Criminal X : Epitome Of Evil-Chapter 67: The Force

Pablo choosing Flashy wasn’t an advantage for Pablo in any way. In fact, it was a disadvantage for him. But for Flashy, it was the biggest advantage he could get.

"Why did you even choose him as your comrade? The last I checked you didn’t care about anyone else." Cupid asked. She knew Flashy was a disadvantage for Pablo and she also knew Pablo wouldn’t like a disadvantage for him. Yet, he chose Flashy as his comrade. Why?

’Because I had a feeling he would die. He is a coward and the military certainly won’t like a coward. They will try to kill him. And I don’t want that. He is a useful chauffeur for me. If you ignore the fact he is stupid, he is a good subordinate.’

"Why can’t you just say he is your friend? Will it kill you to say that?"

Pablo looked at Cupid. ’It will.’

"Ahgh. Whatever." Cupid didn’t speak after that.

Pablo also diverted his attention to Diablo, who was again floating in the air.

"Alright, people. It’s time to start the second test. But before that," Diablo roamed his eyes on the ground and stopped at Pablo.

"Stop your comrade from jumping. He needs to stay on the ground for the punishment. He is wasting our time."

Flashy was still constantly jumping in the air and when he came down, Pablo held his shoulder.

"Stop doing that. Be a man. Endure this heat. You have to do a thousand push ups here."

"What? If I do that I will die, Boss!"

"If you don’t do that, you will die as well. They will kill you. So might as well do it and live."

"But what if I die while doing the push ups? There is no guarantee that I will live during the one thousand push ups, Boss!"

’Motherfuc-I might kill him myself.’ Pablo clenched his jaw.

He applied pressure on Flashy’s shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"Believe me, you won’t die."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

Flashy finally agreed and now he wasn’t jumping anymore. Though, he was still hopping on one leg.

"Start the test now." Pablo said.

"I will." Diablo clapped his hands and it was finally time for the test to begin.

"Look at the sky, everyone." Diablo said and everyone did what he said.

They all raised their heads and stared at the clear black sky.

’It was day in the first test and here it is night. This place must be very far from the camp.’ Pablo figured some things but his attention soon shifted to something else.

Some words were forming in the sky and they were in red color.

After a second, they became clearly visible and Pablo read them.

’They are not words. They are numbers. Five, zero, zero.’

05:00:00 was written in the sky.

"This is a timer for five hours. As soon as this test starts, this timer will run. And when this timer ends, the test is finished. Whoever remains standing on the ground by that time, will move on to the next test. Clear?"

"Yes! Just start the fucking test!" Everyone was fed up by now. They already spent so much time on the hot ground for nothing. The test hasn’t even begun yet.

"Alright. Alright. But you all are in for a surprise. Anyway, let’s start it. Three… two…"

Diablo started the countdown and with utmost vigor, he bellowed the last number.

"One! Let the test begin!"

Everyone took a deep breath and stood silently.

They were already in the spot which they found suitable and not one of them made a sound.

They all made sure both of their feet stayed on the ground and their eyes were closed. They needed utmost focus to endure the inferno of the ground.

"Boss! What now?" Flashy was still hopping on one leg. It was good that the rules of the test didn’t apply to him. Otherwise, he would have failed the test immediately.

Nevertheless, he was smart enough to not touch Pablo. He didn’t want Pablo to lose his focus and fail the test.

But Flashy was getting on Pablo’s nerves.

’The next thing I am doing is to create a backbone of this wimp.’ Pablo made a decision for the future.

"Just calm down. I will do something." Pablo assured. The ground was hot for him as well but Pablo knew how to handle tough situations and also, he needed Flashy to finish a thousand push ups as well.

"Alright. I trust you. Do something." Flashy left everything on Pablo and looked at Diablo.

"Can I jump? The rules of this test don’t apply to me, right?" He asked.

"No. You start doing your push ups. You have a punishment. Do it." Diablo made it clear.

"Bloody hell." Flashy cursed and now his only hope was Pablo.

Pablo raced his mind and he instantly remembered something.

’System, show me that Ego I copied.’ Pablo had yet to see the Ego of the Old man, Graham. It might help him in this situation.

[ Copied Ego’s Rank : Utter Purple ]

’Oh. A new rank. It should be higher than Purple and weaker than black. Nice. But show me the Ego.’

