'Please don't go through the window, please don't go through the window...' I chanted inside my mind as my knees trembled due to how anxious I was feeling.
Him going through the windows was the worst possible scenario for me, as I did not initially prepare myself for that due to my ignorance of magic and the incapability to do anything about such an unfamiliar element.
'If he comes up with the idea to use the windows to catch me trying to sneak out…' this thought scared me and gave me more anxiety.
Suddenly, I swung my sword the moment the man's head came into my view. It was a diagonal slash that headed straight for the back of his head. A slash of a long and sharp sword which I believed would be impossible for him to evade, as the stairway wasn't wide enough for the man to avoid the sword's length, and also because he couldn't retreat due to the sword that was diagonally moving towards the back of his head.
Moving to the left or right was not an option, neither was moving back, and lastly, even if he could utilize his magic to boost himself, forwards, with the speed that the sword was moving towards him and the distance that it had to cover to strike him, the mark of a sword would still be imprinted on his body by me.
Sure, he wouldn't die if he managed to rush forward and get a mere slash on his back alone, but he would eventually die, I was certain of that since I knew that it would be a critical injury either way.
Soon enough, the sword went straight through the neck. It was a fine sword, so fine that I almost admired its sharpness and beauty for too long as I was in thought, thinking of how the outcome had turned out to be way different and better than I had expected.
The man's magic felt very annoying. He didn't even use such magic of his to its limits, to the point that it was practically useless. He had walked in without a single ounce of caution, not looking to his left and right while ascending the stairs, and also seemingly in thought while at it too!
As I looked at the man's head that had rolled down the stairs, I thought silently, 'To be fair… Perhaps if I was in his shoes, I too would underestimate myself, and not expect a hidden ploy with a sword!'
The sword was still in my hand, all bloody now and reeking of a disgusting warmth and iron. I wasn't trembling or anything after having killed someone… Everything ended up completely different from what I had been anxious about. It was simply easier.
'Am I not right in the head perhaps? Mentally ill? Sigma mindset? Was everything so easy because I'm just that much better? Smarter? Advantageous?...'
I did not know whether I was being arrogant or whether I deserved to be confident in myself after surviving and efficiently managing through the trials of death…
Muttering as I walked down the stairs, I approached the head that had been cut off its body not too long ago.
"Maybe my enemy was just stupid. Irrational… That's a better term for it." Was what I muttered before crouching down to inspect the head, a symbol of my first kill, the first cold-blooded beheading I did to a human, considering both Earth and this world.
'In his shoes, what would I have been cautious of… It would probably be the hand-to-hand combat skills of mine, which he had personally seen and experienced, and probably even acknowledged. That's all, however…. On the outside, there doesn't seem to be anything special about me other than that and that I am a bit smarter compared to the others. Him being ignorant of the fact that I'm a reincarnator, and possibly but also inclined to think that I'm just a bit special but nothing much since I am only a kid who was born less than a month ago… I too would not be cautious when entering the second floor of some random and simple five-by-five building...'
I sighed as I figured out just why it was easy for me to sever the head of a man who knew magic and had a better physical body than mine.
'It's the advantage I have as a reincarnator… but I can't rely on it for too long, as things might get more and more difficult from now on, after knowing how absurd this world might be with magic and the kidnapping of children being a thing. I'll have to learn magic in the future if I ever make it out of here…'
I stood up and walked out of the building while thinking about how I could possibly get out of the rat hole.
With those men having come all of a sudden, hurting us at that, my initial plan of figuring a way out through them was no longer viable. The best scenario that I had hoped for was to see what my enemies had in plan and to act as they wished until I would figure out a certain path towards freedom.
This would be the safest approach if they were somewhat peaceful and not as aggressive as they had turned out to be. I would have been able to learn their language, figure out bits of the outside world and about the people that held us captive, and would have been able to escape their radar completely and blend into society easily.
Unfortunately, they turned out to be very violent. Very angry that I lead my kind as their leader too, it seems. This scenario I also had a plan for. It was for this exact scenario actually as to why I trained myself and my followers, and why I had a sword hidden in preparation.
To be able to deal with violent enemies, and then to torture information out of them, to milk them dry until I knew everything I could from them; such was the plan.
'Not only extra weapons, but I could have learned magic too! Damn it!' I felt frustrated by how things hadn't gone exactly the way I wanted it to go.