Two hundred meters away from the building where the gang is currently fighting Ryo, a blonde woman stood at the edge of a high-rise rooftop.
Half of her face was hidden by her black mask. Her blue eyes locked on the rundown two-story building below while holding the sniper rifle in her hands.
She gave her earpiece a tap. "This is Spectra. In position, watching the target site. I see the hideout."
A man's icy, businesslike voice responded. "Acknowledged. Your primary objective, as per our client's request, is to kill the gang we hired to kill that boy. There should be no survivors, no traces. The primary target is supposed to be dead by now."
Spectra changes her position and lets out a sigh. "Copy that. But after this... I want two days' leave. Lily's asking for a trip." She muttered.
"I'll look into that." He replied before ending the line.
She skillfully positioned the bipod on her rifle and looked through the scope. Her blue eyes glowed faintly with magic, letting her see through walls and darkness like an x-ray.
Her breath hitched as she saw the chaos. "Wait—hold. Something's wrong." She pressed her earpiece harder.
"There is an emergency! I'm requesting an extraction team right now! Ryo Veskar, the primary target... he's not dead. Something's happened to him right now."
She couldn't seem to understand it. She had looked at his profile after accepting the mission. He has no training and is an orphan, he's a weak kid.
A sudden movement caught her scope. A shotgun was fired directly into Ryo's face by a gang member, causing skin and bone to shred in a stream of blood.
Spectra's grip tightened on her rifle, her voice dropping to a shocked whisper. "Direct hit. He's... he should be dead. Confirming kill—"
But even as she spoke, something strange moved in her view. Ryo's body twitched.
---
Inside the gang's hideout. The shotgun's boom still echoed off the walls, leaving a stunned silence. The gang member lowered the smoking shotgun, a crazy grin forming on his face.
"Fucking at last! Do you see that, boys? Blew his cocky head off!" He spat on the ground. "You thought you could be a hero? Now you're just another scumbag."
The other two thugs looked at one another uneasily.
"That was too close," one guy muttered. "Kid fought like a demon. Where'd he even come from?"
The leader cautiously scans the room. The child's moves were too flawless and fierce, and something didn't feel right. He took out his phone and began to type a brief message before pressing the send button.
"Stay sharp," he growled. "This job's gone wrong. The kid's not normal. Looks like we kicked a hornet's nest."
Then, Ryo's fingers twitched on the bloody floor. The big thug stepped back; his face went pale. "What the—? Boss, he's moving. He's fucking moving!"
[ALERT!]
[CRITICAL FACIAL DAMAGE DETECTED: SHOTGUN BLAST.]
[INITIATING ADVANCED HEALING PROTOCOL. RECONSTRUCTING TISSUE...]
The system's voice rang in Ryo's mind.
His broken body started to move. With strange energy, the torn skin stitched together, broken bones snapping back into place, and blood vessels reconnecting. His face is reforming into sharp, perfect features.
Ryo stood smoothly. The wiry shooter froze, his grin gone and replaced by pure horror. "No... no way. I hit you dead-on. You're supposed to be dead!" The shotgun clattered as his hands shook. "What the hell are you?"
He started firing wildly, but Ryo won't repeat the same mistakes again. He dodged bullets with smooth, unnatural ease, like the world around him was slow. Every shot missed, smashing into walls.
The gang member kept pulling the trigger until it was empty, his face twisted in fear as Ryo got closer, near enough to see the sweat on his brow.
"You really like blasting faces with that weird thing, don't you?" Ryo rasped, grabbing the man's face. "Let's see how you like this."
Ryo used basic fire magic. Flames burst from his palm and blasted off the man's face. The guy's scream cut off, his body dropping in a smoking heap.
[ALERT.]
[TARGET ELIMINATED.]
[REMAINING HOSTILES: 3.]
The two remaining gang members stood frozen, their brains struggling to process the horror, hoping it was a bad dream.
The wiry one snapped first, scrambling for the door in a panic.
Ryo saw him and threw his knife that pierced into the man's thigh. The guy crashed down with a raw scream, clutching the wound.
Ryo walked over to him calmly, grabbed the man's head and twisted his neck violently with a sharp crack.
[ALERT.]
[TARGET ELIMINATED.]
[REMAINING HOSTILES: 2.]
Ryo sidestepped as the other guy tried to attack from Ryo's back.
