Liam stared at the holographic panel floating before him and then another screen overlapped the first
[System Notification > You have successfully Eliminated the enemy]
[+3 Stat Points Acquired]
It hovered in that deep, dark red glow. The interface felt too sharp to be imagined. This thing, whatever it was real.
Just then, Yaela walked back into the room carrying a tray with coffee and something wrapped in foil. Liam blinked and the screen blinked out. She didn't notice a thing, well, not like she could see it in the first place anyway.
"Still alive, huh?" she said, setting the tray down beside him.
"Barely," Liam joked back with a wry smile
They talked while he ate, about school, about how mad she still was, about the future. She tried to keep things light, but it was clear she was still shaken from the previous night. Eventually, the scene faded into quiet, the hospital lights dimming slightly as day turned to evening.
….
When Liam and Yaela were finally discharged, they stepped out into the corridor. A nurse nodded as they passed, and the air smelled faintly of antiseptic and warm plastics. As they reached the hallway exit, another door clicked open across from them. A boy stepped out.
Slender. Pale. Barely older than sixteen. His eyes were red and brimming, and he froze as soon as he saw Liam.
"You—" his voice cracked. "Murderer!"
Liam instinctively stepped forward, but Yaela quickly grabbed his arm. Her head shook once, basically telling him to not get involved.
The boy's voice broke again, louder now. "You think you can take my brother, Yugo's life and walk away?!
The Hospital staff rushed in to restrain the boy as he thrashed and yelled.
Liam stood silent and then and then it hit him. "[You have successfully eliminated the enemy]"
That wasn't some metaphor. That wasn't a figure of speech. The system had counted Yugo's death and the stat point gain had come from taking a life.
Yaela looked up at him. "Liam?"
He blinked out of the thought. "It's nothing," he said quietly.
...
Elsewhere, in a high-tech operations center buzzing with activity. It was the United States Organisation for Visors (USOV). Its 3rd and last branch in all of United States.
Men in suits and tactical vests moved with urgency, speaking into comms and sifting through surveillance feeds. At the center of it all stood a tall man with broad shoulders, caramel skin, arms crossed like stone. Mr Garene Grey.
"Situation report," he said.
One of the analysts turned in his chair. "Sir, readings indicate a mythical beast threat. B-class at minimum, possibly A."
"Here? In Detroit?" Garene Grey's voice tensed. "This zone barely emits enough magical energy to stir C-class anomalies. Get me visuals."
The analyst tapped a few keys. A large monitor lit up, showing the chaos downtown. A monstrous crocodile-like beast, twenty feet high, thundered through the streets, slamming into buildings, tearing through traffic and sending panicked civilians scattering.
"Who do we have on the field?" Grey asked.
"No one enough to handle that mythical beast, sir." The analyst replied
"Damn it." Grey banged the desk in frustration.
Then a sudden shift on the screen occurred, an airborne figure appeared mid-frame.
"Sir!" another operative called out. "Selene from the White Hunters just arrived!"
She had this long black hair tied with a ribbon, skirt fluttering over tennis shorts. She barely looked armed, until the void above her right palm spiraled into a pitch-black spear. Without a word, she launch it at the beast. The beast dropped as its skull had been pierced, stone dead.
The room fell into stunned silence, then cheers.
Grey allowed himself a smirk. "As expected of a top ranked visor." He turned to his aide. "Dispatch evac teams for cleanup. Also, inform the central office; White Hunters claimed the kill. They have rights to the body."
When divinity merged with humanity, it wasn't just the gods who integrated into everyday life. Mythical beasts and divine creatures took haven here too. Some were harmless, kept as exotic pets, shaped like chimeric dogs. Others were monstrous, untamable, and impossible for regular humans to handle. These creatures, labeled as "monsters," were drawn to areas with high concentrations of magical energy and activity. The stronger the energy signature, the higher the risk of a high-threat monster emerging.
Mythical beasts were ranked by Threat-levels; from F-class all the way to Dragon-class.
Only Visors could deal with them. Specialized factions formed for this exact purpose, groups made up of Visors across various ranks. Monster hunting had its rewards. Magical cores harvested from slain beasts could be crafted into weapons or sold to powerful organizations driving tech advancement. Even the creature parts themselves were often weaponized. Over time, many factions expanded their reach, directly or indirectly influencing the world's key sectors—sports, finance, digital markets, politics, and more.
...
Back at Liam's apartment, where he sat alone in his room.
He raised his hand slightly, willing the screen to return, and it did. He could telepathically do it now.
