Serum - Chapter 55

Dirk and Ava stood back to back. Ava waited for Dirk to do anything.

She was surprised by the words that came out of his mouth the next moment. 

"Touch her, and you will never see the light of day again."

Dirk spoke with a frosty voice. Gut heard this bone chilling statement, but instead of being intimmidated, he got excited. 

"Haha, very well! Let's do it the fun way!"

With a maniacal laugh, Gut swung his knife. He only wanted to slash Dirk, hurting him, but not killing him. He wanted to see the fear on Dirk's face. It was easy to act tough, but all that broke down when one finally got a taste of real danger. 

Unfortunately, Dirk wasn't a normal kid. As the knife slashed through the air, threatening to slice his chest open, a voice spoke in his head. 

[Engagement detected. Three threats determined.]

[Killing order generated.]

[Happy hunting.]

*Slice!*

The knife came flying through the air. Gut frowned though when he didn't feel the familiar sensation of tearing flesh. 

He saw Dirk's body bend back, narrowly dodging the knife. The next moment, Dirk shot out his arm. His hand grabbed Gut's forearm that gripped the knife. 

Gut was about to rip his arm away when surprisingly, Dirk's grip remained firm. His hand was like a vice as it squeezed tighter and tighter. Dirk was activating his anima, and his strength rapidly increased. 

"Argh!"

Gut growled as the pain became great. It felt like his arm was in the jaws of a monster. He jerked his body around, trying to escape his grip. He punched Dirk and even kicked, but was horrified to find out that Dirk's body was solid as a rock. Punching him hurt his own fist. He yelled, but was suddenly interrupted by a horrible noise.

*Crack!*

The forearm gave out, Dirk's hand clamping down. Gut watched as his arm was broken, and a wave of pain suddenly shot through him.

"Ahhh!"

He screamed as the knife was dropped. The other two, Barsol and Hurel, were shocked as they saw their friend cry out like a child. 

"Hey!"

Both of them shouted and rushed over. Dirk threw Gut aside as he squared up to the two men. Both pulled out their own knives, Barsol slashing toward Dirk first. 

*Slice!*

The knife sailed, but was dodged. Dirk threw out his leg the next moment, slamming his shin bone into Barsol's calf. Barsol was thrown off balance, flipping to the ground. 

"Agh!"

Barsol grunted as surging pain came from his leg. Dirk moved on to Harel. 

Harel was quick to slash out with his own knife. However, he kept his balance and distance. Dirk dodged, but couldn't counter. This happened a few more times, Dirk maneuvering around the path of the knife every time. 

Then, Dirk found an opening. After Harel slashed, Dirk moved in and threw out his fist, planting it in his gut. Harel felt the wind shoot out of him. Though, this would be underestimating the power of the punch. Dirk held nothing back, and under his rank 3 strength, Harel's organs were shaken.

*Thud!*

"Ugh..!"

Harel could only collapse on himself. His stomach felt like it was about to explode, and he couldn't even keep himself upright. He curled into a ball, letting out miserable wails as blood seeped from his mouth and nostrils. 

By now though, Barsol had recovered. He jumped to his feet, limping slightly from the pain in his leg. Seeing Harel, he panicked a bit, but he had a knife that gave him confidence. He jumped at Dirk, waving his knife about in an attempt to cut him. Only, Dirk was too nimble, and all of Barsol's movements were easily read. Dirk moved as if this were a choreographed dance. However, instead of finding an opening, he made his own. 

'Spike pillar.'

[Casting Spike Pillar.]

Dirk gave a command, and his AI instantly picked up on it. A magic circle glowed on top of his hand. Barsol saw this and realized Dirk was a mage. But he knew mages needed a casting time, so he wasn't worried as he closed distance to mess up Dirk's concentration. 

Unfortunately, this wasn't a normally cast spell. A second didn't even pass before the ground in front of Barsol opened up. Since he had lunged forward, he was unable to dodge the long spike that surged toward his leg. 

*Puh*

"Ahhh!!!"

Barsol screamed as the spike pierced into his thigh. The spike was tough, not breaking under his weight. And because he was abruptly stopped, his leg twisted around the spike, tearing the muscles. 

