, causing blood to flow abundantly.


    The assassin quickly tried to cover his neck with his hand, as the blood lossand the injury hadalready started making him feel lethargic. He was also going to resist with his other hand.


    But again, Christian was faster than him, as with the sharpened knife intended to take his life, he struck the owner of it again and again.


    Christian, not in his right state of mind, didn''t register the sickening sensation from his knife-stabbing actions. Had it been otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to do what he had done. For someone like him, even the act of beating someone was new, let alone stabbing, after all.


    In the end, in his current situation, with all his focus on taking down the enemy, he didn''t have the mental space to think further.


    It took three more strikes in the end for the light to fade from the assassin''s eyes and for his struggle to cease.


    And Christian, looking at the assassin beneath him, at the now still corpse, finally came back to his senses.


    Everything barely took a moment. From the instant he woke up to find an assassin trying to kill him, to ultimately taking the assassin down instead, it all happened in a sh, a lightning-fast series of events where everything urred in an instant.


    So, as the situation finally registered in his mind, and calming down a little, Christian slowly backed away, the reality of him killing a person settling in.


    Looking at his bed, covered in blood, and the man''s body, now a lifeless corpse, he felt an urge to vomit.


    But knowing he couldn''t afford to be weak right now, and with more pressing matters at hand, he tried to suppress his difort.


    Christian had previously thought he was in an extreme situation, but now, thinking more carefully, he realized it was all due to his inexperience. In the end, the difference in abilities was quiterge. Had he been a little more calm, he could have incapacitated the man without needing to kill him, if he had wished.


    But it was already toote, and despite the oue, the significance of an assassining after him held more weight now.


    "Fuck."


    Cursing under his breath, Christian, now slightly calmed, was filled with frustration and irritation. The remorse for killing could also arguably be said to bethere, but he tried to push it aside. If one was going to kill another, he thought, they should have already prepared themselves to be killed, so, he tried not todwellon what he had done.


    Still, knowing that he couldn''t stay still any longer, he finally started taking action.