Once I stepped out of the portal, the air lost it’s thick rubber smell and instead, the marvellous smell of cakes filled my nose. The air was fresh today, almost sweet, and I couldn’t help but feel joyous for what was to come. Xanxus turned to check if I was there, then advanced towards the torturous bundle of people weaving in between each other, trying to get to their desired shops. I had no choice but to follow him.

I was like a raindrop joining the ocean, I was instantly pulled into the bundle and merged into the chaos. Hands were everywhere and a mixture of different peoples breaths fanned into my face. EW, STANKY! I scrunched my nose and skimmed around for Xanxus, just to find him being rolled out of the crowd like an unwanted ball. Each person moved, shoulder to shoulder, creating a hot burning friction against my skin.

I AM BEING DRAGGED!!!!!! I started to panic as my breathing became frantic.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shirt. I was pulled towards the person with such force, the people in my way were flung to the side. I fell head first with the person who pulled me and we both tumbled on the side of the street. Then I heard that familiar laugh… I looked up and saw the same pair of brown doe eyes… “Malia.” I grunted.

“Hello to you too Zeref.” she pushed me off of her and got up. “You’ve grown… Jeez, you LOOK grown.” her eyes scanned me up and down while she brushed herself off. I felt uncomfortable.

“Don’t look at me like that.” I pushed myself off the cobbled street.

“Z-Zeref!!! Mali-AHH!” a strained voice called out behind us. We both turned our heads to see Xanxus drowning in the crowd still trying to reach us. He wasn’t making much progress. The crowd was brutal. I grimaced at the memory of those musty faces rubbing against mine. Euh…

“It’s been too long, you look more like a man now.” Malia spoke as she patted my arm to feel my muscles. What the hell was she thinking?

“I mean I’m not the only one that grew,” I returned, looking down at her. Her gaze met mine and she realised what I was hinting at; she threw a straight punch at my face, mixed with mana. Out of instinct, I parried her fist to the right and stepped back a few steps.

“You weren’t meant to block that stupid!” she groaned.

Here I was thinking she had matured as much as her looks, guess I was wrong.

Her hair was naturally curled like big springs around her shoulders, stopping just below her breasts, with lighter brown streaks. Her lips were more plump and pouty. She looked healthy and her light olive skin tone shone under the sun. She hasn’t changed at all except for the fact that her freckles were less visible under her eye but the cute little ones on her nose could still be seen. I smirked at her as I realised what she was wearing.

“You’re the one wearing a napkin as a top,” I protested while laughing. Although it felt weird since I was mentally older than Malia, I figured this was my life now. I should get used to it. I’m a kid.

“It’s a freaking tube top you idiot” she said while hitting my bicep continuously. She had changed a lot since I saw her. You could tell she was going through the maturity phase but seriously, how do you not feel cold in a tube top?! I still found it funny how elements of my old world were in this world. People wear pretty modern clothes and shoes but things like technology hadn’t peaked yet.

“Hey love birds, you realise we’re out in public right now, Zeref hurry up and follow me.” the hunched assassin spoke annoyingly.

“Anyhow, Zeref what brought you to town?” Malia asked this time, keeping her distance while we followed Xanxus.

“I mean I could ask you the same thing, My mother is forcing me to join that old man’s academy and get some education. Bummer.” I replied.

“No way! I go to that academy too, I guess we’re going to be classmates then, that’s nice. To be honest I’m only in town to buy my books for the second year.”

“Mmh, great!” This situation was cringing me out. UGhh! I’ve become such an introvert. This is what 8 years of hiding from civilization does.

“Zeref, hurry up! We don’t have all day you know!” Mr Xanxus spoke loudly, trying to speak over the bustling noise of people. He stood outside a red shop, covered with posters of new accessories and clothes on sale. I was finally getting some proper clothes!

