Why did this monster have to appear now? At exactly the moment, when I wanted to cross here… My luck was really a sight to behold. Should I take a detour now?

[*Time till semi-permanent effect occurs: 9 min.]

That was too close. Taking the detour, I wouldn’t make it back in time, but at least I might survive. Hopefully… It’s surely just a debuff. 

I turned around and sneaked as quietly as possible back to the man called Schwartz, the woman Ayo Guh and the two other men. They did not move much since I had crossed here last, but the situation looked entirely different. 

The black suitcase lay discarded in the snow next to where Schwartz stood before. He had left his post and went closer to the woman. 

Her eyes widened. 

This guy, he… he groped her ass! Why?! Bastard! I mean it was trained and probably felt good, but here? Right now? In the snow? Was he not cold? He only wore a thin dark jacket.

The woman was clearly uncomfortable. They fought too. They probably weren't even close. And now he touched her in inappropriate places. The right thing to do would be to intervene. To stop him. 

Should I?

There were three men and I was alone. They would overpower me easily.

My right hand slid around the handle of the longest knife. I grabbed it forcefully. Since earlier, since the level-up, I felt extremely confident in the blade. Whenever I felt the slightest bit unsure, automatically, my fingers wandered toward the knife.

The same thing happened right now. I wanted to help this woman. The men had not realized my presence yet. Slowly and quietly, I put down the bags. To keep the woman, who struggled and looked at me, from revealing me, I put one finger on the lips. Then I sneaked closer to them. With a simple slice, I could sever their heads. I could. 

Should I? That would be murder…

I, I didn’t want that.

Only one and a half meters.

The man on the left squinted as he got snow in his eye. He shook his head, lowering the pressure that held the women's wrists on the wall.

Immediately, she jarred his arm with a powerful jolt of her hand. Then she wrenched from his hurting hand. She used her new freedom to yank her elbow forward, right into Schwartz’s ribs. He cowered in pain. 

“You bitch-!”

Now all three men were on high alert. Freed from the comfort they got from their superiority, they also realized the presence of the intruder—me. I saw Schwartz’s eyes widen, and I was ready to run, but one of his henchmen had already closed the distance and grabbed my arm. 

On instinct, I swooshed down the knife. With the sound meat makes when being cut on a chopping board, it went into his wrist. 

He screamed and coughed.

“You, you!”

I could free my hand. 

His hand was still attached. It bled a bit, but you couldn’t see any bones, and neither did it hit any veins. Just a deep flesh wound.

“I will kill you!”

“Calm down, Gerard,” Schwartz intervened, “Leon, you go help your brother! Get rid of that intruder. He saw our faces. I will handle this bitch here,” Schwartz said with a frown on his face.

The man next to him, Leon I assumed, lunged into his pocket, picking out a switchblade with a palm-sized blade.

Get rid of him? Did he mean me? How dare he try to get rid of me?!

They had to pin it on themselves now. If I didn't fight back, I would be dead meat later. They wouldn’t let me off if we ever met again. 

I took up the knife, clutching it with both hands. Man no. 1 that had his wrist injured, stood up. He clasped his arm and pressed his wrist with the healthy hand, preventing the blood from flowing into the arm. 

I looked over at the other people.

Schwartz tackled Ayo Guh, and she toppled over into the snow. But Schwartz didn't expect that this would give her an opportunity. She grabbed a handful of snow and pressed it in Schwartz’s face. Blinded by the sudden substance in his eyes and the contractions caused by the cold, he staggered back a few steps, getting more distance between her and himself.

She was good at defending herself.

Man no. 2 charged into me. His blade brushed mine and deflected it. My sharp knife’s tip made a screaming sound when it slid over. It followed a modified path right into his left shoulder.

He staggered back.

With bloodshot eyes, he keenly observed me. The switchblade was in his healthy arm’s hand. I took half a step to the left. He adjusted his position to it. I leaned forward, and he raised his knife slightly, so that if I would charge at him, it would stab me.

When I walked one step toward him, his whole body tensed up, and he became even more observant. Another step. It was like two wild animals sizing up each other.

Blood streams rushed in my ears. I heard a muffled sound and looked to the side. My opponent used that brief moment to come at me again. By a hair’s width, I could escape backward. He, who expected a hit and an obstacle, fell forward. The blade dug into the top half of my lower arm.

I let loose the knife and with only one hand, I rammed it into his side. It hit just below the rips and got sucked into his body. 

