Shadow Author

"His name is Paul."

A huge smile covered my face as I stood back up and towered over the man.

"Hey fatty, I know you can hear me. I want to make a deal with you."

Evelyn tried to stop me but I gave her a look and she became quiet as she decided to wait for me to finish my business.

Paul seemed unable to respond but I could clearly make out his eyes which were staring daggers at me.

"Listen here Paul, move your eyes up and down for yes and side to side for no, got it?"

It took a couple of seconds as it seemed that Paul was still quite upset but eventually he came around and moved his eyes up and down.

"Great, well then, I have an offer for you, are you ready to hear it out?"

His eyes went up and down.

"Perfect, wait here."

It was then that he violently started moving his eyes from side to side but I ignored him as I moved closer to Evelyn.

"You didn't expect me to pick him over you did you?"

She didn't respond.

"Anyways, it's your turn to ask."

Taking a couple of seconds to scan my face Evelyn tried to gather as much information as possible but my poker face was unlike any other.

"Why are you so calm?"

Hearing her question I paused for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

She just looked at me while awaiting an answer as I desperately tried to catch my breath and restart Mana Breath again.

"Of all the questions you could have asked, that's the one you picked?"

She looked at me quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"Nah, it's nothing, alright I'll answer your question. I assume you want to know why I didn't have much of a reaction to the gory mess?"

"Yes."

"Well it's simple, there's no reason to."

"What do you mean?"

"Why should I care what happened to them, it doesn't pertain to me. If half the world were to vanish from existence in the next second I wouldn't feel a thing."

"You're a sociopath."

"You're not any better yourself missy."

"I never said I was."

A moment passed in silence but it was pleasant as the two of us were trying to learn more about each other.

"How about another round?"

I suggested that we do the same where each time we answer a question we get to ask one back.

"Sure."

"Okay, my turn, what's Paul's gift?"

Silence.

"How do you know he has a gift and what makes you think I know it?"

"Oh no, that's not how these work, remember, you have to answer me before you get to ask something."

She grumbled before answering:

"Mana Density."

I continued to look at her expecting her to further explain but that's when I realized my mistake.

"You never specified what you wanted to know about his gift so I just told you its name."

I raised my hands up to surrender.

"You got me, ask away."

"Why did you think I knew Paul's gift?"

I smiled. These were the kinds of questions I was hoping she would ask.

"Easy, because you know everyone's gift, except for one."

'I made sure not to mention anything more and even threw in a carrot.'

Her eyes widened in shock but her expression remained emotionless.

It was clear that she wasn't going to say anything more so I asked my next question.

"My turn, will you tell me about Mana Density?"

"As the name suggests it allows Paul to manipulate the density of the mana he accumulates."

"…"

"…"

"Come on, you gotta give more than that."

She sighed.

"He's not actually obese it's just that he stores his mana within his skin. I'm not sure why he chooses to use it in a way to increase his weight rather than become muscular but you should stop calling him fat because all that weight you see is mana."

'Thank you, Evelyn, without you things would have taken much longer than they needed to.'

"Hey, I'm not the only one at fault. If I recall correctly just a minute ago you were disgusted by the idea of even touching him."

"That's not-"

"Your turn"

Her eyebrows furrowed and I knew she was agitated by her words being misinterpreted.

'Cute.'

Was it weird that I was so unbothered by the massacre that surrounded me and more interested in messing with the girl in front of me? Maybe but I had my own goals to accomplish and no one, not even dead bodies, would be able to stop me.

'However, it's time to end this, I can't let my meat shield- Paul bleed out.'

"Who's Gift don't I know about? And for the record, I didn't mean-"

"Mine."

"Huh?"

"Mine."

"But-"

"Sharp Sword, you believe that to be my gift but you are wrong."

Taking a glance at Evelyn I could tell that she was completely dumbfounded but that wasn't any of my concern anymore.

Walking away from Evelyn I made my way over to the fatty and crouched down beside him.

His condition looked much worse as he was extremely pale and covered in sweat.

"Hey, buddy it's time for us to make a deal so don't die on me yet."

His eyes locked on to me and it seems that they lost the flame they once had as he realized that if something or someone didn't come to the aid soon he wouldn't make it.

"It's simple really, I save your life, you give it back to me, and I'll help you with your… problem."

At first, there was no reaction but after mentioning that I would not only save him but solve the problem where his mana forcefully enters his skin to create fat they trembled.

"Well, what's your answer?"

His eyes moved up and down many times more than necessary proving to me how desperate he was.

'Are looks that important? Well, I guess I wouldn't know because I got lucky with my appearance. Either way, this shows just how important self-esteem is because when it's as low as his, he doesn't think twice about becoming a slave for the rest of his life.'