Dirk stepped forward to attack again, but suddenly, he heard a shout. 

"Dirk!"

Ava's voice came from behind. He instantly turned and saw her backing away from Gut. Gut had a broken arm, but that didn't stop him from using his other arm to attack. He chased Ava, trying to cut her with his knife. Fortunately, she took it upon herself to evade, creating distance. Her anima training gave her quick movements not unlike Dirk's. Another thing that helped was Gut using his non-dominant arm. 

Seeing Gut attack Ava, Dirk felt his bloodlust surge. He lifted his hand, and two rock arrows instantly appeared above it. This was his instant casting given by the AI. 

*Woosh!*

One arrow flew out. Gut spotted this in the corner of his eye, but was baffled by how fast it moved. He attempted to dodge, but the rock arrow arrived too quickly. The arrowhead met the skin of his leg.

*Slice!*

"Argh!!"

Gut yelled as the arrow tore through his thigh. He fell to his knees. However, that wasn't the only arrow. He panicked as he saw Dirk bring down his other hand. 

*Puh!*

This time, the arrow impaled his side, piercing through and out the other. Gut felt blood seep into his mouth as his organs were torn through. He felt dread.

Unfortunately, Dirk intended to let him wallow in pain. He turned to Barsol who was pulling his leg out of the rock spike. He barely did so and fell to the ground, the hole in his leg spurting out blood. 

"N-no. Wait, please! You can't kill me!"

Barsol cried out pleas as Dirk approached. From seemingly nowhere, Dirk had pulled out a knife. Barsol felt his life slipping away as Dirk stepped closer. 

Unfortunately, Dirk didn't listen. Or, he didn't have the mind to listen. His eyes were apathetic, releasing no aura of threat. Inside though, he was surging with the desire to kill.

Unknowingly, a black film extended out from his hand, covering the blade of the knife like a black fog. Barsol had picked up his own knife and slashed at Dirk from the ground, trying to keep distance. However, with a well timed movement, Dirk flicked his hand.

*Slice!*

Barsol watched as his hand flew off, landing a few feet away. The cut was perfect, as if Dirk wielded the sharpest blade in the world. 

Dirk bent down, about to plunge his darkness covered knife into Barsol's chest. Barsol himself had started screaming again, apparently in bloodcurdling pain. Before Dirk could finish him though, he spotted Harel who had recovered enough to start running away in the corner of his eye. 

Letting out a small breath, Dirk raised his arm with the knife in hand. He then brought it down, throwing the knife with oppressive strength. 

The blade flipped as it sailed through the air. Harel wasn't looking back, totally focused on running. He was interrupted though by a burning sensation in his back. That burning sensation rapidly worsened, turning into an unbearable pressure as the blade tore open his lung from behind. 

Harel collapsed to the ground, unable to even scream. Dirk turned back to Barsol who continued to scream. Looking around, Dirk picked up the knife from Barsol's severed hand.

"No!"

Barsol pleaded again, but Dirk didn't hesitate. He smoothly plunged the knife into Barsol's neck, cutting off all sound. 

[Kill count: 1/3]

He stood up as his AI rang out with a notification. He turned his head back to Harel. Since it had only been several seconds, Harel wasn't dead yet. He would die eventually though, so Dirk didn't bother with him as he shifted his gaze to Gut. 

Gut was still kneeled on the floor, arrow in stomach. He was suffering miserably. Seeing him groan, Dirk felt the corner of his mouth ever so slightly rise. He walked over.

"What was that you said earlier? You would hurt that little girlfriend of mine? Did you think that was funny? Did you think that was smart?! Why must you threaten my friend?!"

Dirk yelled, bringing back his leg and swinging.

*Bang!*

"Argh!"

His leg slammed into Gut's abdomen, sending him tumbling. This time, blood poured from his mouth and nose. Dirk walked over, picking him up by his neck. 

"You think I want to do this? I just wanted to have a nice little chat, but you had to interrupt me! Then you had to threaten me! I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore! I was fine with killing monsters, but now you've forced me to kill people! Why?!"

Dirk spat in Gut's face. Gut sniffled as he barely opened his mouth. 

