Ichor Cell-Chapter 13: Peekaboo

When she’d said they would be neighbours, what Elara really meant was that she had moved relatively close to the store, her new place a mere five minutes’ walk away.
And just like that, Alex settled into a routine.
During the daylight hours, he worked for Grenil, the grumpy old shopkeeper not shy about making full use of Alex’s superior strength to fully rearrange the store’s furnishings.
The job wasn’t exactly thrilling—stocking shelves, accepting deliveries, and occasionally dealing with customers—but it kept his mind occupied and allowed him to keep up appearances as just another honest worker.
When night fell, the real challenge began. Elara was relentless in her training. She’d push him harder and harder each night, drilling him on mana control, focusing techniques, and the most effective ways to harness the raw power coursing through him. She was insistent that without proper discipline, his power would be more of a liability than an asset.
Despite his initial misgivings about the reliability of the training manual, it did actually have many useful tips and tricks for learning to interact with and control his mana. It was just his luck that the first technique described in the book was one he had already figured out on his own.
And so, the nights became a blur of intense concentration, blood, sweat and tears, though without much progress. Even with his apparent prodigal talent for magic, it took him a lot of effort to even learn some of the techniques.
Fortunately for him, Alex discovered that his new body did not actually require much sleep at all. A mere 3 hours was more than enough for him to be back in top form.
He theorised that it could be his healing factor preventing his brain from overheating or something similar. Of course, just because he
could
function off of 3 hours of sleep didn't mean he wanted to.
Alex was pleasantly surprised to find that he still wasn’t starving even after days of not feeding. It seemed that not healing nearly as much in that time period had helped.
Unfortunately, it seemed that his regeneration did not push debris out of the wounds; it just healed over it. He’d discovered this fact when his hand still hurt from punching himself, days after it had fully healed. The feeling of having shards of bone grind together with every movement was decidedly not fun.
He could’ve tried to operate on himself to fix the problem, removing the pieces one by one, but that sounded excruciating and not like something he’d be capable of doing. Instead, he chose to simply cut the whole hand off to remove the problem at its root.
Of course, he hadn’t been capable of doing that either, so he had asked Elara to do the honours for him—to which she agreed after much convincing. At least the dagger he had picked up from his would-be assassin came in
handy
that way.
Of course, that had also been excruciating, and he knew that this wasn't a viable solution for these types of issues, but he couldn't come up with anything better for now.
‘I am getting kinda hungry now…’
He mused.
‘I should finally get on with that experiment for whether I can feed without killing the target. Good thing I told Elara I would be busy tonight; wouldn’t want to get caught doing it.’
“I’m going out, old man!” He yelled into the shop as he watched the last of the day’s light disappear behind the horizon.
A muffled shout of acknowledgement was his only response; Grenil hadn’t been sleeping well the past few days and was complaining about nightmares. The old man was trying to hide it, but Alex could tell it was bothering him. He had asked, but the man refused to open up no matter what.
Turning back to the doorway with a sigh, the young man grabbed the dagger, his new cloak, and headed out for the slums. Rubbing the material between his fingers, he nodded in satisfaction at the high-quality craftsmanship.
The cloak had been a gift from Elara, to “celebrate our partnership” as she put it. The cloth was enchanted with a very low-level stealth enchantment, and despite how casually she had brushed it off, he was sure it was not cheap at all.
Of course, its effect was nothing to write home about, merely making him slightly harder to detect when he was in shadow, but still…
‘Another person I owe a debt to. I gotta hurry up and get stronger, so I can finally start repaying them.’
Alex slunk through the narrow, twisting alleyways of the slums, the faint glow of the moon barely illuminating his path. His mind was focused on the task ahead, his boots tapping softly on the cobblestone as he moved with deliberate caution.
He wasn't looking for a fight tonight; he just needed to eat.
As Alex passed by a row of dilapidated shacks, his gaze fell on a young man slumped against the wall of a crumbling building. The man’s gaunt face and skeletal frame told a story that was all too common in this part of town.
Alex paused, sizing him up, but quickly dismissed the thought. The man was too weak—he looked like he’d keel over from a strong breeze, much less having his blood drained. He needed someone with a bit more life in them.
With a frustrated sigh, Alex moved on, scanning the shadows until he found a more suitable candidate a few minutes later—a sturdy, middle-aged man with a bit of weight to him, walking with the signature stumbling gait of a drunkard.
Alex’s felt a stab of guilt for the man, but it was eased by the knowledge that he was purposefully trying to
not
kill him.
“Your sacrifice will be appreciated.” He muttered under his breath.
Moving swiftly, Alex approached the man, his cloak billowing slightly in the cool night breeze. The stealth enchantment made him almost invisible in the dim light, a whisper of air the only sign of his passing.
Of course, as he got closer Alex realised that the stealth was completely redundant.
