‘No,’

‘Not again,’

‘Please,’

‘Wait, that human boy,’

‘How is he-’

Then the world froze.

Literally.

Ice crystals formed all around the room, coating the stone in a layer of frost. The ceiling above creaked dangerously under the thermal shock.

Meanwhile, the source of all the cold…

‘Monster,’

That was all Fel could think of to describe him.

Mana surged inside his body, sending waves of cold air throughout the basement.

His eyes glowed with golden mana, and his face twisted in rage.

The thug watched the transformation in shock, before realizing that the two prisoners had no restraints on them.

“Oi, Stan, call the others. The boy and the slave are free and the boy seems to be a mage!” He yelled out to his partner.

Stan peeked inside the doorway to see what had upset his fellow guard so much, but that had been a mistake, his last.

Evan flicked out his index finger, shooting a powerful air blade that decapitated the guard in one fell swoop and leaving a deep gash in the stone walls of the hallway in the basement.

‘Wh-what?!’

The fat thug was astonished and scared by the display of power Evan had shown. He quickly ran to flee and warn the other guards but suddenly, he froze.

‘Why did he stop?’ Fel thought.

No, he did not stop. He was unable to move, not a single hair on his body.

‘H-how?’

Fel dropped to her knees in shock.

‘He encased that man in an air barrier. But that’s impossible! At this distance, and his mana capacity! And he hasn’t even been Attuned yet!’

Then, Fel could see Evan slowly walking over to the dead guard, picking up a small axe attached to the corpse’s belt. He closed the door, his gaze, piercingly cold.

“Fel, you may want to look away and cover your ears.” He said, his voice freezing the man’s heart.

The temperature inside the room dropped even lower. Fel could see her own breath fogging up in the air. She was freezing, yet she did not move, scared of the little human boy’s rage.

Evan walked over slowly, dragging the axe behind him, making it screech on the rough ground that made up the basement floor. The perverted thug could not speak, still frozen in place.

Evan then spoke,

“You know, I do not hate people like you. Really, I don’t. There is no such thing as good, or evil in this world. There are only those who help you survive whatever life throws at you, and those who threaten your wellbeing.”

“You just wanted to have some fun, is that right? Just a bit of fun. Well, you just happened to have fun with the wrong people.”

Evan picked up the axe he was dragging behind him.

“Were the hands that you wanted to use to grope my mother’s breasts?”

The next thing Fel knew, Evan swung the axe.

Clean.

That was all she could think of.

The thug’s severed hands arced gracefully through the air, sending a stream of blood up to the ceiling.

‘He’s practiced this.’

The thug squealed, unable to open his mouth to scream. He wanted to faint, but he could not.

No demon would allow a sinner to faint while facing a nightmare of their own creation.

And yet, Fel knew it was far from over.

“Were the lips that you wanted to kiss her with?” Evan asked, slicing off the thug’s lips.

“Were these the eyes you used to stare at her?” He asked, forming icicles that slowly, painfully impaled the man’s pupils. The cold destroyed his tear ducts and froze the blood vessels around the eyes so he could not cry when Evan performed his final act..

“And is this the thing you wanted to shove down her throat?” He asked. He then made a grabbing motion with his hand while using air magic. The thug could feel an invisible force slowly twisting and crushing his crown jewels into mush.

Evan then used air and water magic to move the mass towards him.

“Yeah this is it, this disgusting piece of shit.” Each word was spoken with pure spite.

“You know, it takes just half a cup of water (110 ml) to drown an adult. And lucky you, your balls seem big enough to fit that amount.”

‘No,’

Fel wanted to puke when she realized what Evan was about to do, but the last thing she ate was a small loaf of bread yesterday.

“Sing for me, you fucking pig.”

The man writhed and struggled, squealing the entire time.

Yet, he could not move.

‘Weak.’

‘He could not even save himself from this boy.’

‘Was this the man that humiliated me?’

Fel thought with tears in my eyes.

‘If so, how much weaker am I?’

‘How did this boy become so strong?’

“Louder! Squeal like the fucking pig you are!”

‘I don’t want to be weak anymore.’

"SING FOR ME!!!"

…

Eventually, the thug’s voice broke and he stopped struggling. Evan let his body fall to the ground with a thump. The temperature of the room slowly returned to normal as Evan collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

Fel was still shivering violently. She had been fed sparingly ever since she was kidnapped and after being subjected to such cold temperatures, she was close to fainting. However, she persevered through sheer willpower and staggered over to where the dead guard laid.

‘Come on, get off.'

She stripped him of his clothes and laid them over Evan who was sleeping, unconscious. After finding several pieces of dried rations and water which she devoured hungrily, she laid down next to Evan, sharing his body heat.

‘He feels so warm.’ She thought to herself before drifting off into the most peaceful sleep she had had ever since her kidnapping.

…

After passing out for several hours due to mana depletion, Evan woke up with yet another raging headache.

‘Man, I have to stop waking up like this.’ He thought to himself while yawning. He lifted up the blankets and rubbed his eyes out of habit. Only then did he notice that the so-called “blankets” were actually oversized clothes and that Fel was sleeping beside him, no longer looking malnourished.

Before going to sleep Fel had discovered a cabinet where their captors had stored their rations and water. No longer able to suppress her hunger, she emptied out the entire cabinet, using healing spells to enhance her metabolism so that she could eat to her heart’s content.

The last thing she remembered before falling asleep next to Evan due to a massive food coma and exhaustion was how warm Evan felt.

Now that she no longer looked just a little better than a walking skeleton, she was much prettier than when Evan first found her. Her cheeks were fuller, making her face an almost perfect circle. Her figure was now more of a slim, toned athlete that almost made Evan’s will to return to Earth falter.

Almost.

He shook her gently.

“Hey Fel, wake up.”

“Huh, Evan? What’s wrong? Why are you-” As she was saying this, she realized something. Now that she wasn’t all bones, the rags she wore were practically skin tight, not leaving much to imagination.

“Eeekk, don’t look!” She squealed, turning red faster than a wildfire, as she covered herself up with her hands.

“Relax, I didn’t see anything.”

“More importantly, we have to go. The guards have been gone for a while now and soon, the others will start to suspect something. You also mentioned that nobleman who was coming tonight. Point is, we have to escape, now.” Evan said, deflecting the question.

“W-wait! Where am I going to go after I escape?”

Pausing, Evan shrugged and said, “It would be up to you. You could return home to your family in the kingdom of Aeria, try to live on your own in the empire, anything really.”

“Or, could I come with you?” She asked, blushing when she finished the question.

Evan thought about it before shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but you can’t. I have my own goals to achieve and I don’t think it’s right for you to give up your life just to follow me.”

“You could stay at my family’s house until we can arrange a transport to your kingdom. But afterwards, we’ll have to say goodbye for a while.”

“Oh, alright.” Fel said, disappointed.

Honestly, she did not want to return to the Elven Kingdom.

Although Fel missed her family dearly, she did not like how the elves often viewed themselves superior to other species around them. She wondered, why couldn’t people just get along?

Now though, she knew why. It was because although everyone may be born equal, not everyone dies equally.

That was why the strong bullied the weak.

It was a sort of punishment for being weak.

Seeing Evan kill the two guards had been proof of that. He was younger, and lacked the elves’ natural affinity towards mana, yet he had been able to accomplish what she could only dream of doing, all the while begging for someone to save her.

‘I will grow stronger, stronger than those who want to hurt me.’ She thought, determined.