Day 376

  Today I was chased by someone whose Faith power allowed him to summon a type of phantom, an astral being or ghost that can move through solid objects. The ghost can freely become solid as per the will of its master. This is the first time I’ve seen a Summoner-type Faith power in action. Even in society, they are quite scarce compared to the famous Elemental type.

  I was taking a nap inside a broken-down, abandoned house that was destroyed by fire. I was lying on the floor when the ghost suddenly appeared and showed its face, moving through a solid wall, which scared me so much that I instantly stood up and ran away as fast as I could.

  At first, I genuinely thought that was a real ghost. But after running for a few seconds, I realized that there was someone else who was chasing after me, a bit further back behind the ghost.

  It was a boy who looked close to my age. He is a middle school boy who secretly lives a double life in the Underworld as an assassin. He hides his name and face and wears a disguise all the time he’s on duty. He took on the mission to capture me happily once he saw the generous rewards.

  He is 159cm tall and weighs around 59kg. He is short and very slender, though given his Faith power, his physical strength doesn’t matter. He wears a dark blue top hat with white trim on the bottom, a white blank mask with small holes in the eyes, a shiny blue tuxedo with a white shirt underneath, a pair of dark blue trousers, a pair of shiny blue leather shoes, and a white cape, that flows in the wind when he moves, that reaches the back of his knees.

  The ghost itself looks similar to his current disguise, with the only difference being its body. His head is a perfect round shape, and its face has a cartoonish look to it, with its mouth looking drawn with jagged lines, mimicking the shape of sharp teeth. It has a pair of glowing orange eyes, where its left side is bigger than its right. Its hands are crooked, and its fingers are sharp and long. It doesn’t have any legs, and it’s just a ghost tail, which means it also doesn’t wear pants. The ghost looks opaque all the time, but its opaqueness disappears when it becomes solid.

  Currently, he has cornered me into an abandoned, lone house at the border of the city. I was being led into the small bathroom, where the ghost was standing at the only way out of this small, dead-end. I sit on the toilet with nowhere else to go.

  This is really bad. This is the first time that I have been cornered like this during a chase. I usually can think straight ahead and strategize where I am escaping to, but this time, I was chased by a ghost, and I have never seen one, so I couldn’t think straight the whole time.

  “Well, well, well! Seems like there is no other way out of here, miss! Let’s end this, shall we?”

  “. . .”

  I immediately sprinted forward to startle him, but his ghost became solid and grabbed me on both of my shoulders with both of its hands.

  “TCH!!”

  The ghosts’ grip isn’t that painful, but still powerful enough that I couldn’t break free with my strength. I tried to use my Faith power on the ghost by staring into its eyes, but it seems like it has no effect whatsoever.

  “Case closed! You will go home, and I will be rich, pretty girl!! Hahahahaha!”

  “Tch!”

  What should I do now?

  The boy commands the ghost to carry me outside the abandoned, lone house with his will. Once outside, the boy hops onto the ghost’s back, and they start floating and flying away, though the ghost didn’t really fly high into the sky and simply hovered off the ground slightly, about 50cm above the ground.

  Does this thing can’t fly? Or is it because it’s not that strong, so weight affects its flight effectiveness? Still, this is a good thing I caught on to. The ghost flies at 100km/h. It is fast but still pretty slow compared to some Believer’s Faith power that I met in the past. It’s gonna take days, weeks, or even months to reach my hometown at this rate. What is this boy thinking?

  “This thing flies pretty slow! When are we even gonna reach our destination at this rate? In a year?”

  “Do not mock me, you stupid, pretty girl! We’re heading to an airport, duh!”

  “Okay, that makes more sense. . .”

  Huh? Wait? Did he just call me pretty? Twice even?

  . . . .

  I think to myself for a few seconds, and then a smile suddenly appears across my face.

  “Say, what is your name?” asks me.

  “Hah! My name is Fhantom, with an F instead of P! It’s cool, isn’t it?”

  “Is that really your real name? Sounds childish!”

