A strand of invisible energy lashed out from his hand, expanding before wrapping around the man's jaw and hardening. Panic entered his eyes, and he did his best to yell for help, but without the ability to move his jaw, the sound just came out muffled. Jay pulled the strand while dashing forward, causing the man to stumble towards him with wide eyes. He planted his feet, pivoted, and delivered a devastating Spirit Empowered punch to the unprepared man's kidneys.

  **Skill level increased: Basic Spirit Empowerment 4 - 5**

  The man reeled back and let out a muffled cry of pain as he clenched his side. Jay moved in, attempting to get another strike in before the man could recover, but he was too slow. The man dodged his hastily-thrown punch and responded with one of his own, landing a clean left hook to Jay’s rib cage and knocking him back. Besides the surprise and force of the attack, causing him to stumble slightly, Jay was completely fine and hadn’t even felt the hit through his armor. Glaring at him while failing to remove the hardened mask of energy, the man pulled a large dagger from a sheath located on his belt. It was ornate in design and looked like a piece he might see in a museum?, not something that he would expect to see in what essentially was a street fight.

  Jay took a step back and tried to calm his nerves. I have armor. I can do this. No matter how many times he repeated those words, what stood in front of him seemed no less daunting. In a few of his less glamorous years, he had gotten into several fights, but he had been lucky enough for it not to escalate further than a few punches. He had, however, seen the aftermath of a few fights that did get to that point, and he had no interest in being the one who was unarmed.

  He smiled as he reached down and pulled his revolver from its Spirit holster and pointed it at the man. He wasn’t unarmed, and while he had no intent to use the weapon he had just drawn, he hoped he could get the man to give up with the threat it posed.

  The man’s eyes flashed with panic, but with a glance toward the building behind him. His gaze hardened, and, without hesitation, he charged.

  Jay mentally screamed expletives, but leveled his gaze as a smile spread across his face and a laugh that was far too joyful for how nervous he was rang from his lips. He ignored the chip-caused outburst as the man gripped his weapon in both hands and planted his feet, thrusting it straight towards Jay’s chest. His mind reeled, and he instinctively flinched back. It was an awful response to the attack that drove straight toward his heart without opposition until a layer of burning white materialized, deflecting the attack.

  The man's eyes widened. He stumbled as his strike was deflected to Jay’s left side, giving him enough time to recover. As he did, he grabbed the man's arm with an energy-empowered grasp. Flipped his revolver so that he was holding the barrel before bringing the butt of the gun down on the man’s head. It came down with such force that Jay felt the man’s skull give way as his gun continued several inches into the man’s brain. He dropped to the ground, slipping from Jay’s stunned grasp, twitching violently.

  **Skill level increased: Unarmed Combat 0 - 1**

  **Skill level increased: Basic Spirit Armor 3 - 4**

  **Skill level increased: Basic Firearm Combat 1 - 4**

  **Experience threshold reached: Level 7 - 8**

  **Enemy Candidate Killed Experience Multiplied**

  **Skill level increased: Unarmed Combat 1 - 3**

  **Skill level increased: Basic Spirit Armor 4 - 5**

  **Skill level increased: Basic Firearm Combat 4 - 7**

  **Skill level increased: Basic Spirit Empowerment 5 - 7**

  Jay looked down at the man's body as blood poured from the grizzly wound on his head and the last vestiges of life left his corpse. He felt sick reading over the notification confirming that he had just killed the man. He could at least somewhat separate what had happened to the Winchester family from being completely his fault, but there was no question here. He had underestimated how much force he could output, and the consequences of that lie in a pool of growing blood beneath his feet.

  “Congratulations!” Lan shouted as what sounded like party horns rang out in his mind. “I guess going along with that kid wasn’t such a bad thing if it finally got you past that no-killing issue.”

  I... Jay sighed. What the hell is wrong with you? I just accidentally killed someone, and your response is celebration?

  “Well, of course it is. Do I need to remind you that you are currently embroiled in a power struggle where killing is incentivized? Just the extra experience should be enough to show you that culling the competition, especially when they stand in your way, is the right thing to do in this situation.”

  Jay paused for a moment as he considered his next response carefully. He couldn’t see a flaw in the logic, and, given how the man had struck at his heart, he obviously was trying to kill Jay. Still, he hadn’t wanted to return that level of force. He didn’t want to kill someone just because his life had been threatened.

  “Just get stronger,” Lan said.

  “What?”

  “If you don’t want to be forced to kill someone who is trying to kill you, get strong enough that their threat means nothing, and they have no possible way to follow through with it. Until you reach that level of power, though, don’t feel bad about defending yourself against what could have easily whisked you away from this realm.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  He bit his lip as he considered the words. It honestly wasn’t bad advice. Even though he still felt like he would be sick every time he looked down, he didn’t feel so bad about his actions anymore. With a mental nod, he sent his thanks to Lan. He didn’t know if it was the woman's attention, but that conversation had helped put his mind at ease. Sighing, he looked down one last time, crouching and retrieving the dagger the man had brandished. He wiped the blood off the weapon using the deceased man’s shirt as a rag. With a bit of Spirit he formed a sheath beneath his shirt and tucked it away before repeating the process with his gun.

