"I think we should call it a day," Arthur announced to Alex who seemed to be having fun, running around and killing the curse demons.
"But I'm not done yet, these monsters are running away and hiding from me," Alex complained.
"They are just low-ranked curse demons and you are finding it difficult to catch them? What if you come across the middle-ranked ones or the higher ranks? What would you do?" Arthur asked him.
"I don't know, but before then, I'll be strong enough to defeat them," Alex replied. "But for now, allow me to deal with these monsters first," he added and went after one of the monsters running away.
"You've killed ten of them already, it's time to return!" Arthur said and without warning for Alex to reply, his vision was darkened and when he opened his eyes again, he saw himself back in his room.
"This is not fair!" Alex grunted in frustration. Unknown to him, Raphael was already up and had seen him appear back in the room but the latter was still lying in bed and so, he didn't notice at all. "If only I had killed more," he mumbled with an unsatisfied look on his face.
"But do you know that killing humans is more satisfying and fun than killing monsters?" Arthur suddenly asked him.
"What did you say?" Alex asked him.
"There are humans that deserve to die. Humans like Damon and that troublesome kid, don't deserve to live because they are proud and ignorant. Try killing one of them and you'll realize how satisfying that is," Arthur replied.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" Alex asked, not sure if he was supposed to be listening to what Arthur was saying. "I mean, what if I get caught?"
"Get caught? That's not gonna happen, I assure you," Arthur replied.
"I'll think about it before daybreak," Alex replied and the demon chuckled. He went and took a bath to wash away the blood stains on his body and after that, he changed and climbed into bed. As soon as his body touched the bed, he fell asleep.
The next morning, the boys woke up and got dressed for school. When they got to the class, Jerry wasn't there so they went to their seats and sat down. Soon, the class began and everyone listened. The whole class ended after three hours and after that, it was break time. During the break time, Alex looked around for Jerry but still he didn't see him anywhere around the school; this got him thinking, especially because of what Arthur suggested for him. After the break time, he returned to class and the next session began which lasted for another three hours before the school finally ended.
Everyone returned to their hostel but Alex didn't because he wanted to walk around the school. The first place he went to was the training hall, a building filled with fighting weapons. He went inside and looked around for a while, after that he came out and began to head to another place. While he was strolling, someone suddenly blocked his way and when he looked up, he saw a boy standing there.
"What do you want?" He asked him.
"10 pm tonight at the back of the library building. If you don't come, your friend will die!" The boy replied and then left immediately.
Hearing what the boy said, Alex increased his pace and returned to the dorm. On getting there, he didn't see Raphael and this could mean only one thing; realizing the situation, he clenched his fists in anger.
"I told you, that boy doesn't deserve to be kept alive," Arthur said to him and laughed.
"Can you stop laughing inside my head? It's creepy," Alex said to him with a frown.
"Oh, sorry," Arthur replied and let out a suppressed chuckle.
-------
Later at night, Alex got up and left the room. He began to head toward the library where they had told him to come but while going, he was wondering if it was necessary to kill anyone. He had never killed a human once and thinking about made him feel somewhat weird.
"I'll just save Raphael and leave without hurting anyone," he mumbled the moment he got to the library building. He then proceeded to go further behind the building with the conclusion of saving his friend and leaving the place but when he got there, it wasn't what he expected to see that he saw or rather, it wasn't what he was seeing.
"Talk of the devil and he'll come," Jerry said with laughter the moment he saw Alex approaching them. Seeing his shocked expression, the boy burst out even more, laughing and slapping his thighs. "Don't just stand there, come over so that you'll get a more perfect view of your dearest best friend," he said and continued laughing.
Raphael was tied to the wall; his hands were tied up and stretched apart, and his legs as well. There were blood stains on his shirt which showed that he had coughed out blood a couple of times, and there were also bruises on his body that showed that he had been beaten up.
Seeing this, Alex was enraged. He regretted not coming out earlier because if he had done so, Raphael wouldn't have suffered so much because of him. He clenched his fists and began to walk over to where Raphael was tied but before he got there, Jerry came and blocked his path.
"Get out of my way," he said to him but the boy giggled with no intention of leaving his way.
"Won't you at least ask me how I did it?" The boy asked with a crazy smile on his face. "I threatened him so many times and forced him to speak, isn't that fun? As if that was not enough, I used this on him..." As he spoke, he brought out a long whip with sharp edges and showed Alex. "I used this to torture him nonstop, and he kept dying in pain until he fainted. I wish you were here on time to see the look on his face while he waited for you to come and save him—"
"Shut up!" Alex grunted while Jerry was having fun. He glared at the boy with a murderous gaze, he was burning with rage but the boy didn't seem to notice as he was having fun praising himself for the job well done.
"Oh, look how worked up you are. Yesterday, I let you have all the fun you wanted and you thought you could do however you liked? Hahaha—" The boy said and began to laugh but his laughter was cut halfway as Alex suddenly caught him in the neck. He opened his eyes and saw that Alex's eyes were glowing red and fear immediately gripped him. "Monster—" he was about to scream when he was abruptly interrupted by a cracking sound.
"I said shut up!" Alex repeated and pushed him away.
The boy fell to the ground and tried to turn and look at Alex but he couldn't move his neck again. It soon dawned on him that his neck was the source of the cracking sound he heard.