"The Ghost Town" (Part 1)

Right after the bandit leader's shout, a disturbing silence fell over Besen. 

Not the peaceful quiet of a sleeping village, but a heavy silence thick with foreboding.

Leo moved through the ruined houses, each step cautious, every shadow a potential threat. 

He gripped his swords tightly, "Smiling" in his right hand and "Absolution" in his left, the cold metal a stark contrast to his sweaty palms.

The adrenaline from being spotted earlier had faded, replaced by a weary mix of exhaustion and apprehension.

He'd come back to Besen, driven by a need he couldn't fully explain. Part of him wanted to pay his respects to Mia, to his parents, and to the home he'd lost. Another, darker part of him craved answers. Or maybe just a place to get lost in his grief.

He hadn't expected to find the village occupied. He'd seen the signs—recent campfires, footprints, scraps of food—but he'd assumed they were the remnants of weary travelers passing through.

He was wrong. 

Judging by the heavy footprints and discarded gear, these were Neumonds. Neumonds, who were clearly up to no good.

"Scum," he thought, a bitter taste rising in his throat. "Profiting from someone else's misery."

Leo ducked behind a crumbling wall, watching them. There were a lot of them, ten or maybe more.

They moved through the ruins with the confidence of those who felt at home, rummaging through the debris, searching for any trace of him. They sensed him. The leader was an experienced Neumond, and after spotting Leonard from afar, he wasn't going to let go.

A wave of anger washed over Leo. 

They were desecrating his home, trampling on the memories of his childhood, hiding out in a town haunted by a massacre. It was disrespectful and inhumane.

He wanted to attack them and make them pay. But he wasn't stupid. Not like that, not anymore. Liam's death still echoed in his mind, a fresh reminder of his own mortality.

He needed to be smart and use the terrain to his advantage. He knew Besen like the back of his hand.

He slipped through the shadows, moving from one ruined house to another, his heart pounding but his breathing steady. He was the hunter now, not the prey.

In a partially destroyed house, he found what he needed: a thin but sturdy rope and some loose planks. A cold, cruel smile touched his lips. He had a plan.

He set a simple but effective trap. He tied the rope to a loose beam, stretching it across a narrow corridor at ankle height. Then he scattered some debris over the rope, camouflaging it.

He hid in the shadows, waiting. One of the looters, a thin man with shifty eyes, approached quickly, sniffing the air like a bloodhound.

Leo waited until he was in the right spot before pulling the rope with all his strength. Luckily for Leo, he could see the man through a crack.

"Whoa!" the man yelped as the rope sent him tumbling. Before he could get his bearings, Leo was on him. 

"Smiling" sliced through the air, and drops of blood splattered the ground, dripping from the bandit's hands as he shielded himself from being beheaded.

The man tried to shout, but the force of Leo's blade against his throat made him choke back his words. He struggled to catch his breath, each gasp coming out through clenched teeth.

They wrestled on the ground, caught in a fierce fight for their lives. The man was strong, but Leo activated his ELEV and moved with a speed that surprised them both. 

Leonard focused all his strength into his arms. The man, caught off guard, didn't activate his ELEV in time. Leo was on top, pinning the man down, the sword pressed against his throat. 

Their eyes met, the connection cold and intense.

Leo felt something die inside him.

"Fighting Leirions for our lives isn't enough? Now scum like you prey on us? You're trash. Humanity's in this state because of trash like you," Leo hissed, furious.

His ELEV flickered, his cognition rapidly calculating the next sure moves. He then kneed the bandit in the groin. The man crumpled in pain, his body reflexively loosening its grip on Leo's arms.

Leonard, still staring into the man's eyes, searched in vain for any trace of humanity. 

He forced "Absolution" into the man's throat, the gleaming blade now slick with blood. The man choked, his face contorted in agony as life slowly drained from his eyes, leaving them fixed and glazed, staring blankly at Leonard.

Leo rose, his breath ragged. With a sickening sound, he withdrew the blade from the man's neck. He glanced down at the body at his feet, its face twisted into a dejected expression. 

There was no pleasure in it, only a cold emptiness. He didn't feel a shred of guilt, even though he had taken a life. 

Something inside Leonard had died, and he didn't give a damn about bandits anymore.

"One down," he whispered, his voice icy and emotionless. He wiped the blade of "Absolution" on the dead man's clothes and moved on.

"It's not enough to lose your life to monsters. Are there still horrible humans like this?" The thought echoed in his mind, a silent accusation. "Was he becoming a monster to fight monsters?"

But he didn't have time for those thoughts.

The other looters were close. He could hear them and smell them. And worst of all, he could feel the leader's presence—an oppressive weight that seemed to suck the very light from the surroundings.

Through another crack in the room, he saw another man approaching—a brute, tall, and muscular man. He ran to the corner of a warehouse, waiting for the ideal moment to attack. As he neared the corner, the thief smirked.

"Gotcha, you little punk!" the brute roared, spotting Leo.

The man, a brute with the ability to harden the skin of his arms like steel, wasn't caught off guard; he felt Leonard's presence.

Leonard waited for the most opportune moment to pounce. He lunged with everything he had in the surprise attack. 

He focused all his energy on his legs; sparks of friction could be seen coming from his boots. Upon meeting the huge bandit's gaze, he activated his ELEV, and his eyes lit up. 

Everything became calm and almost frozen.

He read every move, went through every nuance and possibility of intuition, and finally, he was startled. He discovered the weakness of his ability. 

"How? Why are there so many variables?" he wondered.

The answer was logical and simple, which he discovered right after. 

He knew nothing about that Neumond—not even his voice, manner of speaking, ability, or intelligence. So Leo thought, "How can I understand someone I only know by their appearance?"

Even so, Leonard pushed his cognition to the limit. 

"Clenched fists, shuffling gait, threadbare clothes…" He scanned the bandit, noting the powerful muscles of his arms beneath the ragged fabric. "He's favoring his arms...why?" The rough haircut, the pinched face—a hard life etched in every line. And the breathing...shallow, too fast.

Leo soon discovered. "Damn, he'd already seen me. So all I have left is..."

Leonard deactivated his power and bet on the highest probability he could read. He would dodge first before attacking.

During Leonard's leap, the metal brute was already waiting for him and tried to guillotine him with his steel arms, but he missed. Leonard was right; during the jump, he spun his body to cut through the air and passed straight through like a screw, evading the bandit's grasp.

Leo landed in a roll and recovered, positioning his swords forward.

"That's some fancy footwork, kid," the bandit chuckled darkly.

He then charged at Leonard with everything. Despite his size, he was incredibly fast, clearly an experienced Neumond, way above iron rank. In turn, Leo activated his ELEV again. The brief moment of reading his opponent was enough for him to come up with some plan that could offer him victory.

The brute thought he would retreat, but Leo surprised him by making a short advance with a scissor-like cut to the bandit's legs. It was superficial. 

Leonard was far inferior in stats compared to the big guy. Another piece of information that Leonard didn't calculate in his advanced cognition.

Leo felt his hands tremble. He was using his ELEV too much. His body couldn't handle such power yet. It was too oppressive.

The bandit tried to grab his clothes, but Leonard rolled back, dodging at the last moment. The man then ran and kicked him with all his might. 

A loud thud followed by a dull crack could be heard. Leonard flew several meters, falling into the dark warehouse. Fortunately, he managed to anticipate and land safely, despite feeling a sharp pain in his ribs.

Before the man entered the warehouse, he got up hastily and ran.

He needed to escape.

This outlaw was someone he couldn't go up against at his current stage.