A new day had arrived as Alvaro slept through all the whole day before. Now that his wounds had fully been healed, he had to start working. He couldn't afford to sit around and do nothing since in this world it would be impossible.
This was fine to Alvaro due him being a workaholic. Yet, a small part of him just wanted to go to sleep. In this unconscious state he didn't have to worry about anything at all.
As such, he knew better than anyone else the form of escapism sleep brought him.
Stretching his body for a bit, Alvaro's arm had a bit of lines throughout it. The ones that somehow appeared when waking up, nothing serious.
While Alvaro waited for Heinkel, he closed his eyes, but didn't fully go asleep. Soon, a knock was heard in front of the door. Weirdly enough the knock was different from Heinkel's.
However, people don't knock the same due to that fact Alvaro didn't bat an eye going towards the door. Alvaro slowly opened the door, the wood creaking.
"You're ba—"
Who is this?
Unfortunately the question wasn't answered once again. Alvaro's eyes widened as the sword swung to kill him. Barely dodging it, he quickly responded in the same manner. When taking his weapon, the only thing he grasped was pure air.
Shit! I forgot that I currently don't have any of my weapons.
Due to this miscalculation, Alvaro attempted to continue the attack by instead using a spell.
"Shamak!"
With all his might he punched the person in front in an attempt to make them move from the door.
The uneasy feeling was swept by the confusion of the situation. As he sprinted with all his might out his room, another unexpected surprise awaited him.
His windpipe had been crushed, leaving him unable to breathe. A slow process where surely the one responsible deliberately made it to make him suffer.
Alvaro clutched his neck, not knowing how much strength to put because he could damage himself in the process.
More flashes of supposed memories were seen by him again.
"I don't even know you! Who in the right mind would attack an innocent bystander."
"Innocent!? I hate you even more. You truly believe what you're doing is correct, huh?"
"Don't go accusing random people of crimes they didn't even commit!"
"Shut the hell up!!! You can deny it all you want, but the witch's misma is all over your body!"
"Wait a minute, I thought only witch cultists could smell it. Oh—"
Going back to normal, Alvaro's neck was covered in tiny scratches. Although the wounds bled, it wasn't enough for it to become drops. Taking deep breaths and ultimately ruining his stable breathing in his escape.
So those were the results of the action? But what does this person want from me? Well, of course they want to end my life. While that is true, what I need to figure out is the reason behind the attack.
He continued running, desperately trying to get away from the attacker. Luckily his spell hadn't been dispelled like the other time. Once out of the smoke, Alvaro bumped into many people on the street, even knocking some of them to the ground with his momentum.
His heart beated faster and faster, begging Alvaro to stop. In spite of that he dragged himself to run, he knew if he stopped he wouldn't have enough energy to make another sprint.
Stopping, he hid between the crowds of people. The plan wasn't to blend in, due to the misma being a clear way to pinpoint him out, it was to make everyone hostage.
A scummy tactic, but Alvaro couldn't care less about the moment. Gathering his breathe, Alvaro was on the guard while he thought about the current predicament.
This isn't good. My only option is to find a guard.
Wait...
Something isn't right here.
Assuming that the commotion that my spell made people are obviously going to gather there. Which means that some may call knights to investigate.
I escaped the scene of crimes which might have been the safest place...
Regaining his composure, Alvaro continued his escape through alleyways and such places. It was risky, but if the attacker could smell the witches misma it was better for him to quickly escape.
Making his way through the small, narrow gaps between buildings. Not paying attention to his surroundings, he found it amusing that he made it back to the slums. He easily blended in with the people around him, he even had a tiny bit of popularity within this specific area.
"El Huma!"
Multiple ice spears fell in fast velocity downwards. Alvaro jumped into a nearby window, cutting through a bit of his clothes. The impact alerted the owner of the house, who immediately went to investigate. Brief contact was made until the man realized the situation.
"I'm getting attacked, worry about your house later. You better leave!"
As Alvaro uttered those words another barrage of ice spears was fired. They pierced the house like paper, some going straight towards the man. Seeing this Alvaro swiftly stretched his arm.
"Goa!"
The ball of fire intercepted the attack, unfortunately one of them still hit the man in the chest. Alvaro cursed before going back to his original plan.
However, the person had entered the house by the time Alvaro fired the spell. Attempting another attack, Alvaro countered by exhausting more of his mana.
"Goa!"
It seemed like he caught the perpetrator by surprise, yet they still managed to barely protect themselves.
"Huma!"
A barrier was created, but due to being late the fire ball connected before colliding with the shield. The person's lower arm now had been red from the burning fire spell.
There wasn't more time to celebrate since they continued to attack Alvaro. They rushed at Alvaro, and the same weapon could be seen with them. Panicking, Alvaro's only option was to use the man's body as a shield.
His cold body was slashed, blood falling onto Alvaro. Throwing the body at them, Alvaro dashed and connected a hit to the solar plexus. He reinforced his fist the moment it connected to get the highest amount of results.
