Chapter 20: Principles of the Knife
"Uhm Hi!" Atlas said as he put down his foods on the table where Alia is sitting. Alia who was drinking her coffee looked up to see who called her. After seeing that it was Atlas she was surprised, and she remembered the scene she saw earlier again where Atlas was smiling while talking to Sophia. She decided to go out tonight because she can't sleep while that scene keeps on bugging her mind, who would have guessed that fate played with her and bring Atlas directly in front of her.
"…" She just looked at Atlas, she noticed the change in Atlas, he seems to be a little fitter and a little bit more handsome. Alia blushed after thinking about it. She turned her head to avoid getting discovered by Atlas. But this action of her was misinterpreted by Atlas.
"Are you still angry at me for holding your hands? I'm sorry about that I-" Atlas thought that she was still angry about the fact that she held her hand the last day, but before he could finish his explanation Alia cut her off.
"Thank you!" Alia said, she immediately cut off Atlas' speech because he kept mentioning about the holding hand scene in front of her making her more embarrassed! Added the fact that he carried her on his back with no bra, from 5th to ground floor, she was so embarrassed and angry at him at the same time because it feels like she's been harassed by him unintentionally. After seeing him on the Ligaya Boarding house again she doesn't know what to do, all her vows to make him pay vanished.
"Ah, it's nothing! My conscience would have killed me if I didn't save you that day" Atlas said. If it wasn't for the fact that he gained that ability on the same day the fire broke out he wouldn't have known that he could be a hero in this lifetime.
"How did you know I was there?" Alia asked. Nobody aside from her knows that she's sleeping that day. Also, she locked the door and the curtains are down, so nobody should have known that she's inside the room. Base on his effort in opening her door that day it seems like he really knows someone in there needs help.
This question of Alia caught him off guard. Atlas doesn't know what to do, who would believe him if he says that he saw her because he has an ability to see through objects and scan them? They would probably send him to a mental hospital if they heard this absurd reason. He has no choice but to think of an excuse that is believable. 'Think Atlas Think!' he repeated this mantra 3 times and a light bulb suddenly lightens up above his head: 'Aha!'.
"Believe it or not I saw you when you enter the Hotel and I was mesmerized by your beauty, so I followed you to your room secretly. After a few hours, the fire started, and I noticed that among the crowd who was evacuating from the 5th floor you are not present. I immediately rushed off to save you I'm not sure if you were still in your room but better safe than sorry! Hehe," Atlas said as an excuse. He doesn't know if Alia will believe it but that's all he could say right now.
"…" Alia who asked the question didn't expect to receive this kind of answer. She stayed silent but her heart is thumping like crazy. However, this didn't last long.
"But don't worry I don't like you anymore, so please don't be awkward around me haha!" Atlas said as he scratches the back of his head. He decided to say this in fear of receiving a flying kick from her, plus they'll be together in one classroom and one apartment for 4 years he can't afford to offend her.
This statement of Atlas is like pouring cold water on Alia, her imagination was immediately crashed after hearing this. She can't help but feel angry and glare at him. 'So you don't like me anymore, why? Because of that chic you're talking to earlier is that it?!' Alia was fuming in anger, she felt like Atlas played with her feelings, I mean, wait! It's not like I have feelings for him so why am I getting angry over this? Right, I should calm down and ignore this playboy in front of me.
Atlas who saw her ignoring him thought that she doesn't believe in what he said so he said it once again: "I mean it's true, I don't really like you! I promise! Cross my heart!" Atlas said intensely, lucky for the 2 of them the other customer is wearing a headset if not they would really be ashamed of what they're doing just now.
Alia's anger erupted this time, like a mad volcano that is erupting she said to Atlas: "OKAY! YOU DON'T LIKE ME I DON'T CARE!" she shouted on top of her lungs, she's really angry this time. It's fine if he doesn't like her it's not like she wants his affection anyway but why does he need to repeat it over and over again? She then realizes that she's overreacting, she stood up and walked out.