  “You cannot anger me, pretty girl! I am immune to that kinda talk! I’ve been in this line of work for a few months already! People in the Underworld mocked me all the time as a newcomer, seeing my age, but my Faith power shows results, and they shut up quickly afterwards.”

  “Hmm, but have you ever gone out with a girl before, young boy?”

  “What are you implying?”

  “Well, I mean, I don’t have anyone else I can rely on, so instead of giving me away to my ‘parents’, who are possibly going to kill me anyway, why not keep me all to yourself?”

  *!*

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The boy was blushing behind his mask. He didn’t expect such an invitation coming from me.

  “I’ll belong to you, I’ll date you, I’ll take care of you, and eventually, I’ll be your wife!!”

  “. . .”

  The boy went quiet, and the ghost also stopped moving and floated still in the air.

  “Think about it, boy, becoming rich sounds good, but I’ve seen my fair share of rich people's lifestyles. You may be able to get any woman that you want, but most of the time, the woman who ‘wants’ you only wants you for the money! They never truly love you! Meanwhile, here I am, offering you my whole being, and I don’t even know your financial status, nor where you’re headed towards your future! Compared to wealth, isn’t the companion of someone who truly cares about you worth more than anything in this world?” said I, as I blushed my own face and looked at the boy’s mask with a sincere pair of eyes.

  *Gulp*

  I heard the boy gulping his own spit at my proposal. He was quiet for a few seconds before he eventually asked me something.

  “W-Will you. . . really not betray me?”

  *!*

  “(CHANCE!!)”

  “Yes, I promise! And, it’s not like I can escape from your ghost’s grip anyway. How about it?”

  “. . .”

  He wills the ghost to descend towards the ground, and the ghost also puts me down gently on the ground.

  *!*

  The boy takes off his mask, and his face is quite handsome to my liking. This was a plan to trick him so I could use my Faith power on him, but suddenly I felt tempted to actually go along with my own proposal to be together with him.

  “. . .”

  Ah, but all of that temptation came crashing down the moment I realized that he is still someone from the Underworld. I must always be careful and not trust anyone in that line of work.

  That was close. The fact that I even considered being with him is ridiculous! Dang it!

  I walked closer towards the boy and proposed something.

  “Say, what is your real name?”

  “D-Darian!”

  “Darian? What a cool name! Then, shall we kiss Darian-kun? To seal the pact of our relationship from now on?”

  I myself have no experience regarding romance, but I did spend some time in a convenience store and stole a romance shoujo manga a few times in the past. I got all of my knowledge of romance from them.

  “W-What is your name?”

  “Huh? Shouldn’t you already know? Since you take this mission? Didn’t the mission files give you my name?”

  “Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really interested in you other than how you looked to identify you! But now, things have slightly changed! I wanna learn more about you. . .” said the boy, blushingly.

  *!*

  H-His expression. . .

  His blushing face. . .IS SO CUUUUTEEEE!!

  OH NOOOOOOOOO!!! IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL AFFECTION?

  Why did that make my heart race so much?”

  Is this what they call love at first sight or something?

  Why did he look so cute just now?

  This is bad. My heart couldn’t take it anymore. If I don’t steel myself, I am going to actually kiss him instead of using my Faith power to run away.

  “P-Please, close your eyes. . .” said I, with a blushing face.

  The boy’s face turns redder as he sees mine as well, and he gently closes his eyes. I grab both of his cheeks with my hands, and I slowly move my face closer towards his.

  Is this it? Is this gonna be my first kiss ever? It’s so exciting, but at the same time, somehow this feels wrong. Though I don’t understand why I feel this way.

  *!*

  And then I remember something very crucial about my background.

  That is right. I am a child born from a vile sexual assault. Once he finds that out, he’ll probably be disgusted by me and betray me the first chance he gets. I’ll be thrown away and be all alone again. I couldn’t even think of the possibility of being abandoned by someone who I genuinely loved and who genuinely loved me for a long time, to suddenly turn a 180 degree and hate me.

  I imagine it would hurt tremendously.

  “. . .”

  Instead of kissing him, I moved my face towards his right ear instead, and whispered. . .

  “I’m sorry, Darian-kun. . .”

