Prices of the Past

Safwane gritted his teeth in anger.

After all, the only one who was able to know that he was an emperor was the one who condemned him and made him go through this.

The young man crumpled the note in anger and threw it to the ground. He then left the room.

Safwane began to climb the stairs while thinking about the note.

'How can that guy still be alive? No matter how you look at it, it's been a long time since I ruled until now.'

While the young man was lost in his thoughts, he ended up in front of a collapsed door, which led to the outside.

Safwane walked to the edge of the building and sat down to watch the beautiful sunset.

'It's clear that my goal hasn't changed now that I know he's still alive, but after fighting that snake I've realized, I'm still weak.' Safwane thought frustrated.

He knew that compared to other people he was a supernatural being, and that he had exceptional abilities... but was that enough to defeat the abilities?

Until now he had encountered weak creatures and slayers, but what will he do when he encounters the strongest ones.

No matter who you are, you always reach a limit.

'I'll just have to survive, just like I've done all my life...' he thought, accompanied by a long sigh.

Silence filled the place, which gave the young man a feeling of freedom.

'...I guess it's not so bad.'

As stars began to fill the sky, Safwane felt footsteps approaching.

"So here you are." said a broken voice coming from behind the young man.

It was Arthur, who tiredly walked to the position where Safwane was.

"Have you distributed the food?" he asked without taking his eyes off the sunset.

"Yes... They are grateful but they are still somewhat distrustful."

"Sit down." Safwane said, patting the ground.

Arthur sat down nervously.

"...A masked man attacked me, but when I killed him he turned into dust, do you know the reason?" Safwane asked.

"I have no idea." Arthur replied curtly.

The young emperor looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I see..."

Silence fell over the place again at the same time as the night did.

"How strong are the abilities?" he asked again.

"They're called singularities... There are some that are simply unreal, like for example the ability of the German slayer, Kaiser, which makes you obey what he says without being able to deny it."

"How do you beat that?" Safwane asked surprised.

"By having more pure energy or having an ability that can neutralize it, although there are few who can do it." Arthur replied feeling worse about himself.

"I guess those with more than one ability will have an advantage."

"You can't have more than one singularity, it's impossible."

Safwane let out a nervous smile.

"...Anyway, I'm going to sleep since it's already nighttime, what will you do?" Arthur asked, standing up.

"I'll stay here..."

"I see, good night."

The young emperor lay down, placing both hands behind his head and began to observe the sky.

The sky was beautiful, the stars shone brightly and the moon was fully revealed. But what stood out the most was the huge crack that was there, as if the sky had broken.

Safwane began to blink slowly. It had been a long time since he had slept.

He finally fell asleep.

The young emperor's skin began to tingle and the warm rays of the sun.

He could feel some weak blows on his chest, while the tickling increased.

Safwane began to open his eyes slowly.

After blinking a few times, he could see that there were children playing around him.

The young man opened his mouth to say something, but he ended up stopping, it's not like they could understand him either.

"He's awake!" shouted a child while pointing at him.

"Run!"

The children began to run while letting out some laughter.

Safwane stood up.

But what seemed like a nice day collapsed when he saw Arthur walk through the door.

"Couldn't you wait for me to enjoy the day a little more?" said Safwane annoyed while stretching.

"It's important...! What do you mean by that?" asked Arthur indignantly.

"...It doesn't matter, I forgot to tell you something important, the debtors are coming today." said Arthur nervously.

"So what? Just pay it."

"That's the problem, what we collected yesterday isn't enough and yesterday we distributed all the resources." explained the young man.

Safwane sighed.

'Wait... I can't pay it either.' thought the young emperor remembering that now he had nothing.

"How much are you worth?" asked Safwane.

"Do you want to sell me!?"

"It's for the good of all of us." said Safwane trying to convince him.

"Yes, well I'm not worth much, so the debt can't be paid either" he replied proudly.

Arthur realized his words.

"Well it doesn't matter, go down and talk to them, it's better than me doing it."

"I know." replied Safwane mockingly passing by him.

As they walked down the stairs of the building, the tension grew. The small noise that had been made by the children playing disappeared.

"Hey, come play with me." said a man addressing a young girl.

"Leave her alone." replied a middle-aged man.

The strange man punched him in the face.

"You've gotten a little too cocky since last time, don't you think?" said the man as he looked at him with contempt.

But that contempt disappeared when he saw the young girl again, letting out a long smile. The man directed his hand towards her.

However, someone grabbed his arm.

"Leave them." said Arthur.

The man looked at him angrily.

"Look at you, now you're capable of doing this Arthur." said the man with a mocking smile.

"Minho, leave them, we've only come for the debt." said a burly man. "So Arthur, are you going to pay it?" he added.

Arthur released his hold on the man and invited them into the collapsed building.

"Of course, come in." he said with a hidden smile.

The three debtors entered confused.

Minutes earlier.

"What are we going to do? We've been delaying the debt for too long." Arthur asked somewhat desperately.

As they went down the stairs, Safwane was pensive, but an idea came to him after seeing an office.

"What is that?" he asked pointing to the strange office.

"That's where the CEO of the company used to work... But what does that have to do with our situation.!?"

Safwane frowned.

"Just answer me."

"I already told you..." Arthur stammered. "It's true, I forgot that you have amnesia, it's where the boss worked" he added.

"Okay. Then I'll stay here and you bring them here, we need to get them away from people." Safwane explained as he headed to the office.

"What does that have to do with money?" Arthur asked.

"There's no money so we have to kill them." Safwane replied. 'If I don't eliminate them, they will not only continue to pressure us, but they will pose a constant threat to everyone here.' he thought.

Present.

The men were climbing the stairs behind Arthur.

"Hey Arthur, are you sure you have money to pay?" the burly man asked.

"Don't worry." he replied. 'And I don't have to worry shit!? How are we supposed to beat three slayers?' Arthur thought as he bit his nails.

They finally reached a short hallway which led to an office.

"Wow, you're receiving us much better than last time." Minho said. "But I hope you don't think you can drag out the debt like that." he added in a threatening tone.

"Of course not." Arthur replied nervously.

As they walked towards the office, they heard something fall to the ground.

"This building is in pretty bad shape. What have you done with the money we lent you?" asked the burly man.

"Well..." said the young man, accompanied by laughter. "Just come in."

The men entered the office, but found no one there.

"Are you trying to buy time for them to escape, Arthur?" the burly man said with anger in his eyes.

A thud echoed through the room, and something struck the burly man's heel. When he looked down, panic crossed his face as he recognized Minho's lifeless face, covered in blood.

"Don't worry, you're going with them now." said a cold voice. 'It's true... He doesn't understand me' he thought, letting out a sigh.

The burly man looked up, looking into the intense red eyes of that person.

"Who are you?" he asked, holding back his anger.

Safwane remained silent.

The man gritted his teeth in anger, a strange kind of yellowish energy began to flow through his body, while his skin took the form of a rock.

"I'm going to kill you."