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nOne month earlier, on Earth.

n“Thank you for your loyal support, and please visit us again!”

nA superficially cheerful voice shouted this phrase from a medium-sized grocery store. The phrase was targeted at a middle-aged man that was just leaving the store. The middle-aged man slightly waved one of his hands to show that he had heard, but he couldn’t be bothered to answer.

nAs soon as the man left, the grocery store cashier sighed and went back to the cash register. The cashier was a young man with blonde hair, and he looked like he had just hit his 20s. A slight muscular frame was still visible when one looked at him from the back, but when looking at him from the front, one could only see a rather sizable beer belly.

nClack, thump, clack, thump!

nAs the cashier walked back to the cash register, the sound of his cane could be heard on the floor of the grocery store.

n“Hello, welcome to Stevie’s!” the cashier greeted with superficial politeness as he handled the next customer.

n“Hard day at work, huh?” the young customer asked the cashier.

n“It’s alright,” the cashier answered with a slight chuckle. “Everyone has to make a living.”

nHowever, these words didn’t reflect the cashier’s real feelings.

n‘This **ing grocery store is killing me, I swear!’ he thought as he “happily” bagged the groceries. ‘Every day with the same **. Alex, do this! Alex, do that! I swear, when I’ve saved up enough money for college, I’m going to burn this place to the ground!’

nOf course, these were only thoughts created in a stressful situation. Alex knew that he wouldn’t really do it.

nThis cashier was Alexander Hoffmann.

nAlex for short.

nAlex’s life hadn’t always been like this.

nHe had had a bright future ahead of him in the past.

nSadly, life didn’t go his way.

nOn the urging of his father, Alex started doing sports when he was 12. After all, doing sports while growing was very beneficial to the development of a teenager.

nAlex’s father was a huge fan of the MNFA, the Multinational Fighting Association.

nThe MNFA let fighters from nearly all disciplines of martial arts fight each other with the least rules possible. So, in short, it was an organization that handled mixed martial arts fights, MMA for short.

nAlex had also grown to like watching these fights, and when his father urged him to do some sports, Alex decided that he wanted to do MMA.

nHis parents’ feelings were mixed on that subject.

nOn one hand, it was great that their child was finally doing some sports, but MMA could get pretty dangerous if something wasn’t handled correctly.

nHowever, since it was not professional MMA and since there were several coaches around in the local gym, they agreed.

nSome time later, when Alex had had his first practice fight against another kid in the gym, he got his ass handed to him. Yet, this experience awakened a certain kind of stubbornness in him, an urge to win.

nSadly, he lost the next couple of practice matches too. Well, one couldn’t really consider these matches a loss since they weren’t real matches. They were simply some sparring between two students.

nYet, when Alex didn’t clearly win a fight, he saw it as a loss.

nAlex had already planned to change sports and join another one since it felt frustrating to see how everyone was better than himself. Yet, he wanted to win at least one time!

nSo, he continued training, and eventually, he won.

nWhen Alex won, he felt something that he had never felt before.

nIt was a kind of indescribable high!

nHe felt like he was floating on clouds, and he felt like he was the greatest in the world!

nThe feeling of fighting, which had always annoyed him since his body hurt after it, transformed into the polar opposite.

nThis feeling of fighting others wasn’t annoying.

nIt was simply a clash between men!

nThey were showcasing their power in a very primal fashion!

nAlex wanted to feel this feeling again!

nAlex stayed in the gym and even came more often. MMA had transformed from a chore into a hobby. The pain of sore muscles became a familiar pain that Alex even started to enjoy. It sounded cheesy, but the common phrase of every single sports coach in the world resonated with Alex.

n“Pain is simply weakness leaving your body!”

nAs the years passed, Alex completely focused on MMA. Even his grades started to drop, which had already been average to begin with. Alex wasn’t stupid, but he never paid attention in school and didn’t learn anything.

nStuff like math and physics was still okay since he could often deduce the correct answers logically, which was why those grades didn’t suffer much. However, subjects like history and foreign languages had it far worse since one had to actually learn for these things.

nAlex had a ton of arguments with his parents over this, but Alex always said that his future was MMA. He would join the MNFA, and he would earn a ton of money!

nAlex barely passed high school but decided against going to college.

nMMA was his future!

nAlex trained as hard as he could!

nHis entire life depended on his success!

