Lies

'It felt Good'

He said to himself, in a way answering to the voice. 'The rain should cover my tracks' he thought to himself as he started heading back to the meeting point. *Snarl* He heard a deep and vigorous snarl coming in front of him. He waited as the sound became more and more clear and felt closer. A wild magical fox came from the bushes baring its large white fangs as it came closer to Daniel. 'Damn it! The scent of blood must have attracted it' he thought to himself as he got ready to fight.

Magical beasts are more powerful and ferocious than normal animals. Being bigger in size and also having a more powerful body is just one of the traits the magical beasts have. Some are even capable of using their Mana to initiate attacks.

This fox in particular was thrice the size of a normal one. Even possessing more powerful and sharp instincts as compared to low-grade magical beasts. Extending its claws, it starts running in Daniel's direction.

*Thud*

Daniel jumped to his left, barely missing the fox's claws. The fox jumped on Daniel, pinning him to the ground. "Get off me you fool!" Daniel grunted as he quickly imagined his right hand becoming a blade. The fox jumped backward, believing in his instincts. A few moments late and Daniel would have cut the fox in two. He stood up, groaning. 'That thing was sure heavy!' he thought to himself before the fox started running towards him, again. But this time he was ready. As soon as the fox closed the gap, Daniel leaped to his right and drove his blade horizontally towards the fox.

*Slash* He cut him straight in two parts. Bits of carcasses and blood flew all across the area as the dead fox, now in two horizontal parts fell on the ground. A small orb of light escaped from the fox's body entering straight into Daniel.

Dragging the fox's carcasses back to the meeting place, he asked a question to the voice 'What is the orb of light entering me every time I kill something?'. At first, he heard a little chuckle inside his head and then a reply 'Their magical essence or in a more blunt way their souls'. 'So I am collecting souls now?' he asked once again in a more nonchalant tone. 'No, you are collecting their magical essence, their core which contains all their mana and power. The stronger being you kill, the stronger essence you will get and the stronger essence you get the more powerful you will be. S for their soul, it is still being sent to the afterlife.'

'So, there really is an afterlife, huh?'

'There always is, kid. There always is.'

By the time their conversation ended they had already ready the temporarily set camp at the entrance of the forest. Half of the students that were already there were horrified at the sight of a hooded boy with patches of blood on him carrying a corpse of a giant fox cut equally between two in both his hands.

Daniel dragged the corpse to Professor Albert, who was standing there with his mouth hung open. *Thud* He dropped both the parts of the fox and went to sit near a tree under its shade. Approximately thirty minutes later all the students gathered near Professor Albert. Daniel stood up and walked to the group as well. After examining all the corpses of the magical beasts, he came to a conclusion.

"The most powerful beast was slain by Daniel Wolferd. It was a Rank-D Magical Fox!" he said out loud in front of everyone. *mutters* *mutters* "Wasn't he the weakest?" "How did he kill such a powerful beast" "I thought he was a loser!"

"Quite Everyone!" Professor Albert shouted as he started counting the number of students currently present. "One of the students is not here. Can anyone tell me who is it?" Professor Albert asked figuring out that there was one less student in the group.

"It's Dylan, he's missing!". Dylan's one of the two friends said. "I saw him leaving with Daniel in the morning!" said the other one. All eyes turned to Daniel, "I don't know. Halfway in he left me saying I was slowing him down and bolted off deeper into the forest leaving me behind. I don't know what happened to him after that" He said with a calm voice.

'Nice kid. You are getting good!' A voice inside his said, chuckling.

"Alright, first we have to get out of here. I'll call more people to search for Dylan after that!" Professor Albert said with a worried look on his face.

It was the crack of dusk when Daniel heard knocking on his door. *Knock* *Knock* He opened the to find two of Dylan's lackeys standing in front of him. "We want to talk to you," one of them said in a very angry tone. "Come on in then," Daniel said motioning his hand for them to come in.

All three of them sat down in the small room facing each other. "We know you did something to Dylan!" one of them broke the silence. "Do you have any proof?" Daniel asked in a very nonchalant way. "No... but we are sure that-" "Then I have done nothing to him".

They wanted to hit him but he was the talk of the whole first year of the academy. The news of a boy who killed a Rank-D magical beast was famous in the whole school and was a hot topic of discussion for the whole academy. On top of that, they had seen him dragging the corpse of the dead fox in both his hands, they were scared.

"Well, then if you have nothing else to talk to, I would suggest you two to please leave my room," he said motioning them towards the door.

One of them stood up clenching his fist. He had enough. He lunged at Daniel, jumping towards him to throw a punch. Daniel smirked. He simply got up as the time went slow and everything near him once again felt obtuse. He simply shifted left and punched him straight in his belly. He flew across the room, hitting the wall. Blood splattered from his mouth as he landed on the ground, unconscious.

His hood came undone in the process revealing his new features. The other guy who was still conscious started panting, he was scared out of his wits. Looking towards Daniel, afraid, he asked "Y-you are not Daniel! You've... changed". It was clear by just looking at him that he was scared, he didn't want the same thing to happen to him that just happened to his friend.

Daniel looked at him with his glowing crimson eyes and calmly replied "Well, people change. It's either that you change with them or for them".