Things were getting out of hand, and they were no longer within anyone's control, but the church had the upper hand in this exchange.
They had managed to drive Luke away from his child. They assumed he was travelling and hunting with him because Luke had been reported to be travelling with a boy who was around the age his son should be.
However, there was one man who knew better—the man who trained Luke himself.
He knew how his mind worked, but the church dismissed this because they knew he was a wild dog that should only be released on higher-ranked tasks with high casualty potential.
This was the situation he thrived in, and this was what made the situation even more dangerous.
If he found Caleb, there was no way the boy would survive.
Caleb went out for a run, jogging down the street and soliciting stares from women both his age and older.
He was used to the attention, but Caleb noticed something strange during his run.
He was faster than he usually was—it wasn't very noticeable, but enough to beat his personal best by 20 seconds.
Caleb found this strange because he thought he was running at a slower pace than usual, so this had to be some sort of mistake.
Caleb didn't think too much about it, but why was he feeling uneasy?
He couldn't wrap his head around it, and he knew there was one lesson his father had taught him.
"Trust your guts," he muttered under his breath before taking a deep breath.
Caleb didn't return home right away. He took a detour and ran down a secluded spot to see if he was being followed.
Confirmation of his paranoia—and there it was. Another runner took that very turn and sprinted down the street.
Caleb pretended not to see him, but he noticed something: the person was running at an unnatural speed.
The rate at which he closed the gap almost eliminated the distance advantage between them.
Caleb panicked because he had never been in this situation before, and it was clear this person wanted to harm him in some way.
All he could do at this moment was defend himself. Caleb took a fighting stance, and in the blink of an eye, the person attempted to grab his neck.
Caleb dodged this by sidestepping and simultaneously pushing him away, forcing the man to tumble to the ground.
There was something off about him—the look in his eyes. It felt like he wasn't present.
"Hello?" Caleb called out, but there was no response, and before he knew it, the man grabbed a knife from his pocket.
He waved it at Caleb, but Caleb knew there was something wrong with this man because he had a thousand-yard stare.
The man lunged at Caleb once again, and Caleb knew the best chance of handling this situation would be knocking him out.
He grabbed the wrist that held the knife before jumping over him, balancing himself on the man's shoulder, landing behind him, and dragging the hand he had previously grabbed behind his back.
He kicked his knees in, forcing him down while simultaneously disarming him.
After this was done, he sent a powerful blow to the back of his neck that should have knocked him out.
However, the hand he was holding—like the man—had no regard for it. He turned to the point where it snapped in half.
Caleb instantly let go of the arm because he was scared to cause further harm.
"H-Hey! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Caleb shouted under his breath, but the man wasn't listening.
He was adamant about causing Caleb harm, and that was when the thought this couldn't be real crossed his mind.
Caleb was scared because fighting was one thing, but fighting for your life was another thing entirely.
Because now, the prospect that he might have to kill this man finally set in. But before the man could do any more damage—
He just froze in place, like he had been deactivated, before dropping to his knees and landing face-first on the ground.
Caleb was confused. This wasn't normal, and he had enough knowledge to understand this wasn't something a human being should be able to do.
Even if they were in a manic state, their eyes would still be responsive—but this man had no life in them.
Caleb bent down and checked the man's pulse but got the biggest shock of his life.
"This man is already dead?!" Caleb instantly jumped to his feet, hoping he was hallucinating, because judging from the state of the body,
This man had been dead for quite some time—so how the hell was he moving just a second ago?
Caleb looked around to see if there was anyone in sight, but once again, he was in a secluded place.
Caleb was panicking, but then he heard a voice echo in his head.
[Leha'ir uti!]
Caleb had no idea what this was and had to make sure there was no one in sight—and to his utmost surprise, there was none.
Caleb took a deep breath to calm himself before refocusing his eyes on the corpse.