The town around me was simply put, trashed. It was unclear whether bandits had struck this place or if damnation had swallowed the town. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, nevertheless, my guard remained vigilant. Briefly taking in the town before entering, it all was sorrowing to see, especially due to the fact, that this town was no doubt at one point a time a place where children used to play and frolic with happy smiles across their spaces, parents grinning and being upset for their children being late to get home for supper. Now, what most likely was, now gone. Garbage littering the ground, wooden signs that hung on walls all half off their spots, wooden boards with nails over windows of homes. It was surely not a sight for sore eyes. My feet dragged on the soil of the town, the first priority was to find some food. My body´s composition and rigorous training since a young age meant the physiology was equivalent to, physically no longer upholding the requirement of food, however, it was nice to have a meal every once in a while. Proceeding to walk right down the middle of the entrance through the town there was almost nothing, but, there were two things within that almost nothing. One, a sign that mentioned that any vendors who wish to sell with shall come to said spot where the sign was at noon, which was hours away from now. Secondly, there was a tavern with another sign that stated it was open. Between the two options of waiting or going in, going in seemed to be the best course of action. The reason for this is because the tavern was most likely empty this early and the morning, and well, it would look abnormal for a stranger to be wandering around the town at such an early time in the day. Not to mention my appearance either came off as covert to where no one noticed or it blatantly stood out. Pushing the tavern door open the building appeared to be empty, the second that it seemed empty a man clearly inebriated irately said, 

“Yeahh, I'm tellin’ ya Jahad, these little punks cant except us heroes. They can't even give us some type of reward for helping them, for cryin out loud we’re the red cross knights after all!”

The man was fitted with white-clad armor with a red cross on the front. The man’s physical traits though were rather bland. His stature was small, his physique was clearly not the best, a brown beard with hair to complement it, and the man's cheeks were currently red, most likely from the drinking. There were three other men with him, the one called Jahad spoke in a hushed tone,

“Barry, don't you think we shouldn't be speaking like this, what if word gets back to master Akukami?”

“Don't worry, there isn't anybody around but the barkeep in the back anyways” the man said leisurely

Wait, that man just said Akukami… that bastard! Anger circulated all throughout my body, it was begging to be let loose. 

The third man spoke but his voice was too light to the point where it was almost incoherent to the point where it appeared no words left his mouth except one word, that word being Tenshi. I lost patience and all composure, my body had simply begun to move away from the front door and slowly toward the four men sitting at the tavern table. The men noticed the approach and the one with the beard roared, 

“You got a problem pal?! You were starin at us weren't you, and now you dare walk towards us?”

He couldn't even maintain his balance as he still clearly was intoxicated. No words formed, my body only continued to move.

“Brat, did you not hear me?! I asked you a question! We are a part of the red cross knights, if I wanted to I could get you executed for att-”

I cut the man short, finally reaching him the hand from my side thrust to his neck. He dangled off the hand that was thrust at him, suffering for air he pleaded for mercy. Two of the other three men withdrew their weaponry. One man with two twin daggers, another with a sword, and one with a bow. They were of no importance so I paid them no mind. The man still dangling from the hand outstretched on his throat pleaded once more for mercy. My eyes with icy-cold eyes that emanated like daggers were fixed on the man, then the three other men declared in unison, 

“Let him go or we’ll kill you! You bastard!” 

Out of patience, it began, the anger fully unleashed. The kizuha step erupted throughout, with amplifications this time, enough to go intangible before the atom disintegration and reconstruction occurred. Blue light illuminated from my body, my whole frameshifting rapidly from left to right. One, two, three. All three opposing men layout on the ground, simply hitting their carotid arterie’s did the trick, although anger was fervoring throughout my very being, there was no point in killing these men. Repositioning myself once more, the man dangled from the same right hand that was again propelled at him. His  eyes widened, yelling in distress, 

“How did you?! That's not possible! Three of the four knocked out? There was no sound from you, let alone any visual detail that you even shifted your position” 

The man was perplexed by the kizuha step, which made sense, it wasn't perceivable to the entirety of this dimension, it physically didn't exist in a sense. Ignoring the man’s baffled queries I finally spoke, 

“Who are you?”