My throat retaliated. It was disgusting. I felt the bile in my stomach moving in my esophagus.

He had lost all strength when I landed the hit. His switchblade fell on the hard snow ground. With an expression of complete defeat, with a lack of understanding of how it could have come to this situation, he looked at me as he slumped to the ground. 

Blood spurted when my knife came loose. I held it firmly. The man’s face had lost all color.

I took one step back. I, I did kill a human. I… I didn’t feel complicated. I just killed someone and I felt… nothing… about it. There was no regret, no hesitation that I would do the same again.

A cold sensation went up my ankle. Then a warm, bigger touch followed.

“You… stop…!” A voice croaked from below.

The other man, who had been holding his hand all this time, had given up. 

Now he wanted nothing more than to stop me. It was a futile attempt.

I squatted down. The knife, which was still—dripping—in my hand, sliced the exposed neck. 

He gurgled. I must have hit the trachea. Blood sprayed patterns on the snow.

I had taken another life.

His grip on my leg loosened, and he brought his hand to the neck to stop the flow. It rushed out like the waterfall of life. Only a moment after, he dropped down.

The sides of my mouth twitched up. 

Really, I did become a killer now. 

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. I really shouldn’t.

Earlier, in the other world, I was able to deny it. I wasn’t the one to take up the sword. But now… 

I hadn’t been able to forget the screams of people in the other world, the woman that had been killed by Thomas, the expression of the child that was beaten to death by their own mother, the couple that decided to commit suicide to escape a cruel death and Thomas’ look on his face when he turned to stone. 

It was cruel at first, but after brief consideration, it became dull.

‘Why?’ I had asked myself. ‘Why am I so calm at the sight in front of me?’ Back then, I didn’t have the time to think about it, but now, I felt an icy shiver running down my spine. 

It felt like I was looking at black words on a page, black words on a lit screen that kept me up so many nights. It felt like a novel, a story.

My story… 

Was that what Ellie meant back then?

‘I am the main character of a story called [my life].’

But I didn’t feel like the main character. I was still shoved around by circumstances. I was weak in this reality dominated by power, by ignorance. If only I became a little more like a ruthless politician, maybe the world would be a more comfortable place to live.

I stood tall and smiled above the men who tried to kill me. I didn’t regret it at all. 

A warm, uplifting feeling surged to my stomach. It circled around my middle and then the feeling dissipated. All that was left was a positive calmness I hadn’t felt in a long time.

I took a deep breath. Cold, fresh air filled up my lungs. 

The dark-skinned woman who had fought with the man in the black jacket lay on the ground, her afro packed with snow. 

Schwartz stood above her, much similar to me over his men. He looked in my direction. As soon as our eyes met, the smile on his face faded. He clenched his fists.

“You killed them?”

“Didn’t you see me cut his throat just now?”

I turned completely to him. With a side glance, I saw that the timer had almost run out. There was only one minute left.

“Don’t come closer!”

“Get rid of me…”

“What?”

“Just because I was here, you asked them to get rid of me.” 

The hard-packed snow crunched under my steps.

“Are you really asking me to spare you when you arranged for two people to dispose of me?!”

“You! You!”

“You are talking as if they meant anything to you. I’ve seen how cold your gaze is. They were simply tools for you.” I spit out at him.

He took one step back. Now, finally, he looked straight at me.

“…You are the same.”

“Oh?”

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t the same as him. Since I wouldn’t implicate anyone irrelevant.

“You are strong, I give you that. But you overestimate yourself.” He said, rolling back his shoulders two times.

“You are strong, but…” His smile returned.

“But?” What did he want to do?

“You will see that contractors are very different.”

New adrenaline pumped in my veins. The world became crisp and clear. I could see the exact changes in his body when he flexed the muscles in his arms. Thereafter, he squatted, and built tension in his legs, he exacted a blow directed at my chin.

As on flying boots, I could evade from the start. Now that I had control of the situation, however, I waited until the last possible moment to evade the stroke.

“How are you so different then?” I mocked him, smiling. It was exhilarating.

He paused, having to find balance. The jacket over his arms stretched, his neck became thicker. His whole body turned into a shade of light red and veins pulsed under the skin.

Instinctively, I knew I couldn’t be hit by any of his hits from now on.

I evaded another blow. This would have blown off my head if it hit me! His speed had improved tremendously. 

In my stomach, the warm swirls had returned. 