***

I stood up tall in front of the mirror. Hm. I looked at myself in satisfaction. Damn, this body is good looking. I’m impressed. The uniform was black: a black blazer with the golden crest symbol thingy, a black blouse with a yellow line outlining the V neck, a yellow and navy blue kriss kross tie, black trousers and black trainers. Not bad. I spun on my heels facing Xanxus and Malia. “I approve. Let’s buy it” I nodded while smirking. Xanxus scoffed and Malia rolled her eyes.

“We weren’t asking. It’s the uniform.” Xanxus chuckled.

“It’s compulsory you fool.” Malia patted my shoulder.

I laughed and walked back into the changing room to take off the uniform. My black hair was so wavy to the point where I had curtain bangs. My hair was just above my ear. I had really grown a lot since I first came to Gramp’s house. People mistake me for being 15 years old. I have all muscle and no fat and have broad ass shoulders. However, I really needed to cut this long ass hair. For the time being I just kept it in a man bun.

“Mr Xanxus, do you think we could take this thing to the hairdressers by any chance?” Malia asked the hunched assassin, pointing her finger at me. What?! Was I that hideous? She called me a ‘thing’. Damn! To be honest I was going to ask the same thing.

“I guess he does look a bit hideous, yeah, no worries we can go at the end.” he replied annoyed. I believe he was still salty about what had happened at home. He didn’t win or lose, I guess he just hated draws.

“Hideous?!” I gasped at his choice of words.

“It’s the truth,” Malia laughed. I couldn’t help but smile.

We picked up some more high end clothes and exited the shop.

“Oh shucks! Look at the time! Sorry Mr Xanxus, I have to run. Bye Zeref! See you at school!” she shouted hastily as she zigzagged through the crowd, why was she in such a hurry? Beats me.

“Okay, next on the list…” the hunched assassin, pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper, showing a list of things I needed, “Kiddo, I’m going to give you some money, go get your weapons that you need, I’m going to go buy your books.”

Before I could dispute he dropped a sac of Gold coins in my hands and pointed the way, then rushed away, disappearing into the crowd. I really couldn’t believe this man. Unbelievable!

I went in the direction he pointed and walked on, moving in between the crowd. This reminded me of when I discovered one of my best defensive Skill: Seikuken. This skill allowed me to detect the movement in the atmosphere in a certain radius from my body. At my level it had a radius of a metre all around my body. In this radius, my perception, senses and physical abilities were heightened, so I could defend attacks from multiple directions or have enough time to block, evade, redirect, do all sorts of defensive moves efficiently, when an attack came in my seikuken range. It was really helpful! Especially against the hunched assassin’s close combat killing style. He was deadlier than he looked. I genuinely struggled when we faced each other.

“Someone help!! I’m bein-” a muffled scream of a girl’s voice came from an alleyway 5 metres in front of me. I looked around to see what the public’s reaction was, but they all just looked away or ignored the sounds. Typical. I hastened my pace a little and got to the source of the scream.

4 men shrouded in black robes surrounded the poor girl, she had animalish ears, like a dog’s, she was from the Were men race! They were extremely rare and rumours have it that they’re almost extinct. I diminished my presence, by controlling the mana particles around me and listened to their conversation, I had to know what I was getting myself into.

I activated my Inspect skill and my eyes turned to an azure blue again. The Inspect skill was all maxed out now so I could see all the texts. It was odd though they were all at the same level, they were named Recruits A, B,C,D. How unambitious.

[Name: Recruit A]

[Level: 17]

[Mana pool stage: 2]

[Weaknesses: Flame Magic, Hand-to-hand combat, Lightning Magic, Light Magic]

[Name: Recruit B]

[Level: 17]

[Mana pool stage: 2]

[Weaknesses: Flame Magic, Hand-to-hand combat, Lightning Magic, Light Magic]

And the same showed for the other two.

“Yes men! We’ve caught ourselves a hefty one, how much do you think she’d sell for? Maybe the boss may want to play with her instead?” I heard one of them say. The poor girl sobbed, while the largest man tied her and covered her mouth with a white cloth. They were black market human traffickers, lowest of the low!