Atlas who was still dumbfounded just stared at her back while she leaves the stores. He doesn't know what just happened, he was just explaining to her and suddenly she shouted in anger. Atlas was clueless about what to do. 'I'm doomed I just offended a woman who can kick a robust man flying, my peaceful days are over' Atlas said in his head. He looked at his cup noodles and decided to eat the soggy noodles because it's been soaked in the water for too long. After eating the foods, he bought he's still hungry so before he goes out of the convenience store, he bought another batch of snacks.
Meanwhile, Alia who left the convenience store is now lost in the streets again, she can't find her way back to the dormitory again. Believe it or not, the reason why she's in the convenience store is because she got lost earlier as well. When she decided to walk outside for a bit because she can't sleep that walk drag her in front of the convenience store, in short, she got lost and find herself in front of the store. And right now, she's lost again, it seems like she'll rely on her luck again this time. She decided to walk and walk until she finds herself in front of the boarding house.
After a few minutes of walking, she reached a dark alley. Then she felt a cold wind touched her neck that brought her goosebumps all over her body. She turned around and saw a silhouette of a man walking towards her: "Assassin!" She concluded. She immediately ran, turns after turns, when she turned her back, she saw the assassin was following her closely. She ran quite smoothly despite the obstacles in the dark alley, she jumped and passed through every single one of them without slowing down, but the assassin is quite skillful as well. They ran and ran, each trying their best but despite the effort, Alia was trying to do to she couldn't shake off the assassin.
'It seems like my identity has been leaked' Alia said in her head. She began to breathe heavily as she feels the exhaustion brought by running at full speed. Even though her parents sent her to many martial art dojos she still a girl, with limited strength, the teachers in the dojos taught her what to do to save her life not to fight with a top assassin.
Alia was already feeling despair at this moment while strength was slowly draining out. She was about to stop running when a hand pulled her.
"Hmmm" Alia tried to struggle out of the man's grab. She can't speak because of the hand blocking her mouth. She was beginning to lose hope and began thinking of ways to kill her self to avoid being used by the enemies to take advantage of her family.
"Shhh! It's me Atlas" Atlas shushed her. After Atlas exited the convenience store, he remembered Alia, he couldn't help but be worried about her. He commanded the cube to scan the surroundings if Alia was still walking around. The system gave him a result, a 3d hologram where Alia was running, and someone was following her closely. After seeing this he immediately commanded the system to find the nearest possible way for him to catch up to her. The system gave him the results, considering the velocity of Alia and the time it will take Atlas to go there the system decided for him to wait in one of the alleys. After arriving there he activated his scanner and wait for Alia to reach his position.
After hearing that the man behind her is Atlas, Alia couldn't help but feel at ease. She turned her head and she saw Atlas' worried face, she felt touched, but before her imagination could reach far Atlas pulled her to ran away. The assassin is still running after them.
Atlas who's still holding Alia's hand kept on running, in terms of energy the assassin can't compare to him. Aside from the fact that the assassin is now tired after chasing Alia, Atlas has the energy supply from the cube. Despite this advantage luck isn't on their side, it seems like the assassin called for back-up. Just as they are about to reach the end of this alley and enter the main street a car suddenly stopped in front of the alley, blocking they're way out. Seeing this they are block front and back, Atlas decided to run on their left, that's their only way out.
After 5 minutes of running the once single assassin running after them became 5. This increase in numbers made it almost impossible for them to escape. And to add more difficulty, unfortunately, they ended up in a dead-end, the 5 assassins surrounded them.
"Boss let's capture both of them!" One assassin said. After Atlas heard that he unknowingly steps forward to position himself in front of Alia protecting her.
'Scan for possible weakness' Atlas commanded as he looked at the 5 assassins, he's ready to fight it out with them, after all the running he's still at his peak because of the cube but this 5 assassin has been slowly worn out he got a chance to survive this.
'Scan complete'
Weakness:
Person 1 (blue): External Oblique (Side of the abdomen): Bullet Wound
Person 2(red): Tempolaris (Side of the head): Knife wound
Person 3(yellow): Biceps femoris (Back of the leg): Muscle Injury
Person 4 (orange): Pectolaris Major (Chest): Hidden Injury
Person 5 (green): Latissimus Dorsi (Back): Knife Injury
The scan's result completely astonished Atlas but he has no time to be fascinated about it the assassins are running towards them already. It seems like the assassins are injured but he didn't dare underestimate the 5 of them. He pushed Alia back and run towards the enemy to fight it out with them.
