New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

After the voice shouted, Alex realized they weren't chasing him, and he abruptly halted.

He circled back to them, making sure to remain unseen, trying to figure out where they were going, and he saw what had happened in the first hallway.

The gunshot echoed, and Alex's face darkened.

'So this is the kind of leader you are. They could get caught, so you kill them? I guess I was trying to be nice to the wrong people...' he thought, his body shaking in anger.

'Yes! Get mad! Let me at him! He's a bad guy, right?! There is no harm in letting me rip his innards out, right?!' the imp shouted in his mind, apparently having freed his mouth from the bindings.

Geminae was about to strike his face to silence him, but Alex suddenly appeared in the soul space.

The imp shivered in fear at the anger apparent on Alex's face. He thought he had suddenly messed up.

Alex started walking toward him, and his anger rippled off of him, making him look like a god of death to the demon.

"Please! I'll shut up! I'll stop talking!" the imp suddenly pleaded.

It had already realized that if Alex could muffle him without coming in here; he had gotten used to controlling his soul space. That meant there was no way to overpower him anymore.

The imp yelped in fear when Alex crouched next to his tied-up body.

Grabbing the golden roping, Alex brought the imp's face directly before his.

"Listen to me, and listen well because I won't be repeating myself," Alex started talking, his tone icy.

The imp gulped, nodding his head frantically.

"My world already has enough evil in it as it stands. If I ever let you out willingly, you'll be under such scrutiny that you won't even breathe without me controlling your lung muscles.

"Now. If I don't ask for your input, I don't want you anywhere near my thoughts. If I hear you in my head again without my say-so, I will find a way to hurt you so much; your essence will only become a spec of dust in my soul. Just enough for me not to die. Understood?"

The imp felt a shiver run down his spine. He was revolted at the idea of a demon fearing a human.

But, then again, this wasn't a regular human anymore. He shouldn't treat him like one, either.

Nodding his head again, the imp kept his mouth sealed.

Alex smirked in satisfaction before shoving the imp back to the ground and rising to his feet again.

He glanced at Geminae, who kept gawking at him, and scoffed.

"The warning stands for you as well. I've had enough people in my thoughts. It's my brain, and you having access to it is insulting enough as it is. Stay out of my head unless I ask for you."

Before Geminae could even reply yes, Alex was gone again.

Opening his eyes, Alex could no longer hear the running, which meant the three remaining men had huddled up somewhere.

But he could hear the taunting shouts from afar of the man they called chef.

"Come on out, little White Wing! Show us what you got! This isn't a fantasy world, kid! You aren't a superhero!"

Alex grinned to himself.

"You couldn't be more right. Because if I were a superhero, I would care about your lives," Alex mumbled.

He walked toward the sound of the man's voice, doing something he hadn't done in a while.

His mana started leaking out of him frantically, spreading out on the floor, his presence suddenly suffocating.

The two guards from earlier had already taken the stairs down and weren't hit by this, but still felt an unnerving presence over their heads.

But the three remaining men weren't spared.

The mana swallowed the entire floor, making their breathing suddenly ragged, like they had run a marathon. Lifting their arms felt like they suddenly weighed ten times more, and their hearts started beating crazily.

"Chef… I don't think we should stay. Let's retreat. This op is compromised."

The chef pistol-whipped his underling, growling at him.

"Don't question my orders. This little punk already cost me time, men, and money. I'm not backing down until his bloodied body lays at my feet!"

The man looked at his boss with a fearful gaze, blood streaking down the side of his face.

"If you say so, chef…"

The other man was too busy spinning his head around like an owl, looking for White Wing, even to notice the argument behind him.

And Alex could hear his heart beating loudly like it was about to explode.

He used his mana to mimic his voice inside the man's ear.

"You know it's useless to resist. You can feel it, can't you? The immense pressure on your shoulders that makes you want to bow down? Surrender," his voice whispered.

The man suddenly snapped around, pointing his gun everywhere, scaring his boss and colleague.

"Get out of my head! Get out!" the man shouted, firing a few shots at the ceiling tiles.

"Hey! Stop this! You're going to hit us, you imbecile!" the chef shouted, trying to grab onto his man.

But the man jumped away from him, terror on his face.

"Don't touch me!" the man shouted as he suddenly dashed away.

"Get back over here, you fucking pussy!" the chef shouted.

But he fell on deaf ears.

All the man could hear was Alex's voice in his ears, whispering over and over.

"Surrender. Surrender! Surrender!!"

The man ran like the devil was on his heels until he turned a corner leading to an emergency exit and slammed into something hard. As he fell to his ass, he realized what he had slammed into.

"Boo!" Alex said, leaning forward.

The man's eyes rolled in the back of his head as froth started forming in his mouth, and he convulsed on the ground.

He was out for the count.

"One more down, two to go. Let's see how I deal with the next one."