The sun was setting and Kalen and Adaire were still in the streets of the city, looking at everything the girl wanted to see or was even remotely interested in.
Fortunately for Kalen, although Adaire was very interested in various things, for some reason she didn't buy anything. Later that day, Kalen asked her why and Adaire replied that she didn't need it.
Kalen was more tired mentally than physically from walking all day and enduring Adaire's demands.
The moon began to rise, and the sky began to darken completely.
Eventually the duo emerged from a shop and walked through the dark streets. They had walked quite a distance from Kalen's house and had reached a somewhat dangerous area.
Kalen was not afraid of anything happening to them. He could defend himself and not talk about Adaire.
But even if they didn't want to draw attention to themselves and avoid trouble, Adaire's rich girl looks were simply dazzling in a place as desolate as this area.
And so, the first of the night's unfortunates appeared, following dozens of meters behind them.
Kalen sighed as he sensed someone's presence and looked at Adaire before him.
He had no doubt that the girl already knew they were being followed, but she just kept walking as if she didn't care... which was true.
A few minutes later, the man seemed to be getting closer and closer to the point where it was quite obvious.
Kalen glanced back indiscreetly and saw that the man was staggering from his drunken state.
'He's just a drunk... Am I wrong?'
It wasn't unusual to see drunk people on the streets, especially at this time and in this part of the city, but what made Kalen hesitate was that he sensed something strange about the man.
His appearance was emaciated, his hair was long and unkempt, his clothes were soiled with dried vomit, and he was even missing a shoe.
He looked like a homeless man, which made it all the more normal that he was on the street. But the man had been following them for almost five minutes, which was a bit strange.
Kalen looked back at Adaire, who was walking ahead of him.
"Turn right in twenty meters"
Adaire turned and looked at him in confusion.
"Why?"
Kalen scratched his neck and pointed back with his thumb.
"Let's get rid of him"
Adaire tilted his head again in confusion.
"There's no need, I can just..."
Adaire raised her hand dangerously and Kalen moved as fast as he could to stop her.
"No!"
Holding Adaire's slender arm, Kalen managed to stop the girl from doing anything, instead she just looked at him with a slight frown.
"Why are you stopping me?"
Kalen sighed and let go of her arm.
"There are cameras everywhere... it's better to do it somewhere more discreet. That's why we're going down this alley"
Kalen pointed to an opening in the middle of two buildings and Adaire grumbled before he listened to Kalen.
They both entered the alley and were lost in the darkness. The man, seeing that they had both reached a dead end smiled, and increased his speed.
As the man looked into the alley, he saw two people standing at the end of the alley under a dim spotlight.
Adaire was sitting on a crate at the side of the alley and Kalen watched the man with curiosity.
He still sensed something strange about the man... he just didn't know what it was.
When the man saw that the only way for them to escape was the one behind him, he smiled even wider and looked greedily at Kalen and Adaire.
"Oh! Y-you look lost... let me help you"
Kalen grimaced at the man's poor performance. He didn't know what his goal was, money or kidnapping, but playing nice was a waste of time.
Seeing that they were both silent, the man started to walk towards them, thinking that their silence was because they were scared. He couldn't see Kalen's face very well either, because of the dim light and his drunkenness.
"Y-you just have to give me a l-little hint and you'll get out of here unharmed"
The man's voice hitched between words, and he struggled to keep his balance. When he was within five meters of them, Kalen's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the man suddenly accelerate.
It wouldn't have been much of a problem if a normal drunk had come at him, the problem was that the man was fast, too fast for a normal person.
Kalen blocked a blow aimed at his head and deflected another aimed at his stomach.
The man's blows were powerful, which, combined with his abnormal speed, made him a somewhat troublesome opponent.
However, the man's drunken state made it easy for Kalen to dodge some of the blows the man missed.
'This man... Is he a challenger?
It was most likely, no normal person could move like that while drunk. Maybe a professional fighter without being a challenger... but the man's punches had no fundamentals behind them, he was just punching for the sake of punching.
Kalen continued to block the man's blows with no intention of attacking. Adaire saw that Kalen was taking longer than he should have and sighed boredly.
