Ah… freedom. It’s a beautiful thing…

It’s been two months since I escaped dear old Pennhurst… and things were looking up for Patient 23.

That’s me by the way. Patient 23, the most dangerous patient in the experimental Pennhurst expendable soldier files… at least, I was the most dangerous left.

But now Pennhurst was no more, and all the others in that place followed and listened to me, and me alone. It was as Boss once told me, power attracts people, and people can be another form of power.

I was very busy in these two months, getting more followers by breaking into other prisons and asylums, placing those followers into positions where they could strong arm other gangs into position…

Having stronger abilities than standard humans made gang fights very different, but I didn’t worry too much. Not a lot of small time gangs had anyone with a LEV, and those who did were easily handled when I sent just about anyone with a LEV from my followers.

The bigger gangs, such as the Italian Mafia, Russian Mob, the Irish and the Mexican Cartels, they had more LEV users who actually trained and were much harder to take down... at current, I still couldn't eat those groups yet…

I’d have to be waiting for a while… but I’d eat my fill eventually, I had the highest concentration of LEV-users outside of military after all, and they couldn’t level up as reliably as I did.

Oh yes, I had discovered all the new things about life during these two months (such as the new drugs being shipped around, different trends and facets of life) and I was now capable of fitting in if I tried…

“Oh, sorry young man, could you point me in the direction of the U.N building?” I turned with a small smile and slight narrowing of my eyes, providing a calm look as I looked to the old woman who called me.

See, I didn’t kill her, I was learning. She seemed to be wearing some kind of formal wear, and was standing around with two more people in suits and another slightly more casually dressed man…

Ah, a U.N meeting must be occurring soon, and this woman could be the representative of a country, Minister or President…

It was so difficult not to reach out and snap her neck as I reached an arm over and very gently patted her shoulder (had I pressed a bit more and squeezed I would have broken her shoulder) and I pointed off in the direction I knew the building to be.

“Ah, just do straight down that road, and take a right on the… seventh turn. It should be in that area, though sorry if I’m off a road or two.” I inserted a joke and a chuckle to make myself seem more casual as the woman nodded.

“Thank you young man.” She said and walked away, and I was watched by the people with her for a moment before they walked away…

Seems I could hide my true nature even from people who are supposed to look out for that… I grinned at that, though I made sure to hide my grin… I’ve been told more than once that it disturbed people around me, and that’s noticeable…

Ah, I need release… I guess I’d find someone to play with… it was early, so at least there were no kids around. I didn’t play with kids often, though some of them were interesting.

Ah, a homeless man… excellent choice… going by statistics of this country, this man could be ex-military, but that meant very little to me, as I walked over to the man, and put on my best ‘concerned’ look as I could, and reached out a hand.

He looked at me strangely, obviously, and I tilted my head slightly, sitting a bit lower before I spoke. “Hey there… you look like you’re in a rough spot. Are you from the military?”

Judging by how his eyes focused on me, he was. He looked me up and down, likely judging me being too young to have met him in service, as I gave a small smile.

“No, we haven’t met. I’m from the Army myself, and it’s my break… I got nothing to do though, and was wondering around when I saw you. You look like you need someone who understands.” I said and he gave me a small glare.

“Now if you’re going to pity me…” I raised my hands defensively and shifted back a bit, provided the image of rejection to his idea and I shook my head.

“No pity. How about we just look at it as me having a bite to eat with a colleague? I’m starving you know?” I spoke the last bit quite honestly as the man nodded, standing up as I looked around… ah, there was a path that went to a fast-food place nearby… and it just so happened to go through an alley with a blind spot from the street.

“Well then, let’s satiate some hunger.” I didn’t say whose as we walked, with him following me wearily….

It didn’t stop me from trying to kill the man as soon as we were in that alley though, and he looked ready to try and kill me too…

Except trying to kill me was an exercise in futility. I hadn’t checked if the man had a LEV or not, but even if he did, I couldn’t see him being higher levelled than myself…

I go into the Dungeon alone after all… more prey for me, new targets, my only issue was that the prey all got bland after the first few kills… they stopped making my hunger go away then.

