Surprise

To keep his previous appearance of ignorance, at least to any outsiders, Asher lied down on the bed, breathing deeply with his mouth partially open.

He checked his stats with the System again as he wiggled around in the sheets to find a comfortable position.

____________

Statistics:

Fortitude: 5

Insight: 10

Temperance: 15

Justice: 5

Skills: N/A

Description: Remarkably unremarkable, with great potential. Capable of utilizing TimeTrack rewind services.

____________

The description was still... well, it was practically the same, and he couldn't feel any difference in his body.

'Of course, it's not like my Fortitude went up, it was only Insight and Temperance.'

He suddenly stopped shifting around and closed his eyes. His instincts told him something was wrong.

*Creaaak*

The door opened slightly, then stopped. After a few minutes, the presence behind the door disappeared, and Asher opened his eyes again.

'He checked if I was asleep?? Did he get suspicious after I rejected his food?'

Asher glanced at his stats in amazement.

'So this is what double the Insight does? Or was that Temperance?' He wasn't too sure about which stats did what yet, but he was sure that he could not have done that last time.

After Hal checked on him, he did not do so again for the rest of the hour.

Asher was left with his own thoughts, too nervous to fall asleep.

"It seems like everyone in the Backstreets is crazy. I've been killed twice in the same day... But the Nests should be much safer." Asher remembered what Hal told him, with the twenty-six Sections of the City.

Not wanting to experience such horrifying deaths, he decided to try to get into any of the Nests as soon as possible.

Though, Asher had no idea what a Nest was other than a metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel, so it was more of a long-term goal.

Hours passed as he lied there, hungry and tired. Every time he was about to fall asleep, he pinched himself awake, letting the pain clear his mind. Hal would check his room every so often, but Asher would always appear sound asleep whenever that happened.

Soon, the sky began to darken. He didn't know exactly when the woman entered the store, so he headed outside to wait for her, closing the door behind him.

Evading Hal's surveillance, he snuck outside and sat down near the entrance, pulling his hood down so he looked less recognizable.

Even more hours passed. Sitting still for so long would have driven his old self mad with boredom, but he quickly realized that his Temperance, now 3 times larger than before, helped his mind stay sharp after so much time. It even allowed him to analyze every face that crossed the restaurant without his eyes glazing over from exhaustion.

'The old man should've already checked my room once or twice.' Asher didn't care, though. He didn't plan to return to this place after he was done with it.

Finally, the black-haired woman from last time showed up. She peered into the restaurant windows.

Asher could interpret her expression due to of his Insight. The woman was worried, probably about her purse that he overheard in her conversation with Hal last time.

"Hey, you lost your purse, right?" Asher interrupted her before she could enter the store.

"Ah, yes! Do you know where it is?"

"No, but you should probably-" He stopped speaking and pulled his hood up, completely covering his face as the woman stared at him in confusion.

Hal opened the front door, his face wrought with deceptive kindness. His smile stiffened somewhat as he glanced at the hooded figure crouched below them.

"Ah, did you lose something, young miss? Many people forget their belongings in my restaurant, so perhaps I can help you." The woman nodded, following Hal inside.

Asher's face darkened. This was not going according to plan. If he didn't act, then she would surely die.

And not like the two times that he died, either. The pain from having one's bones ground up, mashed into bits of meat... Coming out of the grinder as an unrecognizable pile of red flesh...

He hesitated, glancing inside the building.

'I tried to help, right? Should I run away and...' Even as he thought that to himself, he was already stepping inside the building once again.

His childish innocence had been restored by his amnesia. Asher felt like he had to try to save her, because if he didn't, the woman would be ground up and cannibalized.

And that possibility made him queasy.

If he still had his sealed personality, he definitely wouldn't save such a useless nobody. In fact, he likely would have killed Hal and taken over the cannibalistic restaurant for his own profit.

But alas, the System planned his life differently.