Even if he had walked right up to the man in broad daylight, the guy probably wouldn't have noticed. Alex’s nose wrinkled in distaste at the overpowering smell of cheap booze the figure emitted. The man positively reeked of it; so drunk that his senses were dulled to the point of oblivion.
With the man practically stumbling over his own feet, Alex closed the distance in an instant. Once he was right behind his victim, Alex took a moment to compose himself.
‘This should be easy,’
He thought.
‘Just a quick chokehold, get him unconscious, and drag him off the street.’
Without giving himself time to second guess his decision, Alex surged forward, his arm snaking around the man’s neck in a quick motion.
The man barely had time to grunt in confusion before Alex applied pressure to his windpipe and carotid arteries. The alcohol in his system made the process even faster—within moments, the man went limp, collapsing into Alex’s grip.
“Huh, I guess having siblings does help develop technique…”
Lowering the unconscious man to the ground, Alex’s instincts leaped to the surface. His hunger, now sharper and more demanding, roared to life as food lay right before him. He bit his cheek to stay focused, the sharp stab of pain centering him. He was not going to let some hunger pangs dictate his thoughts and actions.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. any occurrences elsewhere.
Alex hesitated before grabbing the man by the arm. While he was sure it would be much easier to access his blood from the neck or one of the other arteries, the whole plan was to
not
kill him.
Shaking the distracting thoughts out of his head, Alex stopped stalling and bit down on the man’s wrist.
“Ptui!” He spat at the cloying, sour taste of the man’s skin. “You know what? I think I’ll just leave a cut and drink that way. Don't really want to be in contact with this guy any more than necessary.” He ran his tongue over his teeth.
Unsheathing his dagger, Alex muttered a quick apology to the man and decisively dragged it across his wrist.
“…” Alex stared at the light scratch he had left on the man’s skin “Ok, I guess I have to go harder.”
Readjusting his grip on the blade, he once again dragged it along the man’s wrist with force. This time the skin parted easily under the enchanted edge, a few droplets of blood oozing out lazily, but the wound was still not deep enough to flow cleanly.
With a grunt of frustration, Alex made a third, even more forceful slash, this time cutting deeply into the man’s flesh. A brief moment passed in silence, and then, suddenly, a spray of blood erupted from the wound, far more than he’d anticipated.
“Shit!” Alex cursed as the blood splattered across his face, drenching him. He instinctively wiped at his eyes, but the sticky warmth simply smeared further, refusing to go away.
It was in that split second of vulnerability that it happened.
The faintest sound—perhaps the whisper of a blade slicing through the air, or the subtle shift of feet on the cobblestones—reached Alex’s ears. Despite his distracted state and blurred vision, something within Alex sensed danger.
Moving purely on reflex, he threw himself to the side, just barely avoiding the blade of light that sheared through the space he had occupied, leaving a sharp stinging sensation where it grazed him.
He stumbled back, wiping his eyes hurriedly with the edge of his cloak. His vision cleared just in time to see the body of the man he’d been about to feed on laying on the ground—motionless, blood pooling beneath him. The blow that had missed Alex had hit him instead, cleanly bisecting him from shoulder to hip.
“Holy…” Alex gulped, quickly tearing his eyes away from the gruesome sight to focus on his assailants. The alleyway was suddenly alive with movement. Dark shapes darted toward him from both sides, and Alex’s eyes narrowed as he realized he was surrounded.
A team of soldiers silently emerged from the shadows, their armor glinting faintly in the moonlight. They were armed with a variety of weapons—swords, daggers, crossbows—and their eyes gleamed with cold determination.
“Well well well, if it isn’t the little man-eater.” One of the soldiers sneered. “What, angry that we’re interrupting your dinner? What are you gonna do about it?”
Alex ignored the man’s taunting as he studied the foes surrounding him. Given that he did not have many enemies in this world, he quickly identified them as the same group he had accidentally attacked previously.
‘Damn, I really shouldn’t have let myself bleed all over the place back then. I couldn’t really have done anything to avoid it, but it’s being a huge pain in the ass.’
He cursed in his mind.
‘I wonder if they’ll let me go if I explain that it was an accident? "Whoops, so sorry I accidentally ate one of you, I swear it wasn’t on purpose. I swear I won’t do it again.” Yeah, that’s definitely gonna work.’
“Hey, so, would you believe if I said that this was all a big misunderstanding?” He tried anyway.
Unfortunately, the soldiers chose not to respond, instead spreading out in a well-coordinated formation. They clearly knew what they were doing, and they weren’t about to take any chances.
Alex’s mind raced. These were the same soldiers he had encountered before, but this fight would be much different than last time. They were prepared for him now, and they had considerably greater numbers. He wasn’t going to be able to take them out one by one; the way they spread out showed a practiced familiarity that only came with extensive training.
“Regenerating that arm of yours was quite the feat,” One of the soldiers commented, his tone almost admiring. “But I don’t believe it’s one we’ll give you time to repeat.”