This ex-military homeless man did have some basic skill, I’d admit, but against me, he was knocked out easily. I laid him down amidst some garbage bags to hide him and I frowned…

I was in the open and I actually had some place to be soon, so I had little time… it seems I wouldn’t be able to play as much as I thought… no matter.

Razorback slid easily in the gap between the seventh and eighth rib, puncturing his heart and killing him near instantly, and I shivered… ah, euphoria…

The Boss was indeed right… the knowledge that you could take away everything that made a person using just a bit of violence was glorious.

Ahem, making Razorback vanish, I stood, and calmly walked out the alley, making sure I didn’t exit from the entry point as I continued on my path, whistling an old pirate tune (bully in the alley to be exact)

I looked around though, noticing that the U.N meeting was apparently going strong, and it was live by the looks of it… this President Clayton was pretty charismatic, though he had some people sitting by him, I couldn’t see any of them clearly.

It would be in the newspaper tomorrow, I was too busy to stay and watch the meeting anyway. Though I did catch how they mentioned that ‘Adventurers’, those who entered the Dungeon, would likely be new world leaders or celebrities…

That being the case, I was already a leader, just not in the legal sense… hey, my favourite pass times are all illegal, there was no way I was going to be a ‘good guy’.

Not that I see anything wrong with killing someone and arranging their bodies to my unique taste in art. Killing is beautiful.

Oh, I was finally getting closer to my little meeting place, and I entered the warehouse easily, removing the hood that hid my face as I looked at one of my subordinates... who was alone.

"So… pray tell, why is there no shipment of drugs sitting there?” Business was important you know? Money is necessary to get people, and equipment, thus, money is another form of power which I want.

I don’t partake in the merchandise though; my Drug Resistance skill takes that idea away even if we ignored how I loathed the things after being drugged out of my senses for almost a decade.

“Uh, the dealer backed off on the deal Boss. Should we take care of him? Can I do it?” it’s difficult being the leader of psychopaths. Of course, insanity comes in different forms, but Pennhurst was very focused on the one that involved hurting people.

“No, don’t bother… I haven’t played properly in a while and he seems to be volunteering judging by his actions. I’m sure you can find something else to do.”

The man agreed to my words and walked away (though I noticed he had an axe in his hand, his own Anima if I recalled correctly…) and I hummed in thought… okay, I was tired of humming, I needed some actual music…

Music was something I hadn’t expected to really like as much as I did, but it was becoming one of my favourite things about leaving Pennhurst, other than the abundance of playmates which I could decorate in as much red as I pleased.

I usually… there, a small throwaway phone, hidden behind a crate in the corner (taped to it actually). I hid one in all the hideouts and warehouses I owned, and they all had different selections of music (some favourites were recurring) and I plugged in the earphones I had and wondered what would play…

I almost burst into laughter hearing Candy by Robbie Williams and decided that it would have to do… Pandemonium should be on this soundtrack… I’d hear it later.

I left the warehouse, remembering where our dealer lived and hid his stash (of course I had him followed) and looked around for a method to climb up the nearest building… New York was filled with too many large buildings actually…

After getting on the roof, from there it was easy for me to plan out a route to get from point A to B as I jumped from roof to roof, and when the gap was too wide… I’d jump anyway.

Super Strength really helped in ways I hadn’t expected, I mean, rooftop hopping is really easy now. My strength stat was over one hundred so yeah.

Surprisingly I found having a huge amount of strength more helpful than the dexterity, especially for me who aims for killing in one hit as something I find to be extremely elegant.

A quick swipe or thrust, and a life was gone, having a life be there in one second and gone the next was a thrill… Boss thought the opposite though, he liked dragging out his kills... it was a whole new perspective when he first tried killing me…

He had succeeded by the way.