"We... were hired."

"Hired?"

Dirk's eyes zoned out hearing that word. It implied so much. Someone hired these three to attack him. He was being targeted. This wasn't random, but planned.

But who would target him? He was just a kid from the academy out on a little adventure. He didn't even have money on him. His armor, the most valuable items he had, were in his room. If someone wanted money, they would go there. But they came to him. This person wanted to harm him specifically. 

He thought and thought, but nothing came to him. In this world, nobody knew who he was. This was a new life for him. He shouldn't be getting into any conflict with anyone. But now, conflict was coming to him. 

'Why? This is another damn world! I know nobody here! I'm just some kid! Why am I being attacked?!'

Dirk's mind became chaotic. Rage burned inside of him. 

He had escaped Earth, but now, the same problems were coming back to him. It was like he was a magnet for trouble. He thought back, remembering his conversation with that psychopath girl.

The walking incarnation of bad luck. Was he really? He didn't want to believe it. 

Suddenly, his eyes zoned in. By now, Gut was choking on his own blood. Seeing this pathetic excuse for a human, Dirk gritted his teeth. His grip tightened around his throat.

His arm raised, picking Gut up off the floor. Gut looked into those dark eyes of Dirk's, feeling the terror of death. 

*Crack!*

Then, his body went limp. Dirk dropped him after crushing his throat, the corpse falling to the ground with a thud. 

[Three kills confirmed. Threats eliminated.]

The AI spoke. Gut and Barsol had been personally ended by him, and Harel had already died from his broken lung. Three bodies lay on the floor, pools of blood spilling from all of them. 

"...Dirk?"

As Dirk contemplated, his attention was caught by Ava's voice. He turned to her. 

Ava was looking at him with a slightly horrified gaze. Dirk had mercilessly killed three people in front of her. Although they had threatened them first, she didn't expect things to devolve this far. 

Dirk wanted to explain, but now wasn't the time. Some people were already looking at them from afar. Dirk turned and walked to Harel's corpse, pulling out his knife. He then sheathed it before walking to Ava. She leaned back as he approached. 

He grabbed her hand. 

"We need to go."

"..."

Ava looked at Dirk for a second before lightly nodding. She let him pull her along, the two hurrying back to their inn. 

.......

Upon arriving outside his room, Dirk pulled out his knife. He looked at the doorknob, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. All doors had a lock, so if someone tampered with it then he would notice. Grabbing it, he quickly twisted before shoving the door open and looking inside.

He was greeted with nothing. He looked around at all his items, seeing that everything remained as it had been when he left. He sighed in relief and walked in. 

He went to go change his clothes which had gotten some blood splatter on them. Once he was changed, he sat down on a bed. Ava stood to the side, unsure of what to do.

"...Sorry you had to see that."

Dirk eventually spoke. Ava remained silent. She truly didn't know what to say. 

On one hand, Dirk had brutally killed three people in broad daylight. Killing monsters was one thing, but not only did Dirk kill three people, he did it so easily. It almost seemed like this was easier than killing monsters for him. 

She couldn't understand how he could take a life so easily. And then there were the things he said. Things about being forced to kill. While his words didn't initially seem odd, they brought up several questions. Did he already have experience with this? It was like he had escaped something, and this event brought him back. 

The disconnect between his words and what Ava knew about him baffled her to no end. She could only assume this was related to his secrets, the ones he couldn't yet tell her. 

She wanted to be scared. Simply seeing a dead person was shocking enough. To see them be killed was another level of trauma. But there were two things that comforted her. 

One was the fact that she had killed monster before. Humanoid ones at that. Sure people and monsters were different, but the experience of personally spilling blood and ending the life of a living thing introduced her to the concept of death, numbing her even if just a little. It made seeing the pools of red blood and lethal wounds on those three men less shocking. 

Second was the fact that Dirk was defending her. They had been surrounded by men with weapons, cornered with nowhere to escape. In that moment, she forgot she was a mage and a body refiner. She reverted back to thinking she was a normal person, with no power to speak of. She had placed herself on the same level as those men. 

But the truth was far from that. She was above them. Those men weren't mages, and they were barely body refiners. Ava surpassed them in every aspect. She could have killed them herself. But she didn't, and it was Dirk that stepped in to solve the problem. 

