Hostage (1)

POV: Alexei.

The moment his feet landed on the mainland, Alexei quickly retracted his chains into his wrist and pulled out his phone.

Thankfully, the cell reception was better, so he quickly pulled up Cyril’s location to track him down but could only stare in confusion at the map.

“Why the hell is he not home when everything has gone to shit?”

Contrary to his expectation that Cyril would be holed up at home, his cell phone indicated he was on the poorer side of town, far from his apartment, in some random place on the pier.

Either he had lost the phone, gotten robbed, or something worse.

Generally, he wouldn’t worry about a person who had been in martial arts and weapon handling classes since he was young, but this new world was strange, and he couldn’t hide the pit in his stomach as he looked around.

Weighing his choices between the cell location and Cyril’s home, he decided to head to the phone location first. It was closer to the docks where he was now if there had been trouble, he would resolve it quickly.

He began running through the streets, noticing the city was a complete mess.

It looked like a great battle had taken place. Some buildings were burning or collapsed, human bodies, both uniformed and in civilian clothing, littered the streets, and the occasional oversized beastlike animal dashed through, making it look like a war zone in a third-world country.

Even though the sun was up, the usually busy city was empty of the bustling humans that made it up.

Alexei could feel his jaw tighten.

This was a mess and was ripe for a bigger explosion.

As a government official himself, he fully expected the government to mismanage situations as they always did due to politics and backroom deals, and from what the angel had said, the government had really screwed up this time.

The urge to head to the mayor’s office or the presidential House and figure out what was happening pressed down on him, but first, he had to determine whether Cyril was fine.

So he called and called until somebody finally picked up while moving along silently.

“Hey, Lexie, baby. Why are you calling me so much? You miss me?” a cocky unfamiliar voice answered, calling him by a childhood nickname few people knew, much less saved as his contact info.

It wasn’t Cyril’s voice.

“Where’s the owner of the phone?”

“I wonder. I nabbed alotta phones and lost count, so I can’t tell you whose is whose. You looking for a girl or a boy?” a cocky young voice replied, and he could hear giggling in the background.

“Stay right there.”

“Ooooh, you coming to get me? I’m so scared of a guy with a pansy name like yours. Is this your girlfriend’s phone? Was she that shivering red-headed little bitch who kept fighting back? You’re a little too late, Lexieee~ so why don’t you run away before someone gets hurt.”

As the voice laughed and joked before cutting off the call, Alexei summoned a chain to hold his phone up while he tapped the black band on his wrist to check the weird screen that showed up each time he did so.

[Culling Participant: Alexei Damien Vasilios]

[Time Remaining: 363: 23: 56: 40]

[Class: Inquisitor]

Lv 2

Life Energy coins: 160,200

Skills: Magic Nullification Area(8 hours until available), Chains of Judgment, Sixth Sense, Prowess (6 minutes remaining)

]

Glancing at the remaining time of the Prowess skill, the ability that allowed his body to do things beyond what a human could achieve, he decisively canceled it before extending the chains and using them to launch him onto the building tops and propel him from one roof to another in a quick burst.

As he accurately navigated near Cyril's phone’s location, he ended up stopping by a rundown two-story store off the main pier.

The front sign said closed, and the area was notably silent, with the obnoxious sounds of seagulls nowhere to be found.

Hiding behind a billboard facing the only windows of the store, Alexei waited calmly as he caught his breath.

His eyes never moved from the storefront, catching even the smallest twitch of the curtains that covered the windows on the second floor while he slowly extended his chains around the building and into the water.

After around 20 minutes, a pale face peeked out from behind curtains on the second floor.

Almost immediately, black chains that had been released and waiting rushed forward, smashing the window and wrapping around the teenager with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes wearing baggy black clothes.

Three chains immediately wrapped around the body; one chain wrapped around the neck, and the fifth shoved its way into the figure’s mouth before dragging it to dangle in the air in front of Alexei.