  *?*

  The boy confusedly opened his eyes because of my whisper.

  *!!!*

  But the first thing he saw was my transformed eyes, and so my Faith power activated, and he was stunned for five whole minutes.

  “. . .”

  I walk away from him slowly as I take a look at his handsome face one last time.

  Goodbye, my first love. What a fast, swift, quick, and short moment it was.

  I ran away from the boy without ever looking back once, even though my heart wanted to. I deny the desire of my heart because I know full well I would get hurt by a future that I just abandoned.

  And so, I survived my chaser yet for another day.

  Day 799

  Today I was being chased by 20 biker gangs all at once. They all surrounded me so suddenly with their bikes. There are ten bikes in total, and two people are riding each one.

  This is bad. Handling one person is easy with my Faith power, but dealing with this many at once is impossible. What should I do?

  I was walking down a city in China when they approached and surrounded me at a sidewalk where there were so many people around. The only option I had was to just scream.

  “HEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!!! THESE PEOPLE ARE CHILD PREDATORS!! HEEEEELLLPPPPPP!!!”

  *!!!*

  The passersby on the sidewalk were afraid of the biker gangs, as they are all locally famous in this city. They have caused so many troubles in the past that involve random civilians for no reason. They hated them, but at the same time, they were afraid of them. This is mostly due to the fact that the leader of the biker gang is a Believer. He has the Lightning Elemental-type Faith power. Although he’s not really that strong, he is still a million times stronger than any Non-Believer in the vicinity.

  One guy heard my scream and finally gathered the courage to rally all of the people nearby.

  “EVERYONE!! LISTEN!”

  *!*

  “THESE TROUBLEMAKERS WILL CONTINUE TO TAKE MORE VICTIMS IF WE DON’T ACT NOW!! LET’S SURROUND THESE GUYS AND CALL THE POLICE!! DO NOT ALLOW A SINGLE ONE OF THEM TO ESCAPE!!”

  “. . .”

  Hearing his shout, everyone started rallying together and became motivated. They started surrounding the biker gangs and preventing them from escaping. Chaos soon erupts as the crowd is shouting, and the biker gang members become afraid of the number of people surrounding them.

  “SILENCE!!”

  *ZRRAAAARRRRR*

  *!!*

  The biker gang leader uses his Faith power to shoot lightning into the sky from his hand as a warning to the crowd. The crowd quickly became silent.

  “You lot, still never learn, do you? There’s nothing you can do to defeat me! You all are a bunch of useless sows! While I am the chosen one bestowed with this Godlike power! BOW DOWN BEFORE ME, YOU FOOLS!!”

  *ZRAAAARRRR*

  The gang leader lifts his right hand upwards, and a blue lightning strikes his lifted hand as a show of warning for everyone in the area.

  “. . .”

  The crowd quickly quieted down and became silent, as did the other gang members.

  “. . .Finally, some peace and quiet! We all came here not for any of you! I came here for the brat!” said the gang leader as he turned around to point at me.

  *?!*

  But when he turned around, I was no longer at the center of the bike formations. I was right in front of him, crouching to lunge at him. I jumped high towards his face and activated my Faith power.

  “. . .”

  *THUD*

  I landed on the ground and started shouting.

  “EVERYONE!! I AM A BELIEVER, AND I USED MY FAITH POWER ON THE LEADER!! HE IS CURRENTLY STUNNED AND CANNOT MOVE FOR A WHILE!! QUICK!! TIE UP ALL THE GANG MEMBERS AND HIM AND CALL THE POLICE BEFORE THEY FIGHT BACK!!”

  *!!!*

  The crowd hurriedly realized the situation and did as I told them. They managed to push all the motorcycles down and grabbed all of the gang members in a large group. They were left unable to fight back from the sheer number of people.

  I slip through the chaos swiftly and run away from the scene.

  *WEE WOO WEE WOO*

  I heard police sirens from behind, but I did not look back. It seems like someone has already called the police way ahead of anyone, and they arrived quickly at the scene. When the police wanted to ask me for testimony, I had already long gone from the crowd.

  Once again, I left the city hurriedly, and I survived yet for another day.