I was technically dead for two minutes before I was resuscitated and it was then that I began to follow the Boss around.

Thinking about the Boss was getting me pissed though… I couldn’t remember his name. I rarely heard it, and even then, I had never heard his surname, and I hadn’t worried back then.

So as it was, I wasn’t sure where the Boss was… knowing him though, this Dungeon would be where he’d be, he’d be getting stronger using the Dungeon, so if I looked for strong ‘Adventurers’ I should find him eventually… I’d recognize him for sure.

I was close to the Dealers house and I dropped to street level (it hurt a bit, but with my Constitution stat and a roll as I landed, that problem was solved) and I walked up to the door with the hood of my jacket off and I knocked on the door.

A woman soon opened the door and looked at me… then she scowled. “Andrew isn’t here. Leave.” She said as I blinked… then I raised a hand in a placating gesture.

“Uh… right, I’m looking for him, but I think you have the wrong reasons… see, he had gotten a job working for me recently at a small factory for canned food, he didn’t show up to work though, and as his supervisor, it’s my ass on the line, see? I’m just looking to find out what’s happening with him.”

The lies came easily, I was always a quick study when it came to learning about other people and how they tick (both literally and figuratively) though the Boss had gotten it down to an art-form, and I was a bit quicker to read people… The Boss was terrifying in how he manipulated those around him though, even his own parents at one point…

“Huh? He was working? So… so that’s where he was… I… I thought…” Now, consider your next words, consider what the likely reaction would be, and what reaction you want, revise your words… then speak.

“Yeah… he came to me as a recommendation from one of our workers who have had experience with drugs. He said he was trying to change his ways… um… are you his wife?” I asked, already noting that she was wearing a ring, and she sighed, looking sad at my words.

“Uh… yeah… I’m his wife… he… I got mad at him, I thought he was back to selling or taking drugs… he told me he was scared of something that happened while he was busy and he just packed and left this morning… he left me some money though.” She explained and I noted that I had taken her hand and was rubbing calming circles on the back of it… small things like that usually helped to calm others, made them more pliable for providing information.

“There was an accident at work, but it was not his fault… I had told him, but I guess he didn’t believe me… may I come in?” I asked politely, and she nodded and as she stepped back inside and turned, I grinned, stepping inside…

It would be rude to kill a person in their home without being invited in after all… but I could still get a little bit more…

“So, it’s just you and Andrew?” I hadn’t even known his name until now actually, I hadn’t (and still don’t truly) care enough, and she sat on the couch and shook her head.

“No… we have a son, he’s at school right now. We don’t always have money so he’s a bit shy, but he’s brilliant with football.” A picture of an older teen with the ovular pig skin ball was there and I nodded and chuckled.

“Wonder why they call it football when the only time it touches a foot is during a kick? But that’s beside the point… how has… how does the Dungeon affect your family? Andrew mentioned that he couldn’t enter it…” I knew this was a pointless question in the long run (she’d die within a minute or two, her husband an hour or so after that and I’d come back for the kid if I felt like it)

“Well… Andrew and I can’t go there, so we barely noticed it at first, but our son, his name is Drew, named after his father… he had a LEV, so he goes into the dungeon. He was planning on quitting school but apparently someone he admires talked him into attending a few classes then entering the Dungeon in the afternoon… I worry sometimes.” I see… so I’d have to wait too long to get the kid as well, I didn’t have time for that…

“I understand, I’ve got a younger brother that goes into the Dungeon too… he’s much more reliable than I am, but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry.” I said with a sad smile, even as I took a seat opposite her… longer distance for me to cross, but less suspicious until I strike.

“See, its stressful… thank you for talking with me by the way… oh… I hadn’t caught your name?” I guess this conversation is over then, and I smiled, stood, and reached forward with my right hand extended.

“Well, I didn’t get yours either, but… my name isn’t important…” She took the hand with confusion on her face… then shock as Razorback was buried to the hilt in her neck.

