~ Cat's Pov... ~
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'D-Damn it... It feels like my head's fricking spinning…' like I got clocked by a damn train. And it's all because of him! "I'm gonn—"
Tch… the hell's this weight on me?
No, wait... it ain't on me… it's right next to my arm…
…The heck?
I cracked an eye open, still a bit dazed, and when I turned my head.
'Shit—some guy's layin' right next to me. One of ours. Looked like Riku somethin'… or maybe Jin? Whatever...' His mouth's wide open too, eyes are rolled back like some kind of ragdoll. He's not even moving.
I tried sitting up. Groaned. My body felt like it got dropkicked... I could still feel the damn punch that bastard threw earlier...
Then, I looked around...
And I froze.
Everyone—every last person that was crowdin' us earlier—out cold.
Some slumped against the wall. Others flat on the floor, limbs all messed up like dolls after a tantrum. One dude was hangin' half-off a desk with his leg twisted like a damn pretzel.
'The fuck happened while I was out!?'
I blinked, squinted—yeah, nah, I wasn't seein' things... Broken arms. Snapped legs. Shit, even a few shoulders looked like they got torn out their sockets. Fingers were all crooked, noses smashed in... How... How did he do this to over ninety people in such a short amount of time?
'What the actual hell…?
I looked back at the guy near me again—the dude's leg was legit bent backwards. Can a human do something like this?
"No-No... There ain't no way..."
The last thing I remembered? It was facing down that bastard. Talking big... But, that fucker really wasn't all talk.
Now look at this shit.
This wasn't any damn fight. This was a fuckin' massacre... And I was out cold for all of it...
'What the hell was that guy...?' I looked around my own body. Realizing nothing was broken. He was serious...
He-He left me intact... If I hadn't done what I did before this fight... I would have ended up just like the rest of them...
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~ Ayano's Pov ~
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Now I definitely not imagining things... There's something seriously up with my movements nowadays, not bad things of course. Regardless, what can a man like me do about it now? If I'm getting stronger, I'm certainly not going to complain about it.
PING!
The system...? 'Let's see here.'
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{QUEST: Mini-Boss defeated. (Claimed)
REWARD: 1 Silver key}
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S-Seriously!? I get a reward from defeating these types of guys? I guess that makes this all the more worth it, doesn't it? A silver key to boot too... Still, the quest felt a bit too easy to pull of. Actually, I feel like I shouldn't even be this strong either. Well, whatever I guess.
I looked around a bit, and fortunately, and it didn't take me long to find a relatively hidden space I could use the key. I headed into the abandoned building, pulling out the key and twisting it...
Just like all the other times, I could see multiple cards flashing before my eyes before it landed on an interesting one... 'Weapon Mastery' reading the description, it says, 'Weapon wielding ability is increased slightly.' When I looked lower, it's effectsonly applied whenever I fought someone else wielding a weapon.
I scratched my head, feeling a tad bit disappointed, 'It Looks like I didn't get a decent pull this time...' Unlike the martial version to this. This version's conditions were purely met with someone else coupled with a weapon, and it doesn't state I would get an increased understanding of learning how to use said weapons...
Still, slightly in this system's terms seemed like a pretty massive boost. Actually, it took me from not knowing how to even throw a proper punch, to now mastering multiple different martial arts in a month and some, albeit with pretty rigorous effort placed into my learning with my martial arts mastery passive.
So, If I look at it like that, then the card itself wasn't too bad... But, what I really wanted at the moment were more active skills. I only had two of em' right now, and I haven't even tested out one of them yet... Which, is a bit underwhelming, but maybe that boss I'll fight down the line will make me use it, but still, who knows at this point...
'Right now I just wanna head home and start practicing some capoeira.'
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~ Cat's Pov, at night ~
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"Like I just told you... The guy defeated me, and my entire crew within the span of 15-30 minutes."
The vice president looked at me oddly, "Alright then, follow me..."
He started walking ahead, and I followed after him...
We walked in silence for a while—just the sound of our shoes through the hallway. It doesn't help that my head was still pounding, and every time I blinked, flashes of that fight came back. The way he moved… like he'd been holding back the whole time. That bastard didn't even break a sweat on me.
The vice president glanced over his shoulder, "You're limping."
"Tch… I'm fine." I'm already embarrassed enough as is... Still, I've never been here. Hell, I've never met the actual boss face to face either...