The system gave Atlas dark vision with the enemies being marked as colors and their weaknesses are indicated as well. Atlas run forward to meet them on! The Blue assassin was leading the team in front. He's the first target that Atlas needs to face.
'System scan for optimal action I need to take' Atlas said
Then in front of him, a 3D image of him and the 5 assassins emerge, the image of Atlas does the actions. It seems like the system has already simulated the fight scenes. After seeing this Atlas was glad that he has the rubrics cube, so what if you have the numbers my system can defeat all of you.
The blue assassin punched him with his right hand, seeing this Atlas couldn't help but feel amazed because this is exactly the move the system showed him he just have to dodge it and punch the side of the abdomen of this assassin to trigger the injury of the assassins.
But simulations are really different from reality, Atlas couldn't command his body the way he wants causing the fist of the Assassins to reach him.
*Bogsh*
He was sent back 1 meter because of the punch.
'Let me control your body!' The old man said.
'It's been a while since I have experienced this, your body is a little bit weak, but it's enough to deal with this buffoons!' the old man said with disdain in his eyes as look up to glare at the opponents.
'Watch and learn kid!' the old man said as he stood up.
After seeing him stand the blue assassin launch another punch toward him. This time the old man dodges the punch and returns it back.
'This is how you punch kid!' The old man said as he crouched to dodge the punch and then he punched the side of the assassin. Seeing this Atlas couldn't help but be amazed at how good the old man is, he really did copy the 3D image and executed it perfectly. Alia who saw Atlas punched a man crippled couldn't help but be shocked.
Seeing their teammate get punched the atmosphere became tense, as if in mutual understanding both parties paused they advances and just stared at each other. The blue assassin was hit at his weak point he can't stand up to fight again even if he wants to, all he could do is watch by the side.
"Kill!" The assassins decided to just kill Atlas lest he spoiled their plan, this time 4 of them come to fight Atlas. They unsheathed their knives and surrounded Atlas.
'Tsk Tsk a mere knife can't kill this old man!' the old man said as he rushed to one of the assassins. The red assassin tried to stab him with the knife, but he dodged it skillfully and grasping the hand of the assassin he used his hands to steal the knife. He positioned himself behind the assassin as he grabs the neck with his left hand and the knife with the right hand.
"This is how you use a knife kid!" the old man said in Atlas' voice. It seems to be said for the red assassin, but he was actually teaching Atlas how to use a knife.
"Grab the handle: loose but not weak!" the old man said as he played with the knife before plunging it to the throat of the assassin killing him, after that he let go of the red assassin.
"Stab: Fast, not powerful!" the old man said as he turned his knife to the direction of the orange assassin and stab it so fast that the assassin has no time to react. It like as if the knife was a bullet from a gun it was stabbed at the chest in a matter of milliseconds.
"Slash: Powerful, not fast," the old man said as he slashed the knife to defend himself from the knife of the yellow assassin, this slash was so powerful that the assassin who receive the full impact was thrown 3 meters and fell on the floor.
"Throw: Accurate not showy," the old man said as he casually throws the knife as if he's throwing a piece of insignificant garbage, the throw may seem to be casual, but the result isn't. The knife pierced through the throat of the assassin accurately like as if it was really aimed to be stabbed precisely on the throat.
"And lastly: Kill without blood," the old man said as he stole another knife from the green assassin and skillfully stabbed it into the heart of the assassin, fast he stabs; fast he withdraws. After hearing this last statement of the old man only then did Atlas noticed that the knife used by the old man has no stains of blood on it. Even his clothes not even a drop of blood can be seen on it despite the fact that he killed 4 persons using a knife.
'This is the principles of the knife kid! Remember this' the old man said as he withdraws his control from Atlas' body. Atlas who "killed" the 4 assassins was still in a daze. Alia who was a spectator this whole time can't help herself to shiver from the killing intent Atlas emitted as he killed those assassins.
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