Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit
Chapter 204: Anima(Part 3)

Chapter 204: Chapter 204: Anima(Part 3)

"What happened?"

"I’m not sure, but I think that human attacked that poor homeless man."

"How awful..."

"No, that’s now what happened! He asked me for some change, and when I went to give it to him, he suddenly pulled a dagger on me!" Responded Akila, staying as calm as he could.

"Yeah, I saw it, he was only defending himself-...," A nearby vendor began to speak up to defend Akila.

"I saw him attack that man, I’m sure of it!"

"Yes, I saw it too, the human struck first!"

"From where I was standing, it definitely looked like he was threatening that poor fellow!"

"Shit, don’t tell me...have we been set-up?" Muttered Lloyd with a grimace, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face, before turning his gaze across as several footsteps rang out, to see a pair of APF members rushing overs.

"What’s going on here?! What’s all the commotion about?!"

"That human attacked a homeless man!"

"It’s true, many of us saw it!"

"No, hold on, it’s the opposite, the human was attacked first, I saw it clear as day!"

"Yeah, me too, I heard a clatter and saw him blocking an attack from the homeless guy!"

"Everybody, calm down, one at a time!" Responded one of the policemen, looking frustrated at the conflicting exclamations by the civilians.

"Let’s deal with this calmly...where is this homeless man?" Inquired the other policeman, looking around.

"He’s right-...huh? He was just here, where’d he go?" Frowned Akila, as he glanced back at the alley, but there was no sign of anyone there.

"That man was definitely not a random homeless person. Likely an Assassin, and a fairly high level one...there aren’t many who can sneak away from me unnoticed," Nero thought to himself with a grimace.

The APF members began questioning everyone who had seen, or claimed to have seen, what happened, but it was a fairly even split, a near-equal number of people saying that either Akila or the supposedly homeless man had attacked first.

"Okay, this isn’t getting us anywhere. I’m afraid we have no choice but to take you in for questioning. Don’t worry, if you really are innocent, we’ll let you go right away," Remarked one of the police, as he approached Akila.

"I-...alright, fine. I know I didn’t attack anyone, and if you have a way of confirming that, I’m happy to cooperate," Replied Akila, looking the man in the eye.

"Hm, he doesn’t seem to be lying. Looks like he’ll come along willingly, so I don’t think we need to cuff him."

"Uh, excuse me...is it alright if we tag along too? We’re with him," Chimed in Lloyd.

"Y-Yeah, if that’s okay...," Muttered Kia in agreement, Nero stepping forward as well.

"Very well, that’s fine. Follow us."

The policemen then escorted the four of them to the nearest station, showing them in before having the other three stay in a waiting room, while they took Akila to another room for questioning.

Akila took a seat and looked around, feeling a bit nervous. One of the policemen opened a drawer and took out a Spell Card, it had a slightly different design to the Spell Cards in Persona.

They were both rectangular in shape, but the Anima Spell Cards had more rounded edges.

"Alright, we’ll be using this Spell on you, it’ll put you in a state where you’ll feel loopy. While under the effects of the Spell, you will be unable to lie. Do you agree to this?"

"I mean, not like I have much of a choice, right? And I’ve got nothing to hide, so go ahead," Nodded Akila, before his vision blurred slightly as they pressed the Spell Card against his arm and activated it, the effect setting in right away.

"How do you feel?"

"Hm...? I-I feel so...so gooood. Did the air always feel so nice? And man, aren’t lights crazy? Like, how do they work, you know?" He grinned, his eyes slightly slanted as he slumped back in his seat.

"Okay, good, looks like it’s working. Let’s get the full story from the top, tell us everything that happened."

"Everything? Okay, I was born in another world, then an asshole summoned me here, he tricked me and-...wait. Do you want details about my previous world too?"

"Er, no, we weren’t asking about your whole life story," One of them shook his head in bemusement.

"Huh, I do remember hearing that the forbidden Hero Summoning Ritual was conducted some time ago in Persona. Guess this guy was the result of that."