“Maybe we should kill her instead and sell her organs, do you think we’d make more money that way?” another one spoke. She tried to scream but the noise came out as a muffled yelp.

“Stay quiet! Stupid girl!” the one on the right brought his arm up bringing it down as a slap.” What the-” the man looked at his wrist, it was gone! “Aaghghhhh! My hand!” he screamed out in agony, as the blood gushed out like a fountain, that’s not the only thing that was going to be missing, next his head was sliced off clean by something, blood poured out of the top of the decapitated body, staining the floor with gooey red.

“Aaaghhh! My legs!” this time the one on the left screamed out as his legs were smashed, so sharp white pieces could be seen protruding out of his red flesh. Then… Snap! His head was twisted backwards a full 180 degrees . Thud! The body fell impacting the concrete floor, lifeless.

“Wh- Who’s there! Show yourself! Do you know who we-” before he could finish his sentence, blood started gushing out from where his heart once was. He looked down in horror at the hole in his chest.

“Looking for this?” I finally showed myself, wearing a mask that I made by ripping my vest, still holding his beating heart in my hands. His face went pale, losing all expression; he reached out with his hand to grab his heart, but his body fell in the same fashion as his peer. The were girl moved to the side flopping on the floor like a fish, since her body was all tied up.

“You- You stay away from me! You monster!” the last lone survivor fell to the ground and started to crawl backwards out of sheer fear.

“Can you smell that? It’s the smell of fear.” I said advancing forwards. The man moved backwards still on the floor, and pissed his pants.

“Please- I beg you have mercy!” he knew he’d suffer the same fate as his peers so he begged at my feet. I side kicked his body, smashing him into the wall of the alleyway, then grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up with one arm. He started to cry.

“If you answer all my questions, I’ll think about letting you go. Stand here, if you make a noise or move from that spot I’ll end your life in seconds, is that clear?” I warned the lone pathetic survivor. I relaxed my grip and put him down, then turned backwards to where the poor girl was frantically moving, trying to get loose. I first removed the cloth covering her mouth, then untied the rope. She leapt forward and hugged me with two hands. What the-

“What took you so long sis?!” she cried in my arms, still hugging me. LMAO!! Did she think I was her sister?! HAHAHA! Damn, I really needed to cut my hair and try some of those voice deepening exercises.

“I’ll talk to you later, stand there,” I pointed to my right and chuckled a little at her bold statement, she let go reluctantly and stared at the man with bloodlust. He shook with fear, not because of the girl but because my attention was finally on him.

“First question, who hired you?” I asked coldly.

“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know!” he said frantically, “AAaghhh!” both his legs snapped and he fell to the ground like a cripple. He wept again out of pain.

“Don’t lie to me! Who hired you?” I exclaimed once again, this time raising my voice a little.

“We- We were hired by Umbra,” he said shakily, still holding his snapped legs out of agony.

“Who’s Umbra?” I asked hastily, I could feel, 5 strong presences coming closer.

“They’re, They’re-“

“Spit it out already!” I grabbed his collar.

“Stop right there! Don’t even think about moving! Did you do all this? Put your hands up now!” Like shadows the 5 men in navy blue armour surrounded us. Levels popped up on top of their heads, due to my inspect skill, the levels ranged from 20 – 24.

“By order of the Metropolitan Criminal Defence Force, you are hereby under arrest,” a person from behind moved into my 1 metre range from behind, I let go of the crippled guy’s collar, grabbed the arm that was coming from behind and shifted his body over my shoulder slamming him downwards, using a one handed shoulder roll. The man’s body collided with the crippled man, knocking them both out.

“Brat! Don’t resist! Men, Grab him!” the man at level 30 shouted, throwing a straight fist imbued in flame mana at me. My seikuken was active so I could tell the other 3 were reaching in to grab me from behind, while their leader – the level 24 man – was going in for the attack. However, for me they were moving in slow motion.