"What are you doing?"
Kalen needed a moment to think, so he kicked the man in the stomach, using one of his many openings to push him away.
"I want to check something"
Kalen watched as the man stood up, a grimace of annoyance on his face.
"Hey... Is that man a challenger?" he asked Adaire without taking his eyes off the man.
Adaire looked absentmindedly at the man she hadn't paid attention to from the beginning.
"Yes, and he uses aura just like you"
Kalen's guess was correct, only he couldn't tell what kind of energy the man was using, but seeing his abnormal speed and strength, he supposed correctly that it was most likely aura.
However, the man's poor physical condition weakened him to the point that a normal, well-trained human would be able to defeat him.
Kalen ignored all of the man's incoherent screams, but when he saw him pull a knife from his cloak, he sighed.
He didn't need to test things anymore, he just wanted to understand what it was that he had felt. And now that he knew he could tell who a challenger was, there was no point in prolonging the fight.
The man accelerated, gathering aura in his legs, and stretching out his arm to stab Kalen in the torso.
Kalen only gathered aura in his arm and waited for the man to reach him before dodging sideways and letting the knife pass to his side, just behind the man who couldn't stop himself.
The man's face also moved to his side, and Kalen took the opportunity to strike directly at his face with his charged fist.
The man was brought to an abrupt halt by Kalen's blow, breaking his nose and several teeth in the process.
His body fell to the ground a few feet in front of Kalen, who began to slowly approach him.
The man was holding his face in pain, so he didn't notice when Kalen arrived in front of him. When he noticed someone grabbing his hair, he opened his eyes to see Kalen standing in front of him.
"N-no!"
Kalen ignored the man's whimpering and pleas to let him go. He hadn't intended to let him go. He had attacked him and Adaire, who looked like a ten-year-old girl, and who knew what the man might do if he let him go.
So, Kalen gathered the aura back into his arm and stretched out his fingers to strike him in the neck and kill him instantly.
But just as his fingertips were about to strike the man's neck, Kalen stopped abruptly.
The man, who had closed his eyes at one point, realized that the blow had not come and opened his eyes to see Kalen standing still with his hand still at his throat.
Despite the pain in his face, the man punched Kalen in the stomach, knocking the air out of him and forcing him to let go.
'¡Ughh!'
Kalen fell to his knees, coughing and breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. The man did not wait and began to flee the scene.
Seeing the man running, Kalen grabbed the knife that had fallen to his side and applied a layer of elemental wind to the surface of the knife before throwing it with his aura-enhanced arm.
The knife flew quickly and struck the man in the back of the neck. His body froze and he fell face first to the ground.
Kalen stood up with a gasp and began to walk towards the man.
He looked at the homeless man for a few seconds, then picked up the knife and turned the man over before slitting his throat.
Blood began to flow on the floor as the man lost consciousness and soon after his life.
Kalen stood with the knife in his hand, then threw it to the man's side. At some point, Adaire had come to his side and was watching with his arms crossed behind his back.
"You hesitated"
Kalen did not answer but looked down at his trembling hand. He had never hesitated to kill before when it came to killing his targets, and even if the man wasn't one, he would be doing society a favor with his death.
But he couldn't kill him the first time.
Kalen squeezed his hand with the other and looked at Adaire.
"We can go now"
Adaire shrugged and stepped over the man, dodging his body and the blood. Kalen started to walk out of the alley as well.
But before they left, Adaire snapped her fingers, and as Kalen took one last look at the man, he realized he was gone, along with the spilled blood and the knife.
"What did you do?"
Adaire stretched her arms up and continued walking.
"You said no evidence, didn't you? I just made it disappear"
Kalen stopped and looked at Adaire before sighing and walking on.
It wasn't unusual for bodies to turn up in dark areas from time to time, but it was best not to leave any evidence behind. Still, Kalen had no idea how Adaire had made the body disappear, and it wasn't the first time he'd done it.
He had done it earlier that morning in his flat, with all the rubbish.
Adaire's power was mysterious and most of all... dangerous.