Chapter 23: No way out

this is a fictional story by realTensai

Victor already left, yet Alvis kept sitting on the bench, having to digest the information. Alvis found out that Lia had something to do with the Assassin Organization that sent someone to kill him. This was not something he could just accept.

Lia, the perfect girl, was an assassin behind the scenes?

This could not be true!

Even though he did not want to believe it, he could not deny the facts. Alvis was not naïve, so he knew Lia had a connection with them. But he kept hoping that perhaps her parents were a part of the organization, but Lia was not. If that was the case, then everything would start to make sense, too.

Alvis always wondered what he had to save her from, but if she had something to do with the Assassin Organization, the answer was obvious. She had to be saved from them!

Multiple possibilities ran through Alvis’ head and each one of those made sense. However, what most likely could be the case was that the Assassin’s Organization forced her to join them.

Alvis did not think Lia was a part of them and assumed she only had a connection to them, maybe through her parents. Her changed behavior started after the summer break, so maybe within this time, the Organization forced her to join them. And maybe his level ended by the end of the two weeks, because this was the day she officially joined.

So Alvis had to save her and prevent her from joining!

This was the conclusion Alvis came to. He finally got the answer he needed. He finally knew what saving the girl meant!

Alvis balled his fist, celebrating this small win. An exhausted smile formed on his face, though it quickly vanished as soon as he realized what the level demanded of him. Alvis would have to save Lia from the Assassin’s Organization. Not from one assassin, but from the entire organization! Only now did he understand the difficulty of it.

How the hell am I supposed to do that?!

Alvis could barely defeat one assassin, so having to take on the entire organization was simply impossible. No matter how strong he would become, he could not imagine defeating all of them.

However, Alvis knew there had to be another way. The level stated he should save the girl, not defeat the entire Assassin Organization. Alvis just concluded that one would not go without the other. But maybe he could save Lia without having to beat all the assassins. It made sense in theory, yet Alvis would have to find that path first before he could act.

With that being said, Alvis knew he had to find out the last bit of information from Lia. The last crucial detail that would enable him to save her.

Lia would not just tell him that, so much was obvious. Even Victor would not be able to find that out. Hence, if Alvis wanted to know, he had to use unconventional means.

He did not look forward to doing that, but what had to be done had to be done.

——

It was after school and Alvis already had finished his student council duties. Yet he did not go home right away. He had to wait for her to leave, too.

Today was the day Alvis would execute his plan. Today, he would trail Lia.

He knew how morally wrong it was what he was about to do, yet he had no choice. In the end, he wanted to save her, so the end justified the means. This was what he talked himself into believing.

Alvis had to wait for about half an hour before Lia left the student council room. He had waited in a corner where she couldn’t notice him. When she then walked out, Alvis’ mission began.

Maneuvering through the hallway, Alvis kept a safe distance as he followed Lia. Even though school was long over, there were still other students in school, so Alvis did not stand out. He tried to keep his presence low so that Lia would not notice him.

She then left the school grounds, and Alvis followed her carefully. The route she took indicated she would go to the train station. Alvis knew she always took the hyper train to get to school, so he already had bought a ticket for the day.

The train station was next to the school, so it did not take long for them to arrive. Until now, Lia had not noticed him yet, which was optimal for Alvis. He would just try to sneak into the same train without her seeing him. But even if she would notice him, he could still talk himself out by saying he had something to do in the area.

The hyper train arrived in time and Lia went in. Alvis followed her, getting in at another door. It was as crowded as ever, probably due to the people coming back from work. Yet this only helped Alvis to stay unnoticed. Though he had to make sure that he could see Lia, or else he would not know when she got off.

With every station that passed, people got off and on. The number of people on the train fluctuated, but not so much Lia would see Alvis. When the train arrived in Beqa, Lia finally got off. Alvis, who had tried his best not to lose focus while being on the train for so long, followed her.

It was with entering the streets of Beqa, nausea overcame him. It was a hard task to stay unnoticed, considering how few people walked around. Though this was not the reason for his uneasiness.