She thought to herself. Dirk was like her leader, her inspiration. She followed in his examples of strength. What he did, she should be able to do. She trained herself to be stronger mentally and physically. She had trained to be strong in the face of conflict. But as soon as she was faced with real conflict, she cowered. She left it to him to solve. If she were strong, like him, she should have been able to handle herself. 

Thinking this, she felt ashamed. But although she felt ashamed, she couldn't help but remember how scary it was to be faced with true danger. She had no armor, no weapons, no security. One stab, and her life would be threatened. In the face of that kind of danger, she felt helpless. 

Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with emotion. She felt anger. She was angry at herself. She was wrestling between fear and strength. She wanted to be strong, but the fear within her was powerful. And this was after she had told Dirk that she wanted to help him. It made her feel like a hypocrite. She couldn't help the tears that fell from her eyes.

"I... I should have helped!"

She let out a cry, causing Dirk to turn to her. 

"I was stupid! I didn't help at all! I should have, but I was scared! I shouldn't have been scared!"

She yelled, but not at Dirk. Dirk frowned at her cries.

"Hey."

He stood up, walking to her. She turned her head away.

"There was nothing for you to do there."

"Yes there was. There were enemies, and I should have fought them!"

"No, you shouldn't have. Look at me."

Dirk commanded. Ava barely raised her head, looking at him through the tears that blurred her vision. 

He spoke with a low voice.

"Those were people, not just some enemies from a dungeon. You have never taken the life of a person, and today was not going to be the day that you did so! Do not be mad at yourself for not solving a problem you should have never been faced with."

"I should at least have been able to solve it. But I was scared!"

"And that's okay!"

After Ava shouted, Dirk shouted back. 

"It's okay to be scared! Ava, you're a teenager! This is not something that you should be able to solve at such a young age!"

"Then why were you able to?!"

"Because I'm not like you!"

Dirk's pupils contracted as his voice became rough.

"I've killed people before, Ava! I've done some very nasty things, and I've seen even worse! Ava I know you try to follow in my footsteps, trying to be strong. But this... this isn't one of those things you should be looking up to! Don't wish this bloody path upon yourself, and don't go hating yourself for being scared! Listen to me when I say that you did nothing wrong!"

"..."

Ava went silent, Dirk's voice echoing in her mind. After yelling, Dirk turned around and sat himself on the bed, calming his breathing. This series of events was getting him too riled up. 

Ava stood there, staring blankly into space. There was silence for almost a minute before Dirk spoke again.

"...Ava, I know you want to be strong, but we all have our limits. This situation was beyond yours. Someday, you'll be able to hold your own and face those fears. But that day was not today. And that's okay. You have time. Please, don't be so hard on yourself. Let me handle these things."

Dirk spoke almost pleadingly. From the depths of his soul, he didn't wish upon Ava what had been forced upon him. When he was put in a situation to kill or be killed, he was forced to kill. He was broken, then numbed, turned into nothing more than a killing machine. 

But after coming to this world, he realized how much he wished to stay away from such a life. He saw things from another perspective, and he realized how torn apart he had been. Now more than ever didn't want that for himself. He wanted the nice life that he had, with a friend and his family. Traveling to towns, killing monsters in dungeons, looting them for valuables that he could sell for money. These things seemed like the perfect way to go. It was a life of adventure and peace, one that Dirk had secretly come to love. 

But now, he had killed three people. This tore open old wounds that he thought he healed from. And his friend was wishing that she were like him. She was mistaking his inhuman nature with strength. He wanted to correct that. 

He wanted her to know that it was okay to have the weakness she did. If she forced herself, she would develop a trauma. She would twist herself and her thinking. That wasn't courage, but derangement. 

Through his words, Ava could feel the plea. Suddenly, she was beginning to understand a bit about what his secret was. It obviously wasn't good, and she could sense the deep scars he kept hidden. 

More than anything though, she really wanted to trust him. Right now, she was a scared girl, a fact she hated but had to deal with. She wanted to rely on someone in the hopes of making things a bit less scary. 