Alvaro couldn't tell if that did any damage, not wanting to check, Alvaro opted to throw more punches in a last ditch effort. Although all of them connected, his fist got weaker and weaker with each punch.
A fist made their way to Alvaro's face, knocking him to the wall. His back took all the impact, breaking the wall.
This superhuman strength.
"A demi human..." Alvaro muttered.
Mustering all his strength, Alvaro stood right back up as if nothing had happened. This was all an act of playing a mental game.
"Drop the weapon! You want to make me suffer, don't you? Then fight me fist to fist, it'll be more satisfying! I promise a good fight!" Alvaro shouted, a forced smile on his face.
They seemed to take his advice, and hid their weapon. Alvaro still didn't believe that they listened, they probably wanted to get his hopes up then crush it. This was the same person who crushed his windpipe to torture him.
Immediately taking this opportunity, Alvaro dashed straight to him, throwing a punch that was aimed for the attacker's chest.
This was countered not with a hand, but a shiny metallic sword trying to stab Alvaro fist.
An out of character grin appeared on Alvaro's as opened his fist whispering a single word.
"Jiwald."
Heat rays went straight through the demi human. They dropped their weapon, falling down towards the ground. A pool of their own blood was formed as Alvaro watched the event unfold. A blank stare was given by Alvaro while he watched the demi human die.
As soon as he got confirmation, Alvaro collapsed like a puppet's strings being cut off. It took a tremendous amount of effort to even move a muscle, he used that effort to lean against a wall. But now that he was free of danger he no longer had the adrenaline to make the impossible possible.
Clothes tattered, body swollen, cuts on his back and neck, and a broken hand.
I still can't believe how I survived...
Did I actually escape with my life? I feel like any moment now they are going to get back up and kill me. I watched too many films of that happening, and I'm not keen on being on the receiving end.
When I'm able to move and recover my mana, then I'll check their identity. I only assumed the attacker was a demi human because of their strength.
I also didn't mention this, but they're wearing a cloak. You would think that with such suspicious attire you would be questioned, but it seems like that's not the case.
Either that or they're really good at avoiding the knights.
With they're identity I may be able to piece together some clues about my attack. Although the reasoning behind the witch's misma is valid, there is something still bothering me.
Who can smell it?
If I think about it only Petelgeuse could tell because, the only reason the witch cultist did the same was because he told them I'm Pride.
Then do you need to have some sort of relation to the witch?
I don't think that was the case, because there's no way this weak person is related to a witch.
Alvaro patiently waited for his mana to recover. To his surprise no one went near this area, avoiding it altogether. Not knowing whether to feel happy or sad, Alvaro closed his eyes.
Oh...
I wonder if Heinkel is searching for me? I forgot he was on duty today...
Ah...
I remember that I used that combo when I used to box.
Indeed Alvaro actually did practice some sort of martial art contrary to what he stated in Chapter 3: Purpose.
He had always been a hard puncher, making him an infighter. Even though he used to practice back in the day, he stopped once he joined what ruined his life.
This was the motive behind him not mentioning it, he deliberately wanted to stop thinking about those memories. He always thought it was pathetic to want to go back to those time since he had to keep going forward no matter what happened.
This was why he never attended suicide.
Well, his family would have died, so that made a bigger reason as to not.
But with this ability things may change.
The warmness of the blood gave him the same warm feeling inside him.
He felt that if he had been in a colder place, he would've become addicted to the sensation.
Which would only happen if that was his first time killing someone that way.
Speaking of killing, Alvaro didn't feel any remorse when he murdered this demi human.
And why would he?
If they were innocent then maybe.
But this person attempted to take his life.
I'm just trying to survive.
"Haah..."
Moving his body, Alvaro slowly went his way towards the person, who's blood had already dried up. Fingers slightly shaking, Alvaro removed the cloak, revealing a female demi human.
So it was a demi human after all...
Alvaro's gaze lingered, staring at her body.
She has a nice figure and she's quite the beauty. It's unfortunate she's dead. If only she was alive, I could've had my fun with her.
I could always kill myself in an attempt to go back and have my way with her.
I'm joking.
I may be human scum, but I'm not that type of human scum.
Now, how should I cover up this murder? I might fuck up the future, but I can't do much. I won't be able to explain myself without mentioning the misma...
Time to make something possible.
"Someone was just killed by a demi human! I repeat a demi human killed one of us!!!" I shouted, gathering all the attention to me.
Normally, nobody would care about a murder after all it's killed or be killed for them. However with the tension between the demi humans and ordinary humans this makes it more difficult to deal with.
"I had to kill her in self defense! Unfortunately there was still a victim..."
The current state I was in made my story even more credible.
Still, whatever came out of my mouth was the truth. I didn't lie in either of my sentences.
I hope things don't turn for the worst.
A/N
I know it's strange for me to add another predicament, but then easily solve it, still in my humble opinion I think that not all problems had to be arcs to be exact.
For example the action of his will be a catalyst for more problems in the future.
At first it may seem like this was an insignificant death, but like the mc said the tension is about to get higher.