Alex opened his mouth to retort when he heard a quiet scuff of movement behind him.
‘Bastard!’
He snarled as he once again threw himself to the side, angry that he had fallen for such a low-level distraction.
Unfortunately, this time they were expecting Alex to dodge; his evasive manoeuvre was met with a crossbow bolt right in his path of retreat.
“Fuck!” The bolt impacted his shoulder with a thud, tearing through the flesh and getting lodged in his shoulder blade.
Without another word, the attack began.
His right arm hung completely useless, the bolt preventing his healing from taking over. The pain was overwhelming, threatening to bring Alex to the floor with every movement, but luckily his body was being flooded with adrenaline, allowing him to hold on for now.
Crossbow bolts whizzed through the air, and Alex barely dodging each one, twisting his body with inhuman agility. He lunged forward, aiming to break through the encirclement, but the soldiers moved in perfect unison, cutting off his escape at every turn.
He growled in frustration as he punched at the nearest attacker, the blow connecting with the man’s arm with a sharp crack. A scream of pain confirmed that he wasn’t going to be using that arm any time soon, but Alex didn’t have time to appreciate his work—another had used the opening to stab him in the side, the injury flaring with pain.
Rage ignited through his veins and Alex acted before he had time to think. He instinctively channelled mana into his leg, a surge of raw power flowing through his muscles, and lashed out with a vicious kick directly at his attacker.
The impact was brutal.
The soldier’s chest cratered with a sickening crunch, his body crumpling under the force of the blow. The sheer power behind the kick sent the man flying back like a cannonball, his lifeless form hurtling into another soldier who had been advancing behind him.
The two of them collided with bone-shattering force, the momentum carrying them both through several walls. Wood splintered and stone cracked as they disappeared from view in a cloud of dust and debris.
For a moment, the entire battlefield went silent. The soldiers stared slack jawed at the cloud of dust swirling through the air, mutely looking between it and Alex’s leg. Alex too was surprised by the power he had just unleashed, though he understood how it had happened.
Under the threat of death, his potential was stimulated and he finally managed to fully imbue a limb for the first time, picking his leg—the body’s strongest limb. With the multiplicative effect of his magic, it was no wonder the man’s chest had turned into a crater on impact.
Shaking off the burning pain that came with overdrafting his strength, Alex calmly spread his arms apart. “What, one little kick and you’re all scared?” He mocked.
The soldiers shifted restlessly, their pride warring with their desire for survival. Unfortunately, the enemy commander also saw the potential problem brewing and stepped forward to nip it in the bud.
“I will say, that was very impressive. They did warn us that you were dangerous, but this…” The man waved his hand towards the pile of debris. “This is something else.”
Alex tensed up when the man opened his mouth. “Your stupid trick isn’t gonna work on me twice.”
“What?” The commander stared at Alex for a moment before realisation flashed in his eyes. “Oh! Don’t worry about that, we won’t try ambush you again. No, I’ve come forward to give you a message. Honestly, I would rather not have to resort to this, as it is rather unbecoming of a noble house to do such things, but it is what it is, and the survival of our house matters more than mere pride.”
‘Why is he monologuing?’
Alex suddenly got a bad feeling.
‘It’s never a good thing when the bad guy starts monologuing. I don’t like that they have backup plans, especially if it’s something even they don’t want to use.’
“You know, humans are social creatures.” The man suddenly said. “It’s a quality inherent to all of us. No matter what age, place, or time period, people always seek out other people. It is natural, and it has served well for the survival of our species.”
“However, the problem with our desire to go looking for companionship—our desire to fit in—is that it creates… weaknesses.” The man’s eyes suddenly bore into Alex, his gaze unnaturally piercing. “Weaknesses that can be exploited by the weak to bring down the strong.”
Alex’s bad feeling grew, the sinking sensation in his gut intensifying with every word the man said.
“That's all very interesting, but what does it have to do with me?” He bluffed, unwilling to let his uneasiness show. “I assume you
are
talking about me, right? Even though I'm not human?”
"Nice try, but I believe my eyes more than I believe your words." The commander smirked. "You'd be a very interesting monster indeed to be able to conceal yourself for so long and hold a proper conversation."
"Oh, my bad. I didn't realise all monsters had to be as dumb as you and struggle with even normal conversations." Alex mocked. "In that case, please continue."
“And now you’re trying to throw me off with insults, instead of simply attacking.” The leader remarked. “How very… human of you.”
“You’re free to believe what you want.” Alex shrugged. “I’m not one of you.”
“That’s the beauty of it; you don’t have to be.” The man’s mouth curled into a cruel smile. “Surrender now and nobody has to get hurt.”
“What are you…?” Alex trailed off as he suddenly understood. Just like that, everything made sense. The captain’s little evil monologue, the soldier’s confidence even in the face of his superior strength, and the terrible feeling in his gut. They had taken the old man while he was out here, too far to help. And now they were using him as leverage.
‘Well fuck.’