“Dead people don’t need to know things like that after all…” I watched the life drain from her eyes as I had to keep myself from shivering in delight at the feeling of ending another beings existence…

Then I saw the amount of blood and decided to just stare for a while even as Razorback vanished due to no longer being needed.

Ahem, I got distracted for a bit there, five minutes actually, I mean… I should have aimed somewhere that bled less… necks are easy targets though…

Anyway, I already got whatever information I needed, and even if I couldn’t find the dealer (forgot his name again) his life was destroyed by this point, especially if he was messing with me.

“Right… from what I can tell, he should be near his hideaway… it would take a while to get there, and he doesn’t have a car here… guess it’s running again.” I sighed, before determining that I couldn’t waste time, so I shed my jacket and placed it in my ‘Inventory’ which was usually used to hold items gotten from the Dungeon.

Fun fact, you can only put something in the inventory if you can carry weight of the object, and there was a limit to the size of the inventory (not that I’ve ever filled mine, but I knew it could be filled, it just took a huge amount to fill it)

Without my jacket I was wearing a buttoned up shirt and I liked them… I mean, wearing casual clothes just didn’t work with my top hat after all.

I felt the calming weight on my head and sighed in relief… my hat had no real offensive or defensive abilities in comparison to Razorback, but it was a brilliant support item that increased all my stats by small amounts (at current it increased all my stats by roughly five points each, ten for strength) and would enhance my senses.

It gave me a feeling of control as if everything that came near me was merely a puppet for me to command, and they would move at my whim, even my own body would count.

With that done, I sprinted using the full force of my power, making sure to stick to alley ways so as to not disturb others (some people with LEV’s frequently used them to run around apparently, something called Parkour… strange ones they were. I mean, who does this for fun?)

Some who saw me were surprised, but soon thought it was just another ‘Dungeon Runner’ (as they were typically called, those who focused on Dexterity and Strength while levelling for the sole purpose of being able to run around outside the Dungeon, the retards they were.)

Within a half an hour I was at the building and with my Constitution giving me enhanced Stamina (and Vitality boosting the recovery speed) I was fine within a moment. I looked around at the building and stepped forward…

Ah, before I went in… I noticed my song coming on… Calvare by Code Pandemonium. Quite the disturbing song, for most… for me it was glorious, the idea to add faint screaming noises into a song that practically inspired my inner serial killer was a brilliant idea, not that the song should be blamed though… I was already a killer after all.

I kicked the door open and entered, seeing the dealer, two vans, and, as standard for most hiding holes, lots of boxes and even those roller shelves you sometimes see… and with the dealer, was sixteen other guys, all looking thuggish and about to be very dead.

“Oh shit.” I blinked at the words that I faintly heard through the opening of Calvare and shook my head and smiled as kindly as I knew how to.

“Well, what did you think would happen if you ignored a deal with me? You do realize you are going to die soon. Oh, and those people with you, they are all going to die.” I said in a factual tone as the Dealer scowled at me, quickly pulling out a pistol and aiming at me (aimed a bit to the side actually… he’d probably hit me in the shoulder…)

“Well I had to get out… you’re insane, working for you lowers my life expectancy.” I blinked at his words… then I really did burst out laughing as he glared at me… then I stopped and lowered my stance, Razorback easily falling into my hand.

“The lowest your life expectancy can go is death… but betraying me? That lowers the life expectancy of everyone involved with you. So when you die, tell your wife I’m sorry, she really seemed like a nice woman.”

He paled at my words and I dived to the side, even as I threw my knife, as I knew he was about to order fire. I landed behind some boxes stacked on one of those rolling shelves… already I was planning how to kill them all, even as I heard one die from the knife I threw (I had aimed for his eye, and the Razorback flew as I wished)

“You… you fucker… you killed Beth? I’m going to kill you!” Well… I had hoped he’d just be out of the fight from shock, but if he was angry, that was an acceptable secondary outcome… so that was her name? Or maybe short for Elizabeth or something else… not important anymore actually.

