After finishing his meal, he bid Reden farewell.
"And of course it was on the house," Reden says as he leaves. She frowns and doesn't bother hiding it, and he simply ignores it.
He moves to his next destination — deeper into the messy city, toward a part with far worse maintenance, where people are slowly replaced with hooded figures, inhuman eyes peering through dark cloaks.
Billy sighs as he pulls on the dark cloak he borrowed from Reden. The streets only get worse from here.
The streets are filled with hastily placed cameras, leaving countless blind spots — making their existence questionable, as if they're only there to fill some checklist.
As one of the cameras falls, one of the cloaked figures steps next to it and spits on it. For a brief moment his sleeve pulls back, revealing what should have been skin — but there were only blue scales instead. He glances at Billy, then ignores him and leaves quickly.
Billy sighs, puts his smile back on, and keeps walking. No pure-blooded human could be seen anywhere. Eventually he reaches a very poorly maintained and poorly built part of the city.
The number of cloaks finally decreases here — but instead of pure-blooded humans walking the streets, there are multiple beings, most humanoid while some aren't. Some walk on eight legs while others walk on all fours. Billy still doesn't remove his cloak.
It wasn't long after that before he reached his destination.
He stops in front of a bar that was falling apart but bustling with life. A weak smile crosses his face, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes.
Inside, Billy was the only one wearing a cloak — and yet not a single pure-blooded human could be seen around him either.
The mood had been fairly celebratory before he entered. The most eye-catching thing about the place was a flag hung everywhere — the only place in the city that displayed it. Black, bearing a symbol he was familiar with. He didn't dwell on it. It didn't bring him good memories. Moreover, the only other place that raised this flag proudly was on the other end of the known part of the continent.
The people inside felt amused, covered in scars. The space contained every possible demi-human bloodline in Sophia City — which was still quite a rare sight, even in this part of town.
But when he entered, the mood shifted. It dampened, and the flags were quietly put down, taking any thoughts he'd had of them along with it.
They stared at him as if trying to pierce through the cloak and know everything there was to know.
The attention brought a smile to his face.
Some began walking toward him — some readying weapons, others preparing black inky spells, some with blue ones, and some a mix between the two.
A small laugh escaped Billy's mouth as they frowned.
"Come on, don't give me this — it isn't like you'd actually do anything."
Billy cursed under his breath as he spotted the barkeeper — a gentleman with sharp features and the best-looking suit in the room. Behind him, barely visible, were translucent tentacles, moving and twisting in and out of reality.
His eyes, as sharp as ever, pierced through the cloak.
The bartender paled as he looked up, cycling through shock, denial, and composure in a surprisingly short time.
*It really was him, wasn't it? He was afraid — for just a moment, he feared me. Oh, Jake, old friend, what have you done to yourself? Moreover, that old bastard had no reason to celebrate. Not that his death hasn't turned into a festival elsewhere — he was truly popular, it seems.*
Billy gave a dark smile and came closer. Some tried to stop him, but Jack waved them off — and just as a few were about to attack anyway, the bartender stopped them. *Coward*, Billy thought.
Jack sighed and reached for an older shelf. It creaked from disuse and there was dust on the canister, but as it opened, Billy recognized the smell immediately — one that honestly didn't fit the location at all. Chocolate powder. Jack gestured for Billy to sit as he went to make the drink — the one he used to make for him, with that same familiar smell.
Billy sits and sighs. His eyes grow wet. He lets the dam break.
"She's gone, Jack."
The words carried genuine pain — a rawness in Billy's voice that shocked even him. *Where is this coming from?* he wondered.
"How? The place I set up for you should have held for a while with the right setup." Jack's voice was level, but something warmer pushed through — a hint of sympathy and regret working its way through his cold demeanor.
Then, in a heartbeat, Billy's demeanor changed. He leaned in and whispered something, grabbing the bartender's hand. Jack's face was consumed with fear as he tried to pull away — but it was already too late.
His hand was covered in a black substance. A moment later it exploded in an honestly quite disgusting scene. Jack scrambled to stop the bleeding as the other men in the bar lunged at Billy.
Billy removed his cloak. Everyone hesitated for a moment — everyone except a few of the younger ones. Seeing a couple of young lads launching themselves at him brought back memories. They were fast, and there were two of them, but they were clumsy.
The first kid had green scales wrapped around him — it was as if a lizard had learned to walk upright. He closed his eyes, and a moment later fire erupted around Billy in a full inferno. A dark armor manifested around Billy in response, and an armored hand reached out toward the kid. Then, as the kid squeezed his eyes shut, a small dark knight — the size of a goblin — leapt out from within the fire and tackled him to the ground, its red scales grinding against obsidian armor.
The fire disappeared. Billy looked around — the other kid was nowhere to be found.
Surrounded by dark armor that shielded him like a barrier without quite wearing him, Billy snapped his fingers and whispered something. Another dark knight goblin appeared and began scanning the area. Moments later, it caught the second kid lurking in the shadows. The kid thrashed and cursed, furious that he hadn't found an opening.
With both kids pinned to the ground, Billy turned back to Jack, who had finally managed to stop the bleeding. Before anyone else could act —
"Have you finally lost the mind I wasted so much effort training? You knucklehead — even you, you bastard, can't make it out of here alive after that."
Jack's gentleman's mask cracked. He slammed his hand on the table, splintering it, and shouted. He wasn't lying — but Billy simply ignored it and continued his own conversation.
"How the hell did you know it was that one? We had multiple locations — and it just so happens that the moment we settle into this one, this happens."
*He knew there were some holes in his argument. But when the picture fits perfectly — the motive, the means, everything — I really don't enjoy this.* Even as he thought it, he was smiling from pure delight.