Entering the restaurant, the savory smell of cooked human meat turned Asher nauseous. He could see Hal bringing the woman towards the back of the kitchen, about to close the door behind him.

Asher didn't immediately barge in; instead, he waited for the right moment. Although if he charged in he might surprise Hal, it wouldn't be as effective as the plan he thought of.

'She might have to suffer just a bit longer.'

He slowly creaked open the door, peeking inside. The woman was checking a pile of items on a table as Hal raised a wooden board to smash her head. Both of their backs faced towards Asher. He opened the door further, seeing an axe leaning against the wall, near his arm's reach.

Hal swung down just as Asher took hold of the axe. A loud thud of flesh on wood rang out, causing Asher to wince.

"HELP!" the woman screamed shrilly, but there were no customers in the store now. Everything hinged on Asher.

The boy swung the axe hard onto Hal's leg, producing a satisfying noise of ripped flesh and broken bone. The man screamed in pain, turning around furiously.

'Eh? The boy from earlier...' The woman's face blanched. What would happen to this poor child if Hal caught him?

"Get out! It's dangerous here!" Even as blood streamed down her face, she still hobbled towards him, trying to push him to safety. But as she walked towards him, Hal swung down even harder, enraged.

"-!" The woman collapsed on the floor as Asher watched in horror. The man swung his wooden bat yet again.

*Thud*

And again.

*Crack*

And again.

The woman's cranial fluid coated the ground, bashed open like a piñata.

"Bitch, can't even die silently!" He spat on her body, then turned his attention to Asher.

"Well, well, Asher. I was quite suspicious of you and your little act you put outside." He limped towards him and raised his board.

Asher knew that he could probably win against a man whose leg was already maimed, but seeing the warm corpse on the floor, he sighed.

"Here, have it." Asher threw the axe to Hal, who caught it in bewilderment.

"Aim for the neck." Asher said those words almost carelessly, angering Hal even more.

"You don't even deserve to be ground up! I'll feed you to the rats!" Hal raised his axe high, but Asher only stared at the glinting head with amusement.

The axe head slashed through Asher's neck, cleanly separating his head from his body. Even in death, his eyes showed a determination that unsettled Hal.

Blood sprayed from Asher's open neck, painting the sterile white walls crimson.

Then Hal noticed something else.

The head was smiling.

...

[TT2 Protocol Activated]

[Punishment Mission: Fairy Festival]

Asher opened his eyes yet again. He found himself in a luscious, verdant forest, with trees taller than any building he had seen so far.

He was lying on the soft foliage of the forest. The grass under him tickled his skin affectionately.

This was nice. He breathed in a shuddering breath, trying to shake away the uneasy feeling he got from the peaceful atmosphere. Too peaceful.

'Fairy Festival... Sounds even easier than last time, no?'

He sat up, looking for anything strange. Almost immediately, he saw a little green creature hiding behind a tree. As he sat there, it shyly revealed itself.

A glowing woman stared back at him, floating strangely above the ground.

And she was also only ten centimeters tall.

"Are you a... fairy?" After all, this mission was called Fairy Festival.

She chittered and nodded her head, and sang melodically, her soft and high-pitched voice filling the forest.

He saw fairy after fairy emerging from the forest until they nearly surrounded him.

They all sang a lyricless chorus, calming him down somewhat.

"Aww..."

A blonde fairy landed on his fingertip and buried her face in his finger.

"Eh? What are you- Ow!"

The fairy tore away from him, revealing a chunk of missing flesh and white bone on his finger. The fairy chewed with delight, as the blood dribbling down her lips became the brightest crimson lipstick.

The other fairies chittered in excitement, and Asher's face dropped.

This was a punishment alright. A prompt confirmed his guess.

[Objective: Take part in the Feeding Frenzy, known by the inhabitants of the forest as the Fairy Festival.]

The fairies looked at each other.

A bead of cold sweat ran across Asher's brow.