[ Copied Ego’s Name : The Force ]

[ Description : Now there is an external force around you and you can do anything with that. You can touch someone, you can kill someone without touching them. You can do telekinesis. It’s like you got an invisible force to do things. ]

[ Note : You only have this Ego for six hours. ]

Pablo read the description of the Ego and nodded.

’So that’s how he managed to get all the weapons of others. Nice. This can help here. And the System did a good thing to give me six hours of time with this Ego.’

Pablo could cover his feet with this invisible force and that way he won’t feel the hotness of the ground.

’But I have to try it on someone else first.’ Pablo chose the person standing closest to him other than Flashy.

It was a man and Pablo used the copied Ego on him.

He slid the invisible force between the man’s feet and the ground and now the man was slightly floating in the air.

"Oh. I can’t feel the heat anymore. Maybe my main character growth arc has begun." The man felt a strange power beneath his feet and he was surely happy.

But the next moment…

SWISH!

A flame erupted from beneath the ground of the man and engulfed him.

"Aaaaaa-" The man couldn’t even finish his scream and forget about the main character arc, he died like a supporting character.

"See that, everyone?" Diablo spoke from the air. "This ground can sense whenever your feet are off the land and when the ground senses it, you all saw what happened. So if you don’t want to turn to ashes, keep your feet on the ground."

Pablo stared at the ashes of the man who just died and sighed.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.

’Your death isn’t wasted, random guy. Thanks for giving me my answer. And it should be obvious, you aren’t the main character.’

Pablo did some speech for the man and forgot about him the next moment.

’So if I use this Ego I will end up in ash. But can it be used on Flashy?’

Pablo squinted his eyes and ran his mind in all directions. He didn’t want Flashy to die and he also wanted Flashy to do the push ups.

’Fuck it. Let’s give it a try.’

Pablo focused on Flashy’s feet and did the same thing he did with the man.

"Flashy," Pablo said before doing the thing. "Don’t react loudly when you feel less heat. Act like nothing happened. Got it?"

"Just do whatever you see fit." Flashy couldn’t care less. He would even sell his body to get rid of the hot ground.

Pablo nodded and began his work. He slided the invisible force between Flashy’s feet and the ground and just waited.

Flashy’s eyes went wide as he looked at Pablo.

"This is amazi-"

Pablo glared and Flashy didn’t speak further. He almost told everyone that he wasn’t feeling any heat.

"Thanks, Boss." Flashy whispered anyway.

’Will he die now?’ Pablo waited for the ground to spew some flames for Flashy but nothing happened.

Even after ten seconds nothing happened.

Pablo heaved a sigh of relief. ’Guess the rules really didn’t apply to him. What a relief.’

Flashy was calm now. He was even slightly smiling.

’This idiot.’ Pablo gritted his teeths.

"I told you to act like nothing happened. Why are you acting like everything is fine now? Keep acting like you are still feeling hot. Use your brain, dammit."

"Oh sorry." Flashy apologized and began his acting.

"Boss! Do something. It’s burning!" He started hopping on one leg again. He started crying louder than before.

’Now he is over acting. Maybe I should really kill him.’

"Start the push ups now. I will stand for five hours. You do your work. You have to do it." Pablo acted like he was motivating his friend.

"No. I can’t." Flashy was still acting.

"Do it. For me. For us." Pablo spoke again.

"No. It’s too hot. I can’t. Sorry." Flashy now had tears in his eyes.

Pablo lowered his voice. "Just do it, you dumb fcuk. Start the push ups. I am not acting."

"Oh. Okay." Flashy understood. "Fine then, Boss. For you I shall walk on burning coals. One thousand push ups are nothing. I will do them."

Flashy sat down in the position of push ups and put his palms on the ground.

He felt no heat as Pablo used invisible force on Flashy’s hands as well.

"Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot." Flashy continuously chanted to make people think he was getting burnt.

"Hey, he is doing the push ups. You keep the count of them. He can’t keep his mind to count them on this hot ground." Pablo said to Diablo.

"Okay." Diablo agreed and watched Flashy.

"Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot." Flashy kept his chanting on and finally started doing the push ups.

Like that, some time went on and after thirty minutes, Diablo spoke :

"Thirty minutes are up and now it’s time for your surprise. The test will get harder now. And I won’t build some big ass suspense. I will get straight into the matter.

In this place, where you are doing your best to stand, something is about to increase. And that something is your surprise. And that surprise is…"

Diablo scanned every face present on the hot ground and with a devilish smile, he revealed the surprise…

"Gravity."