So she put away her pride and made a decision, nodding her head. 

"...Okay. I'll leave it to you."

"Will you?"

"...Yes."

"Good. Thank you."

Dirk sighed in relief. The next moment, Ava buried her head in his chest. He hugged and rubbed her back, comforting her as she cried a bit more, letting out her frustration and fear.

Dirk and Ava stood back to back. Ava waited for Dirk to do anything. She was surprised by the words that came out of his mouth the next moment. "Touch her, and you will never see the light of day again." Dirk spoke with a frosty voice. Gut heard this bone chilling statement, but instead of being intimmidated, he got excited. "Haha, very well! Let's do it the fun way!" With a maniacal laugh, Gut swung his knife. He only wanted to slash Dirk, hurting him, but not killing him. He wanted to see the fear on Dirk's face. It was easy to act tough, but all that broke down when one finally got a taste of real danger. Unfortunately, Dirk wasn't a normal kid. As the knife slashed through the air, threatening to slice his chest open, a voice spoke in his head. Engagement detected. Three threats determined. Killing order generated. Happy hunting. *Slice!* The knife came flying through the air. Gut frowned though when he didn't feel the familiar sensation of tearing flesh. He saw Dirk's body bend back, narrowly dodging the knife. The next moment, Dirk shot out his arm. His hand grabbed Gut's forearm that gripped the knife. Gut was about to rip his arm away when surprisingly, Dirk's grip remained firm. His hand was like a vice as it squeezed tighter and tighter. Dirk was activating his anima, and his strength rapidly increased. "Argh!" Gut growled as the pain became great. It felt like his arm was in the jaws of a monster. He jerked his body around, trying to escape his grip. He punched Dirk and even kicked, but was horrified to find out that Dirk's body was solid as a rock. Punching him hurt his own fist. He yelled, but was suddenly interrupted by a horrible noise. *Crack!* The forearm gave out, Dirk's hand clamping down. Gut watched as his arm was broken, and a wave of pain suddenly shot through him. "Ahhh!" He screamed as the knife was dropped. The other two, Barsol and Hurel, were shocked as they saw their friend cry out like a child. "Hey!" Both of them shouted and rushed over. Dirk threw Gut aside as he squared up to the two men. Both pulled out their own knives, Barsol slashing toward Dirk first. *Slice!* The knife sailed, but was dodged. Dirk threw out his leg the next moment, slamming his shin bone into Barsol's calf. Barsol was thrown off balance, flipping to the ground. "Agh!" Barsol grunted as surging pain came from his leg. Dirk moved on to Harel. Harel was quick to slash out with his own knife. However, he kept his balance and distance. Dirk dodged, but couldn't counter. This happened a few more times, Dirk maneuvering around the path of the knife every time. Then, Dirk found an opening. After Harel slashed, Dirk moved in and threw out his fist, planting it in his gut. Harel felt the wind shoot out of him. Though, this would be underestimating the power of the punch. Dirk held nothing back, and under his rank 3 strength, Harel's organs were shaken. *Thud!* "Ugh..!" Harel could only collapse on himself. His stomach felt like it was about to explode, and he couldn't even keep himself upright. He curled into a ball, letting out miserable wails as blood seeped from his mouth and nostrils. By now though, Barsol had recovered. He jumped to his feet, limping slightly from the pain in his leg. Seeing Harel, he panicked a bit, but he had a knife that gave him confidence. He jumped at Dirk, waving his knife about in an attempt to cut him. Only, Dirk was too nimble, and all of Barsol's movements were easily read. Dirk moved as if this were a choreographed dance. However, instead of finding an opening, he made his own. 'Spike pillar.' Casting Spike Pillar. Dirk gave a command, and his AI instantly picked up on it. A magic circle glowed on top of his hand. Barsol saw this and realized Dirk was a mage. But he knew mages needed a casting time, so he wasn't worried as he closed distance to mess up Dirk's concentration. Unfortunately, this wasn't a normally cast spell. A second didn't even pass before the ground in front of Barsol opened up. Since he had lunged forward, he was unable to dodge the long spike that surged toward his leg. *Puh* "Ahhh!!!" Barsol screamed as the spike pierced into his thigh. The spike was tough, not breaking under his weight. And because he was abruptly stopped, his leg twisted around the spike, tearing the muscles. Dirk stepped forward to attack again, but suddenly, he heard a shout. "Dirk!" Ava's voice came from behind. He instantly turned and saw her backing away from Gut. Gut had a broken arm, but that didn't stop him from using his other arm to attack. He chased Ava, trying to cut her with his knife. Fortunately, she took it upon herself to evade, creating distance. Her anima training gave her quick movements not unlike Dirk's. Another thing that helped was Gut using his non-dominant arm. Seeing Gut attack Ava, Dirk felt his bloodlust surge. He lifted his hand, and two rock arrows instantly appeared above it. This was his instant casting given by the AI. *Woosh!