nIf he didn’t manage to get into the MNFA, he would lose!

nAnd one day, just after Alex’s 20th birthday, he got accepted!

nThis was the greatest day of his life!

nHis dream was about to become a reality!

nAlex won his first match pretty easily since his first opponent was pretty weak. His horrible win-loss record proved that.

nAlex also won his second match, but it was a close one.

nYet, tragedy struck at Alex’s third match.

nThe fight had been going fine. There was some back and forth, and he and his opponent were pretty evenly matched.

nAnd then, the accident happened.

nAlex and his opponent had been fighting from a distance since no one managed to find a good opening to tackle the other one to the ground. Alex saw an opening in his opponent’s defense and performed a roundhouse kick.

nCRACK!

nHis opponent barely recovered before the kick struck, and he managed to block it haphazardly.

nHis opponent’s elbow hit Alex’s ankle.

nAlex’s ankle immediately broke, and the medics jumped into the ring.

nA day later, Alex got the news that his bones had damaged the nerves and muscles in his leg.

nThey could only fix it to the point that would allow him to walk somewhat normally with the support of a cane, but that was it. There was nothing more they could do.

nAlex’s career was over.

nFrom the highest high of his life, Alex fell to the lowest low.

nAlex had earned quite a sum of money from his three fights, but he basically wasted all of it in a drunken haze of destruction over the next year.

nHis life was over.

nThere was nothing anymore.

nAfter a year, his family held an intervention for him, and Alex finally realized that he had to stop being such a pussy. One year was more than enough to wallow in self-pity!

nSo, Alex planned to save up some money for college.

nRight now, Alex was 22 years old, and he was working in a grocery store precisely for this reason.

nEven though his past was filled with incredible highs, and even though he fell into the lowest low, Alex was still young, and he knew that he could still make something of his life. He only had to work his ass off for the foreseeable future.

nThen, he would go to college, and everything would turn for the better!

nTime passed in the grocery store, and after helping close up the place, Alex left at around 10 pm. It was already dark out, but the streets were well lit. After all, Alex lived and worked in a less savory part of a big city.

nAs Alex stepped out of the grocery store, his nose wrinkled. No matter how long he had lived here, he simply couldn’t get used to the disgusting stench of the dirty streets.

nThis part of the city was for low-income families, and the state of the streets reflected that very well.

nGarbage, cigarette butts, old newspapers, old furniture.

nThis was a common sight on these streets.

nAlex tried to ignore the stench and walked home. His home was barely a kilometer away, a distance where people argued if they should drive or walk.

nAlex was walking since he wanted to keep his living costs as low as possible. Additionally, Alex somewhat enjoyed the walk since he was used to doing a lot of physical exercise.

nAfter some minutes, Alex stopped as he looked at a couple of cigarette butts on the street.

nAnd the cigarette bin right beside them.

n‘Oh, come on!’ he thought. ‘The bin is right there!’

nAlex used his cane to push the cigarette butts to the side of the closest building. He hated these people that treated the streets as their own toilet, but he didn’t hate them enough to pick up the cigarette butts to throw them away.

nAfter some minutes, Alex heard the sound of a whining dog, and he stopped.

nThis wasn’t the usual sound of a whining dog.

nThe dog’s whining was very loud, high-pitched, painful, and desperate. Obviously, the dog was in a ton of pain.

nThe sound of dogs was normal in this city, but that sound definitely wasn’t normal.

nAlex searched around for the dog and found it in a dark alleyway between two buildings.

nThe dog could barely be seen at the edge of the streetlamps’ lights.

nBlood.

nBone.

nA concerned look appeared on Alex’s face as he saw the dog. Both of its hindlegs were severely broken. He could see blood coming out of its legs, and he could even see its bones poking out.

nNo wonder it was in so much pain.

nAlex thought about if he should help it or not. He didn’t have a pet, but he also didn’t hate animals. It was nice to look at and interact with them, but he didn’t want to bear the responsibility of owning a pet of his own.

nOn top of that, pets were expensive.

nYet, when Alex saw the broken legs, he got reminded of his own injury. A slight pain came from his ankle as the scene of being rushed into the hospital returned to Alex’s mind.

nIn the end, Alex sighed.

n‘Fine, I’ll bring you to a vet, but I won’t pay much for your care.’

nAlex slowly walked into the alleyway and closed in on the dog. The dog didn’t move and only continued crying in pain as Alex came closer.

