The Youngest

Tool felt his whole world shatter in front of him, killing his parents was one thing he managed to move on, but his sisters was entirely different.

But that didn't stop him from being strong, he knew the both of them wouldn't want to see him weak.

Tool wiped every inch of tears he had on his face, standing up slowly, and turning around to the lifeless bodies of his sisters.

He hesitated, putting his arm up and facing the palm of his hand at their bodies, in a matter of seconds, he disintegrated their bodies into ashes.

With a sigh, he moved his arm up to his face, brushing his eyes just to show how much he's holding it in.

"Damn, must've been rough for you to do that huh pal?"

Until he heard a voice behind him, making him turn around and face them, asking in a rather bored voice.

"What do you want.."

"Me? Well I am the strongest bounty hunter alive! And I have been tasked greatly by your relatives to kill you, the money given to me was of course, pretty high."

Tool can feel the vibrations of each words the man was saying, he couldn't hear it, but feel it instead, he wasn't focused at all after what he had done.

"And my name.. Is Con! Remember this name, and meet your demise!"

After the man named Con finished his sentence, he knelt down and rushed towards him.

Tool just stared at him, doing nothing but be a stateless puppet, like he is.

Con grinned, balling his fist tightly and infusing fire magic around it. Once he approached Tool's area, he swiftly delivered the punch directly at their cheek, causing massive destruction behind them just from the force of the punch.

The smoke covering around Tool's face made it hard to see if he was still alive or not, Con just stayed still, wanting to see their headless body.

But once the smoke went away.

Tool was standing still, the punch only made his face move only by an inch. The pupils of his eyes would move to look at Con before asking.

"Is that all?"

Con was shocked, terrified already about how he took it easily. Most people would die when they receive the impact of the punch along with the powerful magic.

Con tried to back away but was stopped, he was unable to move, just standing still in a frozen state.

Tool would lower his head down, speaking in a forgiving tone.

"I'm sorry my dear sisters.."

He sighed, forming a prayer on his right hand as it rests nearby his chest area, the moon would shine brightly above him, his shadow covering most of the area.

And then he began chanting a magic spell, rather than a skill.

"While the moon shines bright and gives us light, the darkness from within lurks everywhere. Be it good or evil, they rest from wherever they see fit. A mask on their faces to hide. Come forth, and exterminate them all.."

Tool was almost finished to his incantation, but Con is still unable to move, his eyes the only body part currently moving around, watching the person he's tasked to kill, about to kill him instead.

Tool raised the hand he used as prayer, his palm now directed towards Con, they struggled to move but it was all meaningless.

"Moon Technique: Erasure."

Once he finished his words, Con was finally able to move, the shackles of his frozen state now gone. The first thing he tried to do was charge at Tool.

"I'll kill you!-"

But before he could reach, he suddenly disappeared into thin air. Nothing left, no clothing, no skin, no blood. He was gone in an instant.

A pained groan can be heard from Tool, he knelt down on the ground while panting heavily, the amount of magic energy he had needed to use that skill was too much to bear that he was unable to stand.

"That technique is too much.. The energy I lost just from that.."

He sighed, standing up. The magic skill he had used was something he came up with his own. What it does: Is completely erase the target off the face of the world. People will forget them, be it loved ones, friends, and family.

The man named Con? Didn't exist anymore.

"Urgh.. I better get back..."

Tool would try to stand up, only to feel his legs wobbling tired, after all he went through, especially mentally and emotionally, he was exhausted. His body being heavy made him collapse and give in.

"Woah there! You alright buddy?"

He was caught by the arm of Cyrus, somehow he found himself all the way to Tool's direction, luckily at least.

"Cyrus?.. Where were you?"

"I.. Well it's nothing, but what are you doing here? You're way too far from the town."

"Town? But the town's.."

The town that he was in vanished, there was never a town here, it was all but a replication, an illusion put up by someone that was hunting them. Fortunately, they have been killed by either Mary or Yun.

"Nevermind.. I just ran into some trouble."

"Yikes. Well let's get back now, Mary and Yun might be worried about us."

Tool nodded, Cyrus helped by putting their arm over his neck, helping Tool walk alongside him back to the town.

—

"...what happened to you guys?"

Cyrus asked, they had arrived at the gate of the actual town, and there he saw Mary and Yun, covered with many bruises, alongside their looks being beaten up.

"Forget about us, where were you?!"

Mary would walk angrily towards Cyrus and grab him by the collar of his cloak, he let out a nervous chuckle while Tool managed to move himself away just in time and sit down on the ground with a sigh.

"I had something I needed to do alright?"

Yun sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. Lying near a friend that can detect lies and mischief is not an easy task.

"Cyrus.. You're lying to us."

"Eh.. Erm.. Fine I'll tell you guys! But we gotta get you patched up first."

Cyrus nodded, Mary sighed in defeat, letting go of the collar of his cloak before backing off.

"I suppose, we went through such a traumatizing event that it almost got us killed. How about you huh? I suppose your enemy wasn't that hard?"

Her eyes averted to Tool that was just laying down on the ground, he still had his expressionless face as usual, but when he spoke, something was off.

"My enemy.. Was hard to defeat."

This left the three of them shocked, just by the tone of his voice was enough to be said from what he experienced.

Yun would chuckle before interrupting the tension.

"How about we just go home for now? We're all tired and beat up.. Except Cyrus. And we need plenty of rest! I'll see you guys in the academy!"

Yun was the first to head back inside the gates of town, running off in a hurry for some reason.

"Might as well. My mother may get worried for my safety. Be careful you two."

Mary nodded and rushed back inside the gates, her direction being different from where Yun was headed.

And there left Cyrus and Tool. Cyrus reached a hand out to Tool, which he accepted, using it as support to stand back up.

"You sure you're alright? You look a bit pale."

"..yeah, I'm fine. It is nothing serious."

Cyrus felt a bit concerned and worried about Tool, despite the expressionless face he has, the way his body expresses it, felt off.

He wanted to ask what was wrong, but he knew the chances of Tool rejecting his help, with a sigh, he nodded.

"Alright then, I'll see you at the academy alright? We only have a few weeks left until it's winter. See ya man."

Cyrus would wave goodbye at Tool before running off back to the inn he was currently staying in.

Tool would sigh, his head down in pain after what he went through, killing his sisters, and betraying the promise to them not using magic to kill.

What was he supposed to do in that moment? He thought to himself, there was no choice. Either he kills his sisters or they kill him.

Such choices require the will to live. And he wants to live his life.

He raised his head up, heading inside the gates of the town, seeing the streets full of people, lights everywhere as well as stands, selling food, clothing, and accessories.

It was beautiful in his eyes, despite the expressionless face he keeps, he was enjoying the sight of it.

In the midst of his sight seeing, he accidentally would bump into someone, looking down to see a kid that looked very similar to one of his sisters.

"Ah! Sorry mister.."

"It's fine, just be careful and watch where you are going."

The little kid would nod at him with a bright smile, as they got called by their parents, she ran off towards them.

Tool would glance at their direction, and noticed it looked identical.

A father, a mother, two girls, and one baby boy. The resemblance of them almost being like his family was uncanny, except the hair color of course.

In his vision, he would imagine that it was his family instead, a pain in his chest can be felt when he sees this vision. But it's only an imagination, an imagery of what he wanted.

That's all gone now, he blinked to see the family not being his anymore, a pained, shaky sigh came out of him.

Before walking through the bustling streets of the town, to go home alone, and sleep by himself.

—

To be continued.