Yuka was about to tell him, but suddenly her phone rang.
She has a regular cell phone, which means this isn’t high-tech at all; she definitely received a call.
She answered the call, and Avur couldn’t hear a word the person was saying, but he realized it was something serious, even though Yuka was doing her best to put on a warm smile so Avur wouldn’t worry.
She hung up and then said: “I have to go to work, something seems to have happened.
If you need to reach me or Kaname, we work at the royal registry and logistics office.”
She grabbed her bag and left, leaving Avur alone at home.
He couldn’t believe they both already had jobs; he’d thought they were still in school or at an academy.
Yuka reached her workplace; she works in public health and as an emergency blood transfusion nurse.
Yuka works in the same building as Kaname, but on the main floor where citizens come for help.
Kaname, on the other hand, works as a stationary detective.
Instead of a traditional detective roaming the city looking for clues, questioning suspects, or hunting criminals, Kaname never leaves his desk.
He sits in a dark, silent basement room, surrounded by thousands of old, unsolved criminal files, missing persons reports, and tax documents from the last hundred years.
The kingdom brings him cases that other detectives have given up on.
He even owns a specially made reclining chair.
To retrieve files from the shelves, he uses a long wooden pole with a hook at the end so he doesn’t have to get up.
Avur is currently taking a walk outside; he already went jogging this morning, but didn’t explore everything.
Avur watched children playing and people going about their daily routines until a merchant approached him and said, “You seem to be new here.” Then he asked, “Would you like to learn about the safety zones and the three tiers?”
“Of course,” said Avur, but then added: “What are the safety zones and where can I find them?”
The merchant replied, “Before we go into detail, we shouldn’t discuss this publicly.
I have a special place where we can talk about it.” He gestured for Avur to follow him.
Avur nodded and followed the merchant, who led him to an empty, closed bar.
Therefore, this was the best place to discuss something without anyone overhearing.
The merchant took a seat at a table, and Avur sat opposite him.
“Now we can talk about it.
Not many people know about it, since most are already in the safe zone.
This place is also a safe zone.” Then he looked at his hands before asking, “Have you ever traveled from one continent to another?
Or from one kingdom or city to another?”
Avur nodded: “Yes, but why do you ask?
Is it dangerous to travel alone?”
The merchant sweated at the thought of traveling alone.
“It’s incredibly dangerous.
I don’t know how you managed it, but outside the safe zones… a lot of things happen.
Depending on which continent you’re on… I can’t tell you everything because I don’t know much about these three tiers myself.
But I once left a safe zone and almost died, just a kilometer away… There are many terrifying monsters.” He clenched his fists at the memory of the monsters he had encountered.
“Some of these monsters could destroy the Earth if they wanted to… but somehow they don’t.
It’s as if they want to make every living thing suffer instead of wiping everything out immediately.” Then he scratched his head nervously.
Avur listened attentively, sensing that this could be crucial information if he wanted to return to Quelixa without dying.
The merchant hid his face in his hands and pretended to be crying or upset, but he…
was grinning?
“But…
for now, I suppose,” he said, waiting a few seconds before adding, “Killing you will be easier than we thought.” He looked up at him, his hands hanging loosely, his face a broad grin, his eyes narrowed dangerously; he had definitely lured Avur into a trap.
Before Avur could react, his head was nearly smashed in from behind.
Fortunately, he managed to dodge the blow and was then struck from behind with a sword that stabbed him in the stomach.
Avur spat out blood and touched his stomach.
When he saw the blood on his hand, he panicked.
His mind screamed at him: I DON’T WANT TO DIE!
NOT AGAIN!
IT HURTS, IT HURTS SO MUCH!
Avur then saw twenty more people approaching him.
He thought they might help him, but when he saw the masks and heard their laughter, all his hope vanished.
“Looks like it would be fun to torture this one,” said one of them, holding a red-hot iron bar that would surely burn Avur’s skin should he touch it.
“Don’t come any closer!
Go away from me!” he shouted and went to the exit of the bar, but it was locked; the sword was still stuck in his stomach and every step he took was excruciatingly painful.
They all laughed at him, their laughter echoing in his head and making him furious.
“Why the hell are you laughing?!
