085 THE RING OF POWER
Suddenly, Damen dashed into a corner and activated Camouflage. His form shimmered and disappeared from plain sight.
He's practically invisible now in the dark using his ability.
Pulling out his phone, he scanned the surrounding area.
A few moments later, several figures emerged.
"Damnit, these scums are really after me", Damen thought.
His phone marked them and lit up: Ranked E Metahumans. They weren't elite assassins from their looks.
They were just local gangsters.
"I didn't know there were Ranked E gangsters," he thought. "I always assumed the local bosses were weak… like Mad Cat or Big Boss."
The local gangsters were usually made up of those who failed schooling. As a result, their Meta scores wouldn't be high enough for them to reach higher Meta ranks. If they were so talented, they would have become the cream of society and wouldn't end up on the street.
"I'm sure I saw him come this way. I've been tracking him since he entered the diner," one of them muttered.
Damen realized what had happened: he'd been tracked the moment he left the diner, and now the gangsters were finally moving in on him.
He sent an SOS to Dorin, pinging his exact location. Then he crouched in the shadows, trying to stay calm.
"Better wait for backup…", he thought.
Then a thought struck him.
"Could they be carrying my million-aur loss?"
In this world, where banks were unreliable, most people carried their wealth with them physically. If these were the assassins from the Order of the black Cockerel, the price that he just paid to the Order might still be on their persons.
The leader barked orders: "Split up! One goes that way. One stays here and watches. Find him!"
They were scattering to find him.
Damen's lips curved into a smile. "Perfect."
One gangster lingered, moving cautiously toward his hiding spot, his eyes scanning for any shimmer of movement. Damen prepared himself.
Then he struck.
He lunged from behind, hitting the gangster's back before he realized what hit him.
Bones shattered under the force of Momentum Collapse, sending the man flying. But the assault didn't end there — echoes of kinetic energy followed the strike, smashing him repeatedly as he tumbled through the air.
"Damnit… I didn't realize it would feel this good," Damen thought, grinning. "My kinetic crunch could strike the same target in multiples from One hit…if I get them on the right trajectory of flight."
"Who the hell—?!" the swollen gangster screamed, unleashing a sonic wave meta. A wave of sound slammed into Damen, pushing him back almost breaking his ear drums.
"This bastard isn't as easy a pick as I thought", he thought, steadying himself.
Recalling his simulation training, his instincts kicked in.
Damen dashed forward, his elbow striking the gangster's neck with brutal precision. Bones shattered under the impact, a wave of sharp kinetic crunches echoing in the alley.
The victim fell down- dead.
Damen collapsed to the ground, gasping.
Killing this one hadn't been easy- he'd taken the brunt of the sonic wave before reaching him. Luckily, his reinforced bodysuit and hidden body armor absorbed most of the damage.
By now, the other two gangsters were rushing in, drawn by the screams.
Part of Damen wanted to hide, wait for the cops—but a darker, sharper side demanded blood.
"If I let them leave, I'll never trace their organization. They'll come back to haunt me some day."
Before they could close the distance, Damen struck.
He kicked both of them into the air, following with a cascading series of kinetic crunches. Then he struck again, hammering the men relentlessly, making sure they couldn't use their sonic wave skill on him.
"Arrgghhh!"
"Please—please spare us!" the surviving leader begged, his voice trembling as he realized he'd chosen the wrong opponent.
Damen didn't answer.
His fist slammed into his friend's skull, breaking it instantly, making sure his friend witnessed the murder. "See that. That is what would happen to you if you don't cooperate", Damen demanded.
Then he grabbed the leader by the collar, his hand tight around his throat.
The man trembled like a child.
"Who sent you?" Damen demanded, his eyes blazing.
"I… I don't know! I took the job from a message board!" the gangster choked out.
"What message board?" Damen pressed.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Dorin's voice crackled through Damen's comm: she was close.
Damen patted the man down, ripping out his wallet and the aur cards tucked inside. He stripped the dead bodies of theirs as well.
There wasn't a million in the haul, not even close, but the cards softened the sting of his loss.
Then he realized something familiar on the gangster's hand- it was a ring.
"I'll take this too", Damen said stealing the ring from the gangster leader who couldn't complain.
"No…", he screamed anyway at the loss.
Blue-and-white cruisers slid to a halt. Sirens wailed and flashing lights painted the alley as SIA field agents and city police spilled out, their weapons drawn as they approached.
"What happened here?" Dorin asked.
Damen shoved the living gangsters toward her. "Interrogate him. He's our lead to Black Cockerel."
She glanced at the corpses, then back at Damen. "You killed them? These were all Ranked E metas?"
"It was just three against one," he said, shrugging like it was routine. "It's even harder on the machine. The simulation teaches me to go straight for the kill… the neck and skull. I just didn't expect these guys to be so weak."
"You are a monster killer", she replied, not at all concerned by the blood in his hand.
The SIA wasn't a treaty partner of any human rights organization- their SOP has always been: "Shoot first before asking questions."
Damen didn't fear arrest for killing gangsters now. He has a license to kill.
----
It had been a week since Damen returned to his apartment at school. His days were filled with simulator training and detective work, but finally, he allowed himself a moment of rest.
"Nothing beats being home," he murmured, sinking into his sofa.
He pulled out his phone to check his stats:
Name: Damen Dark
Strength Rank: D Meta Rank: E
Strength: 152 Charm: 92 Meta: 93 Command: 92 Blood: 23 Armor: 72
His stats had improved thanks to the mining apps' Empowerment system. In no time, he would reach Rank D—but what surprised him most was the slight jump in Blood and Armor.
Then it hit him. "Of course… it's from the gangsters I killed."
Suddenly, he remembered the ring he had taken from the gangster leader. Curiosity piqued as he scanned it with his phone.
Name: Ring of Power
Description: A rare artifact designed to train metahumans in specific meta abilities. The effect of the ring can be shared.
Meta ability imbued: Sonic Wave
Damen's eyes lit up. "So that's where the gangster got his sonic attacks."
Then a button appeared on screen: "Assimilate"