Never before had Alvis been in Beqa, though this was not something he would voluntarily want to change. Just one look at the dirty streets and the shady people walking around was enough for him to know it lived up to its reputation.

However, Alvis knew Lia did not live in Beqa. If his information were correct, and he knew they were correct, Lia lived in Ruyfeld, which was just next to Utopia. Beqa was in the opposite direction.

Though this just confirmed Lia was not heading home. And considering that they were in Beqa, Alvis could assume where she was going. If the Assassin Organization had a hiding place, it could only be in Beqa.

Alvis’ heart knocked against his ribcage as he realized how close he was to unveiling the mystery. It could not have been more convenient for him. If Lia would have gone home, there was nothing Alvis could have found out. By her going to Beqa, Alvis’ chances of discovering her ties to the organization and why he had to save her skyrocketed.

Alvis increased the distance between him and Lia just to be on the safe side. He could not afford to be caught now that everything went his way. It became increasingly more difficult to keep up with Lia without being noticed because the areas she went to became less and less habited. Though, to his luck, Lia did not suddenly just turn around, which made Alvis’ job easier.

After what felt like an eternity, Lia came to a halt in an abandoned alley. The fact it was an abandoned alley in Beqa said everything one had to know about the alley. It would not surprise Alvis if he would find a dead body lying next to him. Alvis took one quick glance to the side, just in case.

There was no way Alvis would enter the alley. His trembling legs would not let him, though the alley ended in a dead end, anyway. He would just wait at the corner of the entrance to observe Lia. However, Alvis wondered why Lia went into the alley. It was a dead end, after all, and Alvis could not see someone else. Though as soon as this thought crossed his mind, a man in red simply spawned before Lia.

Alvis almost gasped out loud, being surprised by the sudden arrival of the man in red. A shiver ran down his spine as the presence of the man loomed over the alley. Alvis tried his best to control his shaking, though his body would not listen to him, remembering the malice of a certain vampire.

Yet Alvis had to calm himself down, else everything would have been for naught! He breathed in and out, his body slowly getting used to the tense atmosphere. By concealing his aura to the utmost, even trained assassins would not notice him. When his heartbeat was not so loud anymore that he could hear nothing besides it, he tried to listen to their conversation. Carefully he peaked, moving his head a bit towards them.

“…. He will tell you what is up next. My job is to inform you he is calling for you.”

Alvis just heard the end of their conversation and could not understand what they were talking about. Yet he had an idea who this he was they were talking about.

“Tell him I will come now. You can go first.”

“Understand.”

With those words, their conversation ended, and the man disappeared in the same mysterious way he arrived. By the way, he was acting and talking; it seemed like he respected Lia. Alvis assumed he could be under her in their hierarchy. This may seem subtle, though Alvis thought it could be crucial to identifying Lia’s position in the organization.

“You can come out now.”

Alvis’ heart dropped.

An unusual amount of cold sweat came along with his rising body temperature. He could not move or make a sound while his brain tried to process those simple words.

She had noticed him!

How?

He had felt like he did a good job concealing his presence, but she still somehow noticed him.

What now?

Escaping now that she had noticed him was not possible. Though just showing himself could not be a good idea either. With every millisecond that passed, the decision weighed heavier on him, though in the end, he made his move.

“I surrender,” Alvis said, stepping out of his hiding spot with his arms in the air.

Lia just looked at him, her green eyes as cold as emerald stones.

“Why have you been following me, Alvis? — Hah, you know what? You don’t even have to answer. All that comes out of your mouth is a lie anyway, and I already know the answer.”

Alvis’ pupils widened. Her words hit him like gun shots, shattering his heart into tiny pieces.

What is up with her hostility?

It was the truth that he had been following her, yet her response hinted she did not trust him to begin with. Even though they were student council buddies, she did not hesitate to throw such words at him. Yet Alvis would bear it. He still wanted to save her in this run!

