'Slap,' 'Thud,' 'Grunt'

I looked down towards the boy that was now lying on the ground groaning in pain from having his face slammed into the concrete floor. I looked up and towards his friends that were once egging him on but were now too stunned to even speak.

“I told you that was my first and last warning, didn’t I? The next time you try to climb on top of my head, I'll make sure you can’t even groan in pain. Have we reached an understanding or do you want to know what it’s really like to be taught a lesson?” I spoke calmly while looking back and forth between the boy and his friends.

His friends nodded furiously while I spoke but there was still a sign of resistance from the boy that was now trying to free his head from under my hands. 

I leaned towards the side of his face and looked straight into his eyes.

“Do we still have a problem?” I asked.

“Let me go! I’m gonna kill you once you let go! I wasn’t ready, you can’t surprise attack someone like this!” The boy yapped.

“People like you always say the same things, I’ll kill you this I’ll kill you that but truth be told… you’ve never killed anyone.” 

“How would you know! Let me go!” I leaned in closer and whispered ever so quietly.

“You’ve never even seen someone die in front of you let alone kill a person, I know because you don’t have the madness for that… People who kill usually don’t go around spewing threats every chance they get either.”

When I stood back up, the boy looked petrified, as if he could see the madness dancing around in my eyes. He may be an uneducated child but it is a human’s instinct to stay away from people like me.

Just as I was about to head towards the blonde boys I heard footsteps approaching outside the doors and a few seconds later the door swung open with Miss Dandy and a few other people walking in with trolleys filled to the brim with food and drinks.

The boy that was frozen with fear got up and scattered away and contrary to my belief he did not make a fuss about the fight that had gone down moments ago and simply retreated.

‘Now that I think about it, I haven't eaten anything in hours, maybe even days. Who knows how long I was passed out for? Perhaps that’s why I was feeling more annoyed by the provocations of a mere child.’

“Alright children, just for today you’ll be allowed to eat special food. This is a treat from the gentleman that bought in our new family member, I hope you’ll treat her well, why don’t you come over here and introduce yourself to your friends.” 

I walked over towards her, as I examined her I could tell that she had a well-trained body almost like an assassin, her footsteps would be impossible to detect if I had not possessed magic.

“Hello my name’s Vee, it’s very nice to meet you all and I hope we can all get along we…” Just as I was about to finish my sentence Miss Dandy started to put more strength into her hands that were placed on my shoulders.

‘Is she testing me right now? Well, there’s no reason for me to take this abuse lying down.’

I grabbed her hand that was on my shoulders and forced them off to the side.

“I was hoping that we would all get along well but it seems people just don’t want to leave me alone…” with that I took her hands that I was holding and wrapped it in my mana then forced the mana upwards from her fingertips to her palm.

“Crack,” “Crack,” “Crack”

“That’s three fingers, should I go on?” I knew it, even with her fingers breaking not even a single strand of her hair was misplaced.

‘There is no way such a person existed and I don’t know a single thing about her. I practically ran all the assassination guilds in the past… was she not a part of any guild? Why? Why is she here?

“No… I apologise, it seems you dislike physical touch… why don’t you go join the other children, Vee, I’m sure they’d be thrilled to eat with you.” 

- - -

I made my way towards the two blonde boys and finally got a chance to talk to them, they looked at me with eyes full of skepticism.

“...”

“Hey… is this seat empty?” I asked a question that had an obvious answer as the only available seats were either this seat or the seat opposite the boy I had beat up.

“Clearly.” answered the loud boy while the cautious one jabbed his chest with his elbow.

“Mind telling us what this is all about? I almost had a heart attack when you walked in… Also how did you change your eye colour?” Whispered the cautious boy.

“I’ll explain that later, too many eyes and ears are watching us right now,” I answered.

“Okay… by the way my name's Reuben and his name's Rein, don’t mind him.” replied the once cautious boy.

“Wait… repeat your names,” I asked with a look of visible shock.

“My name's Reuben and his name's Rein?” Reuben replied, confused.

‘Reuben and Rein… Rein and Reuben … It’s familiar, something about those names sounds so famili…’

‘Wait… hold on a minute, Blonde haired pink eyed… orphans who came to dominate the battlefield… most of all, in about 20 years' time they are discovered to be the lost twins of the duchy of Isadore.’

I looked between the two with slightly glistening eyes before I refocused them and its glint was lost.

‘Most of all… I… I… Killed them at the request of a client who promised me they’d found a definitive lead to finding my family… How? Why? Why are they here? Is fate so twisted that it would lead these two back to me? Their enemy?’

As if God was mocking me he threw me into another pit before I could get my thoughts straightened out.

[Movement detected within 2 metres, approaching rapidly. Consciousness of the body is in a questionable state, I believe the wine contained a sedative.]

A voice jolted me awake from my prior trance, I had already expected something of this calibre to happen but not this soon. ‘For now, let’s see what happens.’

“Hey can you tap me if something happens, I have to do something really quickly.” Reuben nodded without questioning anything. 

I flicked my fingers and whispered “Mind Connect.”

- - -

A slight breeze blew past the table and my vision blackened, the smell of food that once surrounded me dissipated and a musky smell replaced in the air. Footsteps slowly approached the bed, and I felt something metallic and hard being placed on the Chimera’s chest along with the director's whispered chanting.

“ar ezfio liekqin izokgiqo, k snfib orff oa rfns zfwfin orkp xfkjs'p liekq.”

‘What is she saying? What language is that?’ I thought to myself, just as I was pondering this question the Chimera spoke out in my head again.

[translation in progress… “Oh great magical artifact, I plead thee to help reveal this being's magic.” I believe she is holding an ancient artifact that was known for being lost to time.]

An artifact itself is rare since the creator of such an item would have to be highly skilled as well as the physical item itself needing great care, let alone an ancient artifact that still works… It’s almost unheard of, the only ancient artifact I remember from my past was the magical sword that is passed down generation by generation within the Imperial family…

‘Hey, are you still having a hard time connecting with your body? What if she finds out that you’re made of magic? Get up quickly…’

[You do not need to worry about being detected, your power is far greater than that of a mere ancient artifact. I guarantee that we won’t be detected.]

Even with the reassurance I couldn’t help but swallow my spit hard, anticipating the reaction of the director, if she were to find a flaw in the body now, it would be a huge issue.

‘what if she knows of a birthmark that only those closest to him would have known… shit, I’ve never even been this anxious in a war zone.’

“Strange, something is definitely wrong with him… was I being too paranoid? Well… there’s no way an artifact of this calibre isn’t able to detect magic. Yes well… maybe I was being too cautious.” with that the director seems to have let go of her suspicions and started to make her way out of the room. I let out a slight sigh of relief.

‘Perhaps they weren’t as close as I originally thought?’

‘Chimera, keep controlling that body. When you go back to being in control of that body tomorrow, you should leave the premises… Can you change your body?’

[Alright, what would you like me to change into?]

‘A bird… or maybe even a fly, I need you to stay close to the director as close as possible.’

[... A fly? Hmmm, I don’t like the idea but it can’t be helped, I shall transform myself into a fly and stay close to her as you’ve ordered.]

‘Alright, alert me if anything else happens. Mind disconnect’ 

- - -

With that my vision returned to the dining room, it seemed as though my body was feeding itself while I was preoccupied with the task at hand. I took the fork that was in my hands and placed it inside my mouth, ‘perhaps it’s because I’ve been starving for a while but the steak tasted so marvellous.’ It was the best steak I've ever had.