Andreas placed his hands on his hips and exhaled.
He felt something scratch his leg and looked down.
A small bright blue cat looked up at him.
"Manchy." Andreas picked him up and smiled. "Where have you been... do you always teleport to me?"
Manchy nodded.
Andreas stopped smiling, and Manchy shivered. He scratched the cat's neck with one finger and placed him on his head.
"So Andrew." He looked at him. "I hope you understand why I'm so corny right now."
"Yeah." Andrew looked at the path of destruction visible through the wall. "So what are you gonna do? I can't have you killing everyone."
"Don't worry. I'm only gonna kill Marcel and take a bath and sleep my worries away for a while."
Andreas paused. "Hmm. Well, no. I won't be doing that."
"Doing what exactly?"
"Ghost hunting. I thought I could ignore the serious stuff and do some stupid things until I randomly learned to handle the serious stuff or die trying."
"Oh. Well, me and a couple of our classmates are going on this expedition, so how about—"
"No." Andreas unfolded and refolded his arms. "I'm pretty sure you're doing something important, and I don't want a part of that." He paused. "But I'll think it over."
"Okay. But do you have to kill Marcel? He's a good friend of mine."
"Well. If that's the case, I'll just leave him disabled."
"What? Isn't that harsh? I'm sure he had a good reason for what he did. I mean, even I'd be scared of someone who can recover from decapitation and walk around with a frozen heart."
"I guess." Andreas said. "But no. I'm angry, and someone's life must be ruined to ease my heart."
"No, sorry, Andreas, I can't let you do that." Andrew dropped into a fighting stance.
Andreas looked at him.
"So Andy, did I explain my ability to you?"
"Not really. You just said it was a do-whatever-you-want power."
"Right." Andreas returned his hands to his hips. "So basically, I learned to do it by copying Aldric's uniqueness. I think it had to do with something about bringing prayers into physical phenomena, like a prayer to be healed means he could heal you, even without a healing power or spell."
He paused.
"But for me, it's different. Unlike Aldric, I don't need to answer other people's wishes to use my ability. There's no limit on the amount or magnitude. And I don't even need to call it a prayer. Unfortunately, the limitations are nonexisten...and I can just think it and —"
A table appeared directly in front of Andrew, plates and all.
Andrew stepped back.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you're my friend." Andreas said it plainly. "And I'm not in a mood where I can hold back enough not to kill you. The people next to me should be thanking god for how long I've let them stay frozen instead of dead."
Andrew was quiet for a moment.
"I hear you. But I never duck a fade."
"I respect that." Andreas said. "So for now, I'll be the one to do that."
"What?"
"Sleep. Andreas"
Everyone in the room dropped. The four fighters, the priest, the suited men, Andrew, and all of them went down cleanly and didn't get up. Dongmei, Naxys, Anat, and Kihoko remained standing.
Manchy stayed on his head and appeared unbothered.
Andreas turned to Kihoko.
"So Kihoko." He said. "Just to be safe... is it okay if I kill Marcel?"
Kihoko looked at him.
"Absolutely," she said. "No one has the right to stop you from doing as you wish."
"Thanks." Andreas said. He glanced around at the sleeping bodies on the floor.
"Someone should really go check on Dang."
Dongmei was already walking toward the broken wall.
"I'll go," she said reluctantly."
Andreas watched her for a moment and then turned back to the room.
"I guess we should start going." He paused. "Miss Kihoko. What's the quickest way to reach Marcel?"
Kihoko considered this briefly.
"I think your blue cat might help."
Andreas squinted. Manchy?
He reached up and lifted the cat from his head, holding him at eye level. Manchy looked back at him with the patience of something that had been waiting to be asked.
"Hey, Munchy." Andreas said. "Can you help me get to this Marcel guy."
Munchy nodded once.
The blue flames came without warning. They didn't burn. They simply replaced everything, swallowing Andreas, kihoko, Anat, and Naxys whole in a quiet rush of color until there was nothing left of the room.
Then, there was the back of a head.
Marcel's head, specifically. He was seated, relaxed in the way people are when they believe nothing in the world is currently their problem. He had a drink in his hand and was sipping it with the particular satisfaction of someone who'd recently done something he was proud of.
Across from him, Katlego looked up.
And saw Andreas standing directly behind Marcel.
Andreas pulls Marcel's shoulder, and once seeing his face, he places his other hand on his black hair , pulls his hair and clothing, and turns to throw Marcel to the wall behind him.
Katlego tries to stand up, but Naxys and Kihoko push him back down by pressing on his shoulder with incredible strength from one hand on each shoulder.
Marcel stands up with visible shock on his face as he asks," How did you survive the witch?"
Andreas makes Marcel be lifted and pressed against the wall.
And look at Marcel as he resisted the force pinning to the wall, and Andreas increased it to make sure that he didn't ascape.
Andreas looks at him and thinks for a moment and, in a calm tone, says, "Wow! You're very strong. I was able to crush someone foot with that much force. I wonder how you're able to do that, or maybe you were born like that."
Andreas listens to Marcels groaning and thinks to himself.
Should I really hurt him? It's not i like doing it, but if I don't do it, he might try to kill me again, but is it really what I want to do...
Andreas twisted Marcel's legs till everyone heard a popping sound followed by Marcel's screams and hot blood flowd down the wall from Marcels knees.
Andreas convered his mouth as he felt close to vomiting.
Yeah. This is how I should act. I need some control if I want to have the adventure I want...
The door to the room burst open as guards ran through a pointed their guns toward andreas.
"Stop it!" Kihoko commanded. And the guard turned to look at each other and with worried looks left the the room after one of the guards said," Our apologies Mam."