Oh, the drop of the song came… excellent… I also really shouldn’t be listening to music while people are trying to kill me… now that’s an idea.

They knew where I landed and were shooting there, but I had already moved away from there obviously… though they obviously hadn’t expected me to go up instead of to the sides.

Funny thing about us humans is that we rarely look up. As three of my victims can attest to when they split up to look for me, and I was on top of a shelf… then I rolled off and landed feet first on the skull of one, killing him instantly due to the drop, and I lashed out at another shredding his neck and twisting his hand to take his pistol and point it at his friends head, then fired.

Okay, that’s four. I felt a bit annoyed that none of them had grenades so I could pull that trick I used back at Pennhurst, but I’d have to make do with magic.

I focused my magic (I had focused on Intelligence for magic, so my magic had a bit more punch than others) and a blob of metal appeared in my hand… quite the useful element, though I was hoping for something like fire.

I combined it with my second element, which was fire by the way, to set up a moment for it to explode… then tossed it as hard as I could. I had created the tiny metal ball with imperfections so that when it broke from my throw, the intense fire inside of the ball would leak out.

It was an airtight container, and the fire inside was surprisingly hot given how much magic I pumped into it. Luckily I tossed it just before I created the fire, otherwise my hand would have burnt instantly.

Now then, once more, to the science corner! What happens when an intensely burning fire has no oxygen? It starts to die normally. Now, make an opening to that enclosed space, and what happens to the fire?

It causes a miniature explosion typically known as a backdraft, which, as I have just proven, can kill people and set them on fire, and spread the false shrapnel I had created.

Ah… thank you, Boss’s mom, for teaching us science, I will forever thank you for that, though the Boss remembered more than me… always a fact guy he was.

So yeah, that was another four dead, so… eight. That left nine, and I had to disappear once more, and I saw a few stairs leading to the second floor and decided to hide there… or rather, hide a surprise there.

“Shit, shit, why is this guy killing us! You said this would be easy!” ah, infighting, that would just make this easier for me, as I left my surprise, and got into position.

“He’s one of those people who get into the Dungeon, that’s why! I thought we would have been gone by now!” the dealer was even more pissed than the other guy, and I decided that messing with him a bit more was really necessary.

“Oh? I guess your time was wasted leaving money for your wife that’s dead right now, am I right? Don’t worry, I left it wherever she put it, maybe your kid will find it? Should I pay him a visit too?”

There, that should have been suitably difficult for him to deal with, and I flipped and, with the greater sense of balance and control I got from my hat, managed to land on a different shelf so that he couldn’t track my voice, even if it was echoing already.

“Shit… shit! You lay a hand on my son…” right, keep him mad, keep him angry and he’ll be predictable. They were still moving around like idiots, and I noted two coming next to my shelf… no one was close by, I could hear them easily… hearing was my most sensitive sense actually.

So, once more, with feeling, I rolled off the shelf but this time caught myself before I could land properly and swung (this caused the shelf to creak a bit, I hadn’t expected that) so they turned to see me, but it was too late as I flew towards both of them from my swing.

The closest one, I caught him with the back of my knee around his neck, and, with the momentum I had, twisted a bit, and a satisfying crunch went from his neck, which was now broken clearly.

Having used this guy and his neck as a way to spin myself, I was now within reach of the other, and I grabbed his head and shoved Razorback through his jaw into his skull as my leg unhooked from his now dead friend, and I quickly moved into hiding… seven left.

I was strong, but I didn’t want to deal with getting shot at, I wasn’t that overconfident. Bullets hurt still after all, even if they wouldn’t go straight through anymore (I had tested this on a Dungeon-goer who had focused on constitution, his stat was around 60, and the bullet still hurt him quite a bit though he bled less than he should have. My constitution was just under that, so…)

“Shit, what was… holy fuck what happened to these guys?” their language had much to be desired, though their vocabulary when it came to cursing seemed diverse.

