A God in a Xianxia world

Chapter 28 - Who Was That?

Tom sat there, on top of the bearded man, deep in contemplation. The fact that he'd just killed someone didn't matter to him at all. He was completely unfazed by it. After all, he used to be a carnivore. If he didn't kill; he didn't eat. Though, that was a sentiment that mellowed out substantially after he ascended and no longer required food for sustenance.

The reason that Tom was lost in thought was purely because of how unexpected and bizarre the situation was for him. He'd just been walking along and some strange man suddenly attacked him out of nowhere. He didn't know what to make out of the situation. After bashing the man's face in and calming his anger, Tom was left with a sense of surrealism.

However, Tom couldn't remain in his stupor for very long. Once again, he heard running footsteps coming from behind him. His first thought was that another attacker had appeared. Logically, it wouldn't make sense for another attacker to run out with this timing, but then again, Tom hadn't expected the first one either. He quickly got up, grabbing the knife lying on the ground and looked with a serious gaze at the corner of the alley, unsure of who or what to expect.

As the sound of footsteps grew louder, Tom began to hear new sounds, far off voices and shouting.

Tom thought about the possibility of running but even if he had calmed down somewhat, that didn't mean his blood wasn't still boiling. He'd just won one encounter and he was fully prepared to fight again. He wanted to see just who exactly was challenging him.

Rationally, running away could be both the right choice and the wrong choice. Tom was working on the belief that the footsteps he was hearing might belong to another attacker. In this situation, there was logic in both, waiting to see who else was trying to kill him and assessing the threat level, and, running away before more danger arrived.

Tom made the choice to stay in the alley because he wanted to see who else was involved in this strange plot to kill him and if possible, kill them too. Part of this was motivated by his anger at having been attacked out of nowhere and nearly killed, part of it was because when challenged it just wasn't in his nature to back down, and part of it was that with his sense of pride as a god, how could possibly stand to be targeted by these weaklings.

In the back of his mind he knew that he was weak at the moment and that retreating and avoiding danger would be more sensible at this moment in time. He knew that if he died, it would ruin his plans and likely lead to him losing his bet with Methis, but, his sense of pride just wouldn't allow run off like some coward.

However, ultimately, Tom had made the rational choice by staying, though not for the reasons he did stay.

Tom's body tensed in anticipation, preparing himself, as he saw a person run round the corner and enter the alley. This person then stopped shortly after entering the alley, facing Tom with concern in his eyes.

"Avery?" Tom asked.

After making out the figure in front of him, a look of confusion spread across Tom's face. The question he asked wasn't so much to confirm who was in front of him, Tom could see him well enough, it was out of confusion as to why he was there.

Avery looked at Tom, seeing a bruise forming on his face and blood running from his nose and a cut on his lip. Then Avery looked to the body of the bearded man on the floor. He looked back and forth between the two before pointed at the dead body, tilting his head and asking "Him... you did that?"

"Yes" Tom said emotionlessly.

"Why are you here?" he asked again, a hint of suspicion on his face.