Black String of Fate

"True, mad dogs need to be put down."

In an abandoned warehouse, instead of the crooks being present, there was an assembly of the gang leaders of the whole prefecture. Just a few days ago, a person had approached them bearing a threat, and being a gang leader, they had to respond to this call in order to preserve their reputation.

They were not some powerless bunch. They were a bunch of Crafted Veterans and Initiate Elites. Two out of the seven of them were also Advanced Elites, with their gangs holding the most power.

"I'd say let's just ambush him when he arrives. It'll be quicker, won't it?" One of them, who was an Initiate Elite, spoke while subtly glancing at the Advanced Elites. Even though they were technically on the same level in the underworld, the two of them were the most powerful, and therefore, the de-facto leaders.

One of the Advanced Elite nodded his head in approval.

"Hmm... We could do that. He should know the consequences of being a bad host, making us wait so long."

"Hmm, I am pretty late, aren't I?"

"Yeah, you are. Next time- Wait, What?!"

The Advanced Elite jumped back in full alert as he drew his weapon. The others also drew their weapons and tensed up to prepare for battle.

"Relax, dudes. I just want to talk."

Among them, a young man wearing an eerie mask had just spawned out of nowhere. Not a single one of them sensed his presence, despite there being seven of them.

The group still did not respond, only staring at Xavier with wariness. Inside their heads, they were trying to determine the danger level of this boy, because their instincts were flaring intensely.

Right now, Xavier and the group were in a standoff with him on one side and them on the other. Xavier smiled and walked through the group to head to the pile of cartons lying just ahead. He showed his back and openings very clearly, but the group was smart enough to not fall for this obvious bait.

He jumped up the cartons and sat down, looking at the group of gang leaders with an amused smile.

"The reason I called you here is to declare... You know what? It'll be simpler this way, you guys probably won't listen otherwise."

Xavier's eyes went frigid as he looked down on the group like some pathetic insects.

"Kneel, or face my wrath."

*********

Markus was currently facing one of his worst nightmares, including both dreams and reality.

He was a gang leader, who had risen to power after stabbing the old one in the back. There was dissent among his gang about such scummy behavior, but when he reached the Advanced level of the Elite tier, nobody spoke a word from then on. He enjoyed his authority and ruled like a king until someone arrived bearing an ominous message.

"You say that if I don't come, a brat will eradicate my whole gang... Did I hear that right?"

"Yes, Lord Markus. That kid is a demon spawn. He eradicated our whole gang and is now forcing me to deliver this message to all the gang leaders in our prefecture. Please, sir Markus, do something about that monster."

That guy's begging and the fact that he announced the threat in front of a lot of members made it necessary for Markus with this mess. They now had the reputation of the gang in line.

If he knew this was going to happen, he would've never stepped foot in here, reputation be damned.

"You're the last one left? Damn, your skills for your rank are abysmally pathetic. Kids these days..."

Around him were bodies strewn across the warehouse, each injured heavily but nothing that couldn't be recovered. It wasn't that he couldn't kill them, he chose not to. Markus himself was on one knee, keeping himself upright with the support of his sword.

The young man who did all this, meanwhile, was simply standing in one place, without a scratch on him. He was covered in blood, but it was not his, but his enemies.

'Damn it! We shouldn't have attacked him, we should've just fucking knelt! This guy is beating us just to get us under him! What kind of savage monster is he?!'

Everything had started going wrong for the leaders the moment they refused to kneel. When they swung their weapons against him, he had a knowing smile as if he knew this would happen. He drew his sword and blasted away the one nearest to him in a single strike. His sword glowed with an ethereal shine that meant only one thing.

'How does he have Aura?! How does a Novice Initiate possess something only wielded by the Experts?'

It wasn't his sheer strength that beat them, it was his sword. His sword, due to Aura, carried the power of about Crafted Elite tier, but if that was all, they would've easily won. The thing that decimated them was pure, simple swordsmanship.

'The kid, who called himself Xavier, had eyes on the back of his head. Not a single movement escaped his notice. In front of him, no feints or tricks worked. He could see our next moves from miles away and countered them as if he was playing with children stick fighting. He did not use any techniques, it also seemed he was holding back. Just what sort of level is he in?

Expert? Master? I don't know…

However, the truly scary part about him was the momentum he carried himself with. While fighting, he carried himself with nonchalance and amusement, like we were toys to play with. Fighting him felt like facing a giant, primordial demon. We were less than dust in front of his eyes. Our opponent was infallible, our efforts were meaningless...'

"Please... Spare us... demon."

Just as Markus was about to suffer another blow, the sword stopped right in front of him. He barely lifted his head, trying to look at the kid, but he found a glimpse of expression on his face he never expected to find.

It was irritation, and... hesitance.