“I know I probably seem very suspicious and like a creepy stalker, but you have to hear me out. I know that you have ties to the Assassin Organization. But no need to worry, I won’t tell anyone. I want to help you!”

Alvis tried his best to convey his message, yet it fell on deaf ears. Lia’s eyes became even colder and the atmosphere became so tense Alvis found it hard to breathe.

“I don’t believe you. Everything you have ever told me was a lie. Ever since you came to us and asked if you could join the student council, you only lied,“ Lia said, looking as if she were talking to trash. “You know, I am an empath, which means I can easily tell if someone lies to me. And even the way you acted was suspicious. Do you think I did not notice that you had been gathering information about me behind my back?”

The words got stucked in Alvis’ throat and he struggled to answer after having been confronted with so many facts. All she said was true, yet she had got it wrong. Every time Alvis had lied to her, it was just the most effective way to convince her. It was not because he got a malicious ulterior motive, but rather the opposite. He wanted to save her! He could not have just told her that!

Shit!

“I know what you are up to. You following me today just confirmed my suspicions. Now everything makes sense. You are part of the Devil Cult! That is why the Organization wanted to see you dead. And that is why you kept an eye on me. You wanted to get to the Organization through me.”

I don’t like the direction this is heading to.

Alvis did not understand half of the things Lia said, yet he knew she got it all wrong. She thought Alvis was a part of the Devil Cult, which could not be further from the truth. Yet she already believed in her explanation, so it would be impossible for Alvis to convince her otherwise.

Though he just got an idea, that could save him.

“Y-You are an empath, right? So you can check my emotions now. I am not part of this Devil Cult, and I only want to help you. Check if I am lying!”

“----- I see you already believe your own lies now. You are insane. That is why it seems like you are telling the truth.”

S-She does not believe me!

“Why? Why don’t you trust me?! After all the time we spent together! You can sense that I am not lying! I am not your enemy! I just want to help you! This is why I joined the student council. I went out of my way to save you! Why don’t you trust me?!”

Alvis shouted, his voice conveying his emotions. The crack in his voice showed that he was not used to raising his voice. Though his desperate claim did not change anything.

What more could he do?! Why did everything have to go wrong?!

“You devil worshipers are all insane! I have had enough of you. Die!”

Lia opened both her palms, gathering mana in them. In the next instance, two wind arrows were flying next to her, their size as big as a small human.

She wants to kill me!

It was at this moment that Alvis realized Lia did not simply have a connection to the Assassin Organization. He had been wrong about his assumption. She was part of them!

Lia was an assassin!

Once again, Alvis had to face an assassin. His brain hurt as he realized he was about to fight the person he had to save. Yet he did not just want to get himself killed like that. If she would attack him, he would fight back. And he would not hold back!

Alvis had spent every restart honing his mana skills. His mana even increased to 96, which he found incredible. However, through his training, he also found out how he could use his mastermind skill to the fullest.

By activating it, his intelligence rose by ten stat points for one minute and twenty seconds. Those twenty seconds came from him leveling up the skill. Alvis found out that his higher intelligence influenced the difficulty of the spells he could cast. The higher his intelligence, the more difficult spells he could cast. If he activated mastermind, his spell casting got on another level.

And this he did! He did not want to lose this fight.

The two wind arrows flew at Alvis, yet he created an earth wall to protect him. The arrows shattered the earth wall, but Alvis was unscathed.

“I won’t just let myself get kill-”

Alvis could not talk anymore. Nor could he move an inch. Paralyzed, he just stood there. He tried his best to break free from the attack, yet in vain.

W-What happened?!

Lia had hypnotized him.

As soon as he looked into her shining green eyes, the spell hit him.

D-Don’t tell me she hypnotized me?!

It was an ancient technique that only a selected few vampires could cast. Alvis had only read about this in books and he never would have thought Lia could cast it. She was only half-vampire too!

Desperately he tried to move, but it was as if he had lost control over his body. He could not even close his eyes and had to see how a wind arrow flew straight into his head. The sounds of his head shattering into pieces resounded in the alley, ending everything.

[YOU DIED!]