Shinobi From Hell

Klautz's attention turned to her. He looked up at her face as he tilted his head in confusion.

Why? I don't have any more options. My potions have run out."

That was obviously a lie.

'But Maebi doesn't need to know.' Klautz thought.

It served a good purpose to trick her.

Maebi cheeks inflated into a pout.

"That's a pity. Today is the last day I will be helping you out," she claimed.

Klautz frowned. His eyebrows almost met.

If one were to count today, Maebi had been helping Klautz for just two days. Not that didn't prove to gain Klautz an exponential growth in strength. The other newbies could never even hope to catch up to him now.

"Why?" he asked.

Maebi sighed.

"Tomorrow the second Gen will arrive at the scene. So I am not supposed to face their presence."

Maebi sounded like someone who was shy to meet with people, but that was hardly the case. The Second Gen was bad news even for her. Not because of their strength - Maebi was stronger than them. But because of their families. And Klautz knew that better than anyone else.

"So they are coming huh?" Klautz thought.

'That is why Gozoto was in a panic.'

If the killer is not found by today and more deaths like these happen after their arrival. It would be but a time's matter for the newbies' deaths to come to the public notice. What follows after that could be anyone's guess.

The newbies might be weak, but they hold a symbolic representation for the 'Residents'. The newbies are the residents' only link to the place that they once called home. The summoning of the newbies brought hope to them who had desires to one day be summoned back to earth. 

No one wants to live in hell.

There were times when a newbie due to a sudden summoning bringing back items that were produced back to earth. It might be just an empty coke bottle or any other junk, but some people in hell treated them like treasures. They had their memories tied to such items.

It was anyone's guess what the death of the newbies meant to them.

'But last time nothing like this happened.'

Klautz could only wonder if his own presence was changing the course of time. Butterfly effect they call it but still, it doesn't make sense. Klautz had never saved anyone other than Verona, let alone a killer. And that day Verona was helpless to his whims.

'That means all the more a reason for me to focus on this.'

Klautz had just tonight to figure out and have any chance at cornering the killer.

Maebi wanted Klautz to hurry and do his hunting. That is why she revealed the information which they would be learning tomorrow anyway. 

But it turned out that it had the opposite effect on the man. It backfired. Klautz was driven to put in even more hours trying to figure out what was wrong.

Klautz wanted to create order in the human world after he grew to significant strength. But if it goes into chaos Klautz's work would be so much harder.

'By any means, he must go down today. No matter who finds him first.'

The human brain has strange ways of functioning. With no incentives or deadlines, they could rarely complete their work. But let the deadline close in and their brains would run like horses.

Klautz was the same and so was Gozoto. It was just that Klautz was informed of the project just a day before the deadline.   

Klautz's eyes scanned across the data as he tried to make sense of it. Every number and every letter opened up new theories and possibilities.

Thus using the method of falsification, Klautz drew in towards the truth as he discarded more and more possibilities.

'He looks like a newbie.'

That was what Klautz thought after scanning the data. The killer didn't have the brains of a professional for the data was like a swiftly flowing river instead of a jagged mountain. The information seemed like they were interconnected.

The killer had simply used the same move too many times. While, there is nothing wrong with that, but he was giving away valuable data on his killing patterns and the targets he was choosing. With enough information, it was possible to predict the next target.

It is claimed that 90% of the tasks that we do, we do subconsciously. The killer had done but made one small mistake. He had chosen his targets based on his urges and subconscious instinct rather than to think it out himself.

Yet such a newbie was able to escape the eyes of countless guards.

One thing that had specifically caught onto Klautz eyes was that most of the people who were killed were women. And they had supposedly high rates of expenditure when considering their incomes.

Klautz too was amongst the ones who had high expenditures. He used most of his money for his potions.

'But not everyone would think like me.' Klautz thought.

A particular memory resurfaced in Klautz's mind.

[Flashback]

Klautz walked up to Verona, slashing a few skeletons in between."Don't you have any stamina potions?" Klautz asked as he took another sip of what was remaining on his vial.

"Stamina Potions?"

Verona tilted her head to the side. Selena wasn't the only one who wasn't able to pay attention to the speeches thanks to Klautz and his mischiefs.

Klautz frowned.

"What did you spend your money on?"

Klautz asked, tossing away his vial as he couldn't contain his curiosity. The vial struck to the ground as the glass shattered to pieces.

"Umm… Clothes?"

Klautz couldn't help but slap his face.

[Flashback ends]

Klautz squinted his eyes.

'This analogy specifically holds true since most targets were women.'

That was what it looked like.

  ***

Author:

Creation is hard for authors. Cheer me up with your power stones.

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