The sky had transformed into a dark blue canvas dotted with millions of stars as Kazuki and Amira walked along the increasingly deserted streets of the town. Oil lanterns hung along the main road, casting a dim golden light.
"The inn should be close by," Kazuki muttered, squinting to read the almost invisible street sign in the dimness of the night.
Following the directions given by the old clothes seller, they turned into a narrow alley flanked by high stone walls. The path grew narrower, eventually leading them to a dark lane behind a row of old houses. There were no lanterns here, only the occasional moonlight seeping through the gaps in the rooftops, providing minimal illumination.
Amira tightened her grip on the edge of Kazuki's sleeve, a sense of unease creeping up her spine. "Kazuki," she whispered softly, "are you sure this is the right way?"
Kazuki slowed his steps. His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings warily. The alley was too quiet, too dark.
"Damn," Kazuki hissed under his breath, realizing their situation. "We've been tricked by that old man."
Just as those words left his mouth, the shadows in front of them shifted. Five figures slowly emerged from the darkness, forming a line that blocked their path.
Each of them held a sharp weapon—some gripped daggers, others small axes, and one even wielded a short sword that looked dangerous.
"Wow," Amira sighed, her voice tinged with disappointment and annoyance. "This world seems to be full of bad people, huh?"
Kazuki stepped forward, instinctively positioning himself as a shield for Amira. "What do you want?" he asked flatly, not a trace of fear in his voice.
One of the five—a burly man with a scar running across his face—laughed mockingly. "What do we want?" He twirled his dagger in a threatening manner. "Of course, we want to rob you! Why else? Hahaha!" His laugh was rough and filled with mockery.
The five robbers slowly closed in, forming a semicircle that surrounded Kazuki and Amira. They moved with confidence, certain that their numbers gave them the upper hand in this confrontation.
"You're not from this world, are you?" Kazuki suddenly said, causing the robbers to pause momentarily. His sharp eyes analyzed the way they stood, the way they held their weapons—too trained for petty criminals in a backwater town like this. "It seems you're from the same world as us, aren't you?"
Kazuki's words elicited a surprised reaction from the robbers. They exchanged glances before the scarred man spoke again, this time with a wider, more cunning smile.
"Ohh, that's right," he admitted proudly. "We're not from this world." He stepped forward, confidence radiating from his stride. "One of us has the ability to see if someone has a system or not."
He pointed to a skinny, bespectacled young man standing at the back of the group. The young man smirked faintly, his dark eyes glinting oddly as he stared at Kazuki and Amira.
"But it seems you two don't have a system," the scarred man continued, his voice dripping with scorn. "In other words, you're useless, hahaha!"
"We might kill you, but as for the girl, we'll take her with us and make her our plaything."
"Disgusting," Amira muttered, glaring at them.
Rough laughter filled the dark alley once more, echoing off the cold stone walls. The robbers closed in further, their weapons raised high, ready to strike.
Kazuki remained calm, standing still as if the threat of five armed criminals was nothing to worry about.
"I'll only say this once," Kazuki spoke in a low, icy voice. Each word felt like a shard of ice. "Leave. I will truly kill you if you're still here."
Kazuki's threat was met with even louder laughter from the robbers. The scarred man even clutched his stomach as if he had just heard the funniest joke of his life.
"Ha? Kill us? Hahaha!" He shook his head in amusement. "You're so funny! You don't have a system and you're talking about killing—"
His words were cut off abruptly. His face, once full of laughter, twisted into an expression of shock. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. His eyes widened in terror before his body went limp and collapsed with a loud thud onto the rocky ground.
Silence instantly enveloped the alley. The remaining robbers stared at their fallen comrade with disbelief.
"What the..." one of them stammered, his sword trembling in his hand from shock. They hadn't even seen Kazuki move—the scarred man had simply fallen without any apparent reason.
Kazuki remained standing in his original spot, his posture unchanged.
"So what?" Kazuki's voice sounded deeper than usual. "I don't need a system or powers from this world because I already had powers before I came here." His face remained cold, emotionless.
Amira, who should have been terrified witnessing this tense situation, instead tilted her head with a feigned look of confusion. "I think I've heard it from you before," she said playfully to Kazuki. "Didn't you say you wanted a system? Or did I mishear?"
