Chapter 3

this is a fictional story by realTensai

“Dane!” Alvis shouted his friend’s name.

Dane turned around, now looking at Alvis. His eyes widened and his lips curved up into a big smile.

“Yo Al! Wassup?”

He approached them, every step of his filled with confidence that shook the ground. If someone were in his way, they would voluntarily move away, and that as fast as possible. No one would dare to mess with him, his muscular physique enough to fill others with fear.

They greeted each other with their signature handshake, making sure everyone noticed how cool it was.

We practiced it for weeks!

“Hello Mrs. and Mr. Silva,” Dane greeted Alvis’ parents.

“Hello. How are you doing?”

“I am fine, thank you.”

It was a short but important conversation to get the manners out of the way. Even Dane couldn’t just ignore the parents of his best friend. But now that the obligatory greeting was over, Alvis and Dane continued their talk.

“What are you doing here?” Alvis asked, acting like he didn’t know.

Dane’s eyebrows formed question marks as he tilted his head with a dumbfounded expression. Cold sweat dripped down Alvis’ cheeks as his heart pounded.

This idiot, don’t tell me he didn’t read my message properly?!

“I wanted to buy some snacks.”

Puhhh!

Alvis sighed, only now resuming to breathe. Dane didn’t mess it up, so Alvis could proceed with his plan.

“Hey, is it true that you got the new War of Races game?”

Alvis already knew the answer. Someone like Dane would never miss the release of a new War of Races game. Even though the latest game was just released yesterday and people were fighting to get their hands on it. However, when it came to fighting, Dane would not lose.

“Yeah, I wanted to play it when I got home. The gameplay I saw on HoloTube was crazy good. How about you just come with me and we play it together?”

Way to go, Dane!

“Of course! Let’s do it!”

Alvis’ eyes lit up and his lips curled into a wide grin. This obviously wasn’t because he was so eager to play the new game, but because his plan went so well.

Alvis only told Dane that he should come to the shop and, when they meet, act like it would be a coincidence. He never told him about his plan. It was pure luck that Dane suggested that by himself.

Alvis planned to visit Dane together with his parents. He had to convince his parents not to go home so they would not get killed by the assassin. Though it would be impossible to convince them not to go home entirely. Eventually, they would head home.

That’s where Dane comes into the play.

Dane’s mother and Alvis’ mother were good friends. So if they would visit them, it would take long before they would go home again. And this time was all Alvis needed.

The more time Alvis got, the better the plan would be he could come up with. Every second they were not at home would be beneficial to him. Maybe the assassin would even go away if he noticed Alvis and his parents weren’t coming home. Though this would be the best-case scenario.

So now that he got the invitation from Dane, he just had to play along.

“Mom, Dad, can we go visit Dane?”

Alvis looked at his parents, his eyes twinkling as he tried his best to put on a begging face. His hair stood up as he acted just like a little kid who wanted his parents to buy them sweets, though he would suppress the urge to cringe.

His childish acting bore fruits because his parents’ faces softened.

Being an only child who would die soon also has its advantages.

“Fine. Let’s go visit them. But only if it is alright for Nia.”

“Yeah, my mother would’ve nothing against it. She even mentioned how she wanted to meet you again.”

Alvis’ mom looked at his dad, asking what he thought. His dad just nodded. With his dad on board, Alvis’ mom sighed while smiling.

“Nice! Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Dad!”

They bought some groceries and then headed to Dane’s place.

——

Right now, Alvis was sitting on Dane’s bed. Dumbbells were all over the place in his room, while his gaming posters were well arranged on the wall. One wouldn’t think that Dane was so into gaming, considering his outward appearance.

“Al, I destroyed another controller a few days ago. Can you build me a new one?”

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“Isn’t this already the fifth one this month?”

“Haha, you know how it is. Isn’t easy to be this strong.”

He flexed his biceps, and Alvis only shook his head, sighing.

“You half-giants need to get nerfed,” Alvis said, smirking. “If you give me the pieces I need, I will do it.”

“Nice!”

Alvis just watched Dane plug in the new game and set everything up, though his mind was somewhere else. He thought about the assassin.

Even though he was now at Danes’ place, his heart wouldn’t stop racing. His parents were downstairs chatting with Dane’s mom and he was here in his room, yet he could not ease up. He had to find out how to deal with this assassin.

“I am finished!” Dane said, getting up. “We can play now.”

I have other things to worry about.

“Hey Dane, what would you do if an assassin attacked you?”

“What? What kinda question is that? But well, I think I would just knock him out,” Dane said while throwing a punch into the air.

Alvis sighed, wondering what he had even expected.

“Don’t you think that most people would just call the police?”

This was the best Alvis could come up with. Calling the police would be the safest route to take, yet it had one major downside. It was also the reason Alvis didn’t do it right away.

“The police would be my last resort. They are way too corrupt nowadays. I think I would be better off fighting the assassin myself than calling the police.”

The fact that Dane wasn’t even exaggerating showed just how terrible the police’s reputation was.

It all went downhill after the Union decided to take in demons.

There were several cases where the police acted racist against other races. No day would go by without hearing something bad about the police in the news. Just a week ago, there was a protest about them. Having racist police officers while living in a multiracial society was just this bad. It even went so far that they were considering establishing separate police for every race. But this would speak against everything the World Race Organisation stood for.

So calling the police isn’t the best option.

