“...What do you think you’re doing?”

A simple question full of killing intent was presented to Leon.

“...Killing a demon.”

Many thoughts went through Leon’s head, so he did not think much of the answer.

*Clang*

Another swing.

“Stop. He’s not a demon.”

Killing Intent shrunk, but still noticeable. 

But Leon paid it no mind.

Leon attacked again, Jack just blocked and parried.

There was no answer. 

“...How foolish can you be? Stop it. You are being fooled.”

Jack’s voice was calm despite him being attacked.

Leon already suspected Jack to be an enemy.

‘I won’t fall for his tricks… Why isn’t his voice concealed?’

“Leon! Don’t believe in his lies! He wants to confuse you!”

Torum couldn’t stay silent and spoke up. He seemed oddly nervous.

“Leon, did you not think about it? A poison that doesn't harm, why couldn't they find any evident trace of spies… isn’t it suspicious?”

Jack tried to keep his cool even while defending against Leon’s barrage.

“He’s weak, Leon! Don’t listen to a demon! Kill him!”

Jack used wind magic to create an opening. He kicked Leon.

*Boom*

Leon flew into a wall behind Torum.

Torum started sweating.

‘This isn’t according to plan! Who is he!?’

Jack pointed his sword at Torum.

“You’re too bold for a shapeshifter.”

“You!? What nonsense!”

Leon came out of the debris.

“...So you’re a Magic Swordsman.”

“What? Thought you were the only one?”

Leon wanted to leap into attack yet again, but Jack suddenly struck his weird looking sword into the ground.

“Leon, we met before… I don’t want to fight a Hero.”

This stopped Leon’s actions.

‘...Does he know?’

“Look, this won’t take long. Just check his blood and I’ll be on my way.”

Jack's action made no sense to Leon… So he became confused.

Torum gulped.

“You fiend! How dare you accuse me of being a filthy demon!? I’ll show you! I’ll show you a proof only the Torum of Litor can show!”

He took out his sword and took a stance.

“Die! Bastard!”

His sword started glowing with golden light.

The proof of him being the real Torum was evident to Leon.

‘I never doubted him.’

*Swish*

Torum launched an Aura Blade at Jack, confirming it wasn’t some sort of a trick.

The strength behind that attack was real, even Leon would have trouble blocking it head-on… But not Jack.

Jack dealt with such attacks countless times. He knew how to block them efficiently, to not get too injured. Moreover, now, he had a sword that could be sharper and sturdier than the Holy Sword.

In a blink of an eye, Jack pulled his sword and dissipated the attack cleanly. No trace of it was left.

‘...My reaction speed improved…’

Leon tightened his grip. What Jack did was something Leon wished he could do so confidently. Aura attacks could be cut by him easily, but that is due to his immense Aura control and strength. He wouldn’t be able to even block an Aura attack without his own Aura… Jack did not use Aura, he simply hit the weak spot of the Aura Blade. The only way to learn this move was… to do it countless times to different people. It was hard to find an Aura user, more so hundreds of them.

‘...How many has he faced?...and killed…’

Torum was breathing heavily.

“Haa… Haa… You… Monster…”

Duke put all his strength into that attack.

“Leon… Backup will soon be here… Please… Don’t let him go away.”

Leon did not hesitate and ran in front of Torum to let him escape.

“Your highness Duke, I won’t lose!”

Torum smiled and left.

Jack was a bit annoyed but didn’t want to strike first.

“Well, that was a bit surprising.”

“Stop with useless blabbering! Answer me! Who are you!?”

Now that there were only two of them, Leon did not need to hide his strength… And wanted to ask some questions.

“...”

Jack obviously did not intend to answer the question… instead he asked one too.

“Are you an idiot?”

Leon started his attack again.

He did not fall to such a stupid provocation but understood that he wouldn’t get an answer so easily.

‘I’ll test you’

Leon’s attacks became stronger and more precise.

His sword started glowing with dim light.

Jack didn’t have much trouble at first, but Leon was gradually increasing the output of Aura.

At some point, Leon took the upper hand. Though Jack was still just defending.

But when Leon’s first hit landed, Jack couldn’t fool around anymore.

“Finally shoving your real strength? Haha! Should’ve done that from the beginning!”

Jack was excited.

Excited to see Leon’s true prowess in a fight… And face it head-on…

‘... He knows something…’

Jack started attacking too.

He first made the ground even… but Leon used his Aura to the fullest and took the floor again.

‘Grr, Aura is so unfair!’

Some Killing Intent was sipping out of Jack.

Leon noticed it and thought that Jack noticed that he was losing.

