57 Trouble

Kai never knew how or when he reached the guild's gate.

Was it the earth moving under his feet? Or was it the very world condensing, compressing against him, pushing him forward? Kai had no thought of asking those questions to himself. There were only three words in his mind, like an unforgettable song.

The Valeheart Empire!

'It can't be!' Kai had been muttering without a voice. 'It can't be!'

The reasoning he had given himself for these mutterings was solid beyond any metal. Only two days had passed since he had arrived in this strange world. In the White Room. 'How could have Brock, that Bastard, given an entire Empire his name just after Resurrection? It is madness.' Even thinking of this question made little sense lest brooding over its answers and go crazy.

'This is nothing but a coincidence,' Kai's heart finally screamed. 'What else could it be? It's just a name.'

"Oi! Pretty rat! I won't ask again," the shout came abruptly, making Kai finally see where he was. He was at the steps leading to the Guild's main door. A guard was standing in front of him, wearing a half-open shirt and loose pants. A poorly drawn tattoo of a silver helm glistened brightly under the noon sun on his right cheek.

The guard's eyes were mean, and the look he was giving Kai had nothing but disgust. Kai stood there confused, his ragged appearance betraying his true strength.

"What do you want?" the guard asked, and not for the first time given his tone. "We have no spare Mission Credits to give to the likes of you. Bugger off! Or you will get more than you have bargained for."

"I am not here for Mission Credits," Kai said, taking his mind off the nonsense thoughts. "I need to see Marine Roland."

The guard burst into a shrill laugh. Kai didn't pay any heed to him and reached for the badge in his half-pant's pocket. 'I look like a beggar,' he thought. And then he sensed the danger.

A kick! The guard's foot was coming towards him. Its target? His small chest.

Anger exploded within Kai. Wrath! His mood had already turned for worse after hearing that godforsaken name, and now this kick had woken the Demon. Wide awake!

'Ant!' Kai's mind roared, his eyes narrowing with murder and rage. His feet slithered, and the kick brushed past him.

Elementary Slither Footsteps!

The guard lost his balance. And he would have fallen, if it wasn't for Kai holding the guard's outstretched leg, like a wooden stick. Kai's other hand blurred, landing on the guard's knee.

Snap!

[Damage Done: 20 Points]

The wooden stick turned out to have flesh within it. It made a snapping noise though, and the guard's knee bent backward.

Ahhh!

The scream that followed was scarcely any man could hear and ignore. The guard fell, his other leg losing its strength. A big wet, brown stain appeared on the rear part of the guard's pants. He had shit himself, but it wasn't from cowardice. It was Kai's eyes, and what they were looking at.

Snap!

[Damage Done: 22 Points]

The other knee snapped louder, gaining its brother's bent shape, and its pain. More guards came running out of the door, hearing the commotion. They all looked the same, and there were three of them. Burly, brute, and unreasonable. They saw the guard. They also saw Kai letting go of one of the legs. Then, they charged.

And Kai slithered.

Even after feeling his stomach with meat and beer, the tiredness hadn't left Kai. His HP, SP, and MP were full to the brim, but he needed rest. Some things didn't have Stats. Yet, this tiredness couldn't prevent him from sliding in and out of guards' attacks.

'Weak!' Kai thought, rubbing his feet on the ground as if he was oil on steel. 'They are so weak!'

They were slow too. Kai could have taken them on easily with his previous Stats. With his Agility at 16, the three guards felt like a bunch of toys to him.

Snap!

Bones broke like twigs. With his two years of experience and knowledge of human and beasts' bodies, Kai knew exactly where to attack to inflict the most damage. He had lost his sword, otherwise, heads would have been rolling down by now.

Snap!

By the time Kai wrapped his fingers around a guard's throat, the two others were lying on the ground. One had his ankle broken. The other's elbow didn't look like an elbow anymore.

Kai wanted to kill. The Empire's name was still weighing on his heart.

Suddenly, he felt a burst of power coming from his side. A huge fist flooded his vision, appearing in the corner of his eyes. It was impossible to dodge. For someone like the guards.

Kai's legs slithered like a gentle gust had pushed him backward. The fist brushed his hair, hitting nothing but the air. Another fist followed, and Kai dodged it again. The guard under Kai's grip dangled like a cloth along with him. His finger tightened with every step he slithered, with every punch he dodged.

The man behind the fists noticed it too.

The punches stopped. The slithering stopped too, and so the tightening over the guard's throat along with it, whose face had gone purple by now.

"Enough!" the man said, a heavy frown dropping off his face. "Let him go."

Kai got the chance to look at the man then. The guards were already burly, but this man was the burliest. Thick arms, thicker face. A bushy beard lingered on his face, along with an anchor tattoo on his right cheek. This man was strong, Kai could tell at one glance. But not enough to become a threat to Kai.

'He has power,; Kai thought, 'but I am faster.' But Kai didn't want to kill anymore. The thrill had passed, and he had more important things to do. Not killing the guards was just enough to prove that he wasn't someone to trifle with.

"You are Marine Roland?" Kai asked.

"Who's asking?" the man replied, never taking his eyes off the purple-faced guard.

Kai reached into his pocket and took out the badge before throwing it towards the man. "Sorry, my lord father couldn't come."