Suddenly, Kazuki's cold expression cracked slightly, revealing a hint of disappointment that didn't fit the tense situation. "Hey, at least let me look cool in front of a girl," he replied, his voice almost sounding sulky.
"Wow, you're so honest," Amira teased. "You don't even hesitate to be honest."
One of the robbers, a bearded man with a tattoo on his neck, stepped forward bravely despite the clear fear in his eyes. "What did you do to him?!" he shouted, his voice trembling with a mix of anger and fear. His hand, clutching a small axe, pointed at his fallen comrade.
Kazuki shifted his gaze back to the robber, his expression turning cold again. "What did I do to him?" he repeated the question flatly. "I stopped his heart, and he died." The words were spoken with a chilling calmness—as if he were simply explaining a mundane process like turning off a machine.
A heavy silence fell over the alley once more. The remaining robbers stared at Kazuki with wide eyes filled with terror. Even Amira, standing beside him, was slightly taken aback by his blunt admission.
Kazuki stood calmly amidst the chaos he had created. One corpse already lay cold on the ground, while the four remaining robbers were still alive—for now.
"You must be wondering what really happened," Kazuki spoke in a calm, clear voice. His words echoed through the narrow alley.
"Let me explain my power," he continued, his tone shifting to that of a professor explaining a complex theory to his students. "My power is the ability to control anything I wish or to alter concepts as I see fit, all through my thoughts."
His fingers moved elegantly in the air, as if he were drawing invisible symbols. "If I think about controlling something, it happens. If I want to render your powers useless, that's also within my ability."
The four remaining robbers swallowed hard, their faces pale with panic. They exchanged frantic glances, while Amira watched with wide eyes, a mix of awe and horror on her face.
"For example—" Kazuki didn't finish his sentence as, seemingly in response to a thought that had just crossed his mind, something terrifying happened.
One of the robbers—a thin man with messy, dirty blond hair and tattered clothes—suddenly screamed in pain. The man, who had been secretly trying to form a magic symbol with his hidden hand movements, now fell to his knees on the rocky ground. His hand, which had been moving to cast a spell, was now engulfed by a strange, pulsating blue flame.
The fire wasn't ordinary. Its color was too blue, too bright, too... alive. It moved with a rhythm that almost resembled a heartbeat.
"Hot! Hot!" the man screamed hysterically, his voice breaking from panic and excruciating pain. His body writhed and rolled on the dusty ground as he tried to extinguish the flames consuming his hand. His eyes were wide with pure terror, staring at his own hand as if it were an alien creature attached to his body. "Help! HELP!"
His companions could only watch in horror, too afraid to help yet also too afraid to flee. They were like mice trapped before a venomous snake—paralyzed by fear that numbed every muscle and thought.
Kazuki gazed at the writhing man with a cold expression. There was no sympathy, no pity, no emotion whatsoever on his handsome face. If anything, there was a hint of boredom.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice you trying to use magic?" His voice was sharp and cutting, filled with mock disappointment. "You've really underestimated me."
With just a blink of Kazuki's eyes, the blue flame that had only been burning the man's hand suddenly exploded, spreading rapidly across his entire body like a tsunami of light that consumed everything in its path. In seconds that felt like an eternity to the onlookers, the unfortunate man became a living torch, screaming in agony as his body was fully engulfed by the blue fire that moved with a life of its own.
The light from the flames was so bright that it illuminated the entire dark alley.
The man's screams grew weaker, hoarser, until they finally stopped. His body, still wrapped in flames, collapsed to the ground with a soft thud, leaving behind a smoldering black mound that had once been a living human. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, making Amira cover her nose with trembling hands and the other robbers nearly vomit.
"That's an example," Kazuki continued as if nothing extraordinary had happened. He lowered his hand and gave a faint smile—a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I can control someone's power or manipulate your bodies as I please. For those who try to use magic against me, their power will backfire and destroy them."
Before the shock of their comrade's gruesome death could fade, another strange event occurred. One of the three remaining robbers—a burly man with a scar across his jaw and crude tattoos on his neck—suddenly lost control of his body. His muscles tensed, his arms stretched out to the sides, and his legs seemed rooted to the ground. He moved stiffly, jerking like a puppet controlled by an unskilled puppeteer. His eyes widened in terror and confusion as his body moved against his will.
