Pawn Acquired

Kazuki was shaken by seeing the gruesome scene of dead bodies. But the smile of the white masked man in front of him was more of a heart attack. His smile, though looked normal made Kazuki feel uneasy. He felt like a prey in front of a hunter.

Thus, the scared Kazuki ran in the opposite direction, the same direction he came from. He didn't think that the "dog" would be waiting for him as he was in a hurry to escape from here. The only thing that mattered to him was escaping from this murderer.

Seeing the boy running away, the masked man let out an amused whistle. He was having fun seeing the boy running away from him. Deciding to have more entertainment, he followed him.

After running for about thirty minutes, Kazuki came into a halt from exhaustion. He was panting heavily and sweat covered the whole body.

"I hope that guy didn't follow me." He uttered weakly.

"What did you say?" Suddenly, a voice came from his back. Terrified, he turned only to see the masked man grinning at him. Kazuki's legs surrendered and he fell down. He then dragged himself away from the man in horror.

"Stay away. Don't come near!" He shouted.

"What are you saying?" The masked man again asked as he couldn't understand what the boy was trying to say. It was the same for Kazuki. He also didn't know what the masked guy was saying. Evidently, both were speaking different languages and hence couldn't converse.

Seeing the terrified expression of Kazuki, all was clear as day for the masked man. There wasn't any need for chatter to understand the boy won't even answer much in this condition and this made him lose his interest in Kazuki.

"Let me give you a painless death." Said the masked man as he lightly chopped the neck of Kazuki.

Kazuki didn't have time to respond to his movements as within a wink of an eye, the masked man was directly behind him and the chop made him unconscious, stopping any further resistance.

"Time to kill the brat."

The masked man put his hand forward and touched the boy's chest. Then he uttered something incomprehensible and due to it, his hand went inside the boy's chest as if the hand were sinking into water.

This drowning didn't even last a second as the masked man pulled out his hand suddenly. Confusion was evident in his face.

'I can't seem to grab the soul of this brat. When I approached it, something electrocuted me and now I can't even see his soul with my power.' He pondered.

He didn't have to think for long as the cause of this unexpected rejection came into his mind. His power to access the soul won't work only when the target soul doesn't belong to his homeland, which in turn is the planet he is part of. As such…

"Now, it's interesting. It's quite rare, to find someone from another world. There had been such intrusions but almost all of them were a scrambled mess, bleeding or had mental issues when they were spawned here. But this brat is different. Not only does he not have any noticeable issues, his soul also seems to be protected somehow." He muttered as his mouth curved into a slight grin.

Thinking that moulding this young fella might prove interesting and making the boy his pawn would be useful, the masked man grabbed the boy by his collar and tossed him onto his shoulder like a rag. Though the treatment was rough, the boy didn't wake up.

The next second, he vanished from this spot and appeared a meter away. He then jumped off to the tree branch and started to jump across trees like a monkey, though his speed was fast and the only thing one could see would be his afterimages.

After less than ten minutes, he stopped in front of a clearing. In that clearing was a moderately sized house.

Moving forward, he went towards the house and entered it. On getting inside, he was greeted by a girl who was in her early twenties. Her hair was white and her eyes sparkled green with an orange hue surrounding it.

The masked man didn't spare even a glance towards the girl. He continued inside with Kazuki in his arms. The girl looked at the "rag" in his hand suspiciously as she followed him.

After skipping three rooms, the man entered a comparatively large room consisting of a medium sized bed, a moderate table. There was a window towards the right side of the entrance and to the left was the entrance to the previous room. As such, most rooms were interconnected with multiple entrances.

He put down the unconscious Kazuki in bed and went on to sit on the table, staring blankly into the air and indulging himself in thoughts that only he knew.

"Who is this boy?" The girl who earlier greeted him asked as she directed a scornful look towards Kazuki. Her irritation was evident from the glare she gave when looking towards the masked man.

"That's what I am hoping to find out. Though I do know he is not from this world. I think he will be an interesting specimen to pass my time and run some errands if he can be moulded into a suitable errand boy." The masked man replied without even turning towards the girl.

The surprise clouded the face of the girl for a second but it was soon replaced by indifference as she didn't think the weak looking boy could be any useful to their cause. In spite of this, she didn't voice her thoughts as she turned back and went on to do her own work, without concerning herself anymore with the masked man and unconscious Kazuki.

The masked man at last glanced towards the girl as she went off. His face didn't betray any expression but his eyes did as he looked at the receding shadow of the girl.