1 Chapter One

Unlike how every other story begins, just like every day in the city of Alcanver, the sun shone dimly in the sky. There I was, walking through the cold streets. It was 12.34 PM, so I went to take a break from work.

As unheard of as it is, I am the sole owner of a strip club in between the West and South District. The grand "Le Magnifique" had been in my possession ever since the previous owner died in a rival brawl.

My name is Annson, and I am an Ability User.

Ever since we graduated, three other friends and I bought a house located in the woods. It was a distance away from the nearest city building, perfect for us to do our bad work.

Along the way to a small cafe, I happen to notice a small fight brewing in an alleyway. Two people in different Gang clothing were going all out, giving each other a beating with tooth and nail. And in the far side, there were others cheering and jeering.

See, this was a normal thing in Alcanver. Bets put up here and there, fights happened over and yonder. But most of them never did end well.

*whirr whirr*

"Yeah? " I said, putting my phone to my ear.

"Annson, I need your help. " the man on the other line spoke.

"Chief Wilson? What's up? "

"There's a Mabuka hideout, two streets away. We got intelligence about an assault on MP property in the future. " the chief of the city's military police explained. "I want you to go scope out the area, and if possible, eradicate their forces. "

"Can this wait? "

"Afraid not, Annson. "

"... Give me the location and 15 minutes. "

"Gotcha. Don't disappoint. "

There's many jobs for an Ability User to take. One of them is being a Hunter. A Hunter is a mercenary that goes after other Ability Users. Both Gangs and MPs have taken a liking to this new occupation.

"*sigh* Guess I'll be late for work. " I patted the holster under my arm, to make sure my wakizashi (Japanese short sword) was still there.

I went to take a quick bite at a fast-food restaurant and walked back to our Ford Raptor pickup. I did a quick drive to their hideout and razed their fighters to ashes.

"Who is this guy?! "

"Just shoot this motherfu- "

It was all futile in the end.

That is my Ability, "Gift of The Devil". With it, I can manipulate and manifest fire from any part of my body. Add on a sword, and it gets better.

I also have another power, called a Divinity. It's like a second Ability, but it has increased risk and power.

For example, my Divinity, "Hardened Along The Soul", grants me invulnerability and immunity. Poison, bullets, explosives and such will not harm me. However, as powerful as it sounds, I had to be strong in mind and will. The more focused I am, the more stronger I can get.

"*phew* It's done, Wilson. "

"Thank you, Annson. You did well, I should give you a reward for this. "

"Just keep your part of the bargain and we're clear. "

It was a long fight in that small house. So long that it was already 3.00 PM. As I went back to the club, I sat down in my office to take a breather.

"Heyyyy, boss. You wanna have some funnnnn? "

"Sorry, Nikki. I'm a little tired out. Where's Ginny? "

"Mistah Manager? He's in the backkkkk with Lynx and the othersssss. Come on boss, play with meeeeeee. "

"You're drunk, little girl. Go dance with the usuals, alright? "

"Okayyyyyyy. " Nikki says, as she was dragged away by another stripper.

As I proceeded to fill in more boring paperwork, I bandaged some small scratches and slits on myself. A Hunter with an Ability focusing on fire, that's my second alias. By doing the MP's jobs, I got to bargain with the chief: cleaning up dirty messes while my friends and I get to do our own crimes.

Oh, right. I haven't introduced them yet, have I? No matter, it'll come later.

And then, the clock struck 6.43 PM. I put on my coat and my sword, striding to the door.

"Have a good night, boss."

"You too, Ginny. " I said to the club manager. "Don't waste our ladies on yourself, yeah."

He gave a weak gesture to me, and I left the club in his hands.

"Oy vey... What a day. " I muttered as I fumbled to slot the car key in.

*whirr whirr*

"Yeah? " I said.

"Yo, mate. Might getting some bullets for me? I'm out of clips. "

"Caleb? What do you mean you're out? Did something happen at the house? "

"Some group came with pistols and crowbars. Typical robbers, half a dozen of 'em. I got 2 of them, but the others bailed. "

"What do you need? " I asked.

"Ammo for the AR-15. Five-point-five-six NATO rounds. Maybe some 12 gauge slugs too. "

"I'll go stop by at Juno's. "

"Meet ya later, bro. "

Caleb, one of my friends and a member of SCAR. He has a vast collection of firearms and is skilled with shooting any type of gun. He can switch from long-range sniping to CQB breaching in a instant.

His Ability, "Fearful Frostbite", is almost similar to mine, except that he controls ice instead of fire.

His Divinity is named "Blades Of Bloodthirst". With it, Caleb can summon phantom blades at his command and use them to his advantage. There is one condition though: he needs to be extremely pissed off to make that happen.

He works as a drug dealer in the black market. For now, he's only selling weed and other high-inducing substances. But I believe he would go further than that.

I drove down the street and stopped by at a local arms store. The manager and I go way back, so he mostly gave me good prices.

"Annson! Davno ne videlis. "

"Long time no see, Juno. " I greeted back.

"What are you here for? A gun or bullets? "

"Caleb wants ammo for his rifle and shotgun: 5.56 NATO rounds and 12 gauge. "

"I'll go check, da? " Juno days as he walks to the back.

Juno, the manager of a well-known gun store "Aim2Kill". With both Gangsters and Mercenaries buying his wares, he deemed the facility a neutral zone. As much as a gunshot in the store, and you'd be put down by other patrons.

Juno was previously a gun-for-hire from Russia, but was deported due to a political scandal he caused. But now, he works here in Alcanver.

"Annson. Here is the ammunition for Caleb. Send my regards for me. "

"Thank you, Juno. " I said as I handed him my debit card.