“We should leave, we should definitely leave... wait, what’s that noise?” ah, they finally noticed my little present…

They arrived at the stairs to the second floor overhang (it was more like a supervision area) and noted a small phone lying on the floor… playing Calvare.

“What the… shit!” Someone got the idea, as they turned only to see me a step behind their small group of three and I decided to have a bit of fun (luckily I gloved my hands before coming here)

For the first, he got a punch in the solar plexus before I dragged him forward making him almost fall down the stairs as I stepped behind him, and using gravity and a bit of creative balancing on my part, kicked the base of his spine and broke it instantly, super strength for the win.

I turned, using the recoil of the kick to catch another as he pointed his gun at me, kicking the gun into the face of the third guy, making him stumble back on the stairs and nearly fall.

Once I brought my leg back to standing position (this is difficult to do on stairs you know) I grabbed his hurt arm, and began systematically breaking it as quickly as possible, wrist, elbow, shoulder, finally forcing him into a kneeling position out of a combination of pain and pulling the back of his knee with my own, and slamming my elbow atop the centre of his skull, killing him instantly.

The last guy finally tried to stand up only for me to grab him by the leg. As a kudos to my Boss, I will see his dream fulfilled… as I turned and swung, lifting and rag-dolling the third guy as his skull cracked open on one of the steps.

He always did say he wanted to be able to swing someone around like that… it wasn’t my style though… normally I was more precise, but I’d make an exception for this one situation.

“What the fuck! There he is, shoot him!” Well, that wasn’t going to happen, as I flipped (getting the phone before doing so, needed my music) and jumped back amongst the shelves… then instead of hiding there, I waited a moment… then I considered the distance… I could make it.

I ran as quietly as I could from the shelves to behind the vans, where the last four were… two were going to go check amongst the shelves…

Right… where… here’s a box. Boxes contain surprises. I think one of them would like a surprise… yeah, they’d like this.

“Surprise!” I threw the box that was larger than my torso at the closest guy, who fell from the size of the crate (and getting hit with a crate obviously)

The crate, unfortunately, blew up before he could open it, ruining the surprise backdraft grenade (I should trademark those) but it still worked… kind of. Guy seemed to still be alive, but roasting nicely. He’ll die soon, and his screams will distract the others, it works out, even if this again, seemed like the kind of kill Boss would use.

“Damn, damn we’re going to die!” Unfortunately for that guy, I could see the door. Again, unfortunately for that guy, I’m very good with a gun.

Three shots went off through his back, all aimed in the rough position of the heart, and he fell, bleeding and likely dead, and I didn’t really need to hide anymore. I could easily dodge two idiots with guns.

“Stay, stay back!” the last thug moved into the shelf area… and tripped, I had left a bit of string there for that purpose after all. Shoelace actually, that was one of my innovations that Boss approved of, shoelace was just about anywhere and could either be used to kill someone or set up a kill.

Like now, when said thug had fallen on the other side of one of the roller shelves, and I chose the one to be most empty of boxes. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I’m glad I’d get a chance to try this.

“Yay!” I ran and pushed the shelf forward so that it rolled, and with my strength stat, if moved very quickly. To describe the next scene, have you ever seen someone get knocked by a car, but pinned to a wall as it happened? Now if you have, can you picture a truck doing the same thing? It looked kind of like that.

“Lots of red… now then… you, the person I came here for…” I turned and tilted my head just in time to dodge a bullet as the man aimed and fired at me, and I was surprised… even after seeing what I could do, he was still trying to kill me?

“I will kill you… for Beth!” I blinked, and then I sighed, noting his gun to be a six-shooter. He had fired once while I was at the stairs, another now. I watched the gun carefully as I approached him, my face neutral.

