Soulless Players

"HE KILLED EMILE!"

Loen's cry was so loud and intense that Steve almost wetted his pants. The fierceness in his voice was clearly delivered to Steve.

'He is angry.' This was what Steve thought after receiving Loen's overflowing emotion.

Steve's mind was so muddled that he wasn't able to catch what Loen had said. However, when his mind finally registered it, he instantly became frozen in astonishment.

'Impossible.' He denied it internally. He knew Philip could not have done it.

His confidence wasn't because he had entrapped and almost caught him but because of the light coming from Philip.

When he used his ability on Philip, only a minuscule golden light was radiating from him. It was as if his worth and potential were only that of a normal child.

That was why, at first, Steve felt confident in catching him in the forest. Later, when he lost, he thought it was only due to his inexperience, after all, Philip was a combatant main character.

But when Loen told him that Emile died at Philip's hand, his mind couldn't believe it.

'The golden light coming from Emile is 15 times more than Philip!' he murmured.

"How?" Steve said under his breath but his voice still reached Loen.

"What how?!" Loen's temper quickly rose from Steven's denial, "You seriously don't know? Out of all, you, who had been searching for him and possibly know him, don't know what he's capable of?"

Steve shook his head. He really didn't know that Philip was that strong. If Philip was, Philip should have killed him the moment he saw him at his house.

Seeing that Steve wasn't lying about his ignorance, Loen finally revealed the truth to him,

"Philip has the power to control torrents and thunderstorms." Loen paused, his eyes showing deep curiosity about Philip's power, "If it wasn't, Emile wouldn't be hit by a thunder."

Steve was shocked at this revelation. His mind was busy deciding whether to believe his statement or not.

In the end, he chose to believe him and thought, 'So that's why it rained. Maybe it's Philip's uniqueness…'

Just like how he was given a uniqueness of 'Golden Eyes', it was understandable for Philip to receive the same treatment as him.

'It's just too unexpected for him,' Steve pondered. He wanted to deny it but the heavy rain was too timely to be considered a coincidence.

But later he froze, as if he was reminded by something. Soon, he frowned and looked at Loen who had been observing his reaction.

Loen stared deeply at Steve, trying to catch his reaction. But after seeing that Steve was motionless, then he stopped.

In fact, Emile wasn't dead and Loen was only exaggerating due to his anger.

Emile is his best friend. Although it is true that Emile likes to play around and is extremely greedy with money, they are still close to each other.

When he heard about Emile's unconscious condition, he immediately panicked and volunteered to find Philip. But after a day of looking, his efforts were fruitless.

Loen couldn't find him. It was as if he disappeared like a bubble.

It was then he turned to Steve, supervising and forcing him to reveal the truth.

After what happened to Emile, the organization issued a loose restriction at their observation. With the threat of these children increasing, the organization also increased its surveillance of them.

'And the school is becoming more impatient after knowing Emile's situation.' Loen thought while his legs were shaking. He couldn't wait to know about their secrets.

CHOO! CHOO!

Loen was about to ask Steve about his secret but stopped upon hearing the loud horn of the steam locomotive.

"Let's stop for now," Loen told Steve his intention. He had already created a big trouble with his clay puppets earlier. If he chose to stay and continue his interrogation, there would be a more troublesome situation.

"For now, come with me. Let's continue our discussion in…" Loen halted, and a stinging pain came at his back.

CLANG!

Immediately, a metallic briefcase fell near his foot.

"Hisss.''Loen stumbled from the force but quickly regained his footing. He raised his hand with a ring on it. Afterward, a muddy clay came out, forming a vine with sharp edges.

However, his action was slow as a kick suddenly arrived and pushed his momentum backward.

"Ahhh…" It was then that Loen tripped and finally lost his footing.

But while he was falling, his fingers continued their movements, and clay vines quickly shot toward the reason behind his fall.

"NOW!" A man screamed out breathlessly.

BANG!

Before the vine could reach the man, Loen's eyes widened upon hearing a particular noise that every mage like him was afraid of.

BANG!

Another gunshot resounded the carriage.

Blood quickly slipped from Loen's stomach. It started from a single drop. Eventually, a bucket of it gushed down, unstoppable.