It was indeed so, but Jack still did not use his magic.

The real fight just began.

Leon expected it, so he managed to evade it.

Leon himself did not use any spells.

Jack masterfully combined his swordsmanship with magic.

Even Leon was having trouble… and Jack took the upper hand.

But the backup was already on the way, so this needed to stop.

Jack flew up high.

“We’ll stop here… I hope you’ll find the truth.”

Jack was just about to leave, when…

“... just like I thought…”

Leon was carefully assessing Jack and his power.

Sure, he was at a level of a Titled… but not a powerful one.

Yes, Leon would lose if things continued, but he did not have his full strength yet.

There wasn’t anyone to buff him, nor did he use his spells… and most important of all, he lacked his Holy Sword.

So Leon came to a conclusion.

“...You aren’t a real threat.”

“Huh?”

Jack felt offended.

“I almost beat your ass, o mighty Hero.”

“...That’s because I’m alone now.”

“I’m alone too?”

“The Hero doesn't fight without his teammates. You wouldn’t last long if I had help.”

“...”

Jack understood what Leon was doing.

Backup could be heard by him already.

“...It’s too late, you won’t escape.”

“You know I will.”

Leon saw his stealth ability already, was he bluffing?

“...I thought about it. Your ability, that is. Such Stealth doesn’t exist.”

‘I could even feel the presence of Hel herself’

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“It’s an artefact, isn’t it?”

“...”

Jack thought it was another stupid try to win some time, but he could escape anytime, so it didn’t matter… Though it was somewhat annoying to him.

“Artefacts like that always have a condition or a restriction… Seeing as you only used it to appear and never used it to attack… I can guess what those restrictions are. You won’t escape. In the end, Stealth could never help you win.”

Just like the best Stealth user out there had considerable skill and power just to fight against Leon, one could not win with Stealth alone. He had many means to detect an assassin. It was simply…

“...Useless…”

Under Jack’s mask was a grim expression.

Leon said something that truly got to Mixen. 

‘My only gift… My only luck…  How many times has it saved my life? Where would I be without it? My Stealth… Loki’s Gift was the one who truly saved Father… Little Laura can laugh because of it! I can finally fulfil my wish with it! And he calls it useless!?’

“...I’ll show you… just how useless it is.”

Immediately Mixen disappeared… and Leon faced an unimaginable amount of Killing Intent coming at him.

It was enough to rival that of Demon King.

‘I must block it!’

He felt death coming at him with that Killing Intent.

Leon held his sword to block the incoming attack. All the strength he had was put into it. Only a moment could cost him his life.

The world slowed down for Leon, waiting for impact.

One second… Two seconds… three…

Leon stood there for a minute.

There was no Killing Intent, but he couldn’t put his sword down.

When he finally calmed down, he thought of the backup that was very close just moments ago…

Leon looked behind him.

There they were.

Torum and his most trusted men.

Coincidentally, they also were the strongest there.

…

All lying on the ground… headless.

A vein on Leon’s vein popped.

“Jaaack!!”

.

.

.

Mixen was flying away with Greg on his back.

When the fight started, Mixen covered Greg in Loki’s Veil and brought him away from the fight with a spell.

He learned this trick not that long ago.

“...But moving so the thread wouldn’t get cut sure was hard…”

Even with a method of trial and error, Loki’s Veil couldn’t exist without connecting to Mixen. So when covering someone else, he needed to create a thread for them to move around.

After a 30-minute flight, Mixen finally stopped.

Greg almost puked after the stop itself but held it in.

Greg thought of many things while they were flying. 

If he was really a demon… What Torum’s true plans were… And what he should say to his saviour…

“How are you-”

But there was something he needed to say.

While flying, it was hard for him to talk, moreover, it took a while for Greg to understand it.

‘My parents are still in danger!’

“Mister Jack, please, my parents are still in town! We need to sa-”

“Greg…”

Mixen interrupted him with a sad voice.

“Torum sent someone to take care of your parents even before he checked you… I can’t be in two places at the same time… I’m sorry.”

“Does that mean…?”

Without finishing his sentence, Greg started crying.

Mixen felt bad… Not because of Greg’s loss… but because he lied to such an honest kid.

His parents weren’t dead… But if Greg knew that, he would try and return to them… Those people were not worthy of such a good kid as Greg. 

Mixen had an idea of how they treated Greg before… They even sold him to Torum at the first presented opportunity… Of course, they didn’t know that Torum planned to use them as scapegoats at a later date…

Now that Torum was dead, their fate was unknown… Though Leon might do something to them… But it wasn’t of Mixen’s concern.