“Why should I have to te-”

Interjecting, before the man could finish his sentence I slammed his back against the table in front of us. The man yelped in agony 

“I said, who are you?”

“Fine, fine! No more! Mercy! My name is Gordon Trodstell”

“Who do you work for?”

“I'm a proud member of the re-”

I jabbed my hand into the man's seventh true rib and snapped it. The man roared

“STOP! AGGH!”

“I'm done playing games, who do you work for?”

“Th- I work for a man” 

Growing impatient even more than I was already before, without even thinking, I grabbed the man's right hand and twisted it, clearly breaking all of the bones in his phalanges. Before the man could let out another sound,  monotony with a little bit of hostility my lips parted and I  whispered,

“Listen to me very carefully, this is your last chance to answer my questions and anything I want to know, if not, then let’s just say you'll be visiting a friend who yearns to confine you to the depths of Hell” 

The man gulped, 

“/Okay, fine, I’ll talk. As I’ve said, my name is Gordon Trodstell. I serve the red cross knights and have been working for a man who calls himself Akukami the Shinigami” 

He finished speaking and once more my eyes glared at him and he reluctantly spewed the words

“A- and he hired me to sit in this tavern and wait for a man to come over to me and have a confrontation with me. I don’t know anything else I swear!”

Satisfied with the information given to me the last thing to ensure my presence wouldn't even be remotely relayed I knocked everyone out and caused their memories of this to be non-existent. The man still dangling from my hand passed out from shock, the only thing left was to clean up the mess. In a blinding rage, I had neglected the other man within their party who had just observed all that has happened. The young man simply still sitting there had a facial expression of nothing, his face was emotionless. Then, in an instant the young man who had an expressionless face one second reached into his right coat pocket, pulling out a knife, ready to defend myself I pulled out Shou. Instead of the man engaging in combat or even pivoting his feet in a stance of defense, he lifted the knife to his throat. Wait, why? Why was this kid putting his very own knife to his throat? 

¨Hey, kid I´m not going to hurt you, put the knife down and I´ll put mine down too. There´s no need for bloodshed here, your buddies are only knocked out they´re fine¨

His expression had not changed, there was no harboring of anger, sorrow, or any emotion. He simply took the knife angled at his throat and did something unspeakable, the sight was unnerving. I´ve seen death before, nearly have experienced the feeling, but this feeling. I didn't like this feeling one bit, something was more than meets the eye here. He lie on the ground his body lifeless with blood spattered around the corpse. Why? Suicide? This wasn´t making any logical sense, Sure, they got asked a few questions and their leader of the group was roughed up a little by me, but why resort to such dire measures? They all mentioned Akukami and the leader acknowledged that he worked for him, it was fair to insinuate that they all were working for Akukami. No, this is senseless, pondering here would do me no good, taking one last look at the body of the young boy feeling grief for my not doing something. I turned toward the tavern door taking in the bland tavern one last time, muttering. 

¨My condolences, I should have saved you¨

Those people were hired by Akukami, there’s no way that there isn´t someone waiting to ambush me. The question is, how did they know I was even here? Akukami, known as, ¨the shnigami¨ was a man who only reaped death and destruction, but shinigami wasn't the only nickname that people knew the man by. The probability that he has someone tailing me is rather likely, if I attempt to go around civilians, no doubt that the people in servitude to him would jump in to attempt to neutralize me at the very least. It was something that presented dangers of unprecedented calibers. Although it was my best option, personally I tend to leave civilians out of any personal affairs that may cause them harm or worse. The idea that they could and would be used as collateral damage in a fight erected shivers in my spine, but, my survival comes before anything else