Loen's eyes were bloodshot as he looked at Raven. His vines stopped midair and later disintegrated into dust.

It's you!" Loen wailed, his face was on Raven, who was the source of the kick earlier.

Then his eyes turned to Steve behind him, "Impossible!"

Steve's hands were raised, and clasping on them was the gun he had hidden earlier.

This was the thing that Steve had been hiding inside his briefcase and later placed in his coat pocket.

"Why do you have that?" Loen's question was understandable as possession of firearms was highly illegal not only in this country but in the whole northern continent.

If a person was found out, not only his death awaited him but also of his family.

That was why the mercenary and Raven's reaction earlier was exaggerated. In this country, possession was scarier than dying from it.

Loen's eyes shook in disbelief. Steve may not know this but the law about its illegality was to protect mages like him.

Firearms and war weapons were initially created to combat against them. Its speed was enough to endanger the life of a mage who was known for casting slow magic.

'How come we didn't know? We have been observing Steve for years. Why didn't we know about this?!' Loen lamented, his eyes unblinking. The mud wall behind Steve quickly disintegrated into dust.

Even with the dust floating around the carriage, Loen's eyes remained steadily opened, without life reflected on them.

Steve looked at Loen's figure on the ground, breathless. And along with his death was the sound of a bell ringing in his ears.

'It's the system!'

When he was about to open his system, Raven quickly came to him and hurriedly said, "Let's go!"

Hearing footsteps running in their direction, Steve hid the gun back in his coat and ran toward Raven.

Raven picked Steve up and was about to jump out but heard the child in his arms yelling, "Wait!"

Steve quickly went down and bent to pick up the ring on Loen's finger.

After this short but quick action, Steve returned to Raven's arms and escaped from the running locomotive.

***

Four hours later, Steve and Raven were found standing near a small shack tinkering with the padlock on the door.

After successfully unlocking the door, Raven entered and put Steve on a tiny chair nearby.

"Hehehe." Steve giggled as he looked up in admiration at Raven.

He had already deemed himself a dead person earlier. However, the arrival of Raven saved him. If it weren't for him, Steve would've found himself surrounded by Loen's organization by now.

Feeling his uncomfortable wet clothes, he started taking them out, putting the gun and the ring on the nearby table.

After undressing, Steve wiped himself with a clean cloth and spoke out what was on his mind,

"How did you arrive behind Loen earlier?" Steve still couldn't believe what had happened. Raven was like a Spiderman in his old world, showing out of nowhere like a hero.

"The window," Raven answered unhurriedly, his eyes glued on the table.

Hearing his answer, Steve excitedly jumped out of his seat and guessed Raven's set of actions.

"So after you broke free from Loen's clay puppet, you escaped through the window, climbed up at the top, and crawled your way out towards the back door behind Loen!"

Raven smiled and said, "Correct." He walked to the table and grabbed the gun on it.

While he was examining the gun in his hands, he asked, "Where did you get this thing?"

Steve immediately replied, his tone couldn't hide the joy from their successful escape, "Oh that, I just found it buried on the ground."

Loen's surprise earlier was expected as he had found it way before he started interfering with their family business, meaning way before Loen's hidden organization spied on him.

'It was a fortuitous encounter.' Steve thought. When he was four years old playing in their backyard, he noticed a plot glowing more brightly compared to other areas.

Curious, he dug into the ground and saw the gun hidden beneath it.

Knowing that it was illegal, Steve hid it so deeply that even his parents and nanny didn't know about its existence.

It was only now he brought it in his briefcase, hiding it in a locker near their McRonalds store at the train station.

CLUNG!

"I see…" Raven loaded the gun and sat on the nearby chair.

He then pointed the gun toward Steve and whispered,

"Thank you for the explanation, soulless player."

Immediately, Raven's figure became small. Later, his face was reconstructed, surfacing the face of an eight-year-old child on it.

Steve trembled and dropped the cloth in his hand. His eyes were glued to Raven's sudden transformation. And when a new familiar face appeared on his head, Steve's eyes widened as he howled out the name of the owner of the face,

"PHILIP!"