I parried the straight punch to the right, then aimed a screw shot using lightning mana at his chest. His body flew backwards tumbling to the ground. I turned back and used ice magic to freeze the other 3 men’s lower bodies, immobilising their movement.

“AAghh! Stop! Don’t you move! You little brat!” one of them spoke up, pain showing in their voices. I smirked, grabbed the girl, picking her up in my arms and flash stepped from wall to wall reaching the roof of the buildings. I didn’t realise it but my mask had fallen off when I reached the roofs.

“You’re not my sister! Who are you?! Let me go!” She started throwing punches at my chest frantically when she realised I was some stranger.

[You have suffered 1 damage]

LMAO! That made me giggle, all her struggling only for 1 damage. I ignored her useless attempt to hurt me and kept hopping from building to building until we were a safe distance away. No way! The Blacksmith’s shop was down there. I had forgotten my original goal. I jumped down from the roof and put her back down on the ground. She backed away out of caution.

“I am gravely sorry for what you witnessed back there, I had initially just wanted to save you, but things got messy. Please pardon my behaviour.” I quickly gave a sincere bow, trying not to initiate any further conversations.

“You could’ve told me! Do you know who I am?! The way you treated me was outright disrespectful! I’m going to sue you!” she said loudly. Some people started to look our way. She was making a scene. I simply turned around and continued walking back to the shop ignoring her whining. I had things to do and quarrelling with her was not one of them. What an ungrateful brat. After killing 3 men, and confronting the police force just to save her she doesn’t even say thanks. Disgusting! I chuckled at the thought, Nobles and royals all acted the same, what was I expecting?

I arrived at the weapons shop and glanced at my wrist watch. I glanced back at where I had left that whiny girl, she had already disappeared.The incident took around an hour. I reached for my pocket. Where’s the sac of gold?! I was panicking. Then a hand came from behind trying to grab my shoulder, out of instinct and habit I grabbed the arm for a shoulder roll, but my grip was broken with expert handling. I turned around to see who this person was.

“Kiddo, relax! It’s just me, why are you so tense?!” Phew! It was just Mr Xanxus, I sighed in relief and answered him.

“Oh sorry about that, I just got lost and thought you were a mugger or something.” I scratched my head trying to show a genuine reaction. I looked down at his left hand and the sac of gold was there. What a cunning old man?!

“Oh yeah this? You need to be more careful with your valuables, it was easy to steal from you.” the hunched assassin remarked as he threw the sac of gold to me, and walked into the shop. I still had things to learn I guess. In my previous life I had no family and grew up in the streets, I taught myself how to fight from young; from joining underground illegal fights, I picked up fighting techniques and styles like Kick-boxing, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Kyokushin Karate and how to dual wield swords. Mixing them together I made My own MMA style, called Re:MMA perfect for killing and self defense. I had recently polished it by the help of the hunched assassin’s killing style and Miss Elena’s expert knowledge with weapons. I improved a lot fighting wise, but not very much emotionally and mentally. That I had to work on.

**

I walked briskly eyeing down the isles for good swords that I could use. Nothing. Nothing but absolute trash. All just heaps of scrap metal. I really missed my Holy Grade dual short swords. I returned back to the shop owner.

“So young Sire, did you find anything you liked?” the man spoke smiling while rubbing his hands.

He was at least 40 years old and was of the dwarf race. He was big, belly wise and was decked out in a brown coloured armour, his beard was a messy brown and his hair appeared to look like a bird’s nest. No sign of cleanliness in sight. When he smiled, one could see his crooked and bent yellow teeth and Ufff! His breath, don’t even let me begin.

“Where are the real weapons? I don’t want these trainee weapons, show me where you keep the mana weapons. We’re willing to pay extra.” I said looking at the old man, the hunched assassin looked at me and we gave each other a brief nod of approval.

“Very well, if you’ll please follow me.”