-Squash.
"Huh?"
A ringing sound clogged his ears strongly. He staggered, tripping on blood, and the guard's body fell on top of him as his spine hit the floor and the impact clouded his vision.
-Cough!
A burning sensation creeping inside his throat made him gag and cough. Blood was still pouring out of the man's body and all around him.
It was horrifyingly warm.
Psyche lifted his arms and tried to push the man's body away in vain. Whatever it was that gave him strength, it was gone now.
He struggled, shifted, moved, and pushed as hard as his wimpy body allowed him to, only managing to move enough to free his torso and part of his legs.
His body completely collapsed on the floor, unable to free his legs.
'Did I just…'
Did he kill a person?
How?
He kicked in vain. The body was too heavy.
If he couldn't even get the man's body off of him, how did he just do that?
-Cough!Cough!Cough!
Psyche felt the bile rise through his throat.
Watching the limp, headless body with blood completely showering his trousers, his head kept spinning.
And soon enough, he lost consciousness.
* * *
When Psyche first knew about his ability, he didn't tell anyone.
Being an illegitimate son, he had learned a few things. And set a very important set of rules for himself.
Number one. Make sure everyone thinks you're useless.
Number two. Never fall in love.
And finally, number three: Don't attract attention.
Numbers one and three may seem similar. Yes, not attracting attention included not showcasing his intellectual and physical abilities, but there was a clear difference between the two, given his own special circumstances.
At the tender age of five years old, Psyche already excelled far above other children his age. Math, science, literature, and other normal school subjects were nothing to him. And while he didn't even try to, he just kept winning prizes and astonishing his teachers.
This didn't make his eldest brother, Adolphe, very happy.
Even though Adolphe was barely fifteen at the time, he already had the mind of a comic super villain. As such, his brother tricked him into an outdoor game of soccer and took him to an abandoned building near his grandfather's mansion. He didn't know of this until much later, but the place used to be a nuclear complex that was allegedly never put to use.
There, he confessed to wanting to throw Psyche in one of the tanks.
'I remember later reading a comic and doubting if Adolphe didn't mean to go against copyright laws. But no, this was all his own vivid imagination. That bastard.'
However, he didn't need to follow through.
Psyche was still a bright child, but still a child nonetheless, and the mere thought of being left alone in an unfamiliar place without his big brother was chilling.
Having achieved his purpose of completely scaring the hell out of Psyche, Adolphe went back to the manor, and he followed him.
Psyche suspected he only wanted to scare him, as older brothers did. But he didn't actually believe he could ever harm him.
He happily forgot about what had just happened.
And as soon as they arrived, Adolphe pushed him from the second-floor balcony.
'At least it wasn't the tank.' Is what Psyche thought of as he fell down and broke two ribs, both legs, and one arm.
And that same thought followed him throughout his middle school years when Adolphe paid special attention to making sure he could bully Psyche every time the bell rang.
In the end, Psyche, being the smart child he was, reached the conclusion that, since his family didn't care about him even when he proved to be a genius, an A+ simply wasn't worth getting beaten up for. And he started being extra careful during tests, so as not to score above the passing grade.
Adolphe soon forgot about him, except on the numbered occasions that made Psyche's resolve to not appear intelligent only deepen.
So, the first rule is specifically targeted at his brother: Make sure Adolphe thinks you're useless.
"Make sure everyone thinks you're less smart and dependable than Adolphe, and that you would never stand in his way."
And it had worked for twenty years.
The third rule, however, had a wider reach.
After he turned 15, puberty hit Psyche. Unfortunately, this was also the time of his awakening.
Instead of acne and growing aches, Psyche got the strength and agility of an F-Class hunter, which was only slightly stronger than that of a human.
But, since the average age to awaken your hunter class was above 17, the difference between him and other kids was significant.
This wasn't the problem.
He was born an illegitimate child, rejected by all of his family, and was even a miserable F-Class Hunter.
All of these weren't the problem.
No, his rotten luck was actually about to get worse.
S-Class ability.
[Charm.]
This god-forsaken ability was the problem.
[...!]
[...is still in effect!]
Psyche woke up feeling lighter.
Not only because someone had removed the grotesque corpse from above him, but also because he felt weirdly refreshed.
It was as if he had slept for days, eaten his fill, and even done a whole workout routine.
But none of those things had happened.
He was still covered in blood, his pants half undone, and his hands could feel the cold stone floor beneath them as he stood up slowly.
[An F-Class blessing is still in effect!]
Right, it was this.
'Aphrodite… no.'
It wasn't possible.
She had been following him for some time now, and just like Psyche had three rules, it seemed like Aphrodite only had one: To never make any moves that might benefit Psyche, even remotely.
Besides, he still remembered the characterization that the System showed him earlier.
"A blind night."
"Have you gone blind?"
Psyche was forcibly reminded that he wasn't alone.
"No, it would be more accurate to say you've gone mad."
The irritating voice of his eldest brother followed through the cracks.
Of course, Adolphe would never stand in his cell, but Psyche wasn't sure if talking secretly through a damaged stone wall was an adequate solution.
Well, he was supposed to act stupid, so he didn't say anything and just looked up silently.He couldn't see Adolphe from within the cell, but he didn't need to.
He could sense exactly where he was.
"Why?" Psyche asked, suddenly remembering the way someone had directed the camera away from his assault.
He wanted to ask his father, the auction's owner, directly.
But only Adolphe's uninterested tone replied.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
'Yeah, right.'
-Sight!
'Doesn't matter.'
He was ready to let go of the matter entirely when he spoke up.
"But you should've thought about it before making a mess at today's auction and skipping meals all week."
He laughed dryly.
"So this was a punishment?"
"Well, you have been so uncooperative these days… Father merely wants your help with the business."
So that's what it was.
His father did care about his main product.
In fact, he cared so much that he was willing to torture him in order to make him cooperate.
But before he could allow the anger to settle in his heart.
Adolphe said something else.
"... How else would we have gotten the semen you refuse to give us willingly?"
-Rattle.
And then he said something again.
"This is all your own fault."
-Rattle. Rattle.
And he smiled with all his teeth.
"So go ahead and cum if you don't want this to repeat."
-Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.
An empty bottle was thrown at his feet.
"Now."
It was as if Psyche had no control over his body.
Once again, adrenaline kicked in, and he felt a rush of energy revitalize him.
Except this time, he knew exactly where to aim.
Before Adolphe, who was having a wonderful time intimidating Psyche just moments before, his brother's eyes turned white, and his hands barely grasped the imposing rock wall before making it crumble entirely.
[A blind night sends you a blessing.]
[An F-Class blessing is still in effect!]
[An E-Class blessing is still in effect!]
And then, all he saw was red.
* * *
Inside a silver palace, a man rested.
His childlike appearance made him look joyful and naive. However, this child was covered in red markings all around his body, similar to those of devout practitioners who self-harmed as a form of repentance.
His body, seemingly covered in burn-like scars, moved only ever so slightly.
The child seemed to be deep in thought, while gazing absentmindedly into the air.
However, the small movement seemed to have done something, as one of the scars in his body faded momentarily. Leaving only damaged, blackened skin behind.
And in his innocent face, a vicious smile made itself comfortable.
Nowhere did he look innocent or childlike anymore. Instead, like light comes on when you turn on a switch, the child's angelic appearance was no more.
In the place where the child once stood, a demon-like man placed his eyes nowhere, with a faint joyful glint decorating his pupils and a smile that showed all of his teeth.
His eyes curved downwards like two crescent moons.
With a quick blink, his eyes shifted, now shining with a dangerous, blood-like red color.