Eventually, we reached some kind large and thick metal door at the far end of the hallway. The kind you'd only see if you were heading into some top area... 'What the hell is this?'
The vice president stopped, "This is where I stop. You enter by yourself..."
The fuck did that mean? Why did I have to go by myself? Actually, this whole situation is hella off... But, it's not like I can just turn back now...
'Fuck it!'
I walked ahead and opened the door...
sniff~
'Urghh!' I nearly gagged. The stench slammed into me like a truck—hot, thick, and absolutely vile.
'Wha-what in the hell happened in here!? Did someone die!?'
No... no, it was worse than that. It smelled like bodies. Not corpses, but something way nastier—like people had been sweating, rolling, and grinding for days without so much as a splash of water or a damn bar of soap... It was the scent of unwashed intercourse mixed with heat and humidity.
'This... this ain't normal.'
I instinctively pulled my shirt up over my nose, blinking back the sting in my eyes. The room itself was dimly lit—low red lights bleeding from above like some kind of sleazy underground VIP lounge... if that lounge had been run by lunatics.
There were empty water bottles, crumpled snack wrappers, and clothing pieces scattered across the corners of the room like a frat house from hell...
I looked to the left, and that's when I saw it—a mattress shoved into the corner, and on it... two bodies. Motionless. Pale.
They looked like corpses.
'The hell did I walk into?'
My stomach twisted, and I took a step back without meaning to. The air was thick and stale—like whatever happened in here had been stewing for hours. Maybe days. My fingers twitched toward my pocket out of habit, but what the hell was I even gonna do if those things got up?
Then my eyes adjusted more.
In the far back, past the mess and the shadows, stood a figure.
Large.
No—massive.
From him sitting, it looked like he'd easily stand over two meters, and his build? It looked damn near inhuman. Like someone took a gorilla and stuffed it into a stretched-out school uniform. Muscles on top of muscles, arms like they were steel beams, and a neck so thick it looked like it could crush a bowling ball just by flexing...
He wasn't even moving.
Just sitting there.
Watching me.
I didn't intend to, but I swallowed my own spit, "Are... Are you the boss?"
The figure didn't respond right away. Just the slow, almost lazy turn of his head in my direction.
His eyes were damn near soulless—half-lidded like he couldn't care less, but somehow still managing to feel like they were peeling the skin off my face just by looking.
A long breath came from his nose, heavy and slow, and then finally… he stood.
Even from across the room, I felt it. That sheer weight behind his damn presence. The chair creaked behind him like it just got released from some kind of curse. My instincts were screaming at me, telling me this this guys was no ordinary man. This guy was something else.
"Boss..." he repeated, voice deep enough to rattle my ribs. "Sure. You can call me that."
He cracked his neck once to the left, then to the right. Each pop sounded like a gunshot in the silence... How was the even possible?
"But tell me somethin', little stray..." I could see his lips curling into something between a grin and a snarl. "You walk in here like that, still breathin' after facin' someone... What exactly did ya' come here for?"
I stood there, frozen for a second too long.
My brain was screaming at me to say something, but my mouth just didn't wanna cooperate. I didn't even realize my hands had clenched into fists till my nails started digging into my palm.
"I…" I started, then caught myself. Swallowed again. "I came to report. Like I was told."
The guy—the boss, I guess—tilted his head. "Mm. That so."
He took a step forward.
Just, one.
And it felt like the floor groaned under the weight of it.
My breath caught in my throat. His aura wasn't like Cat's, or any of the other idiots in the crew. No, this was something primeval. Like a predator in a mildly bad mood. The kind of monster you don't fight—you just hope doesn't see you.
Another step. And now, he was close enough that I had to crane my neck to look him in the eye. And even that wasn't normal either, the guy's eyes were cast, in completely different direction. Up close, I realized his skin had this weird texture—rough, almost like brown scales...
He looked down at me, and I mean down...
"The guy you fought... How strong would you say he is?"
Then he spoke.
"The guy you fought... How strong would you say he is?"
I blinked, caught off guard by the question. My heart skipped a beat as I struggled to find words. Did he want me to praise the guy for how strong he was? Was he testing me? Or did he just not care about my opinion?
"W-What?" I stuttered, still not sure what to say. "That... guy? He's... He's strong." I couldn't tell how much, he practically dispatched me like some fucking kid.