For unknown reasons, I knew the circulating, intangible threads wanted to be pulled out.

I extended a hand inwards. Internally, I grabbed the warm swirls and pulled them out into the cold outer world. 

Schwartz attacked again. It was my turn to fight back.

I dodged to the side, pulling my leg after too slowly, only one moment. He charged in.

One leg forward–I already saw his leg collide with mine. One leg backward.

Before I knew it, both my legs had retracted like I was gliding on a board in a lucid dream. 

With the surplus energy from pulling backward, my leg had nowhere to go, so the only way was going upward. 

Half voluntarily, half forced, my leg pulled up my whole body, sending it flying. Halfway through the backflip, the centrifugal force was used up, and I felt my body become heavy again.

With my feet forward, I fell down towards Schwartz. He still looked up in confusion. 

The fight wasn’t over yet. I used the momentum to pounce at his back, sending him down onto the hard ground.

Thump!

I landed more or less gracefully on his back.

Panic was mirrored in his eyes. When his eyes grazed the dark metal next to him, he suddenly chuckled. Right next to him lay the suitcase. 

“Hahahahahaha! That cursed…”

Then he looked me dead in the eye.

“Become happy with that cursed gem.” He muttered, “it will be your end too.”

Then he turned his head to the sky as far as was possible in his situation.

“You fucking god! You are supposed to help me in this type of situation! This bastard is going to kill me! You promised me, contractors are diff-”

I pulled up the head by his hair and looked deep into his eyes for only a moment.

“You thought wrong. I am likewise distinct.”

I channeled the warm energy into my hand, onto the knife, and sliced his neck. The cut ran deep, completely severing every tendon and even the bone like butter. His body flopped down , lifeless. I dropped his head, uncaring of where it went.

The knife, sadly, broke up in the middle too. Not a second too early.

I looked over to the system window. 

[*Time till (semi-)permanent effect: 0 minutes. Debuff commenced.]

Fuck. I was too late in the end. I felt how cold my ears and nose were, even after this intense fight.

“What is the debuff?”

“Di-rring!” 

[Paralysis; time: ∞*]

My right hand was still filled with the strange energy from my body earlier. I could direct it through my joints and forcefully move my hand up to the screen.

I had used up the remaining power and my hand fell lifeless down. Two snow particles landed on my face and started to melt.

“Di-rring!”

[*Please warm up to resolve the debuff.]

“Fucking hell… How do you expect me to warm up?”

“Do you need help?” A female voice came from out of sight.

I tried to turn my head, but it was not possible. “You are awake?”

It was the dark-skinned woman with the afro from earlier. She also looked like she was freezing in the thin, black collared shirt.

It perfectly enveloped the curves of her upper body. What a beauty.

The little wound on her mouth and the little nosebleed didn’t diminish the picture, but rather emphasized it even more.

“Thank you for rescuing me. If there is anything I can do, I would be delighted to repay the favor.”

Delighted? It’s been a while since I had heard such high-class language.

Although… George Kruger had also talked like that, did he not?

Her voice was rather deep for a woman, sophisticated and sympathetic. There was something different about the way she talked, though…

“You could bring me to the fire, a few buildings away from here… if you are strong enough.” I laughed. 

It was a joke. 

However, she really came closer and sacked one of my arms over her shoulder. 

“What is your name by the way?”

“It’s Yu Anya. Are you Ayo Guh?”

“How do you know?”

“This man, Schwartz I believe, called you that.”

“Oh.”

Yes, there was definitely something about her speech.

Then she stood up. This construction was supposed to help me walk.

“That’s nice and all, but that won’t work.” I could not move a single joint after all… except my mouth for some reason.

“I am completely paralyzed for now.”

“Paralyzed?” She raised one eyebrow.

“Probably has something to do with that Schwartz guy,” I lied.

She nodded, thinking. That made sense.

She sat me down again and looked over at the men.

“Won’t you loot  them?”

“Loot? You don’t do that…”

“They are dead anyway, are they not?”

“Still…”

“Someone else will find them. How about it? You can repay the favor with their belongings.” 

She couldn’t carry me out of here, so if she went to get help, I had something to repay them with.

“My life isn’t that cheap…” She stood up. “But what you said sounds logical. I will do it.”

“Thanks!”

She rummaged in their clothes and picked up two knives and two wallets. Apparently, Schwartz was the one without one. Weird…

She came over and stuffed the cash in my pockets while unsurely looking at the blades.