After Greg finished crying he looked at Jack.

“*Sniff*...Thank you… Mister Jack… But… was it necessary… to kill all those guards… I understand why Torum deserved it… but they did nothing wrong… couldn’t you spare them?”

The kid was as kind as ever.

“No need to feel remorse, all of them were demons.”

“...All of them?”

There were more than 20 people… and Greg knew some of them personally…  

“Yes. There might be more, but I doubt their plan will succeed with such low numbers.”

‘That is the thing I’m best at after all… To kill… Even though I used them to vent my anger… I wouldn’t be able to stop them in another way… My emotions have gotten out of control recently…’

“Ah… That’s good…”

Greg didn’t know what else to say. He had nowhere to go and didn’t know what to do.

“Greg… What do you want to do now?”

Mixen could guess what was going on in Greg’s mind… So he decided to help.

“...I don’t know.”

“... Is there really nothing? Did you not have a dream before? Or maybe a place you wanted to visit? I can’t just leave you here.”

“...I had… A dream…”

“Yeah? What was it?”

Mixen saw Greg as a small, adorable kid that just lost his parents… Mixen had a weak spot for children…

“...I wanted to travel with Lance…”

“That…”

…Won’t be possible…

But Mixen couldn’t say it.

“I know… Now that they think I’m a demon… It’s sad…”

Greg’s eyes started tearing up again.

But he soon smiled, with tears flowing from his eyes.

“But at least Tera will be happy… She wanted to be on the Hero’s team even more than I did!”

“Y-Yeah…”

‘She wanted it so badly, that she even threatened you…’

“...Greg… You might have a chance…”

“Huh?”

Greg did not understand.

“We might have a chance to… clear your name…”

“We… do?”

Yet again hope started taking shape in Greg’s heart.

“Yes… Tera… you see… She might be one of them.”

“What!? No way!”

Greg couldn’t believe it.

“I too don’t have much evidence…”

‘...“You know what to do.”... Torum said it to her… Once… No other evidence… But what else can it be?…’

“However, the chance is there.”

“Then we must warn the Hero! He might be in danger right now!”

“Do you think they will believe us?”

“...No…”

“Yeah… But don’t worry, she won’t act now… And I’ll look over them...”

“...But… What can I do?”

What could he do?

Mixen didn’t know the answer.

He wanted to observe Tera and reveal her identity to Leon and Lance… That way they would know that Greg wasn’t an enemy… But Greg had no role to play there…

Now was the time when Greg needed a goal more than ever. He lost everything he had… 

‘I need to give him purpose.’

“Greg… Why do you want to be Hero’s comrade?”

“...Why does it matter?”

“Is it a hard question?”

“...I want to live a better life… Make my own choices… Not only train, but fight to save people. I train only for that reason after all… I read a book once, there, a Hero trained hard, and with each drop of sweat… He could save one more person… I wanted to be like that… or at least similar.”

‘...If you said it in the interview, Lance would have already picked you.’

“...Then you need strength, right?”

“Yes?”

Mixen took out a piece of paper and wrote something.

“Here. Training is good, but without experience, you’ll just be a nuisance to Lance… Set Tera as your goal. If you become as strong as her… No, stronger… Then you’ll be ready.”

Greg whipped his tears and nodded with determination… But when he looked at the paper, he became confused.

“...What’s this?”

“Go to the Kingdom of Lead. There is this organisation called “the Rebellion” and hand them this paper, they’ll help you out… Oh, and here.”

Mixen also gave him some money and a magic letter.

“Contact me if needed.”

Greg looked into the bag and gasped. He has never seen so much money in a bag.

“T-This is too much! Mister Jack, you’ve already helped me enough!”

“I have a lot more. It’s okay…”

‘It’s just gold and some change. Why is he freaking out?... Don’t tell me… He never worked with money?’

“...You’ve handled money before, right?”

Greg gave Mixen a strange glance and giggled.

“You’re too kind, Mister Jack.”

“Me? I’m a murderer, you know?”

Mixen said it half-jokingly, but it was the truth.

“The Hero also kills, but isn’t he kind?”

“That… Still, comparing me to a Hero is too much.”

Greg was smiling happily hearing a slight change in Mixen’s voice.

“Maybe, but your voice sounds much kinder than even Lance’s!”

“Ha! Nice joke, his voice is rough indeed, but you don’t even know what my voice sounds like because of concealment.”

“...Concealment?”

“Yeah. In the mask… wait.”

Mixen took off his mask.

“... It’s worn off…”

The mask with many scratches and dents was bound to stop working eventually.