  With a shake of his head, he turned away from the gruesome scene and steeled his nerves for what was to come. While he didn’t feel any better about what he had just done, he did see it Lan’s way. If he wanted to avoid killing in this new fucked-up situation, he would just need to get stronger. Alas, for now, he still had someone he was attempting to save, and this would likely not be the last murder he would commit today. If what Lan had said was correct, and they were kidnapping people to use them as sacrifices, he wasn’t going to hesitate. He could feel his finger twitch at the thought. He thumbed the butt of his gun as he approached the back door and nodded in grim resolution. He didn’t believe that he honestly had the right to be judge, jury, or executioner for these people, but without a better option, he would do what was necessary.

  He pulled the door open a crack and peered into a break room where two people sat. One was snoring in an armchair, his head lolling back, and a large sledgehammer resting in his palm. The other was a smaller man who sat at a small table facing away from him. A sword similar in design to the dagger he had just taken was strapped across the man's back as he looked to be enjoying some type of leftover pasta. Jay pulled his shirt up and drew his pistol once more, just in case, as he opened the door barely enough to slip inside. Careful not to make a noise, he slowly closed it behind him before sneaking past the sleeping man and making sure to stay out of the line of sight of the eating man. With deliberate steps, he made it to the far side of the room without either man noticing and slipped out through another door.

  **Skill level increased: Stealth 2 - 3**

  He found himself behind the teller's desk and paused for a moment as he overheard the three people he had seen from the roof of the other building.

  “Well, I just don’t think he does a good job, yes. I understand that I still look amazing despite what that hack can do with his scissors. Still, it’s like giving someone credit because they managed to find something beautiful and didn’t fuck it up enough to make it ugly. It's just bad taste,” the first woman said.

  “Well, I could definitely see that, so let me just say, good on you for continuing to look so damn stunning despite that situation.”

  The first woman let out a playful laugh. Jay tuned out their conversation and continued moving through the building. He wasn’t sure what he had hoped to learn from that, but it definitely wasn’t what salon to avoid. Hearing the laughter continuing to come in bursts as he made his way through the building. Unsure of what he was even looking for. He slipped through another door and into a hallway with several office-like rooms on each side. He was about halfway through the hall when he heard footsteps coming. He quickly slipped into one of the open rooms and hid behind the desk, drawing his gun and keeping it ready just in case.

  “Where did he go?” a gruff voice asked.

  “Just slipped into the room on your left,” another voice said through the distortion of a walkie-talkie.

  Jay winced as footsteps entered the room he had hidden in. He had completely spaced that buildings have cameras. He wasn’t sure why he had thought they wouldn’t be in use, but if he made it out of this, he swore he would not make that mistake again.

  “Hmph. You come on out, now. I know you're in here,” the man said with a growl.

  Jay popped up from behind the desk, revealing his face and empty left hand as he cocked the hammer of the revolver back, but kept the weapon below the desk for now. A plump man wearing a bank security uniform stood with his right hand firmly planted on a holstered handgun as he looked Jay over. He had a rough beard tinged with white and a tired expression that seemed like he would rather be anywhere else than here.

  “What the hell are you doing in here, son? Did you really think now would be a great time to rob a bank? I understand what happened yesterday was, for lack of a better word, batshit, but that doesn’t mean you should throw your life away for a few credits.”

  Jay put on an awkward smile and let out a slight laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I honestly wasn’t expecting anyone to be here after that. I mean, people actually fighting the enforcers and winning is pretty insane. Guess I thought you would all be taking the day off.”

  The man clicked his tongue and shook his head. “You can’t get greedy in a time of crises, son. That doesn’t help anyone, especially not you with the situation you're in now. Well, you go ahead and just sit tight while we call the proper authorities to come deal with you.”

  “Wait, can’t you just let me go? Pretend this never happened? I promise I will not do anything like it again.”

  The plump guard shook his head. “No can do, I'm afraid. Just surrender peacefully and be honest about your situation. It will be a few hard years, but I'm sure you will come out of it better. I know my boy did when he got himself into some trouble like this. Been on the right path ever since.”

  A voice crackled over the man’s walkie-talkie. “Change of plans. The boss wants to see him in her office.”

  The man frowned and let out an annoyed grumble as he called back. “You know that’s against protocol.”

  A woman’s voice crackled over the device. “Hank, just shut the fuck up and do what I ask, okay?”

  The man sighed and shook his head. “Regina, what have I told you about touching my equipment?”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass. Things have changed, and you need to get with the God damn times. It’s better if I have a way to quickly communicate with you.”

  The man let out a tired sigh while scratching his head. “Well, fuck me, I guess.”

  Jay readied his gun, willing to explode into motion ?at any moment. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Well, son, it might just be your lucky day. My boss has been all about giving delinquents like you a second chance recently, so come on out, and I'll take you to speak with her.”

  Unsure but intrigued about where this was going, Jay tucked his gun back into its holster, concealing it with his shirt. He padded the holster out a bit with some extra spirit to hide the weapon’s shape. When he was happy with it, he stood, putting both his hands up, and walked from his position behind the desk.

  The man exited the doorway and motioned for Jay to step through before directing him through the narrow halls of the building to a back office where a woman sat behind a large desk. Two others sat in the room. One was playing on an older handheld console, while the other eyed Jay and clenched his fists like he was ready for a fight.

  “Welcome, and please take a seat,” the woman said, gesturing to an empty armchair that sat in front of her desk. “And thanks for bringing him, Hank. Please return to your duties and close the door on your way out.”

  The older man grunted but complied, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him, trapping Jay with the woman, who donned a vicious smile.

  New chapters will be coming this week on Thursday and Friday, and then every M,W,F after that.

  Thank you for reading so far. I hope you have enjoyed it!