The boss's lip twitched in something that could've been a grin. "Strong, huh?" he muttered, voice low, thoughtful. He paced around me for a moment, then stopped just out of arm's reach. "How strong do you think he is compared to me?"
I felt my throat tighten. This wasn't something I could dodge.
I hesitated, trying to gauge what he wanted me to say. "I... I don't know," I finally said, unsure of where this was going. "But I'll tell you this much... the way he moved... it was different. I don't know how to even describe it."
He spoke again, "I see..."
'Is... Is he done?'
"Then, hit me."
I froze. The words echoed in my mind for a moment before I fully processed what he said. Hit him?
I blinked, trying to make sense of his command. "What?" I stammered, my voice shaking just a bit.
He didn't repeat himself, just gave me that cold, unwavering stare. His eyes were locked on me, and I could feel the weight of his presence pressing down on me, heavy and suffocating. "Hit me. Go on. Show me what you've got." His voice was low, almost bored, as if the idea of me landing a blow was something so trivial that it barely mattered.
A sick part of me—maybe the part that had already had enough of this whole situation—wanted to lash out, to prove I wasn't completely powerless. To at least show that I wasn't as weak as I felt under his gaze. But even with that, I could still feel the knot in my stomach tightening. It wasn't like I had any chance of winning against him. Not even close.
But I wasn't stupid either.
This was a test.
I clenched my fists. I wasn't just going to stand there like some damn idiot. I'd come this far, hadn't I? I wasn't about to back down now.
With a sharp intake of breath, I stepped forward, launching a punch straight at his chest, putting everything I had into it. My arm felt like it was moving through molasses, heavy and slow, but I couldn't let that stop me.
The punch landed.
Or at least, it was supposed to.
Instead of the satisfying crunch of contact I'd expected, my fist slammed into something like solid stone—barely making a dent. My knuckles screamed in protest, and I recoiled, shaking my hand as if I'd just punched through a wall.
The boss? He didn't even flinch. He was still staring at me, like he hadn't even moved. His expression hadn't changed either—still that same cold, indifferent look.
"Is that really all you've got?" he asked, his voice as calm as if nothing had happened in the first place.
My breath caught in my throat, and I was hit with a sudden wave of frustration. I glared at him, the realization sinking in that I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.
"I said. Is that reallyall you've got?" he repeated, this time with a slight edge of boredom...?
He slowly turned around and walked away, "Useless. Get out of here... You're weak. No wonder you lost."
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I stood there for a moment, fists still clenched at my sides, the words he'd thrown at me still stinging. I wasn't about to let myself get stuck here, feeling sorry for myself. But before I could make my way out, my eyes landed on the two bodies still sprawled out on the mattress.
There was something off about one of them. Something... familiar.
I stepped closer, the smell of sweat and decay hanging in the air as I slowly approached. As my gaze moved from one body to the other, something clicked in my mind.
I stood frozen, my eyes locked on the woman on the mattress. Her almost lifeless form was a grim reminder of everything that had led me here. She was one of the missing—the very same ones I'd seen on those damn posters plastered all over town.
She was apart of a group. She had vanished, and now, here she was... lying in front of me like some fucking casualty in whatever twisted game the boss was playing.
'This guy... Don't tell me...'
I tried to shake off the feeling that was starting to creep up my spine. Panic? Fear? Was I just starting to get caught in something bigger than I could handle?
I clenched my fists, but what the hell was I supposed to do about this? If I stepped out of line, if I even thought about confronting him, I wouldn't get a second chance. He'd end me before I could blink. It didn't take a genius to figure that out.
The walls felt like they were closing in on me. I couldn't do anything about this right now. I was powerless in his world. And yet, looking at her, I couldn't just walk away like nothing happened.
But what could I do? What was there to do when the odds were so stacked against me? I turned away from her, taking one last look at the room as a whole. The stench, the bodies, everything—it all felt wrong.
There was nothing I could do here, not now. If I stayed, I'd get caught up in something much worse.
With a slow, deliberate step, I turned my back on the body, pushing the door open and stepping out. The heavy door swung shut with a solid thud behind me, cutting off the sight, cutting off the thought.
Maybe I'd find a way to deal with this later. But for now? The smart move was to get the hell out of here.
I didn't look back. Not even once.
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END