Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 21

Humans or Beasts?

Raven was disgusted by Mathew and the way he looked at her. But she did not back down when she heard his order to kill Ozul—Instead, her eyes went cold.

The two guards rushing at them did not stop, though. There were confident smiles on their faces as they deemed the situation to be in their grasp.

Yet, in the next instant, both of them fell face down on the ground! Their vision turned dark as they lost their consciousness. Even in their death, they could not comprehend what happened to them.

How could they see the thin, pitch-black needles at such a speed?

Mathew was also stunned! Why did the idiots just fell on their faces? He went toward their bodies and crouched down to check on them. As he checked their pulses, all the colour drained from Mathew’s face.

What happened to them? How could they just suddenly drop dead on the ground?!

Concluding that the duo must’ve done this in front of him, Mathew angrily looked at them and began to shout;

“Y-you!!! You Dogs! My father is a Viscount! Just wait till he hears about this! You will die a dog’s death!!!”- Mathew did not realize the gravity of the matter as he threatened them.

.....

Just as he was screaming nonsense, jet-black blades bolted towards him, and in the next second, both of his arms fell on the soil.

Mathew began to scream and yell, but Ozul was unfazed. Raven may be only a kid, but she must be ruthless to survive in this dog-eat-dog world.

Ozul did not kill Mathew. Instead, he motioned towards Raven to complete the task.

Raven understood what Ozul was trying to say, but whenever she thought of killing a human being, her hands start shaking.

Ozul saw her hesitation and decided that she needed to understand reality.

“You did not hesitate while killing the Beasts. Why now?”- Ozul asked.

“T-they were Beasts... He... is human.”- For Raven, killing a fellow human being was difficult.

“No, It’s because you think beasts are... evil. After all, they killed all your loved ones.”-

“...T-that’s...”- Raven did not know what to say when Ozul exposed the real reason.

“How naive can you be, Raven?”- Ozul did not care about the shrieks of Mathew in the background.

“Do you really think that the destruction of your village was simply because of some Rank-3 Beasts?”- Ozul then continued without waiting for her reply.

“You should know that Beasts at those Ranks never go anywhere near settlements!”-

“Azmar Town was almost connected with the village. Yet there were none of those Beasts that attacked the city.”-

“My guess? Some nobles probably wanted something that came under the influence of the village. Hence, they removed the village by forcing the Beasts in its direction.”-

What Ozul said, was accurate. He did not mean to incite some sort of hatred of humans inside Raven but wanted her to see the real nature of humans.

Ozul wanted Raven to understand that not everything is black and white.

Raven understood every part of what Ozul had said. She began to see the earlier flaws in her thinking. Just under two weeks of living with Ozul, and it entirely remodeled Raven’s mindset and temperament.

Then she began to think of how the Mathew kid in front of her wanted to kill Ozul. Her hands stopped shaking, and she resolved herself and arrived before him.

She killed Mathew but threw up moments later. Ozul came near her and rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

It worked wonders as Raven ignored the three corpses and started blushing.

They cleaned up the scene before leaving the place. There was a Spatial Ring on Mathew’s hand, but Ozul did not take it. He thought that the Spatial Ring might become the clue to lead the investigators to them.

Ozul wanted to return home—it was a rough day for Raven. She needs to stabilize her psyche.

Furthermore, it was afternoon, and they had already collected 19 Cores of Rank-3 Beasts, more than enough for them to buy the Spatial Ring.

The Sun was setting when they arrived at the shop. Ozul put all 19 Cores and ten Silver Coins onto the counter, which amounted to a total of 200 Silver Coins or 2 Gold Coins.

He then asked the Shop Owner if there is a Spatial Ring that was under 2 Gold Coins except for the cheapest one.

“Yes, Yes! Of course. It’s precisely for 2 Gold Coins and contains a storage space of 10 cubic meters!”- the Shop Owner excitedly replied.