n“Don’t move!”

nAlex stopped as the familiar feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins assaulted him.

nThere was a knife at his throat!

nAlex didn’t dare to move as panic took hold of him, but he calmed down somewhat when he felt a hand hurriedly searching through his pockets.

n‘A robbery,’ Alex thought.

nAlex had only been in panic for two seconds, but his old fighting instincts kicked in.

nYet, Alex didn’t attack.

nIt was essential to analyze the opponent first. Otherwise, mistakes were bound to happen.

nAs the hand of the robber searched through Alex’s pocket, Alex slightly glanced at the robber. He wore a black hoody and black sweatpants. It was hard to make out his facial features in the darkness while looking at him from such an awkward angle.

nAlex glanced at the arm that held the knife.

n‘He’s gripping the knife with so much force that his arm is shaking, and the knife is also not directly touching my neck. He’s probably new at this. Additionally, his arm is basically touching my shoulder.’

nAlex also noted the appearance and condition of the dog.

n‘They injured the dog to lure me into this alleyway. A clever but cruel trick.’

nHowever, a slight smirk appeared on Alex’s face.

n‘Sadly, you chose the wrong target!’

nBANG!

nAlex’s head shot backward and hit the lowered head of the robber. At the same time, Alex violently shoved his shoulder upward, pushing the knife away from him.

nThe robber became disoriented. It was never a good feeling to butt heads with another person.

nAlex was in just as much pain, but as a former fighter, he could still make rational decisions under pain.

nWithout hesitation, Alex lifted his cane.

nBANG!

nAnd hit the side of the robber’s head with full force.

nThe robber immediately lost his consciousness under the attack. Alex hadn’t fought in over a year, but his muscles were still more powerful than average.

nThe robber fell over as Alex smirked.

nCRACK!

nAlex’s smirk froze as it slowly transformed into terror.

n‘No! I didn’t want to do that!’

nSince the robber had lost consciousness, his body simply fell over to the side.

nAnd his head violently hit the hard pavement.

nA pool of dark blood was quickly forming below the robber’s cracked skull.

nAlex’s world stopped.

nHe couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

nDid… did he just kill someone?

nAlex began hyperventilating in panic as his mind tried to comprehend the magnitude of what he had just done.

nCRACK!

nAnd then, Alex’s mind vanished.

nAlex’s body landed beside the robbers.

nA huge crack could be seen at the back of his head.

nBehind Alex’s body stood another man dressed in black, fury on his face. In his hand, he carried a blood-smeared crowbar.

nThis was the robber’s friend, who had been hiding behind some trash in case something went wrong.

nWhen he saw the corpse of his friend, fury took hold of him, and he hit Alex on the back of the head with his crowbar, full force.

nAlex died instantly.

nHe didn’t even know how he had died.

n“Fuck! FUCK!” the second robber shouted as he didn’t know what he should do now.

nHe had two corpses on his hands now!

nWhile the robber was panicking, two invisible, azure wisps left the corpses.

nThe azure wisps traveled into the sky and seemingly left the realm of earth.

nAlex didn’t feel alive nor dead.

nHe was awake but also not awake.

nOne could liken the state of his mind to dreaming. His mind didn’t work properly, but there were still some rudimentary thoughts that appeared.

nThe azure wisps entered an empty void, and they stopped.

nMany other wisps were there already, and new ones joined every second.

nAfter a minute, a bright, white light suddenly appeared in the nothingness, and all the wisps flew to it.

nThey were inherently drawn to it.

nThis was where they were supposed to go.

nThese were the souls of the dead, and Alex was just one insignificant soul among many.

nSuddenly, the void shook!

nIt was like reality was being torn apart!

nHowever, the wisps only continued to travel to the light. They didn’t even notice what was happening.

nReality seemingly broke like glass as an even darker hole appeared.

nThen, a gigantic hand shot out of the hole.

nIt was the hand of a young, adult man.

nWith unreal speeds, the hand shot at one particular wisp, Alex’s soul.

nThe hand used its thumb and index finger to clamp down on Alex’s soul, and Alex felt clarity return to his mind.

n‘Wait, what happened?’

nYet, before Alex could look at his surroundings, he felt himself being pulled into the distance.

nBefore the hand vanished into the closing rift of reality, Alex could hear a voice, and that voice only spoke one word:

n“Yoink!”

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