* One arrow flew out. Gut spotted this in the corner of his eye, but was baffled by how fast it moved. He attempted to dodge, but the rock arrow arrived too quickly. The arrowhead met the skin of his leg. *Slice!* "Argh!!" Gut yelled as the arrow tore through his thigh. He fell to his knees. However, that wasn't the only arrow. He panicked as he saw Dirk bring down his other hand. *Puh!* This time, the arrow impaled his side, piercing through and out the other. Gut felt blood seep into his mouth as his organs were torn through. He felt dread. Unfortunately, Dirk intended to let him wallow in pain. He turned to Barsol who was pulling his leg out of the rock spike. He barely did so and fell to the ground, the hole in his leg spurting out blood. "N-no. Wait, please! You can't kill me!" Barsol cried out pleas as Dirk approached. From seemingly nowhere, Dirk had pulled out a knife. Barsol felt his life slipping away as Dirk stepped closer. Unfortunately, Dirk didn't listen. Or, he didn't have the mind to listen. His eyes were apathetic, releasing no aura of threat. Inside though, he was surging with the desire to kill. Unknowingly, a black film extended out from his hand, covering the blade of the knife like a black fog. Barsol had picked up his own knife and slashed at Dirk from the ground, trying to keep distance. However, with a well timed movement, Dirk flicked his hand. *Slice!* Barsol watched as his hand flew off, landing a few feet away. The cut was perfect, as if Dirk wielded the sharpest blade in the world. Dirk bent down, about to plunge his darkness covered knife into Barsol's chest. Barsol himself had started screaming again, apparently in bloodcurdling pain. Before Dirk could finish him though, he spotted Harel who had recovered enough to start running away in the corner of his eye. Letting out a small breath, Dirk raised his arm with the knife in hand. He then brought it down, throwing the knife with oppressive strength. The blade flipped as it sailed through the air. Harel wasn't looking back, totally focused on running. He was interrupted though by a burning sensation in his back. That burning sensation rapidly worsened, turning into an unbearable pressure as the blade tore open his lung from behind. Harel collapsed to the ground, unable to even scream. Dirk turned back to Barsol who continued to scream. Looking around, Dirk picked up the knife from Barsol's severed hand. "No!" Barsol pleaded again, but Dirk didn't hesitate. He smoothly plunged the knife into Barsol's neck, cutting off all sound. Kill count: 1/3 He stood up as his AI rang out with a notification. He turned his head back to Harel. Since it had only been several seconds, Harel wasn't dead yet. He would die eventually though, so Dirk didn't bother with him as he shifted his gaze to Gut. Gut was still kneeled on the floor, arrow in stomach. He was suffering miserably. Seeing him groan, Dirk felt the corner of his mouth ever so slightly rise. He walked over. "What was that you said earlier? You would hurt that little girlfriend of mine? Did you think that was funny? Did you think that was smart?! Why must you threaten my friend?!" Dirk yelled, bringing back his leg and swinging. *Bang!* "Argh!" His leg slammed into Gut's abdomen, sending him tumbling. This time, blood poured from his mouth and nose. Dirk walked over, picking him up by his neck. "You think I want to do this? I just wanted to have a nice little chat, but you had to interrupt me! Then you had to threaten me! I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore! I was fine with killing monsters, but now you've forced me to kill people! Why?!" Dirk spat in Gut's face. Gut sniffled as he barely opened his mouth. "We... were hired." "Hired?" Dirk's eyes zoned out hearing that word. It implied so much. Someone hired these three to attack him. He was being targeted. This wasn't random, but planned. But who would target him? He was just a kid from the academy out on a little adventure. He didn't even have money on him. His armor, the most valuable items he had, were in his room. If someone wanted money, they would go there. But they came to him. This person wanted to harm him specifically. He thought and thought, but nothing came to him. In this world, nobody knew who he was. This was a new life for him. He shouldn't be getting into any conflict with anyone. But now, conflict was coming to him. 