As Leon approached them, the three demons turned towards him.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Just a random stranger,” Leon said, flexing his fists.

The demon, who Leon decided to nickname ‘Snort’, because he kept on snorting in laughter, grinned. “Guys, we have to teach this guy a lesson.”

Another demon, (who he named Red because his face seemed very crimson and blotchy) laughed, nodding at Snort’s comment.

The third one, who for some reason just looked like a Jack, nodded too, throwing the bloodied smaller demon onto the ground.

“Are you going to hit me? An innocent bystander?” Leon asked, acting all innocent. However, his mind was reeling.

Although he was going to use them as practice, he knew that they would be solid. After all, Leon was just a human. Judging from their aura, the trio practiced a martial arts style, most likely a level 3.

[Cosmos’s First Step: Heat Death]

Snort and Red went flying into the walls. However, Jack managed to stand his ground, wincing as he did so. Luckily, the poor demon that was getting bullied had managed to escape the range of the Skill.

Jack reeled back, lunging at Leon with multiple sharp jabs to his solar plexus. However, Leon blocked the attacks with his arms, leaping back.

[You have activated the Skill [Mesmeric Trance]

He quickly took control of the recovering Snort and Red, commanding them to attack their friend.

But as they pounced on Jack, he vanished in a burst of gray fog, appearing behind them. Quickly, he hit them on the back of their necks, knocking them out instantly.

“Don’t you think that using these weaklings as your puppets is a bit cowardly?” He said, smirking in arrogance.

Leon simply shrugged, advancing on Jack with a sharp side-kick, which was easily blocked by a sharp cancel.

‘He’s strong. And it doesn’t help that I don’t know a thing about martial arts…’

Leon was beginning to regret picking a fight with these guys. He had severely underestimated Jack’s power.

‘Is he hiding his aura?’

He needed more time to think.

However, his wish wasn’t granted as Jack pressed forward, hitting a groaning Leon with sharp kicks to the stomach.

Backing away, coughing, he tried to recollect his thoughts.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t draw a blade on them as killing a demon would have major consequences. He also didn’t have enough control over the sword to deal only blunting blows.

‘Then I’ll have to use something else.’

He grabbed at a small wooden pole on the absent librarian's desk, about the size of Clement’s dagger.

Advancing again, he evaded the fast blows and dealt a sharp hit to Jack’s skull, sending him onto the ground.

But Jack wasn’t stunned, as he leaped back up and hit Leon with several punches to his abdomen, causing him to spit out blood inside the mask.

Recovering, he fainted a sharp jab left, but instead swept at Jack's legs, twisting one of them with a sharp crack.

Roaring in pain, Jack grabbed at Leon’s wrist and twisted as well, the bone cracking.

“An eye for an eye, eh?”

Growling, Leon punched a hard uppercut, sending Jack’s head snapping back. Seeing the exposed neck, he bashed down hard with the pole.

Soon, Jack went down, coughing in pain.

However, just as Leon was about to escape, the same gray fog as last time appeared, covering his field of vision, following that, multiple jabs to key points of his body followed, as Leon’s vision clouded with pain.

As he went down, he saw Jack’s gloating face above him.

“You’re weak too. Pathetic.”

Jack slowly removed a long, silver dagger from his clothes.

“You know, my father will kill me if he finds out that I fought someone.”

His face turned twisted, shadows lurking on his features.

“Guess I better kill you.”

As he positioned the dagger above Leon’s neck, Leon struggled to move.

‘No, no, no! Why am I always so weak?!’

‘Why won’t my muscles move?!’

But just as Jack was about to plunge the dagger in, a voice came from behind.

“K-keep your hands off of him!”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

BOOM.

A sharp beam of green light exploded, blasting Jack back, and knocking him out instantly.

A boy hurried to Leon’s side, looking at him with concern.

Noticing him, Leon recognized him as the victim of the bullying.

He was an average demon, albeit a bit small….

Oh.

Leon could guess why the boy was being bullied as soon as he saw his eyes.

It was bright green, with flecks of white mixed in, creating an abnormal mix of colors.

The boy helped Leon stand, grunting under the weight.

“What’s your name?” Leon asked weakly.

The boy smiled, “It’s Elvis. Elvis of the Heart Orphanage.”

Groaning at the cringe, Leon, leaning heavily on Elvis, managed to get into his apartment.

As he went in with Elvis the boy bowed, face flushing red.

“T-thanks for helping me!”

The boy stuttered, obviously an introvert.

Leon waved his hand in dismissal, falling onto the couch.

“Can you pass me some healing pills?”

“Y-yeah!”

Elvis seemed to have a sharp eye, finding the pills even though Leon hadn’t told him where it was.

Gulping down the red pills, he sighed in relief as his bones set, and his cuts vanished with a poof.

Breathing heavily, he slowly began to fall asleep.

The last thing he saw was Elvis’s worried face peering down at him.

***

When Leon woke up again, he smelled the smell of porridge.

Elvis was making some, whistling as he did so.

Seeing Leon was awake, he went over to him, giving him the bowl.

“Though, I’m sorry for making you get involved.”

Leon nodded absently, enjoying the food. Although it was a bit bland, after living without taste for months, anything tasted like a five-star dish.

