Two hours had passed, and it wasn’t until now that Elliot truly understood the power in his body. The cart behind him groaned as he slowly made his way on the road, onto a different city around 13 hours away. The only other sound other than the rustling leaves of the forest, and the loud, annoying snores of the merchant behind him. He’d been at this for a while, and still his body felt light, ready for more.

He almost forgot about it, since he’d tried his best to not stand out in the city. This body was abnormal, and in a lot of ways that was good for him. He had a limit, however, and there was no training he could do to become stronger. Slowly, he understood why demons killed each other. If there was no other way to grow, then of course demons would choose the path of carnage. Humans were the same, and most humans knew that…

…Maybe thinking about the humans as ‘humans’ was a bad sign. He was still human, he knew that…

He knew that.

Though, that may not have been as prestigious a title as he wanted.

An arrow zipped right past him, aimed for the fat belly of the merchant on top of his products. He only just managed to swipe it away with his claws before it hit them, the arrow clattering into the carriage next to the snoring merchant. Shit. Four people jumped from the trees. One of them was carrying a sleek, black bow, while the others carried a spear, a sword, and a mace. The one carrying a spear that looked as if it had seen better days sneered when he saw him. “Ooh. Merchant has a demonic slave with him. Must be quite the loot for that, ain’t it Thomas?”

Thomas, who seemed to be the only one among them carrying an actual proper sword and armor, put a finger to his mouth. He motioned to the archer, “Shut up. We can’t wake up the owner. Slaves can’t use their magic without it. See how he’s not moving? He was probably just protecting his owner. Stupid fucking demons can barely breathe right if you don’t order them to.”

They knew.

They knew.

Elliot’s hands were gripped so tight around the handle of the cart that indents were made into the wood. As if on instinct, every part of his senses went haywire. It was over, wasn’t it? No. These were looters. No one would miss them. He’d make the world a better place by removing them. This wasn’t selfish, this was a righteous act. They had tried to kill his employer, his employer had paid him justly to protect them. He had to do this before they were woken up.

He had to kill them.

The blood on his hands turned from claws into two sharp hooks, hidden in the palms of his hands. He made them recede into his wrist so as to not look suspicious, waiting until one of them came close enough. It was the unnamed one with the mace that walked forward. “Boss, you really think this thing won’t attack?” six feet, four feet, three feet.

The man was stopped by Thomas, whose eyes were narrowed.He must have been suspicious. He was called the boss, and intelligent as well. Higher priority, possibly. “I never fucking said that. James, shoot the bastard, see if it only protects the merch-” Elliot had lunged forward, sinking his claw deep into the man’s mouth. The strength must have been too much for them, because the hand caved into the skull and through the back, leaving his arm deep through the man’s face, who hung off him. These weren’t high-ranking warriors. That was good for him.

They were experienced, though.

Already an arrow had been sunk into his chest, causing him to lose focus for a second. It allowed the one with the mace to rear back and make an attempt to bludgeon his skull in. An attempt. He picked up his leg and rammed it down on the man’s knee, hearing a sickening crack and pop. It was dark, but his eyes could still clearly see the man’s leg crumple underneath them. They dropped the mace in their agony, and he took that moment to press his hand into their chest, pushing them to the ground.

Something pierced him in the stomach as he did so, though. He turned around, seeing the frightened but determined face of the spear wielder. “Get… get the hell away from him you-” He didn’t get to finish, as Elliot pressed his flat palm into the mace-users chest. The body seemed to almost crumple like aluminum, with almost the same sound. It didn’t pierce the chest, exactly, but through the remaining skin and fragmented bones, he could feel the heart and he squeezed.

He grinded it between his fingers.

The spear-wielder tried removing the spear from his stomach as another couple of arrows entered Elliot, one in his shoulder and the other an inch from his eye. He didn’t allow it, clenching the muscles in his stomach with all his strength. They looked afraid, angry. “Please… We weren’t going to do anything. We weren’t going to-” Without a moment of hesitance Elliot plunged the spear deeper into him pulling the spear wielder close to the arrow wound on his forehead.

If he remembered correctly, demons had horns, right?

A crude spike of blood erupted from his head, piercing through the man’s left eye and successfully killing him. He grabbed their neck and pulled, breaking away his new horn from the man’s skull. All that was left was the archer. He turned to the annoyance that had been pelting him with arrows, only to find them bolting down the road, in the opposite direction. An annoyance to the end.

It didn’t take much to catch them. They had no inner strength.

He had them by the neck, the archer desperately trying to claw at the hand as Elliot slowly dragged him back to the cart. An archer in one hand, a bow in the other. While there was probably something amusing about that thought, his heart was just beating too hard to care. Slowly, the adrenaline was wearing off and the part inside him that had made it so easy to kill was fading. Every second that passed made it harder to end the man’s life.

