Stab Damage

"Shit!"

Before Arthur could lunge, Mario slammed the door as hard as he could.

The wood crashed into him as he was thrusting forward with his knife.

CRASH

His hand suddenly drilled through the door with force, until his arm was submerged into the wood.

As Mario fled deeper into the house, Arthur freed his arm and looked down at his hand in shock.

My knife went through the door so easily... is this because of my buff in Stab Damage?

With this power, confidence surged through him.

There was no way that a regular human could survive such a blow.

A smile etched onto his handsome face, as he stepped into the house, removing his hood.

His blonde hair flowed freely.

There was no need to hide from a man like Mario.

"Don't make this harder for yourself, Mario. Come out and die like a man."

Leaving the door open behind him, Arthur began to make his way upstairs towards the sound of footsteps.

After a while, the footsteps went away.

Mario was hiding.

With his knife clutched tightly, Arthur crept upstairs until he emerged onto the second floor.

There was a small open space with four doors on each side of the wall.

All of them were closed.

"If you make me search all of these rooms, I'm not just going to kill you. I'm going to torture you as well." He proclaimed, unsure if he would be capable of following through with such a threat.

Something in his heart told him that he would.

After receiving no response, Arthur made his way over to the first door.

"Suit yourself."

He pushed the door open.

Mario came charging out like a bull!

The man had a wooden plank in his hand and swung it forward with force.

Arthur wasn't expecting it.

All he could do was raise his hands in a flimsy defence.

The wood crashed into his forearm, sending a sharp pain running through his bones.

However, on impact, the plank broke. Whilst Arthur still kept a hold of his knife.

"Fuck!" Mario cursed, trying to retreat backwards and jump back into the room, but it was too late.

Arthur came in low with his knife drawn back and thrust it forward with all of his might.

The knife travelled fast, and in an instant, the point met the side of Mario's stomach.

"AUGH!"

The blade tore through him.

All Arthur could feel was his blade meeting resistance, before coming out free from the opposite side, a hot, wet substance around it.

Even he was shocked.

He looked down to find himself standing close to Mario. His hand and knife were red as could be.

The man beside him let out inaudible groans as he clasped a hand to the side of his stomach.

A large chunk of his flesh had been ripped out, and spilling from the wound was the insides of his stomach.

Dizzily, Mario tried to use his hands to keep them in, but his guts just kept spilling. Afterwards, he fell onto his face to the ground with a great thud.

Arthur stared down at his hands.

My second kill...

So this is what I'm capable of?

The system in his mind caught his attention, as it thrust new information into his being.

[Civilian Kill: $1000 Reward]

[Vengeance Kill: $5000 Reward]

[Buff Received: Regeneration Speed I]

[Serial Killer Ranking: 85,795]

Arthur took in deep breaths and let them out slowly.

Vengeance kill... so Mario really was responsible for the death of my parents.

But six thousand dollars! Where does the Judge even get the money from? And how does he ensure that the authorities don't track the payments?

And my ranking... I've broken into the top 100,000.

Arthur looked down at the corpse, which began to create a pool of blood beneath it.

The smell of iron stung his nose.

He swiftly decided that he would clean his knife and arm in the bathroom, and then leave the body on the floor.

Of course, it would be found and investigated as a murder, but the chances that they would link it back to him from another town were rare.

Especially since Mario didn't seem to be a noteworthy man.

Arthur made his way to the bathroom and washed his knife in the sink. He noticed that his hands were trembling.

The rush of the kill was slowly leaving his body.

It felt euphoric.

As he cleaned himself, he focused on the new buff that he had gained after the kill.

It seemed that he was able to dive further into the details of what each individual buff did.

Regeneration Speed: Enhances the speed at which the human body heals itself.

This seems... strong.

The buff had the Roman numeral for the number "one" in front of it, which meant that it was still at a low level, yet he wondered to what extent his healing would be sped up.

Should I test it out?

Arthur looked down at the knife at which he had killed Mario only moments earlier. It was still stained with his blood.

It didn't seem like a good idea.

After he had finished cleaning up, Arthur prepared to leave his victim's house and return home to the orphanage.

His mind flashed to Mother Lucy.

Of how proud she would be of him, and what step she might suggest that he take next.

It also flashed to images of her naked body, that he had seen in the darkness the night before.

He tried his best to shake them from his head.

I shouldn't... I am eighteen now, but she must be like ten years older than—

SLAM

Arthur's body and thoughts froze, as a loud noise came from the floor beneath him.

It was the door being closed, and the sound of footsteps followed.

He was no longer alone.

And at the same time, the system pinged in his mind once again.

However, this time, it was not granting him a reward.

[QUEST RECEIVED: YOU ARE BEING HUNTED. SURVIVE]