You might be wondering what could have sent me into such a rage, or you might have guessed it already, either way, I don’t care. I am no goody two shoes, I hope that is clear but there are some things I can’t overlook and what is happening right now is one of them. In this dark alley, a pair of kids with ragged clothes cry desperately for help as a group of grown man punch and kick the boy while a third is about to rape the girl. Fueled by my anger I dive into the alley holding my trusty weapons in hand.

First I cut the left leg of the one who was about to rape the poor girl. I will make them suffer for as long as I can, a quick death is too good for them. Continuing with my momentum I cut off one of the other man’s arm while crushing the leg of the third with my bandages. Screams of pain and terror resound as the situation settles in. I can feel my face contort into a grin, I must admit I am enjoying their despair. After admiring their desperate and hopeless expression I continue by kicking the fourth in the nuts hard enough to shatter his pelvis while cutting off the jaw of the third with Naru.

My first assault took no more than three seconds to be completed. On the second round, I smashed the head of the first who had fallen to the floor with my right foot, as it exploded into a gory scene I cut the second in half. Even before the second’s corpse could touch the ground the third had his head cut cleanly in half with a vertical swing of Pyrka. The fourth died by having a piece of his spine ripped out, something that I did with my ever so handy bandages. Taking the piece of spine into my right hand I jammed it into the eye socket of the fifth before decapitating him.

The fight, if you could call it so, ended before the ten-second mark. Even though it was still fast, at last, they suffered for a while before dying, however, I do find it annoying that I couldn’t contain myself and ended up killing them too quickly. Looking back at the pair of kids, the boy had his left arm clearly broken and his left eye had been popped out of its socket too. The girl wasn’t any better, both her legs where broken and her naked body was filled with bruises. Looking at was left of their clothes and their overall countenance I could tell they were orphans or at the very least no one cared for them.

I have said this before and I will say it again, I am not a goody-two-shoes, I did feel anger for what was being done to them but that doesn’t mean I care for them, this world is cruel, I have lived that fact first handed. I can tell that unless the girl gets treated with healing magic she will become a cripple, the same can be said about the boy. Since I had nothing else to do here I decided to take my leave, but I was stopped by the boy who despite the pain graved my coat with his good arm.

“Please, I beg you, help my sister!”

I took a glance at him, his eyes were filled with pain both physical and metal. Taking a glance at the girl I could see her eyes where lifeless like those of a dead fish, tears flowed from those eyes, but they no longer held meaning, she has given up. I don’t know what I looked like at that moment, but I could see some fear in the boy’s eyes, fear that grew with each passing second, fear for his sister well being but above that fear for his life. He slowly let go of my coat while trembling.

“kid, you are weak, and your conviction is so too. Cry and beg but no one will help you, in this world is everyone for themselves, if you want someone to save your sister that someone must be you”

I know my words are harsh but the sooner he realises this the better. If he is here it is because no one cares for him or his sister, if no one cares now no one will care in the future if things continue going as they are now. I can help, I know how, but without conviction, my help would go to waste then why should I help? Because it’s the right thing to do? Don’t make me laugh, as it is the right thing to do would be to kill them here and now to end their meaningless suffering.

“I know I am weak! I know that! But what am I supposed to do! I can’t become stronger! I am just a kid!”

He whining angers me and so I slap him with quite a bit of force. The sound seems to have woken up his sister as she tried with whatever was left of her strength to crawl between me and his brother.

“Don’t, hurt, brother!”

Her words came out with a lot of struggle however I could feel the strength in them. She has far more fighting spirit in her, now that I look at her eyes once more I can see them having a bit of spirit left in them, like an ember that refuses to go out in the middle of a blizzard. She might be worth saving, unlike her worthless brother.

“What are you going to do about it? you are just as weak as your brother if I felt like it I could kill the two of you without any problem or remorse”

Her eyes shone with hatred, the ember that I had seen a moment ago ignited with strength as I felt pain all over my body, it wasn’t much but it was there. In the next instant, the girls face grew pale as pain could be seen written all over her expression.

“Such a weak attack is useless, however, I have seen your conviction. For that reason, I will help you, you will feel pain like no other, you will feel so much pain you will wish for death. However, if you are able to hold on then there is a chance for your survival”

I meant what I said. Back in the forest, I experimented with my bandages and my soul ability. I wondered about what had happened back when I tried to save Lizz, her body healed, so I thought I might be able to heal with this combination. I was right, but at the same time, I was extremely wrong, I can forcefully invade someone’s body with my bandages and inject my ability in them. By doing this I can heal other people, however, the pain is enough to kill them from shock. I tested it over and over again on monsters in the forest and out of a hundred only one survived, however, it killed itself right after.

Without even warning the girl I started the procedure as my bandages pierced her body in multiple parts from the arms torso and legs, everywhere. Soon after I began injecting my ability in her body and in the next second screams of extreme pain could be heard coming out of her throat. Her broken legs spasmed as the bones moved inside going into their rightful position while mending. Her thin body began gaining some fat and muscle as it was being revitalised but her screams didn’t stop, on the contrary, they were increasing in strength. Of course, her brother tried to stop me, but he was powerless to do anything.

The procedure continued for five minutes and as it kept on going I could see the light in the eyes of the girl dimming, however, it never went out and immortal ember of hope, of will, of her conviction to continue on. As I retreated my bandages her expression slowly recuperated from one of extreme agony to one of shock. She looked at herself as her thin and weak body had changed into one at its peak, her red hair seemed to glow as if it had been set aflame, while her amber coloured eyes held strength.

“What, what did you do to me?”

Her hostile gaze had changed into one of wonder while asking that question. To tell the truth, doing this was demanding on my body and my mana. I know I said I would try to keep myself in check but it seems I have failed, well, it doesn’t matter now.

“I just healed you, of anything that might have plagued your body. This is a gift on my part for your conviction, grow stronger and fight for what you believe in and for those you love. Don’t let this opportunity go to waste”

With those words, I stood up and began walking out of the alley. However, I was soon stopped by the girl that had dashed in front of me with a determined look.

“Wait, please! help my brother, I will do anything you ask of me but please help him”

“If I were to do the same to your brother he will die no doubt, you felt it yourself, do you truly think your brother could survive something like that?”

As I mentioned it, her body trembled perhaps reminded of the agony she went through.

“I, I don’t think so”

“Then there is nothing I can do, that’s why I told you, become stronger. That way you may be able to earn money and pay for your brother’s treatment, well it’s not like I care what happens from here on”

Just like that, I walked past her. After a few more steps and just before I left the alley, I heard her voice once more.

“thank you”

I didn’t bother to turn around. If you want to thank me then prove to me that my decision to save your sorry ass wasn’t wrong. While thinking that I once again began my task to look for an inn to stay at.