As the body struggled, Alexei absentmindedly noticed that it was a boy.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

"Shit everybody run!"

As a couple of teenagers began running out of the building while pointing at him and screaming, Alexei ignored them once he saw that they were girls who quickly ran away.

When the captive boy, Daniel, met Alexei’s gently smiling face that was covered in blood and took in the blood-covered suit that smelled like old blood, he began shivering as the chains winding around him began to squeeze and tighten like an anaconda around its prey.

His chest felt tight as his body was constricted, and no matter how he moved, he couldn’t seem to take a deep breath because of the chain in his mouth.

No matter how he struggled and tried to transform his arms into the scythe weapon that had easily won him many battles, nothing seemed to work.

It seemed like he was stuck in a trap.

Who the hell was this guy?

Although he had cut loose during the past couple of days, he didn’t remember messing with this crazy person who seemed to have bathed himself in blood.

Unless he had accidentally stolen his girl, and the guy was out for revenge?

Remembering the phone call he had just received, Daniels’s eyes widened, and Alexei nodded in confirmation.

Golden eyes looked warmer as the sun’s light brushed over him.

“I’m Lexie. Is there anything you want to say to me? I'm listening.”

It was the voice he had heard over the phone. Deep, smooth, and calm with no fluctuating emotion.

The gentle words were emphasized as each chain wrapped around Daniel’s body simultaneously tightened while the chain in his mouth removed itself and whipped across his face, causing his head to snap aggressively to the side and his cheek to start throbbing.

As Daniel began coughing, his face purple as he tried to take a deep breath, Alexei stared at him with a kind expression, even while strangling him.

“I’ll take that as a no. Where’s the phone?” the chains wrapped around the throat loosened.

“Hey, let me-”

Clang!

A single black chain impacted Daniel’s other cheek, opening a wound while the rest of his body creaked as if it were on the verge of being snapped like a cracker.

“Phone?”

“You can’t-”

CRACK!

One arm was immediately bent in an unnatural way as Daniel began screaming and began sobbing from the pain; a polite voice, like an answering machine, was heard.

“Phone?”

“Aghhhhhhhhhhh my arm!”

“Phone?”

“You bastard! I’m going to-”

Before Daniel could finish his sentence, black chains began pulling the broken arm in the opposite direction.

"Eahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

As blood continued rushing to his head from being held upside down and the broken bones of his arm shifted, Daniel temporarily blacked out from the pain before another slap from the chain woke him up.

“Phone?”

Seeing the handsome face that smiled gently and hearing the voice that kept repeating the same thing like a broken record, Daniel felt as if he were in a horror film.

As the black chain rose up to hit him once more, Daniel began crying.

He couldn’t understand what was going on. He couldn’t transform, his strength wasn’t working, and a crazy person covered in blood was torturing him.

“Phone?”

And hearing the repeated question followed by a hit from the chain, his mind broke just a little.

“Sob- it’s broken, sob, I broke it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, please forgive me.”

He began pleading, afraid that he would be hit once more, but instead, the golden-colored man seemed to soften as he answered.

“Ok. That’s not a problem.”

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, another question came.

“Where’s the wallet? And the owner of both items.”

“Wha?”

Clang!

Daniel’s head whipped to the side, and another wound appeared on his cheek.

“Wallet? And the owner? Speak quickly, or your other arm is next.”

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

As the chains pulled on his broken arm for emphasis, Daniel screamed before answering.

“Sob, the wallets are sob inside. I don’t remember who sob the owner is sob.”

Tears, drool, and snot began running down Daniel’s face, making him look truly pitiful, but Alexei stared impassively with the same kind of smile while spitting out vicious words.

“If you can’t remember, should I kill you? I’m sure if I capture everyone who ran away, somebody will remember.”

As the question was asked, the black chains began compressing Daniel’s Body once more, and seeing the calm expression on the blond man's face as if asking about the weather, Daniel immediately began pleading.

