2 The Black Beast (1)

''Speak''

'Thought'

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Who am I? I don't know.

Since I can remember, I have been living alone in the slum.

What is my name? I don't have one.

I discarded my name since the moment my parent left me alone in the slum.

How old am I? Am I twelve? No, this year is 1981 so, I think I am thirteen now.

I had been living in the slum since I was ten. I teach myself how to write and read, but most importantly, I teach myself how to live.

Days after days, I search trash cans for food and water. Sometimes I find some; sometimes I won't.

After all, living in District X was not the easiest thing to do. A town that is full of violence, crime and cruelty. A town that is full of mutants, like me.

That's right, the reason that my parent abandoned me was that I am a mutant. A human develops a genetic mutation, granting them a superpower. Most develop this when they hit puberty, but I awaken my mutation early than everyone else, causing my parent to leave me.

I don't remember their face and name anymore, but I don't care.

But then, what is power? What is my mutation?

Cloth manipulation.

It sounds pathetic, really, the power to manipulate clothing; it's sound like a power that could not even hurt a fly. But my power is more than that. When I activate it, my cloth will transform into an omnivorous, shadow-like black beast.

I name it Rashomon, after a book I found in the slum. My personal favourite story. It is a book written by a Japanese author named Ryūnosuke Akutagawa.

I don't know why this book is my favourite, but I don't care about it either.

Rashomon, the black beast that has the power to destroy anything, it can cut and pierce anything.

I sometimes wonder, is my power is actually a result of me being a mutant? It's doesn't make sense. Maybe I am not a mutant in the first place? But who knows at this point.

Looking toward a mirror, my dark bottomless eyes stare back at me, with my short, choppy black hair with side bangs that reach my chin and turn white at the tips that seem to contrast my eyes and hair.

When I look at myself, it looks like I have a constant frown on my face, while my eyes seem like they are glaring back at me, but I know that this is my neutral face.

Wearing dirty and ragged clothes, comprising an oversized tattered light-coloured button-down shirt, trousers, and sneakers, that is all I have.

Looking away from the mirror, I am inside my ''home,'' which is nothing more than a room in an abandoned apartment. I walk toward the door of the room, readying to go outside so that I find food and water for today.

Walking along the street, I see all sorts of broken buildings; people walk around like there is nothing wrong.

District X, a city that is full of mutants.

A lot of mutants work together and form different gangs to help each other to survive. They will kill to get food and resource, and they sell drugs along the street to get more money. Nobody can or will stop them because of the gang that they are in.

Gun fires can always be heard both in day and night time.

Many businesses are run in this town, a range of mutant-owned businesses, clubs, and restaurants.

I keep walking, and nobody batches an eye on me or try to help me, but I don't care about it.

I keep walking, trying to find something to eat, or rob someone for their money.

After thirty minutes, I finally found or heard something. The sound of gunfire caught my attention, causing me to go toward that location.

When I arrive, I see that there is a gunfight between polices and gangsters on the street. Something like this would always happen two times per week. So, it's not really an uncommon sight. Many people would try to run away from it; after all, it's a gunfight, but it's an opportunity for me.

Stepping forward, ignoring all of the people around, I arrive behind the polices who is hiding behind their cars. Right now, four policemen are hidden behind their police cars.

One of them seemed to notice me finally.

''Oi kid, get out of-!!'' Before he can finish his sentence, my Rashomon fly forward, decapitating his head, causing blood to start to spray out from his body.

The other policemen seem to immediately notice this, causing them to turn their attention toward their headless friend. Still, before any of them can utter a sound, my Rashomon immediately cut their heads off, sending them flying, spraying out more blood.

I immediately used my Rashomon to block the blood from hitting me. I can hear people scream coming behind me, probably from the shock of seeing thirteen years old kill four cops like it was nothing.

Walking toward their body, I immediately check their pocket for their wallet. While I was trying to find their wallet, I heard those mobs fighting the now dead police coming toward my direction.

Looking up, I see there are five people in total, and I do not recognise any of them except one.

''Well, would you look that, isn't this the Black Beast himself.'' said the man.

His name... I don't remember his name, but I see his face a lot—a black man with short hair, wearing a black business suit. I often see him in a gunfight like these, but I never learn his name, and I have no intention to.

When I hear, gunfights I usually make my way toward them immediately, whether it's a fight between a gang or a fight between a gang and police; I don't care, the only thing I care about is that, when a fight like this happened, it's a perfect place for me to make money.

When I arrive at a fight, I will immediately start to kill everyone there; no matter whether they are police or mob, it doesn't matter for me. Usually, I only killed one side of the conflict and stole all their money before immediately getting out of there. But sometimes, I would kill both sides if they decided to attack me.

It seems impossible for me, thirteen years old, to do all of this, but it's easier than you thought. After I killed them, the police reinforcement will always arrive late because of their incompetence in this city. When I killed all of the gangsters, there would be no reinforcement because of their nature.

And when I killed both sides? Well, you could guess what happened

Due to this, polices and gangs start to call me the Black Beast, due to my Rashomon. They call me a humanoid natural disaster because the moment you spot me in a fight, there will only be two things that would happen.

It's either you kill me, or I kill you; it's simple as that.

I ignore the man and gather all of the money, putting it in my pocket before walking away from them. As long as they don't attack me, I will not attack them. After all, I already got what I desired.

~Third person POV~

''Oi kid, do you think you can just-'' one of the gangsters said before being cut off by the leader.

''Be quiet, you idiot!! Don't you know who that is!?'' The other gangster said.

''Um, no?'' He answers.

''That kid is the fucking Black Beast!! A fucking monster!! He probably has more body count than all of us combined!!'' The gangster said

''Is that true, boss? I mean, he looks no older than fifteen, and he looks as skinny as a stick, we can kill him easily, even if he a filthy mutant.'' The man said, turning toward the boss.

''Do you think we never try that? Twenty people, fully arm was sent to kill that kid, and you know what happened?'' The boss said before turning toward the man who asked him the question, ''He fucking killed them all.''

''But he did not stop there. He immediately tried to track us down, and when he found our base, he came in the front door and started to kill everyone inside the base, men, women, children, young and old; he killed them all until only I was left.''

''The only reason I even survive was that I made a deal of not ever trying to kill or harm him again, while also giving him all of the money that I had back then.''

''So listen carefully, don't ever mess with that kid because there are better ways to commit suicide.''