Ozul bought the Spatial Ring and asked the Shop Owner on how to use it.

The Shop Owner listening to him was excited as it meant that the kid in front of him was just a country bumpkin! He does not need to be afraid of him anymore.

“If you are a Mage, then pour some Mana into the Ring. If not, then drop some of your blood on the top of the Ring. Once the connection is established, you just need to will it to perform any action.”- He then continued;

“Also, once the owner is dead, the Ring becomes ownerless. The next person to establish a connection with it will become its master.”- the Shop Owner calmly explained while hiding his malicious intent.

Ozul took his leave with Raven following behind him. Of course, Ozul had felt the negative emotions from the Shop Owner.

They were walking back while Ozul was thinking about some things. It was not about the malice of the Shop Owner towards him, but something else.

It was about the Spatial Ring!!! Why?—there were only two methods to establish a link with it! Both were impossible for Ozul!

Ozul was not a Mage! The Ball of Purity was much more of a tool that he was born with then a Magical Spell!

Furthermore, Ozul had no blood whatsoever! Even if he wanted to, he could not bleed!

‘Spatial Rings... They are not made for me... sigh.’- Ozul sighed as there was nothing he could do about it.

Looking beside him, specifically at Raven—Ozul had no choice but to give the Spatial Ring to her.

Raven was blushing to ears when she received the Ring from him. When Ozul saw that her thoughts were going haywire, he gave a hand chop on her head, and said;

“Don’t overthink. I can’t use it; I am no Mage, nor do I have blood.”- Ozul had not yet told her his backstory. Ozul, at the moment, was powerful enough to deal with these types of problems, so he did not care if people knew about his particular circumstances, or not.

Raven was confused at to what Ozul meant when he said he does not have blood, but decided to ask this question later.

They were walking home, but when they passed by a dark alleyway, some people blocked them.

There were three people—a thin man with brown hairs followed by two burly and oddly tall guys.

“This is the kid?”- The thin man asked.

“Yes, Boss! The description matches with him! And look that girl has the Ring.”- One of the burly guys replied.

The burly guys were both Rank-3 Fighters, while the thin-looking man was a Rank-3 Mage. They were sent here by the Shop Owner!

“Boss, should we just finish it quickly? Shop Owner said that we should search him for any Cores and get the Ring back.”- The other burly guy suggested to the thin-looking man.

“Hm. Just hurry up and finish it already. That sly bastard won’t even spare children.”- The thin-looking man ordered the guys behind him.

‘Sigh...’- Ozul sighed as he knew the trouble would come—Not even bothering to argue with them.

Ozul just turned his hat into fine blades before instantly killing both of the burly men.

The thin-looking man was stunned because he still did not feel any Mana released from that brat! But those blades—surely they were a Spell, Right?!

But he was a Rank-3 Mage, So he hurriedly started casting all the defensive Spells in his arsenal. Alas, before he could even begin, a pitch-black needle pierced his head, and he fell with a thud.

A Rank-3 Mage and two Rank-3 Fighters were gone in just a matter of few seconds.

Ozul did not even bother to check their bodies and just started walking in the direction of their house together with Raven.

They arrived at the home and moved towards the living room. On the way, they had bought some food and stored in the Spatial Ring.

Taking it out, Raven began to gulp it down. Ozul did not even take a bite. Remembering her earlier curiosity, Raven asked Ozul;

“Ozul... you said that you are not a Mage, and also that you do not have blood... How?”- Raven could not get why he would say something like that.

“This black mass is not a Spell. It’s just something only I can do.”- Ozul said while changing the Ball of Purity into many shapes one after another.

“As for not having blood, I was just born this way.”- Ozul did not bother explaining further as he just wanted to have a good nap right now.

It was already night time. So he walked outside and just rested against the tree while looking at the sky. The clouds were gone, and only the Void was seen behind some annoying fireflies...

Ozul quickly fell asleep because he was exhausted after hunting all-day.