'Why? This is another damn world! I know nobody here! I'm just some kid! Why am I being attacked?!' Dirk's mind became chaotic. Rage burned inside of him. He had escaped Earth, but now, the same problems were coming back to him. It was like he was a magnet for trouble. He thought back, remembering his conversation with that psychopath girl. The walking incarnation of bad luck. Was he really? He didn't want to believe it. Suddenly, his eyes zoned in. By now, Gut was choking on his own blood. Seeing this pathetic excuse for a human, Dirk gritted his teeth. His grip tightened around his throat. His arm raised, picking Gut up off the floor. Gut looked into those dark eyes of Dirk's, feeling the terror of death. *Crack!* Then, his body went limp. Dirk dropped him after crushing his throat, the corpse falling to the ground with a thud. Three kills confirmed. Threats eliminated. The AI spoke. Gut and Barsol had been personally ended by him, and Harel had already died from his broken lung. Three bodies lay on the floor, pools of blood spilling from all of them. "...Dirk?" As Dirk contemplated, his attention was caught by Ava's voice. He turned to her. Ava was looking at him with a slightly horrified gaze. Dirk had mercilessly killed three people in front of her. Although they had threatened them first, she didn't expect things to devolve this far. Dirk wanted to explain, but now wasn't the time. Some people were already looking at them from afar. Dirk turned and walked to Harel's corpse, pulling out his knife. He then sheathed it before walking to Ava. She leaned back as he approached. He grabbed her hand. "We need to go." "..." Ava looked at Dirk for a second before lightly nodding. She let him pull her along, the two hurrying back to their inn. ....... Upon arriving outside his room, Dirk pulled out his knife. He looked at the doorknob, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. All doors had a lock, so if someone tampered with it then he would notice. Grabbing it, he quickly twisted before shoving the door open and looking inside. He was greeted with nothing. He looked around at all his items, seeing that everything remained as it had been when he left. He sighed in relief and walked in. He went to go change his clothes which had gotten some blood splatter on them. Once he was changed, he sat down on a bed. Ava stood to the side, unsure of what to do. "...Sorry you had to see that." Dirk eventually spoke. Ava remained silent. She truly didn't know what to say. On one hand, Dirk had brutally killed three people in broad daylight. Killing monsters was one thing, but not only did Dirk kill three people, he did it so easily. It almost seemed like this was easier than killing monsters for him. She couldn't understand how he could take a life so easily. And then there were the things he said. Things about being forced to kill. While his words didn't initially seem odd, they brought up several questions. Did he already have experience with this? It was like he had escaped something, and this event brought him back. The disconnect between his words and what Ava knew about him baffled her to no end. She could only assume this was related to his secrets, the ones he couldn't yet tell her. She wanted to be scared. Simply seeing a dead person was shocking enough. To see them be killed was another level of trauma. But there were two things that comforted her. One was the fact that she had killed monster before. Humanoid ones at that. Sure people and monsters were different, but the experience of personally spilling blood and ending the life of a living thing introduced her to the concept of death, numbing her even if just a little. It made seeing the pools of red blood and lethal wounds on those three men less shocking. Second was the fact that Dirk was defending her. They had been surrounded by men with weapons, cornered with nowhere to escape. In that moment, she forgot she was a mage and a body refiner. She reverted back to thinking she was a normal person, with no power to speak of. She had placed herself on the same level as those men. But the truth was far from that. She was above them. Those men weren't mages, and they were barely body refiners. Ava surpassed them in every aspect. She could have killed them herself. But she didn't, and it was Dirk that stepped in to solve the problem. She thought to herself. Dirk was like her leader, her inspiration. She followed in his examples of strength. What he did, she should be able to do. She trained herself to be stronger mentally and physically. She had trained to be strong in the face of conflict. But as soon as she was faced with real conflict, she cowered. She left it to him to solve. If she were strong, like him, she should have been able to handle herself. Thinking this, she felt ashamed. But although she felt ashamed, she couldn't help but remember how scary it was to be faced with true danger. She had no armor, no weapons, no security. One stab, and her life would be threatened. In the face of that kind of danger, she felt helpless. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with emotion. She felt anger. She was angry at herself. She was wrestling between fear and strength. She wanted to be strong, but the fear within her was powerful. And this was after she had told Dirk that she wanted to help him. It made her feel like a hypocrite. She couldn't help the tears that fell from her eyes. "I... I should have helped!" She let out a cry, causing Dirk to turn to her. "I was stupid! I didn't help at all! I should have, but I was scared! I shouldn't have been scared!" She yelled, but not at Dirk. Dirk frowned at her cries. "Hey." He stood up, walking to her. She turned her head away. "There was nothing for you to do there." "Yes there was. There were enemies, and I should have fought them!" "No, you shouldn't have. Look at me." Dirk commanded. Ava barely raised her head, looking at him through the tears that blurred her vision. He spoke with a low voice. "Those were people, not just some enemies from a dungeon. You have never taken the life of a person, and today was not going to be the day that you did so! Do not be mad at yourself for not solving a problem you should have never been faced with." "I should at least have been able to solve it. But I was scared!" "And that's okay!" After Ava shouted, Dirk shouted back. "It's okay to be scared! Ava, you're a teenager! This is not something that you should be able to solve at such a young age!" "Then why were you able to?!" "Because I'm not like you!" Dirk's pupils contracted as his voice became rough. "I've killed people before, Ava! I've done some very nasty things, and I've seen even worse! Ava I know you try to follow in my footsteps, trying to be strong. But this... this isn't one of those things you should be looking up to! Don't wish this bloody path upon yourself, and don't go hating yourself for being scared! Listen to me when I say that you did nothing wrong!" "..." Ava went silent, Dirk's voice echoing in her mind. After yelling, Dirk turned around and sat himself on the bed, calming his breathing. This series of events was getting him too riled up. Ava stood there, staring blankly into space. There was silence for almost a minute before Dirk spoke again. "...Ava, I know you want to be strong, but we all have our limits. This situation was beyond yours. Someday, you'll be able to hold your own and face those fears. But that day was not today. And that's okay. You have time. Please, don't be so hard on yourself. Let me handle these things." Dirk spoke almost pleadingly. From the depths of his soul, he didn't wish upon Ava what had been forced upon him. When he was put in a situation to kill or be killed, he was forced to kill. He was broken, then numbed, turned into nothing more than a killing machine. But after coming to this world, he realized how much he wished to stay away from such a life. He saw things from another perspective, and he realized how torn apart he had been. Now more than ever didn't want that for himself. He wanted the nice life that he had, with a friend and his family. Traveling to towns, killing monsters in dungeons, looting them for valuables that he could sell for money. These things seemed like the perfect way to go. It was a life of adventure and peace, one that Dirk had secretly come to love. But now, he had killed three people. This tore open old wounds that he thought he healed from. And his friend was wishing that she were like him. She was mistaking his inhuman nature with strength. He wanted to correct that. He wanted her to know that it was okay to have the weakness she did. If she forced herself, she would develop a trauma. She would twist herself and her thinking. That wasn't courage, but derangement. Through his words, Ava could feel the plea. Suddenly, she was beginning to understand a bit about what his secret was. It obviously wasn't good, and she could sense the deep scars he kept hidden. More than anything though, she really wanted to trust him. Right now, she was a scared girl, a fact she hated but had to deal with. She wanted to rely on someone in the hopes of making things a bit less scary. So she put away her pride and made a decision, nodding her head. "...Okay. I'll leave it to you." "Will you?" "...Yes." "Good. Thank you." Dirk sighed in relief. The next moment, Ava buried her head in his chest. He hugged and rubbed her back, comforting her as she cried a bit more, letting out her frustration and fear.