The roof gave way under Zeel's feet, and he fell into a random home…

It was so unexpected that he didn't even have the time to adjust mid-air, landing squarely on his butt like an amateur…

'These are the types of things that get losers killed…'

Internally, Zeel blamed the quality of the roof, but the moment he heard some rustling in the house, his mind re-focused with the sharpness of a katana…

Ready to cleave the world in half…

Zeel's eyes scanned the room, peering into the three figures shivering in a forgotten corner of what was once their home…

Now, it was just a wreck of crumbling walls that would soon fall and expose their position…

Darkness meant nothing to Zeel's Draconic Eyes, so he could tell the figures were of kids – two boys and one girl…

No more than seven-years-old…

Covered in dust and grime from head to toe, but other than some slight burns, they were relatively healthy…

It was a minor miracle that the kids survived…

And, of course, when Zeel's slitted eyes met the eyes of the children, they freaked as if a demon had come to reap their souls…

Which is not an exaggeration in some cases…

The children opened their mouths to scream in terror, but Zeel blurred in that instant, reappearing next to children and clasping their mouths shut with his vice-like grip…

Zeel was sure to control his strength this time since the last thing he wanted was to get a lethal headache from breaking a kid's jaw by accident…

He had learned his lesson from killing Ahfrak…

Not even a second later, Zeel could hear the distinct footsteps of someone entering the home, examining the ruins of what was once the children's haven…

---CLICK---

'Reloading the cartridge…' Zeel mused, able to distinguish the familiar sound of maintaining a gun…

Obviously, the intruder was a Militant, and judging by the subtle sounds of how he clutched his weapon, Zeel could guess that the Militant was aware there was something in the house…

Of course, the Militant didn't know that Zeel was hiding inside the house – if he did, he would have run away a long time ago…

The Militant wandered the home, searching for something out of the ordinary, but when the entire village was on first, then something out of the ordinary was hard to find…

Room to room…

Zeel knew the time was ticking down as the Militant searched the home…

Just as the Militant was about to conclude his search, Zeel unconsciously loosened the grip on one of the children's mouths, and the child whimpered…

This whimper made it to the ear of the Militant…

Zeel clutched down on the children's mouths even harder, squeezing as if he was ready to rip their heads off at any time…

The fleeting thought entered his mind as he refocused on the children – Perhaps, they were better off dead?

But something prevented him from doing the deed, and he didn't know what that was…

Humans would call it 'Humanity'…

Homo-Superiors would call it 'Weakness'…

So, which would Zeel call it?

'Too profound for the current me…' Zeel concluded instantaneously, not wanting to question his resolve too deeply…

What Zeel did next was unexpected…

He released the children's mouths and allowed them to whimper as much as they liked, and he sunk into the darkness, disappearing entirely…

As soon as the Militant slammed open the door to the room, and pointed his gun at the children, a split second of hesitation was apparent on his face…

And a soldier should never hesitate!

Before the Militant could even process what happened, Zeel had already detached his head from the rest of his body…

The action was so clean and efficient, the Militant felt no pain as he took his final breath that was doomed to never reach his lungs…

If the children were terrified before, they were traumatized now…

"Shshsh…" Zeel gestured for the children to hush, and grabbed the gun of the Militant he had just killed…

Zeel placed his ear against the wall, and pointed the gun, pulling the trigger three times in a single second…

And three bodies fell inside the house…

Sensing no more movement inside the house, Zeel determined it was safe to move on, and while he could make the journey alone, he didn't feel comfortable leaving the children to fend for themselves…

The children were frozen in shock, moving mechanical almost…

This worked for Zeel since it was easy for him to join their hands and guide them outside the house…

Traumatized children were the best children since they didn't put up any resistance to hinder his progress…

After nearly two minutes of walking, the children snapped out of their daze, and earnestly began to follow Zeel, mimicking his actions as much as they could…

When he stuck to the walls; they stuck to the walls…

When he crawled beneath obstacles; they crawled beneath obstacles…

When he picked soldiers down with bullets; they allowed their eyes to remain open to the brutal truth of the world…

Eventually, the outskirt of the village was within Zeel's sights, and he could finally perform a warp…

"Give me your hands!" Zeel ordered, and when the children seemed at a loss, he ensured each of them was touching some part of his clothing…

[Warp]

Zeel teleported nearly fifty meters ahead, bringing the children along for the ride…

This was a slight detour from his established mission, but it didn't take much effort to secure the children's safety before resuming his mission…

Zeel pointed to the shrubs "You need to hide until this massacre ends and then, survive as best as you-"

Zeel didn't feel anything…

He didn't detect anything…

There was no warning or premonition…

He didn't even observe anything with his beyond-super-computer mind…

But somehow, he just reacted…

Like a successful human walking to work one day, and the human just decides to run towards a car – there was no reason, just a fit of chaos…

Zeel grabbed the children the moment the projectile touched the ground, but by then, it was already too late…

---BBBOOOOOOOMMM---

[Warp]

Zeel managed to warp himself and the children nearly thirty meters away…

The heat from the explosion still singed their skin a bit, but it was far better than being dead…

"Wait…" Zeel frowned, looking at the scared children kneeling on the ground "Weren't there three of your guys?"

It was only then that Zeel realized, clutched in his right hand, was an arm without a body…

Obviously, the explosion took whatever remained of the missing kid…

"Never mind…" Zeel muttered, tossing the hand away in a subtle way, hoping the children didn't notice this particular fuck up…

Sadly, it was already too late to make amends, the children bawled and screamed, crying until Zeel was sure blood would flow from their eyes…

'One less burden…' Zeel thought, but the words that exited his mouth were "Stop crying… your brother is still alive, but if you cry, I won't get him!"

"Really?" The small girl questioned, clearly a bit smarter than her stupid younger brother who had a renewed hopeful glint in his eyes…

To Zeel, they looked like the type of stupid people who would believe a serial killer when he said 'I am not going to kill you, I just want to talk in that slaughterhouse over there…'

"Yes, really!" Zeel assured the small girl, wondering if this was how parents felt when telling children Santa Claus was not a demon from another plane that liked eating children "I just teleported your brother in a different direction… I'll go get him soon…"

When a renewed hopeful glint also appeared in the little girl's eyes, Zeel felt a bit proud at placating the children…

Honestly, he didn't think he had the gentleness of Alice, but obviously, he did!

"Okay…" Zeel clapped his hands together, passing a rifle to each child "Same plan… you guys run that way until you see shrubs and trees… you climb the tree and stay there and think about life and whatever humans do… if you see a snake on the tree – pray the venom kills you instantly… just don't point the front of the gun at yourselves..."

The Children seemed confused with Zeel's instructions, but before they could question him, Zeel was already two rooftops away, already placing the children out of mind…

As for searching for their brother – that kid was definitely dead…

Probably even deader than dead since Zeel had ripped his arm off during the warp… if the kid survived, he would be somewhere bleeding to death…

A very slow and agonizing death…

And, as for the surviving children, they had to learn how to live on their own from now on…

Just as he was trained on the Nameless Planet – if their lives end because they were not strong enough, then that was their own fault…

'I can't protect them if I can't protect myself…' Zeel mused internally 'Besides, I left them with a gun each… that's definitely good parenting… all they have to do it point the gun in the right direction and shoot… even human kids should understand that concept!'