Ryo easily avoided each wild swing, and his lips curved into a tiny, amused smirk seeing fight. Fueled by fear, the man's attacks became clumsy, and Ryo caught his flailing arm and twisting until the bones snapped with a loud snap.
The man's scream annoyed Ryo's ears.
Ryo grunted in frustration, "Too loud," and silenced the man by driving his knife into his gaping mouth. Blood soaked the floor as the body fell.
[ALERT.]
[TARGET ELIMINATED.]
[REMAINING HOSTILES: 1.]
Ryo turned to the last man, the leader guy. He's shaking, his pistol trembling in sweaty hands. The sharp, cunning man who'd planned this murder was gone, his pants already wet.
Ryo's red eyes locked on him with a mocking smile on his lips. "What's this? The big boss is scared shitless?"
The leader screamed, "Stay back, you freak!" He fired his pistol, but Ryo's reflexes were too fast, even dodging bullets even at close range.
Ryo tilted his head, his voice sharp with scorn. "I thought you were the one calling the shots. Turns out you're just a coward hiding behind your crew."
He grabbed the whiskey bottle from the table, sniffing its sharp smell. "Leading by fear? Pathetic. A real leader stands tallest when the fight gets ugly."
He poured the whiskey over the leader. The man froze, his legs weren't moving, and his eyes were wide with terror.
"Here's a lesson for your next life," Ryo said. "A sheep can't lead wolves. Only the strongest earn that right."
He grabbed a lighter off the table and lit it. In the faint light, the tiny flame glowed.
"No, please, I'll pay you, anything!" the leader begged in broken sobs. But Ryo couldn't care.
As he threw the lighter, the whiskey ignited, and the leader was engulfed in a raging blaze of flames. His cries reverberated as he stumbled and flailed, igniting the room before he collapsed in a burning pile.
[ALERT.]
[ALL TARGETS ELIMINATED.]
Ryo stood amidst the growing fire and heard a commotion from the hallway.
Dozens of new gang members poured in with their weapons ready; their faces went pale as they saw their burning leader and the carnage around him.
They had come in response to his desperate message, but now their eyes locked onto Ryo, standing alone in the chaos.
[ALERT.]
[HOSTILE TARGETS DETECTED: 20.]
Ryo's lips curved into a dangerous smirk. "More toys to break," he murmured and dropped the knife.
The gang members paused, some lowering their weapons, thinking he was done—until Ryo slowly crouched and grabbed the machete nearby.
"Ready to dance?" Ryo spoke like a king stepping onto a battlefield.
—--
The stairwell smelled of burned flesh and gunpowder. Smoke crept up the walls. Spectra's boots stepped in blood as she led her team up to the second floor.
When she pushed open the door, everyone froze.
Fire lit the world in hellish orange. The walls dripped with blood. Pieces of bodies were scattered across the floor like broken dolls after a storm.
And in the middle of that nightmare stood Ryo.
He wasn't hurt, but blood covered him from head to toe. The ends of his uniform were scorched and torn. His red eyes stared at the intruders.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then Spectra's team raised their rifles, hands trembling as they clicked off the safeties. Even hardened soldiers could feel it—the thick, crushing pressure in the air that came from him.
Spectra lifted her hand, signaling them to hold fire. Her eyes never left the boy.
Ryo tilted his head slightly. The air shimmered around him, waves of heat rising from the ground. Smoke filled the room, yet it seemed to bend away from him, refusing to touch his skin.
Spectra took a cautious step forward. Her voice was steady but filled with disbelief.
"Ryo Veskar…?"
The boy blinked, his voice quiet and distant. "…That's what they called me?"
He said it like he was trying to remember a name from another life. One that didn't belong to him anymore.
Spectra frowned. "What the hell are you?"
Ryo's eyes met hers. For an instant, the fire behind him flared higher, reacting to his presence like it was alive.
[ALERT.]
[ENERGY OVERUSED.]
[BODY SHUTTING DOWN.]
Then his legs gave up on him, and his body fell forward like a puppet with its strings cut.
Spectra caught him before he hit the ground. Her heart beat hard as she looked down at the unconscious boy in her arms.
"Get him out of here!" she shouted to her squad. "And call for a medevac—now!" As her team moved to secure the area, Spectra looked down at Ryo, and a chill hit her.
"What the hell have we brought into the Agency…" This mission had just gotten a lot messier.