Tales of Concordia: Volume One

Chapter Four: Wrong Place, Wrong Time.

Late night in the Deep Concordian Wilderness.

I trudged forward, my shoes digging ever so slightly into the bloodsoaked ground, which was illuminated by raging flames on this moonless night. I approached the massive creature, and the helpless victim he held in his oversized hand.

"Good work Seven! It's good to see that encounter didn't hinder your fighting abilities." I said happily. Seven Ignored my comment completely, only focusing on the man in his hand. 

While Seven's inability to emote for the most part was still disappointing, I wasn't entirely surprised. He could only grasp basic commands as of right now so him disregarding my comment wasn't abnormal in the slightest. Keeping my hands in the pockets of my hoodie, I turned my attention to Seven's wounds from earlier. I was specifically looking at the major one he sustained in the cave. Despite his regenerative properties healing the injuries he got from that fight with that cat, his arm was still entirely gone, slowly regenerating from the stump that remained.

*Thud*

"L-Let go!" The cries of the man Seven was moments away from strangling broke my train of thought. He beat on Seven's arm, trying to get out of his grasp to no avail. The man was probably in his thirties and had a slightly muscular build. One of his arms swayed limply alongside him, crushed by Seven a bit earlier.

"Why would you do this?! Who even are you?! Who attacks a trading caravan and doesn't take anything?!" The man cried.

"Don't worry about all of that, you'll be dead in a moment anyways. You and your friends were just really unlucky." I replied while taking my hands out of my pockets, clasping them as I spoke.

"Wh-what does that mean?! What do you want? Money, goods? You can have whatever was here!" The man begged. I laughed at his attempt to save his own life.

"What I need from you isn't anything physical, It's so much simpler than that. With that being said though, pop quiz time! Tell me, what's the best way to get better at something?"

The man paused for a brief moment, trying to figure out the best way to answer my question I assume.

"P-Practice?" He said quietly, unsure of his answer.

"Right on! Correct answer! Practice and by extension- experience! The best way to raise a killing machine is through practice and experience!" I said while snapping my fingers, The man's eyes widened as he realized what my words meant.

"No, Stop! Please!" The man pleaded, using his feet to kick at Seven's arm, once again to no avail.

"No can do! You've seen too much, So I'll have to respectfully ask you to die for me. Although, even if you didn't see anything, You would've died anyway. Seven, go ahead."

At that moment, Seven's grip on the man tightened. He placed his thumb on the man's head.

"MGHH!!"

The man continued mindlessly failing in Seven's grasp, His screams were muffled by Seven's massive hand. I watched his grip tighten further and further.

*SNAP*

*CRUNCH*

The man fell limp, his screaming had stopped.

"That's good enough, We don't need to draw any more needless attention, and I'd prefer to keep this looking like a bandit attack of sorts. Seven, let's go." I turned to leave, expecting Seven to follow, as he always would. This time, however, he did not. Instead, he eyeballed the corpse still in his hand. His grip tightened even more, enough to the extent that I could see the veins begin to bulge from his arm.