“Listen here, I made a deal with you. I’d buy your product; you’d sell to no one else. You were paid half in advance, and you delivered, then I paid the rest. We did this about six times until now, when you took the half in advance and did not deliver.” I explained our past relationship as I dodged another bullet, tensing of the muscles, twitching of the finger, reading when a bullet was going to fire is surprisingly easy when you are focused… and have enhanced senses of course.

“Now I’m psychotic, I know that, I love that actually. But even I have my reasonable moments. What made you think that, had you said that you don’t want to deal with me anymore, that I would kill you? Why didn’t you just tell me? Give back the advance, tell me the deal is cancelled, and I would have made other arrangements.” I was surprisingly being honest here, he couldn’t have said anything about me, and there were other dealers (this guy had the most of the product for equal pricing though…)

“S-s-shut up!” he fired twice more, he had one bullet left. I stepped forward, at this point, I was about five steps away from him… I was fast enough to close that gap near instantly though.

“So this is no one’s fault but your own. You would have made nice money or quit, I wouldn’t have had to kill these people, and your wife would still be alive. This is your fault.” I said, and finally, I dodged the last bullet, and I grabbed his neck after I moved.

“G-g-go to hell!” I smirked at his words, Razorback in my hand as I dug it deeply into his shoulder making him cry out in pain.

“Oh, don’t worry… I’ve been there… let’s see how long you last before you go there too.”

My, he lasted longer than I thought… torture wasn’t my thing honestly, it was more the Boss’ thing, and he was very good at it… so obviously he gave me a few pointers.

Nonetheless, this guy lasted an hour of me carving him out into false modern art, all while sobbing and cursing at me for having ruined his life… well, this was his fault really…

I used the dummy phone to call some of my more roadworthy minions to get the two vans which had the powdery product, and I blinked a bit…

“Hm… I wonder if someone considered combining Soul Gems with these… those things make everything better apparently.” it was an interesting thought… hopefully I’d get someone who could implement that idea eventually.

After the minions arrived (one of them was the Axe guy from before, he took special pleasure in pissing on my art and I luckily didn’t mind. That guy was dead and therefore no longer interesting after all.) I walked out of the warehouse, having placed a few Backdraft Grenades TM inside the warehouse, and if the ones I had used hadn’t burnt everything away, then the ones I left behind after that would.

“…I really need a car…” I sighed and began the long walk to my sleeping space… seriously… I was getting tired of using my legs for everything.

I was walking, and I noticed that I had ended up walking past the U.N Building… the meeting had finished quite a while ago apparently, though some people were still gathered around to talk to others in a semi-controlled setting.

Ah… If only I could kill a few of them… Presidents and Prime Ministers… killing one of them would cause a chain reaction that would cause who knows how many deaths… it would be like killing a couple hundred with one knife slash.

I may need to stop drooling, it’s considered socially weird.

I had to step out of the way though as two cars started driving away. I whistled a bit at the sight of the two, the white BMW M3 and the Gunmetal Nissan 350 Z… no, it was a Fair-lady Z (aka a 370Z).

Cars were another new pleasure of mine, much as music was. Those cars were good, and interesting too. Wonder who it was?

It couldn’t have been one of the Presidents or Prime Ministers, they all came in Limousines and such cars… it was likely one of the adventurers invited to the meeting, possibly with his or her team…

Now I was interested, maybe I’d look out for those cars again? After all, only the strongest of a country was allowed at this meeting…

I shook my head off as I walked… really, I need a car… maybe I’ll buy one, I had money due to my business…

Twenty minutes later I gave a shout of joy as I drove my Audi R8 back to my base. Best decision ever. And I got to mess with someone while I was there (no killing, just mentally) when they asked if I was sure I’d want to pay in cash and I asked if I could have fries with my car.

They really bought me some, guess they thought I was some new money rich kid… eh, didn’t matter.