He knew he should snap the archer’s neck now, they had tried killing him, he had tried to kill the merchant. This had not been a fair fight, however. His heart sank in disgust as he realized that. He should have apprehended them, he could have easily done that. He just did this to hide his identity. He had to commit, but could he kill this man after clearly knowing he was doing it out of selfishness?

The cart in the distance gave him the answer. “Gaah! Aaugh! Gods! Please, Gods! Help me!” The merchant was climbing on top of his wrapped products, trying to get as far away from the horrible carnage in front of him. Immediately, Elliot squeezed his hand around the archer’s neck. He closed his eyes into a grimace as his hand felt the separation of the bones inside the flesh, the sick sound of bones snapping apart. He dropped the corpse immediately, wiping his gloves on his hands despite no blood getting on him.

Ah, scratch that. His clothes were covered in blood. Especially his… arms.

He looked at his body, ripping out the arrows and patching up the small holes in his clothes with his own blood, hardening it to look like a smooth, dark surface. He checked his mask and was surprised to find no giant hole on the surface, just the part where the arrow had pierced him. He doubled and triple-checked, making sure not a single inch of his skin was missing before he decided to meet up with the merchant. He’d have to get his clothes tailored soon, but for now, he’d have to make due with his blood as the patchwork.

He ran to the carriage, making sure to put as much speed as he could into his step. The poor merchant had paid him to protect him, only to wake up to dead bodies all around him, and his bodyguard missing. He had finally gone within a couple of yards before the merchant noticed him in the dark. The response was… expected. “Gah! Who are you!? Stay away!” The man was traumatized, and being unable to see Elliot correctly in the dark must have frightened him..

“It's me, your bodyguard.” This seemed to calm the merchant, but only to the point where he was no longer shouting at his god for help. “Ah… Ah, gods… They… What happened…” He still seemed plenty terrified, his arms shaking as he kept trying to back up into the cart. While you were asleep they had tried to… ambush us. I made sure they wouldn’t get to you.” The merchant, shaken, looked down at the bodies, only for Elliot to appear in front, blocking his view. “Gah! P-please…” The merchant jumped back, losing his balance and almost falling before Elliot grabbed his shirt.

Elliot frowned. He was worried about the man’s mental health. At this point, Elliot might not even get paid. “...Please try not to look at the bodies. You’ve been through enough this night. Let me dispose of them and we’ll be on our way, yes?” He pulled the man back on the carriage and set him down gently, smoothing over the wrinkles he’d created on their vest. “Besides, as a merchant… you might just experience things like this more than once. Is this your first time seeing such a thing?”

They kept their head down, doing nothing but tremble for a few seconds before shaking their head no. “I… Once before, I’ve been attacked.” Elliot raised an eyebrow. “Really? How… unfortunate. You may tell me the story later, if you wish. Now, please turn away.” The merchant complied, not saying a word as he shakily turned away from the pile of corpses Elliot had been blocking him from. He smiled, happy the man was at least being compliant.

The bodies were all dragged into the sides of the woods. He took the armor from the leader and the weapons of the group, dropping them into the carriage without even a whimper from the merchant. It seemed they’d finally begun to process what was happening. At the very least, his eyes were no longer looking at anything, instead staring at the road in front of him with his hands tightly clasped. It wasn’t until he finally looted the archer and came back with their equipment did the merchant finally say anything.

“I… I saw what you did to that man. His head.” Elliot turned to him, setting down the archer’s equipment just a tad quieter onto the carriage than the rest. “That man… Did he deserve that death? Did… Did any of these men?” Elliot stayed quiet for a moment, before finally speaking. “No… They tried to kill you. They had shot an arrow at you that I had barely managed to catch. Despite that, I could have subdued them without killing them.”

He didn’t want to say the truth, but he needed to get it off his chest, even if he hadn’t said the whole truth. “I… Apologize for going too far with them. The first man was by accident, but the others were purely killed through my actions.” A full thirty seconds passed before the merchant let out a quiet, shaky breath, forcefully pulling his clasped hands apart. He reached down, and when he went back up Elliot saw the arrow in his hand, the one Elliot had caught before.

“...Thank you, son. I would not have survived this without your help. If… Gods, If there had been any other man to have chosen this work, or if no one had come with me to the next city over… I’d have been the one lying next to the road.” Elliot didn’t say a word. Enough was said already. The old man turned to him, his eyes hiding a bit of fear but mostly they were filled with an intense gratitude. Was it deserved? He had saved the man as an afterthought, but he had still saved them. “I truly don’t know how to thank you. You’ve done something amazing, today.”

Elliot just went back to the front of the cart, grabbing the handles and pushing. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Despite what he’d done, the man was grateful. What he’d done had been justified by someone other than him. The cart started moving, a bit of a slower start thanks to the new luggage inside. He couldn’t help but feel a bubbling disgust inside him as he was praised. What the hell had his life become? “I’m just doing my job, sir.”