Do you enjoy seeing others suffer?!
Why did you choose me?!” He continued shouting at them, feeling both angry and pathetic, while they didn’t answer, but only laughed at him.
“Answer me already!”
The others nodded, and it was clear that most of them were men, as they were so muscular and tall.
Avur struck them and used his poison ability, but it was no use; even his physical enhancement was useless.
How could anyone have such tough bodies?
One of them, a woman, touched Avur’s chin before saying, “I could use him as one of my toys.
He has this hateful look, I like it.
Maybe I’ll have some fun with him later.
Could I borrow him?” She asked the others with a psychotic glint in her eyes.
The one with the red-hot iron bar said: “No, hold him now, or I’ll burn your damned face along with his.”
She reluctantly agreed.
Avur tried to push her hand away, but even her grip was very firm; it felt like pushing a huge boulder.
She punched Avur right in the face, and instead of simply falling to the ground, Avur flew against the wall.
“What…
is that strength…?” Avur could only whisper, his voice barely audible and full of pain.
The one with the red-hot iron bar replied, “Oh, that wasn’t all, boy, that wasn’t all.” He signaled the others to attack, and they all beat him fiercely.
“No…
please…” The cry faded into a pitiful, bubbling whisper before it could fill the room.
Avur could barely breathe; his entire body was battered and bruised, and he had even lost some teeth that would never grow back.
He tried to activate his save state, but his ability wasn’t working.
He would have to die before he could turn back time, as he usually did.
Avur wept.
The only thing he heard was his own pitiful sobbing.
He didn’t even try to defend himself.
I’m such a coward…
I’ve even given up trying to protect myself because I’m afraid.
I’m afraid of dying again.
But if death is the only way to turn back time, then I have to die, don’t I?
I don’t know what magic they applied to their bodies, but it’s indestructible.
These were his thoughts as they brutally tortured him.
Avur’s face was truly disfigured, but that was because their fists could break through walls.
They broke the bones in his face and every other part of his body.
He did not die, as he only suffered broken bones and the sword, which had pierced him through his stomach, was pulled out.
He was in critical condition, feeling the agony of their brutal torture.
Blood flowed from the spot where the sword had penetrated and been pulled out.
They didn’t even tire, as if they had unlimited stamina.
Then one of them said, “He’s still not knocked out, how many more blows is he going to take?” Another replied, “He must have a death wish!”
Avur then lost all feeling in his body; he tried to scream, but his jaw clenched into a silent scream, his eyes rolled back as the stinging, burning agony paralyzed his throat, and his last thoughts before losing consciousness were: I still don’t want to die…
it’s so terribly painful…
is it really so bad that I don’t want to die?
After Avur lost consciousness, the man with the red-hot iron bar approached Avur and was about to burn his face with the red-hot iron bar.
Avur’s eyes opened in a flash.
He grabbed the red-hot iron bar with both hands, burning his hands in the process, but didn’t even flinch.
The man flinched, let go of the bar, and now Phantom was in possession of the red-hot iron bar.
They all assumed an attack position, but noticed how calm Avur was and that he had stopped blinking.
He seemed to be…
calculating them all.
“Who are you?!” shouted the man who had tried to burn Avur’s face.
He knew perfectly well that this was not the same young man they had just tortured.
Phantom didn’t say a word.
It simply charged forward and attacked him, nearly breaking its arm in the process.
Therefore, it used flash step to create some distance and devise a strategy.
The men and some women began to grin, thinking: Even if it were someone else, they would still win, since it is impossible to defeat them all.
Phantom then developed a different strategy: It used its flash step, grabbed the head of the man who had the red-hot iron bar before accidentally handing it to it, and then struck him in the face with its right hand.
This proved advantageous, as it was able to injure him, break through his invulnerable shell, and knock him unconscious with a headbutt.
The others were both angry and frightened, because it had discovered that they were only invulnerable when they were actually hurt.
As soon as someone touched them with a hand that wouldn’t hurt them, their invulnerability was broken.
It sounds simple, but they could still try to shake it off.
Phantom then pulled out the red-hot iron bar and once again used its flash step to grab the arm of the woman who wanted to make Avur her toy.
It then burned her face, which had once been beautiful, but now looked as scorched as a witch’s.