"Yeah...that jerk, Alphonse, he tricked me and tried to make me kill innocent people, isn’t that awful? Like, I trusted him and thought he was my friend, but he turned out be a shithead," Huffed Akila with a grumble.

"Uh, yeah, that sounds awful. But that’s not what we’re asking about...we want to know about what happened earlier. The incident with that homeless man, tell us what happened there, in detail."

"Ohh, okay. Alright, so...it started when one person in our group, Captain Raven, got juice splashed on him when a kid bumped into him. But he handled it great, like he didn’t get mad or anything, he was super nice to the kid. He went to change, and that juice had a nice smell, so we decided to get some. I suggested we get one for him too, then Lloyd said that we should be careful not to spill it on him, which was pretty funny. Oh, Lloyd is the guy with the dreadlocks and those purple and blue gradient eyes. His eyes are so dope, I wish I had eyes like that. Not to mention...," Akila blabbed on with a goofy grin.

"Damn it, this is the problem with this Spell, it’s so hard to keep them on topic," One of the policemen sighed in exasperation.

"Just be patient, it seems like he’ll get to it soon enough."

"...so, yeah, we then got the juice. It was really good, I wish I had a chance to enjoy it properly. I stepped off to the side since I didn’t want to bump into anyone and end up spilling on them, then the homeless guy called out to me. Except, I don’t think he was actually homeless. I’m sure the alley was empty, he just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

He asked me for some spare change, I was about to hand some to him, when he pulled a dagger and attacked. I panicked and didn’t have time to use my Magic to defend, so I took out one my blades to block it. I mean, it would’ve been faster to use my Magic, but I didn’t have time to think, and I wasn’t calm enough to focus, so I defaulted to the blade.

And then, he acted like I was attacking him and pretended to be scared. Everyone stared at me, which really got my anxiety going. Some people started yelling that they saw me attack him first, so I think they were working with him, trying to set me up for some reason. And then you guys showed up and-..."

"Okay, I think that’s all we need to know," Said one of them, as he activated another Spell on Akila, a look of lucidity returning to his eyes, before he looked around with a confused look on his face.

"Wait, what just happened? I don’t remember..."

"There’s nothing to worry about, we’ve confirmed that you’re innocent, so you’re free to leave. However, since it does seem like you, and possibly the rest of your group, is being targeted, I’d advise all of you to stay in your hotel while we investigate this incident further," One of the police informed him, patting his shoulder.

"Yeah, I’d rather not go through a repeat of that. Thanks, I’ll be off, then," Sighed Akila, as he stood up, stumbling slightly before shaking his head to reorient himself and heading out.

"Looks like someone’s trying to prevent the alliance with Persona. What fools, they could end up triggering a war," Frowned one of the police.

"Yeah, we need to find the culprits and take them into custody, before it’s too late."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city...

"And that’s everything that happened. I’m sorry, sir, I failed to kill him. He was more capable than I expected, I didn’t think he’d be able to react to my attack so fast," Remarked the man who’d attacked Akila.

"Hm, while it is unfortunate that he survived, it’s not a total failure. This is a good opportunity to turn public opinion in our favor. We’ll spread rumors about how one of the humans attacked a homeless man unprovoked, and that the APF and government are trying to cover it up or something, for the sake of the alliance."

"Brilliant idea, sir. At the very least, it should implant some doubts in the people’s minds."

"It was strange, though...the human I targeted was unarmed, and he wasn’t wearing a Storage Ring. He pulled a blade seemingly out of thin air, and there was something odd about his blade too. When my dagger clashed against it, the sensation was unusual, it didn’t feel like I was striking steel or any other metal I’ve ever come across."

"Maybe he was wielding one of those, uh, Relic Armaments, I think they’re called?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Whatever the case, this changes nothing. If we failed once, we’ll simply have to try again, that’s all. The humans may be more competent that we thought, and they’re sure to be more cautious and alert now that we’ve failed once, in which case...we’ll have to resort to more drastic measures."