"W-what the—no! Stop!" he shouted in panic, his voice breaking from fear. The veins in his neck bulged as he struggled against the invisible force controlling him, but his efforts were futile. His strong hand, clutching a rusty short sword, slowly raised itself without his consent.
Beads of sweat the size of corn kernels rolled down his face as he strained against Kazuki's control. Yet, instead of aiming at Kazuki or Amira—as he had intended in his mind—the sword pointed toward one of his own comrades, a stocky man with a thick beard standing nearby.
"Move! Run!" he yelled in warning, but the bearded man was too shocked and scared to react quickly. "Help! I can't control my body!" Cold sweat poured down his face as he desperately fought against the unseen force controlling him.
Kazuki raised a single finger with a graceful motion, and as if responding to an unspoken command, the man's body shot forward with incredible speed, far beyond his normal capabilities. In a swift and brutal movement that was hard for the naked eye to follow, the sword plunged straight into his comrade's heart, piercing flesh and bone as easily as cutting through paper.
The bearded man didn't even have time to scream. His eyes widened in absolute shock, staring in disbelief at the sword now embedded in his chest and the horrified, tear-streaked face of his comrade. Fresh blood gushed from the wound, soaking the rocky ground of the alley and splattering onto the face of the man who had unintentionally killed him.
"I-I'm sorry..." the unwilling killer whispered, tears streaming down his face, now dirty with dust and blood. But his words were met only with the blank stare of his comrade, whose life was slowly fading away.
Kazuki remained unmoved, watching the murder with an expressionless face. His cold eyes followed every movement, every drop of blood, every final twitch of the dying body, as if he were watching an ordinary theater performance rather than a bloody massacre.
As soon as the bearded man's body collapsed to the ground with a sickening thud, the robber controlled by Kazuki—still with tears of fear and his comrade's blood on his face—suddenly raised his sword once more. His eyes widened in panic as he realized what was about to happen next. While his mind screamed in refusal, his body moved in obedience to another's will. This time, the bloodied tip of the sword was aimed at his own body.
"No! Please! Don't!" he begged, his voice breaking from sobs and overwhelming fear. He looked at Kazuki with pleading eyes, hoping to find mercy in the young man's cold gaze. "I have a family! Children waiting at home! Spare me!"
But his pleas were met with emptiness. There was no mercy, no forgiveness. His body moved as if commanded by an unseen force, and in one smooth, almost elegant motion, the sword pierced his own stomach, tearing through his vital organs without remorse.
Fresh blood soaked his tattered clothes, creating a dark pattern that spread rapidly across the dull fabric. The intense pain made his legs give out, and he slowly fell to his knees, his eyes still wide with disbelief and suffering. His mouth opened in a soundless scream, blood beginning to trickle from the corner of his lips, before his body finally collapsed forward, joining his comrades in death.
"I suppose someone like you doesn't deserve my mercy, so just die already. And I'm sure your family is back in the real world, so they'll be fine there," Kazuki stated flatly.
Amira, who had been standing silently behind Kazuki, also seemed shaken by what she had just witnessed. Her eyes were wide, her face slightly pale, and her breath hitched several times as she watched the brutality unfold. Even though she knew Kazuki had extraordinary powers, seeing the destructive force firsthand still left her stunned.
"H-how..." The last robber finally found his voice, though it was weak and choked, like a drowning man gasping for air. "How do you have such power? You clearly don't have a system!" His voice trembled violently, a mix of fear, confusion, and perhaps a hint of awe he couldn't hide.
Kazuki let out a soft sigh, as if he were tired of explaining the same thing repeatedly. His shoulders slumped slightly. For a moment, he looked like an ordinary young man again—not the deadly entity that had just slaughtered four people without blinking.
"I already told you I had powers before I came to this world," he replied flatly, a hint of boredom in his voice. "I don't even know where my power comes from." "You're free to name this power whatever you want, because from the beginning, it never had a name of its own."
He looked directly into the trembling eyes of the last robber.
"Now, goodbye," Kazuki said, and the man died sitting down, his heart stopped by Kazuki's will.