In a dark room, the light smell of medicinal herbs and incense filled the air.

Gabriel’s body suffered small spasms on a rickety bed. His eyes opened slowly, revealing alertness and uncertainty.

He moderated his movements instantly and held his breath. The last thing he remembered was falling unconscious in the middle of the street, despite his fierce struggle.

With feline agility, he got up without making a sound.

He inspected the space with cold eyes. It was a modest room of stone and wood. The walls contained traces of moisture and the old wooden floor creaked under his bare feet.

He checked the door. He quickly understood that it was completely sealed from the outside by rudimentary mechanisms.

He only found his dirty clothes thrown in a corner, a nightstand and the bed. It was an unusually empty room.

His body was covered in bandages that wrapped him tightly. Each movement sent waves of agonizing pain, but his expression remained unchanged. His priority was solely to discover his current whereabouts.

On the nightstand rested the small leather notebook.

Ancient Knowledge, Alchemists of God.

His eyes filled with intense murderous intent. Someone had healed his wounds and checked the treasure he had obtained.

Who wants to keep me alive?

Observing all the factors, he made a decision in silence.

He disappeared under the bed, blending with the shadows.

***

The minutes passed in tense quiet and silence.

Finally, movements were heard on the other side of the wall. Mechanisms turning and locks opening. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The door creaked as it opened.

A fat middle-aged man entered carrying a tray with plates of steaming food. His steps were heavy.

But when his eyes saw the empty bed, with no one present, they filled with panic.

"Escape! Escape!" he shouted in a high-pitched voice, dropping the tray.

He ran out into the hallway. His screams quickly alerted others.

More men appeared quickly. They checked the room in a hurry, rummaging through the bed and looking under the furniture.

But their confusion only multiplied.

Gabriel waited with predatory patience from his hiding place.

When the last man tried to close the door, he jumped like a lethal shadow.

He pulled the individual inside, covering his mouth with savage force. He suffocated him until he fell unconscious.

His hiding place was not very elaborate, but he had managed to overcome the common vision of normal men.

Finally he quickly undressed his victim and used his clothes. Storing his objects in his inventory.

With the new disguise, he carefully closed the door and went out into the hallway.

***

It was impossible to go completely unnoticed with his features, but fortune seemed to favor him. He found the hallway empty.

He advanced quickly with confidence.

Until he crossed paths with another individual. The man opened his mouth to shout in surprise.

But Gabriel reacted first, knocking him unconscious with a brutal blow to the jaw.

The disguise didn’t last long.

More individuals appeared in the corridor. Their screams alerted others, while they began to try to stop Gabriel.

Gabriel transformed into an unstoppable force of pure violence.

The first one who approached him received a brutal hook. The impact echoed like a butcher hitting fresh meat.

The man doubled over, vomiting saliva, and Gabriel finished with a descending elbow that broke his nose.

Two more charged from the flanks.

Gabriel spun with the naturalness of an expert. His right fist impacted the jaw of the one on the left with a dry crack.

The man immediately crashed powerless against the wall.

When the third tried to subdue him, he lowered his center of gravity and threw a devastating punch from below.

"Come on!" growled Gabriel, his blood burning with ecstasy.

More than ten burly bald men filled the hallway. Their blows were heavy, but they contained their movements. For a reason he did not know, they avoided lethal outcomes.

Even so, his rhythm did not stop.

He fought with crude, street-bred boxing, dodging punches and counterattacking with brutality.

Although they avoided fighting with deadly emphasis, injuries were not exempt.

With a quick blow he opened an eyebrow and sent another to the ground spitting teeth.

Each fist that connected was an explosion of power they could not resist. He felt his knuckles swelling, feeding his feverish desire to fight.

He blocked a blow with his forearm and responded with a series of quick combinations. The two-meter giant staggered back, and Gabriel finished with a low kick that went straight to his groin.

The hallway became a ravine of falling bodies.

Gabriel breathed heavily because of the pain, his bandages already covered in sweat and blood.

His speed and instincts kept him in control of the fight.

He hit everyone heavily, breaking their guards and injuring joints.

Despite his momentary dominance, there were too many.

Finally he ended up being surrounded. Fists rained down on him overwhelmingly.

A heavy blow to the ribs made him retreat slightly. Another blow to the temple clouded his vision.

Even so, he did not fall.

He threw an elbow that impacted directly on a nose. An ascending knee that took the air out of another.

Bodies piled up, with moans of pain beginning to fill the hallway.

Gabriel felt the characteristic taste of blood in his mouth. They had split his lip.

His eye was swelling, limiting his vision. But he never doubted remaining on his feet.

He had no logical escape routes in his current conditions.

He was about to knock down another, when a voice echoed through the hallway.

"You impress me!"

Charles approached walking calmly from the back. His smile was sarcastic, loaded with sadistic control.

The remaining men stopped instantly, panting and holding their badly wounded bodies.

"In this way you could die at any moment... Although I think you have already avoided it more than once." Charles continued, applauding slowly.

Gabriel remained silent. His instincts felt the predator’s gaze, which only saw in him a weakened and easy prey to devour.

Genuine interest shone in Charles’s eyes as he observed his fallen men.

Gabriel would never think he had been saved purely out of disinterest. He had already categorized the man in front of him as a hardened psychopath.

And psychopaths were absolutely erratic.