“...Sh*t…”

‘When did it break exactly? I always wear a hood, so nobody could’ve seen my head even without the concealment… But my voice… Leon definitely heard it. Did he not recognize me? It seems so… But will he, once I meet him regularly? Should I search for some artefact or a potion that changes voice? Or-’

“...Is it okay?”

“No, no it’s not okay. It’s very, very bad!”

Greg looked devastated.

“Mister Jack! I swear I will never tell anyone I’ve seen your face!”

“What? I don’t care about that! The problem is that guy, Leon! He heard my voice! I might need to meet him without the mask. What will happen if he’ll recognizes me? Ohh, it’s gonna be a bloodbath…”

For some reason, the sight of Jack quickly walking around, scratching his head and thinking deeply made Greg laugh.

‘He’s young… Not much older than me.’

“Mister Jack, I wouldn’t worry in your place.”

“Huh? Why? Are you stupid or something?”

“Hehe, No, it’s just that your voice is so much different now than it was when you fought.”

“...It is?”

“Yeah! So don’t worry!”

‘...Well… I do try to make my voice a bit deeper when I’m acting as Jack…’

“...Fine, worrying over that is useless anyway… So then, shall I give you a ride?”

“N-No! It’s okay! You helped me enough Mister Jack! I’ll write to you when I get there! Goodbye and thank you again!”

Greg hurried to leave… but Mixen stopped him.

“Greg.”

“Y-Yes!?”

“The Kingdom of Lead is in another direction.”

“Oh… Thank you!”

.

.

.

He’s a good kid.

.

.

.

The Litor estate had a tragedy on its hands. When Leon explained everything, the youngest son of the family, Roy, was heartstruck. He made a scene and as a result, they held a grand funeral for everyone who died the next day. 

It was frustrating for Mixen to watch so many people shed their tears over a bunch of demons.

‘...But I intervened too much already…’

The news of Greg turning out to be a demon was a shock to everyone. 

“It can’t be true!”

“I couldn’t believe it at first too… But the blood doesn’t lie.”

“Then you saw it wrong! How a boy like him could be a demon!? He gave away his food to a homeless woman! He risked his life to save a cat, even while nobody was looking! Demons don’t behave like that! They’re violent and cruel! Like every other demon that attacked us! So tell me, Leon! Tell me if Greg behaved like a demon!?”

“... You might’ve been fooled… We all were…”

“There is no way he could’ve known it was a part of the trial! And Timothy was the one to monitor him and Tera! Tell him, Timothy!”

“It’s true.”

“See!? I will more likely believe that the one who proposed the test was a demon! And you weren’t the one to propose it, right!? Leon!?”

“Lance… No, I wasn’t…”

“So who was it!? Tell me!? We’ll check it in a minute!”

Lance was becoming more aggressive with his every word. Leon saw Lance behaving like this only a few times… but it never was aimed at him.

“Stop it, Lance.”

“Naty, don’t start this again! Your ability isn’t fail-proof! I sure know-”

“Torum was the one to do the test… And I was there too.”

“...What?”

“...I understand how you feel, Lance… We all do…”

“But… Torum can’t be…”

“...Greg was.”

*Boom*

Lance could not hold in his frustration and hit the wall. His hand pierced right through the brick wall.

“I’m going to train! Don’t bother me!”

Lance stormed out of the room.

“... he'll be back to normal once he cools down… We all need to bring our thoughts together… I’ll call everybody a bit later.”

It was understandable, so they listened to Leon’s words and left to take a break from all of this… But one person didn’t need any calming, so she decided to help someone else with it.

When Tera came to the training ground, Lance was already swinging his sword.

“Didn’t I tell not to bother me?”

“Training with someone is more efficient.”

“How the hell is it any different!?”

Lance’s state was still far calm.

Tera slowly pointed her wooden sword at him.

“Ha!? What’s the mean-!… You want to spar?” 

Lance’s tone changed mid-sentence once he understood what she meant.

“You don’t want to?”

Tera wore a cheeky smile.

“...Ha…Hahaha! You’re talking my language here! Come at me!”

The best way for Lance to calm down… It’s to fight… Tera was quick to understand that.

.

.

Now was the time to properly discuss everything, so Leon made a meeting and told them the details.

The most important information was about Jack… their new enemy.

One person did not take those news easily.

.

.

“...After Greg… I can’t be surprised anymore.”

“Lance… Barry, Martha and Luthor might not be demons… Although…”

“No need to sweeten things up. I understood how wrong I can be at times.”

Nobody wanted to hear Lance talking badly about himself.

The mood of everyone was bad… And because Lance was one of the causes of it, he tried to somehow resolve it.