"So how's your gear going? I hope it's well. "

"Yeah, the wakizashi's light and durable. I like it. "

"And the pistol? "

I pulled out my Kimber 1911 handgun and laid it on the counter.

"It's a little strong. Can you fix the recoil? "

"Hmm, I can introduce you the port vented ones. " he said. " I can throw in some accessories. "

"Yeah, sure. Why not. "

Juno helped to put the khaki green ammo boxes into the truck's passenger seat. He thanked me for the business and I went on my way. I proceeded to drive to the edge of town and up the dirt trail.

"Huh, he really did shoot some of them. " I muttered as I felt the truck driving over an irregular hump.

I put the Ford pickup in park and opened the front door. There, I saw Caleb on his console, with his tactical AR-15 assault rifle on his lap.

"Yo, man. "

"Hey. Your shit's in the truck. " I said.

"Gotcha, lemme finish this round. " he said. "You got scratches, military police work? "

"I'm a Hunter, not an MP. Yeah, I had work. "

"Okay. " Caleb continues to mash the buttons on his controller.

"Where's the other two? "

"Rose went out for another abduction. Shannie tagged along. "

"Oy vey... "

"Also, " Caleb said. " There's a package in your room. Said it was from Mitsu. "

"There is? "

"See for yourself. "

I walked up to my room and opened the door. There, a long katana leaned on my table, gold-and-black sheath and all. On the table was also a letter from Kyoto, Japan.

(Dear A-chan, how are you? I found an old

katana when I was cleaning the family mansion. Apparently, it belonged to my great- grandfather in his days. There was some debate on what to do with it, as it was a family antique. In the end, my family decided to hand it down to me. But since I'm always busy with school, my skills got a little rusty. So I decided to give it to you!

Anyway, I'm coming over 2 days from now. But seeing that the mail takes a long while to send to Alcanver, it might be tomorrow from your perspective.

I'm in your care, A-chan! )

Mitsu is my girlfriend who came abroad from Kyoto. She and her brother came to Alcanver a long while ago for a private detective internship. One night, they had to infiltrate the SCAR household as an assignment with two other interns.

Eventually, it didn't go well. One of them nearly got shot by Caleb with two shotguns. Her brother almost got dissected alive in the basement. In the long run, we released the four junior detectives and they never wanted to have such an assignment ever again.

It's an ironic way to meet your future lover for the first time, but that's a story for later on.

I held the katana and wielded it . It was heavy, but strong and durable.

"I see you've found your gift. " Caleb said, behind my back.

" You have one, too? "

"Yeah, a tactical training manual. From Mihara. You know, you should really talk to him more. "

And there had to be a big brother with a sister complex. Mihara, for some reason, dislikes me dating his little sister. Although he's a year older than me, I find his motives somewhat unreasonable.

"I'll take my chances, thank you. "

"Anyway, I'm heading out for a drug run. Care to drop by? "

"Nah, I got work to finish. Gotta fill these forms by tomorrow, then maybe I'll jack off. "

"If you say so. " Caleb says, lighting a weed blunt.

"Stop smoking in the house, you'll ruin the atmosphere. " I said, waving away the cigarette smoke.

Caleb responded by leaving me to my privacy. I pulled out a beer from my 12-bottle crate in a corner, drinking as I wrote and typed.

"How the fuck did they raise the electricity bill..."

After ten minutes or so, I heard the front door unlocked and swung open. I went and saw the two women dragging two bodies each. One of them unlocked the basement door and entered down below.

"Pulling another haul, aren't we? " I said from the top of the staircase.

"Her clients are needy as fuck, I tell you. " Shannie slumped onto the dark-blue couch as Rose dragged the last body down to the basement.

Rose, a member of SCAR. Her forte is human anatomy and biology. Ever since she started selling human organs to the black market (and eventually turning more psychotic after every surgery), we asked to to move to the basement. Not just because we were slightly traumatized by her demonic cackling at night, also because the smell of blood left over from the surgeries started to reek across to our bedrooms.

Her Ability allows her to control wind and air, its name: "Breath Of Changing Winds ". She could blast away a truck with a single fling of her arm, or even pull things to her at high speed.

Then comes her Divinity, which is said to be extremely rare in the world. Her Divinity, "Eyes Of The Lord ", is capable of altering small parts of reality.

On the condition that she feels secure and safe, she can see every piece of land and sea on Earth. With that said, her body remains unconscious while her soul does her work from above.

But the more she uses this power, the more strain her body endures. If this Divinity is used constantly, Rose's life force will weaken and soon die.

"Hey, Annson. Mitsu's coming tomorrow for a sleep-over. So don't you dare do shit at night. " Shannie said, watching her yaoi show on the TV.

"Yes, I'm aware. Quit worrying. "

Shannie, also part of SCAR, she's the eldest of the group by one year. But even so, she can't keep up with our bullshit and just gets a headache from our shenanigans most of the time.

If I'm being honest, her occupation is the most recent one when compared with ours.

A manga artist. (And I always paid her to whip up some good hentai. )

Her Quirk- I mean, her Ability allows her to water-bend. If we had an Earth Ability in our group, we'd be like Team Avatar.

Hurray...

Anyway, she has a hydrokinetic power. But the more unfiltered it is, the harder it gets. Her Ability, "Waves Against The Mountains ", is a powerful asset when it comes to traps and guerilla warfare.

"Murder In The Midnight ". This Divinity was once used by a serial killer in the 1860s, who went by the name Red Rain. Now, this heretical power descends to Shannie. The reason why people deemed this Divinity sacrilegious and fearsome was because it has the power to control blood. But this power could only be activated at night, thus its name.

Abilities and Divinities changed everything. The city, the nation, even the world.

Almost everyone had them.

The four of us were gifted with powers of death, but we never thought about that. Still, we couldn't go down the bright path we wanted.

Because the darkness always covered it up.