However, if he couldn’t come up with something better, he would do it. He just had to hope the police officers who would come to help would actually help.

“Well, this is what I would do. But this would obviously not work for everyone. In your case, I’m sure you would just outsmart him.”

Just outsmart him.

Alvis smiled bitterly. Of course, he would want to just outsmart him, but even Alvis had a hard time coming up with something that could beat an assassin.

“Enough talk about this. Let’s play the game!”

Dane couldn’t wait anymore and started dancing on the spot. Nothing would fill his nerd heart more than playing this new game.

Alvis smiled as he saw his best friend doing a goofy dance.

Guess I will just go along.

But then Alvis felt it.

It felt like the gravity increased as the malice weighed down on him, shaking him to the core. A frigid shudder rearranged every jolt of his spine, while cold sweat ran down his forehead. Killing intent seized his heart and the alarm bells within him rung.

He is here! The assassin!

Alvis swung his head left to right, trying to find him. He knew he was there, but he couldn’t see him. Panicking, he stood up, all his senses on alert.

“Come out!” he shouted, his voice wavering.

Yet only silence awaited him. The silence made his heart race even more and his breathing became so loud and stocking that it made him even more nervous.

“What is wrong, Al?”

Dane didn’t know what was happening. Though Alvis couldn’t explain it to him. His gut feeling told him the assassin would come out at any second and this time he would listen to it!

“BOOOMM!”

Alvis and Dane immediately duck when they heard the window shattering. Their eyes widened in horror when they saw the man entering through the window. It was a man with pale white skin, his ears pointing to the sky, wearing a red suit and a red hat.

It was the assassin!

Alvis’ body froze on the spot.

The man walked towards them, his yellow eyes fixed on Alvis. With every step he took, the glass beneath him cracked, creating disturbing sounds.

“I found you, son of the devil! You won’t escape!”

How? How did he know I was here?

Alvis’ body trembled as he remembered the last time he had died and the pain that he had to endure.

Will I die again?

But then a dumbbell flew straight at the man. It flew so fast that even this trained assassin had a hard time dodging it. However, it missed and hit the wall. Still, the impact created a hole in the wall.

Alvis looked at Dane, who had already picked up another dumbbell.

“I don’t know who you are, but I also don’t give a shit! Get out of my room!”

It was only when Alvis saw Dane’s courage that Alvis woke up out of his daze. It was as if cold water had been thrown on him, forcing his brain to adapt.

I can’t let myself get killed again!

“You are dangerous! I will kill you first.”

The man in red took out his beam gun and Alvis knew what would happen.

“Dodge!”

Dane jumped to the side, just barely avoiding the beam shot. His eyes widened in horror as he realized he had almost been killed.

“Tze!” the assassin expressed his annoyance.

Before the assassin could shoot again, Dane threw another dumbbell at him. He tried to dodge but was too late and hit him on the shoulder.

“You fucking bastard!”

The assassin held his shoulder, gritting his canine-like teeth. His brows furrowed as the killing intent he emitted grew even stronger.

The mana inside Alvis boiled, reacting to the extreme amount of malice that was radiating from the man. However, it was with the mana inside him acting up that Alvis got an idea.

I will try it!

Only once had he done it before. His memories of that day were still vivid, and also the consequences of that action haunted him in every nightmare. Alvis’ body shook just remembering what had happened, protesting so he would drop the idea on the spot. But he did not care!

Alvis would try to cast a spell!

Rummaging in his memories, he forced out that trauma that he had locked behind mental gates in the depths of his mind. His body remembered it and his instincts took over. It was the mana within him that led the way. The moment he concentrated on the mana, he felt it like a raging flame. Like a wild beast trying to break free.

All he had to do was let it out.

And that was what he did.

The mana broke out of him in the form of all-consuming flames. It devoured everything that was in its path, using it as fuel to grow even stronger. In a matter of seconds, the room stood under fire and the smell of smoke entered his lungs, making him cough. However, Alvis targeted the assassin, and he was the one who got hit the most!

Did I kill him?

Alvis felt the heat of his own flames burning down his skin, yet he did not care as long as he could kill the man. For a second, Alvis worried he might have killed Dane, though Dane was still alright just coughing his lungs out. But the flames hadn’t reached him.

The smoke and the flames covered everything, so Alvis couldn’t see the man. He only saw his silhouette within these roaring flames.

Is he dead?

“You think you got me?!”

Suddenly, the assassin dashed out of the flames, grabbing Alvis by his throat. His pale skin had turned black, yet it seemed like he was healing himself as the burn wounds slowly vanished.

“I am a vampire. I won’t die so fast!”

The long fingernails of the vampire pierced through Alvis’ throat. He tried kicking him, but the more he moved, the faster the blood would spill out of his neck. His sight became blurry, his head cut off from any blood supply. Breathing became impossible, not breathing at all, even being less painful. His brain couldn’t even keep up with all the pain signals the nerves sent. The agony he had to endure while he slowly bled out was unimaginable.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw how Dane ran to him. However, the assassin used his other hand to trigger the beam gun and shoot straight through Dane’s head. Dead, he fell to the ground.

As Alvis saw this, his heart loomed to shatter. Far greater pain than what he was already feeling awaited him. Even though his neck was pierced open, he managed one desperate cry.

“AAAHHHH!!”

Though life was cruel. Dane was dead and Alvis would follow soon.

The blue box appeared before him, and Alvis saw how his health bar went to zero.

[YOU DIED!]