He stood up, stretching as he did so.

‘Wow. All my injuries are gone. The healing here is incredible.’

Turning to Elvis, he asked, “How long was I out?”

Elvis shrugged in reply. “Probably like a couple of hours.”

“Where’s the demons that were bullying you?”

“I checked on the library after you fell asleep. They’re gone. They most likely went back home.”

“Why aren’t you?”

After the question, Elvis fidgeted nervously.

“You see… I don’t have a home. At least, until I get to the Academy. Then I’ll be having a dorm.”

‘Oh yeah. He said that he was from an orphanage.’

“So where have you been living?”

Elvis gestured downwards. “At the library. And then those punks came and started beating me up. You see, I’m only good at using Mana circles to use spells. But they take a long time to charge up…”

Suddenly, Leon realized something. “Did you say you go to the academy? Which one?”

Elvis looked at Leon in confusion. “Velereth, of course. Where else?”

Leon smiled brightly. “You can stay with me then. I’ll be going there as well soon.”

‘And I’ll have some sort of entertainment,’ Leon began grinning darkly.

Luckily, Elvis’s innocent face didn’t give away any sign that he knew Leon’s true intentions.

“Can I? Really?”

When Leon nodded, Elvis’s face brightened considerably.

“Thank you!”

Activating his Genesis Watch, Leon called Clement.

“Hey. I have a new roommate,” he said, showing Elvis’s face.

“...”

Clement face-palmed, massaging his head.

Then abruptly, he cut the call.

Leon turned to Elvis, shrugging, “Guess he doesn't care. I’m going to go take a shower.”

“Uhh.. wait! What’s your name?”

“Leon.”

After replying to Elvis, he went into the restroom, turned on the water, and closed the door.

However, upon closing it, his carefree expression vanished, being replaced by a cold, hard one.

He clenched his hands, his teeth gritted hard.

‘Why am I still so weak?’

Imagining Jack’s arrogant expression just made him angrier.

He gripped the edge of the bathroom sink, cracking the marble with his grip.

‘I have to become stronger.’

***

Elvis’s POV

I still couldn’t believe it.

To think that I would be able to find a home here.

After running away from the orphanage after the Head had threatened to cancel my acceptance to Velereth, I had nestled into the small, dusty library. But to think that I would find this place after being beaten up.

Smiling, I thanked the mysterious guy who was most likely my age in my mind. For some reason, he always wore a mask. Perhaps it was some kind of religious thing?

I cleaned up the bowl and spoon that Leon had gobbled up.

‘Also, I managed to level up my Mana circles to level 5!’

Whistling at all the good news, I sat down on the couch.

‘But Leon fights well. I wonder if he has a teacher?’

According to their uniforms, the demons that had attacked me were most likely 2nd years in Velereth. And Leon had managed to last that long against all three of them.

‘Also!’

‘How the fuck does he know General Charon that well?!’

After seeing him casually call the ex-general, I had nearly passed out from shock. After all, there was not a single demon in Sheol who did not revere Charon. To think that he had such connections with a General…

‘Leon, who the fuck are you?’

***

Wiping off the water from my hair, I walked out of the bathroom, pulling on a fresh pair of shirts and pants.

Waving at Elvis, I fell onto the couch.

“You want to do something? I’m bored.”

Elvis’s face seemed to ponder. Then it brightened.

“You want to go to a museum?”

Able to not think of anything else, Leon nodded.

“Sure.”

They both walked out and went out of the apartment.

After walking for a few minutes, and multiple tops, where Leon bought any food that he thought looked good, they arrived at a building that for once actually looked like a museum from back home.

“Is this it?” He asked, chewing on a savory rice ball on a stick.

Elvis nodded.

After paying a few Reners to be let in, they walked into the silent black marble corridor.

Whistling as he looked at some paintings that showed several gory images that should be considered rated R, they arrived at the artifacts section.

“This is my favorite spot!” Elvis whispered excitedly, skipping over to cases that showcased multiple things.

Leon followed, wondering what they were, but stopped as soon as he saw what it was.

“Why is a computer here?”

Elvis looked back at Leon, smiling widely. “You know what it’s called! Do you like these things too?”

Leon went with the flow, nodding. “So where did these things come from?”

Elvis pointed at the inscription tablet on the case.

“They found it deep in the Unknown. Multiple Seekers had to sacrifice their sanity to get there.”

Leon fingered the case. “What’s the Unknown?”

Elvis once again stared at Leon strangely. “You.. don’t know?”

Upon Leon’s shake of the head, he continued, “The Unknown is like a place that is well… unknown. We send demons called Seekers in, who get these artifacts, but always return with their minds shattered.”

Elvis once again turned to the artifacts in an adoring manner.

“So these guys are really special.”

Leon grimaced. ‘So demons are dying to get a computer I could probably sell for only $50?’

Moving on to the next case, Leon saw that this one contained a phone that was probably from 5 years ago.

The next case contained a smartwatch that looked like it had been run over by a truck.

The final one contained a Nokia, the case still shining as if it were new.

‘Of course, a Nokia phone is here.’

Shaking his head in exasperation, they both left the museum, going back to their apartment.

‘Ugh…’

‘So boring.’