“Ha~, but Leon, aren’t you too good? Honestly, if only you were picked by the Oracle, you would become a Hero instead of me for sure! Hahaha!”

Lance made a joke and put on a forced smile… it was a smile nonetheless.

“No way, a Hero needs not only strength… but looks too! And how can I compete with someone like you?”

It was a bad joke.

However coming from a face like Leon’s, it was somehow funny.

At least the girls laughed.

“Hey! Why are you laughing!”

“Hehe, Leon sure does look more like a Hero!”

Melissa was the only one in the group who would openly diss the Hero… to his face at that.

“Hey! It was a joke, right!? Right!?”

Lance wasn’t really offended, but it did hurt his pride a bit.

The atmosphere finally became jolly.

Leon took this opportunity to say that Jack will most likely not pursue them… Though that was a lie.

Naty understood why he lied, so as to not destroy this fragile mood she kept quiet.

After everyone left, Leon wanted to discuss something with Timmy.

To be more precise, they needed to strengthen their defence at night and Leon couldn’t do it alone. He soon noticed that Timothy wasn’t with them laughing. Leon didn’t even see Timmy leave with the others, but he certainly saw him in the beginning, so where is he?

Then Leon remembered one thing about Timmy… 

He looked closely at every corner of the room. And sure thing, in the unlit one, Timothy was sitting with his Stealth to the fullest and biting his nails… An ugly sight for someone his age. 

It was a bad omen for Leon. There were only a couple of times when he did this… And only Marissa could break him out of it… But Marissa wasn’t here… Leon was all by himself.

“Timmy…”

“...”

Timothy ignored Leon. He was deep in thought and couldn’t care less about any external sounds.

Leon knew of only one way to make him pay attention.

‘Sorry about this.’

*Slap*

“...Leon?”

The answer was very quiet, but it was something.

“Timmy, what’s wrong? You weren’t answering.”

Timothy understood what happened but soon continued to bite his nails.

Leon prepared to give him another slap, but…

“...He can’t be…”

“Sorry? Who?”

A familiar scene flashed inside Leon’s mind.

Timmy would repeat ‘It can’t be him’ over and over until Marissa comes and beats him.

“...He’s not… It doesn’t make sense…”

“Timmy, please, can you explain properly?”

Any Leon’s attempts were useless.

Even to this day, Leon knew only so much about Timothy’s past.

The only thing he knows is that Timothy was searching for someone… And that someone might be related to demons.

“...Timothy… I want to help… But I don’t understand… If only you could tell…”

“I can’t… you can’t help… nobody can… only if it isn’t true… but facts say otherwise ... it doesn’t make sense… how can I check… I can’t check…”

Senseless mumbling.

It was the second stage.

If Timothy won’t calm down before he gets to his third stage… He’ll try to escape.

“Timmy… I’m sorry.”

*Thump*

Leon knocked him out.

“I will take care of security for tonight… I hope you’ll get better after a good sleep.”

He brought him to his room.

.

.

.

“Did something good happen?”

.

.

When did you start to be so vivid?

“Whatcha mean?”

.

Your face.

I can see it clearly now.

“Ah. So how is it? Ain’t I handsome?”

.

.

You’re me but with short hair… and why do you have a scar on your nose?

“Got it in a fight? Don’t you have a bunch of scars too?”

.

.

Not on my face.

“So what?”

.

.

.

Ha~, yeah it doesn’t matter.

“Yup, so can you answer the question?”

.

.

Why did you ask it in the first place?

“The water.”

What’s with the water?

It’s normal blue water… Oh.

“No blood. So I thought something good must’ve happened. Though the bodies are still there… You still didn’t get over your guilt?”

.

.

I don’t think I ever will.

“I’m sure you will, you’re me after all. And you made some progress already, right?”

.

.

I guess I did…

“I have nothing better to do anyway, so let me be your therapist for a while.”

.

.

You look more like a serial killer than a therapist.

“Hey! I’m trying to help here!”

.

.

…Today…I saved a person…

“Saved? Like, from being killed?”

.

Yes.

“Oh, that’s cool. I did it here and there, felt good when they thanked me. And their food tasted great too. You should do that when you have a chance.”

.

.

Did you get switched while I wasn’t looking?

“The f*ck? I’m not actually a serial killer! I don’t kill people just cause I feel like it!... maybe sometimes…”

.

.

I’ll ignore that.

“So! My advice as your therapist for today is:’Get as much profit from people you save’! That way you’ll feel good about yourself!”

.

.

What did I even expect?

“Huh? Do you not like it?”

Just shut up and let me sleep.

.

.

.