I was soon at my hideout and relaxing… time to go sleep…

Shit. I killed nineteen people today… it wasn’t an even number…

I cried myself to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, it was early and I woke up refreshed… I was one of those rare ‘morning people’ who were actually alright with waking up early.

First thing I did was make some food (a skill that I was sorely lacking, seeing as I can only manage to make burnt toast and water on most days… the only thing I could reliably make was tea, due to the Boss’ love of the stuff.) and after that, check if I had anything scheduled for the day… nothing…

So I went outside and got a newspaper, sitting with my cup of tea as I finally checked the cover… I nearly spat out my tea as I choked a bit and set down the cup, looking at the cover of the newspaper which had the headline: The Six Strongest!

“…I see…” I looked over the article as quickly as I could, looking for the relevant information, blinked when I read it, then read it again…

Level 64… And they thought that was strong? Something was clearly very wrong. The Boss, no, someone that looked like the Boss was in the picture, but… the Boss should have been stronger…

The Boss had mentioned having a brother… but the name… I’m confused, I’ll admit… but still, my first clue.

I’d have to make arrangements… now, how can I speak one on one with this person… not in a private setting, that would have issues, and public would likely get me arrested… Dungeon… the Dungeon would be the perfect place, if I cleared out a Demon Lord room and waited…

I had fought them before, though I hadn’t fought the first beyond that robotic fake version, I had fought the second one and the third…

I just left in the middle of the fight, it would attract attention if the Demon Lord was killed before the ‘strongest’ reached there first.

Looks like I’d have to kill a Demon Lord and wait… but what would give them incentive to come to the Demon Lord room while I was in there…

…ah… that was a plan… the only question was when…

The fifth… The fifth Demon Lord would be my victim, and as for the incentive… well, material possessions would never attract the prey I wish to hunt…

No, a more personal touch would be necessary… I heard a knock on my door and stood, opening the door to see the Axe guy (I really needed to start remembering a name… then again, he was just a patient with a room number, much like me.)

“Hello Boss. I’m here with the list of candidates.” Oh yes… I had asked for this, but I just said I wanted it within the week, I hadn’t expected him to give the list the very next day…

“Right, right… come in, let me check it out.” I said, and he entered my house and sat down on one of the couches I had as I checked the list.

My organization (not gang, gang gave the thought that it was unorganized and random) would be in need of a second-in-command to take charge when I was not there. While Axe guy was my secretary and gofer of sorts, he wasn’t leadership material, so I had him check out people who we could get from inside the group of candidates to become my second-in-command.

My criteria was simple, they must have killed before, but they must not be from Pennhurst or any other Asylum… because I needed someone slightly sane for this.

“Well, this guy is out, he killed to defend himself… this one is also out, mercy killing…” I checked the list again, there were only seven candidates, and while two weren’t interesting, the other five were.

One guy could summon a wolf to fight with him, and he would be able to either summon more or summon one strong one eventually… I’d have this guy on watch, his ability was interesting.

Another could teleport short distances… if I combined that with grenade usage, it would be interesting, but he’d die quickly like that, so he’d probably be out too…

The next guy didn’t even have a LEV so he was out immediately, but I noticed he did have military training so he might be useful.

The fourth guy was barely worth my time, his Anima was essentially the ability to multitask, boring. Sure, there were more details, but that’s what it boiled down into to my eyes.

I looked at the final guy and a smile bloomed on my face. This guy would be my second-in-command, with Illusion magic and the ability to alter perception, he seemed like he would be interesting, a serial killer who was methodical and precise and stole his victim’s money…

“Right, this guy, he’s the second-in-command… Oh, and tell him that I don’t care what his name is, I’ll be calling him Cheshire.” I explained, and axe guy stood, nodded, and walked away…

Oh Boss… when I find you, I hope you’ll like the kingdom I’m making for you…

I felt a fly buzzing near my arm and slapped it, looking down at my left arm… got to cover that… can’t have people think level 64 is the highest, and then they see some random guy walking around with a 78 on his arm…