[EVOLUTION SYSTEM – PLAYER: LIAM VELMONT]
Main Class: None
Sub-Class: Combatant
Level: 0.1
Authority: None
HP: 100 | MP: 150 | STA: 200
STATS
• STR: 35 • AGI: 30
• CS: 20 • PRC: 35
• Stat Points Available: 3
Skills: None
Inventory: None
"So I really killed him," Liam muttered.
He examined the panel again and then clicked through the abbreviations. Strength. Agility. Cast Speed. Perception. Health Points. Mana Points. Stamina. He hovered over the available point but decided not to use it yet.
He thought back to the power that surged through him during the match. The speed. The electric arcs. It had all started when this system kicked in.
"Rest in peace, I guess," he murmured.
He didn't feel bad. Not really. Yugo knew the risks. Everyone who fought in the Midnight Circuit did. You practically signed your life away the moment you stepped in.
...
Evening came fast and Yaela had packed her bag to return for Cale University. She only returned because of this incident with Liam and the distance was only a 30 minute drive. She left in a taxi when she was ready to go but not before giving him another lecture. "Stay inside, okay? and Liam please quit this boxing thing already, you're risking too much". She was his younger sister but also played the role of mother too.
She was gone two minutes when Liam had his tracksuit worn and zipped with a hood on. All those words she said had fallen on deaf ears. He blurred through alleyways, vanished into shadow. Within minutes, he stood before the Midnight Circuit again. The arena beneath the city.
He made the screen appear again. He wanted to check something out
[Stamina: 191]
"Alright, makes total sense i guess", he said to himself.
Liam walked to the manager's desk. Mr. Silas sat behind it, casual and sharp as always.
"You're alive," Silas said. "Didn't expect that."
"Guess I'm lucky." Liam replied
"Well don't get too comfortable. Main event tonight. Challenger's waiting." Silas gave him a heads up.
"I'll be there," Liam said, then turned to leave.
...
Battle after battle lit the arena. One fighter hurled stones like bullets; another turned his arms to metal. Roars shook the underground coliseum.
And then came the main event. Liam stepped into the ring. The crowd roared; no longer mocking him as the Electric Eel.
"The Lightning General, Liam Velmonttttt!" the announcer screamed. "The new middleweight champion!"
Across from him stood his challenger—Narak. He was slender-looking and had a mask over his mouth. He also had twin knives drawn, ready to go at the bell's notice.
Liam took his stance and then a screen abruptly popped up
[New Quest: Eliminate the Enemy]
He froze at first. "Eliminate?" he whispered to himself.
The bell rang and Naraki was on him in seconds. He made various attempts to slash his blades at Liam however, Liam blurred away, dodging, avoiding, ducking, weaving. The crowd began to jeer.
"What's wrong, champ?" Narak sneered. "Is this how you beat Yugo? By dancing?"
Liam didn't answer. His eyes were on the system. The quest hadn't changed. [Eliminate the threat].
Was it a kill order?. He thought to himself.
He blurred again, this time behind Narak, delivering a flash punch that sent him crashing into the cage.
"Stay down," Liam warned.
Narak laughed. There were spurts of blood from around his forehead. The force behind Liam's punch was that strong, but Narak was grinning, he still had another card to play as he ripped his mask down unleashing a cloud of toxic gas towards his target.
Liam dropped to a knee, his was skin blistering, and suddenly he was short of breath. The gas wasn't dodge-able and it ate at him.
"My gas kills only my enemies!" Narak declared. "You're finished!"
And then—
[Skill Unlocked > Regeneration]
[Regeneration Complete – Full Body Restored]
Liam stood up once more with his wounds sealed. His skin patched itself together in seconds. The toxic gas meant nothing and this made Narak freeze in place. The gas attack was supposedly his trump card.
"What… How?!"
Liam stepped forward, with both eyes glowing, bolts trailing from his fingers.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to kill you," Liam said. "because I needed to know what happens if I don't complete the quest, but yeah fuck that!"
His grin widened. The lightning around him flared and in a blink, he was standing before Narak with his right hand through his chest.
Narak dropped, and that was it, he was dead.
[Quest Complete: Threat Eliminated]
[Level Up Achieved]
[+2 Stat points available]
These notification screens popped up and then vanished.
The crowd went wild. Liam had won the what looked liked a one-sided beat-down. Liam didn't wave nor speak to the crowd. He just took his belt and walked out. All he had to keep doing was keep winning and that was enough for him.
From the shadows, a girl watched. She was dressed in Black and had this dark lipstick on. Her arms were folded and her eyes fixed on Liam as he left the ring.