“No! Please! Sob, no! If you describe the person and the wallet, I can remember, I promise. And please turn me around, my head hurts, and I can’t think! Please!”

“Sure. It’s a plain black wallet. There’s a cat monogrammed on it. The ID should say Cyril Taylor. Young guy. Blue eyes. White hair in the photo, but he has short black hair in person. Average height, and he’s very slim. He was probably wearing white when you saw him, and if you saw his face, you would remember it since it’s distinctive. Is your memory feeling jogged, or should I kill you?”

Alexei concisely recalled Cyril’s appearance, which was the spitting image of his mother, Alexandria. The only difference was his taller height and shorter hair, which was frequently dyed black.

While listening to the description and feeling his arm and body throbbing in pain, Daniels’s head began to roll around now that the blood was clearing away.

This guy was completely crazy!

He had to make him let his guard down so Debbie and Daniella could take him down!

Since this guy was wasting his time describing this guy in detail, their skills would come in useful!

All he needed to do was set the stage and remember who this guy was talking about.

Since everything had changed, he had messed around and fought with a lot of people, stealing their wallets, phones, and absorbing the crystal things that came out of them.

The only white-haired people he remembered were a couple of old folks he had eliminated, and black-haired, blue-eyed people were all over the place.

But wearing all white…..wait, wasn’t there a guy who had been wearing all white on the first day?

It was the first guy that he had…..

Daniel's face paled dramatically as he recalled the guy with the distinctly handsome face who had looked down on him, but he began responding loudly as his body was shaken side to side.

“Yes! I remember! The person! I-I have him tied up inside! He was wearing expensive clothes, so I decided to hold him hostage and rough him up a bit, but I’ll release him if you let me go! I promise!!”

“He’s inside? How do I know you’re not lying? You said you roughed him up? Should I just kill you first?” at the suddenly dark tone, Daniel hiccuped in fear and called out every acting skill he had to the forefront.

There was no way he could tell this guy he had killed the boy!

He would immediately die!

He could only hope for Debbie and Daniella to be ready!

Once they attacked the guy, he would have no choice but to free him, and then he would slice him to pieces like everybody else who underestimated him.

“Y-yes! I promise I’m not lying! The guy, Cyril, right? Black hair cut in a low taper fade and blue eyes! He was by the financial district and had….cupcakes from Retro Capital Cupcakes! I remember seeing the box! And he was wearing an all-white Arteryx Tracksuit with the Balenciaga Speed shoes! It was the new color that was just released! He was easy to capture because he didn’t try to fight back at all! He said he would rather pay than bother fighting back, so we were going to take him to the bank later but things got hectic!! It’s the truth! And you can’t kill me. If you do, he’ll die!”

Alexei looked over him for a moment before nodding.

Everything he said sounded accurate. 

Cyril, despite his short temper, had the type of personality that would instead give all his monetary possessions to a robber so he could go home rather than deal with the possibility of being in pain or dealing with an annoying situation.

Although he felt that there was something…odd about what this kid was saying, he let it go for now while squeezing the chains tighter, making the boy’s face go pale with pain.

“So he’s tied up? Inside? Upstairs? Where?”

“Ughh Yes! I have him inside! And one of my friends is holding him hostage! If you promise to let us go….I’ll release him.”

“Oh? Should I just crack your neck and go grab him?”

“Debs!! Grab that kid and show this bastard that I’m not playing!” Daniel screamed as his body got squeezed by the chains.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three gunshots rang in the air, the bullets blasting through the wooden roof in quick succession.

“I-f you kill me, she’s going to kill your friend! So let’s just do a hostage exchange and go our separate ways. Okay?” Daniel pleaded as his chest was constricted by the chains once more.

“Is that right? Then, let’s check it out. If the person isn’t there…”

“I promise! The person you’re looking for is inside! If you stop harming me, we won’t harm him!”

Seeing Daniel’s previously pale face turn an ugly puce color, Alexei flipped him upside down once more.

“Let’s go.”