Steal

Axel was clearly at a loss. He was already exhausted. He had experienced many strange things in one day. He had just died, then was brought back to life. Then he witnessed his brother left to die by his guildmates. Now, there were talking puppies with fox tails staring at him with ruthless red eyes. Axel could not take any more surprises and collapsed.

"…Crap, we scared the human."

"…He’s not dead yet, right?"

"…With the skill finally finding its new owner, what about the demon of greed? Will it be reborn too?"

"…New demons using stronger skills with notorious previous owners cannot resist the temptation and become possessed. What makes this human different?"

"…If that happens, we’ll just eliminate him."

"…But he is human. We are not allowed to interfere with human affairs."

"…We will just deal with that problem once it happens."

That night, Axel had nightmares. He saw himself tied up to a metal fence. He was screaming, asking for their help, but no one responded. The instructor turned a deaf ear to his screams. His classmates were laughing at him, their faces contorted with menace. Their laughs pounded on his ears and head, making him dizzy.

"Humans are selfish. Vulnerable. Weak. Don’t you agree?" A voice he didn’t recognize whispered in his ears, a strange terrifying voice that caused his spine to shiver. He looked around frantically, trying to determine where the voice was coming from.

"It’s not bad to be born weak. But should you let them get away with what they have done to you? To your brother?"

"Of course not, right?"

"They hunted you, beat you, tortured you until you died. What they have done is unforgivable, and they deserve to die."

Axel knew in his gut this didn't seem right. He shouldn’t listen to the voice. His instinct was telling him to refute, to run away, to not let this voice say any more words. But his mind could not resist because what it said was right. Those people don’t deserve to live. Whoever left his brother to die... Axel swore he wouldn’t stop until he killed all of them.

With a jolt, Axel woke up in an unfamiliar room. He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. It seemed he was brought inside one of the patient rooms in the hospital. There were three other unconscious people lying in their respective beds. At the door, a nurse passed by. She screamed in fright after seeing he was awake before disappearing at the entryway. She later came back with three doctors, four nurses, and other people Axel hadn’t met before.

The doctors asked many questions concerning how he was feeling. They ran a physical check on him, mainly checking the state of his skin. The doctors were bewildered. Not only them, but the whole internet community was shocked. A high school student, who had no powers, was announced dead due to the malpractice of special abilities while training, and had come back to life after medical practitioners confirmed his death. This surprising news caught the attention of the media, especially when it was revealed he used to be the younger brother of Nyx Hart, the first and strongest Challenger.

After it was confirmed his body function was alright and he was physically healthy, the idle people behind the doctors asked their most anticipated question.

“Axel Hart, care to tell us what special abilities you got?” “Was it… immortality? Or something similar that can bring you back from the dead?”

Axel did not answer. He just ignored them and stared at one of the doctors. “I’m hungry. Can you leave me alone?”

The idle people were stunned. They only got permission to come inside and get this chance to interview Axel because they paid the hospital a considerable sum. The hospital management informed them that if the patient requested privacy, they would have no choice but to comply.

“Mr. Hart, actually we are from SunMoon Media, and after hearing what happened—”

“I don’t want to talk with anyone right now. Can you please leave?”

Hearing his blatant refusal, the doctors urged the journalists and reporters to leave the room. One of the nurses delivered a light porridge to fill his stomach. The nurses were casting curious glances at him. Axel also noticed the other patients in the room were awake and silently listening to the commotion. Axel ignored them all and quietly ate the tasteless porridge. His eyes then caught sight of the small book tattoo on his wrist. It had a symbol of a gleaming sword on the cover. Axel did not know how, but he knew that if he touched the book, it would activate it. His finger grazed his wrist, and a glowing book suddenly appeared in front of him. On the first page, it showed him the skill named “The One Who Wants It All” with “???” at the level section.

Axel observed the reaction of the other patients in the room. But it seemed no one was paying attention to him. More like they could not see the book floating in front of him.

“Huh.”

On the next page, Axel’s eyes widened. It was the skill of his brother:

“The Legendary Swordsman Skill.”

His hands tightened under the sheets.

‘Don’t worry, brother. I will master your skill. Use it well. And use it against those people who betrayed you.’

---

For the first two days, Axel began his observation of the other patients. He sat in the yard and closely observed the others who were demonstrating their skills as a way to keep their bodies active. True to their word, the hospital stopped the media from barging into his room, and they also prevented them from coming inside. So Axel finally had the freedom to walk around and observe the Challengers. A group of beefy men started to have a friendly duel in the yard. To protect the spectators, they set up a barrier beforehand. These men had opposite elements: one controlled the wind, the other controlled steel.