She screamed in pain, felt her skin being burned, and tried desperately to shake the Phantom off, but it was impossible, for Phantom’s grip was inhumanly tight.
“What are you?!
You’re a monster!
Answer my questions!” she screamed at it, striking the Phantom relentlessly and losing her sight in the process.
She went blind until Phantom finally drove the red-hot iron bar into her head, burning her brain and leaving her to die.
Her last words were: “You asshole…!”
Then Phantom began to kill them all.
It killed two at a time, stabbing one in the heart and crushing the other’s head.
It had discovered that a single hand was enough to break their invulnerability.
If it merely touched them lightly and didn’t let go, it could begin to crush their arms or head, and as long as it held on, their invulnerability was already broken.
“Damn it, you bastard!” one of them shouted; another screamed in pain after Phantom had ripped off their arm with inhuman strength.
The merchant, who had been lying to Avur the whole time, tried to leave, but the bar’s exit was completely locked.
Sweat beaded on the merchant’s forehead.
The tables had turned.
Phantom hadn’t even given him time to explain.
It had burned his heart with the red-hot iron bar.
After killing them all, it began devouring their shadows, simultaneously rewriting reality so that no one would remember them.
For devouring shadows makes everyone forget the person who lost their shadow.
They were now phantoms wandering the planet Earth, unable to touch anything and unseen by anyone.
Therefore, the ability to devour shadows is a skill that rewrites reality.
Phantom then opened the exit to the door using the red-hot iron bar to burn it open and then it used flash step many times to reach the royal registry and logistics office because it knows that Yuka and Kaname will take care of Avur.
When it arrived, it made sure someone saw it, and when someone noticed Phantom, the body fell unconscious to the ground.
Avur barely opened his eyes when a tremendous sensory effect flashed before his eyes, like a computer monitor booting up after a crash:
[CRITICAL SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE]
Host Identity: Confirmed.
Autonomic Safeguard Active Duration: 12 Minutes, 42 Seconds.
Damage report prepared: Abdominal cavity punctured (sword).
Blood is flowing from the hole in the abdominal cavity; legs and arms are broken.
Both hands are burned.
Total Blood Volume: 20% (Critical).
Threat Status: Eliminated.
Returning control to consciousness.
The person who saw him then carried him to Yuka’s office so she could heal Avur.
Avur lost consciousness again; he felt too exhausted.
Several hours later, Avur awoke with a start.
He felt as if he were drowning again.
He heard crying and saw Yuka next to his client’s bed, where he was lying.
She sat on the floor, her face pressed against the edge of the bed where she had been crying.
She looked up, having noticed that he was awake.
Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Meanwhile, Kaname sat on a chair, watching Avur.
Avur examined his body; he was healed again, presumably thanks to Yuka’s sovereign tether magic.
Yuka hugged him tightly and said, “Who hurt you so badly?
You looked terrible, but luckily we were able to heal your bones and teeth.”
Avur tried to speak, but his throat was dry.
Yuka noticed and immediately got him some water.
“I’m so sorry, I should have known your throat was dry.”
She gave him a water bottle; she hadn’t found any cups, and the water bottle was the closest thing she had on hand.
Avur gratefully accepted it and drank.
After he finished, he finally said, “I don’t remember much of what happened.
It felt like someone was controlling my body like a marionette.” He looked down.
That was basically all he remembered; the rest was forgotten.
But he also remembered something that had briefly flashed before his eyes upon waking, when he saw that he was being carried by someone who had brought him here.
Avur’s stomach growled and he then said, “I’m hungry…
and I’m fine, so can I go home?”
They both nodded, but before Avur could get out of the client’s bed, Yuka said, “Just be careful, and if anything happens, call us.
I don’t think I could bear to see you hurt like that again.” She looked at him with concern.
He gave her a thumbs-up: “I’m alright, don’t worry.” Then he went to the door and added before leaving: “I hope I don’t get into any more trouble.”
Then he left while Kaname and Yuka now have to go back to work.
Avur returned home, which technically belongs to Kaname and Yuka, but since they are friends, he considers it his home as well.
There he is currently eating bananas, apples, and sandwiches, because after his recovery, one feels an insatiable hunger.