Johan peered at Tyura for a while before his face lifted into a  smile. He wrapped his arm around Tyura’s shoulder leading him away.

“Don’t worry. My men are really strong and loyal to me. They’ll die for me if they have to.”

“Oh..” Tyura said trailing off. He glanced over and noticed cleaver in Johans other hand. 

“This was the only weapon I could find. It was in the kitchen.”

Tyura didn’t believe that in a place filled with soldiers that a cleaver was all he could find.

“Well Tyura, I don’t usually like to carry weapons.”

There was a short pause and then Tyura felt as if his veins had filled with ice. His mind raced. He didn’t want to believe it but Johan had said his name. He had said what he was thinking! This mission was compromised as soon as he had set foot in Johans office. 

No one told him Johan had this ability. Did Fade and Nave know about this? Was mind reading even possible? But how?

Tyura flinched as Johan patted his shoulder.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Tyura. No one knows about my ability, not even my brother. It’s an extremely rare manifested ability. It really comes in handy especially in moments like these.” 

They walked in silence for a few seconds. The sound of fighting in the distance and the soft sound of their footsteps on the carpet was all that could be heard. Tyura didn’t want to think, but how else would he get out of this situation? He had no mana and no weapon-

“Tyura, I’ll tell you something before we get started. I was going to sell you like one of those kids in the basement. But you're a bit too damaged for me to make a profit off of. But you see. I get to pick out one of the children for myself and play little games with them.”

Tyura looked up stiffly and was horrified by the pure glee in Johans eyes.

“Tyura, for every game I win, I get to cut off a body part. How does that sound?”

Tyura’s shut off all thoughts in his mind and stomped on Johans foot. Johan cursed and stumbled back. Tyura raced down the hall before he could recover.

He turned left and right and left again. He had no bearing of where he was or where he was going, but eventually he made it to a metal stairwell. Up. He thought. To the roof. Without further thought he bound up the steps until he was barging through a metal door. 

The night air was crisp and the stars were shining brightly. So much so that Tyura paused to look at them. And then he moved. Each step taking him  closer to the edge of the building.

Why does everything always go wrong? He thought. Even in his last life. He barely lived and then he died and he still failed. 

“No weapons and no mana.” Tyura mumbled, still staring at the beautiful stars. He really didn’t want to die. It was the honest truth. He didn’t want to die in his world either. He didn’t want to be a sacrifice for others.

Tyura heard the door open behind him and he turned to see a grinning Johan.

“Oh Tyura, that wasn’t much fun. You should have ran a little longer. You should have hid.” He swung the cleaver as he approached slowly,Taking his time, savoring the sight of his cornered prey. 

Was that what he was? Cornered prey? Tyura felt something burn within him. Me? Prey?

“I think I’ll start with your arms.” Johans continued thoughtfully. Tyura stared at him blankly and reached into his pocket. “And then to make it last longer I’ll take your toes next. One... by- ONE!”

 At the last word, he lunged but before he could bring down the cleaver, Tyura threw the candy in his pocket infused with a tiny bit of mana into his left eye. 

Johan shrieked in pain, dropping the cleaver to clutch his eye. Tyura wasted no time. He dropped down, catching the cleaver before it hit the ground and swung, cutting Johans achilles tendon and then he spun in the opposite direction, using his momentum to cut deeply into his side. 

Johan collapsed to his knees, tears already streaming down his face. He raised his hands fearfully. His remaining eye wide with terror.

“Wait! Please!”  

Tyura didn’t wait. He lodged the cleaver into his head.

And then he did it again and again and again. He didn’t realize he had been yelling until his voice went hoarse and that’s when he stopped. By then Johan was unrecognizable. 

Tyura breathed heavily, tumbling to the floor and decided to lay down all together.  He stretched his legs out and looked at his bloody hands, some Johans and some his own, and looked at the stars without a thought. 

He then looked over at the piece of bloodied candy that had fallen. He reached for it, carefully unwrapping it and licked it off the white paper.

It was sweet.