'The Life of A Loner'

*

"Blast the hell outta the mother fucker!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"He's just too goddamned fast!"

These and more were the angry voices of one man's pursuers. They were running down a lone path near the 'other half' of the city, Haveiton. And, although they'd been running for nearly three minutes, they weren't close to gassing out.

And there were reasons behind that.

First of all, they'd just received the greatest humiliation in all their lives from a man who was barely half their size. That shame and anger fuelled them mightily in the current pursuit on this otherwise cool and quiet evening.

Secondly, the very man they were chasing was infact, a man globally wanted and of course, there was a huge bounty on his head to a tune of 20 million dollars.

Almost all of them were broke and to not wind up as a walking dead in this current world so created by the man they were chasing, money was of utmost importance.

These reasons, and more facilitated this pursuit. And as for the man in question...

He, was Duke Priester.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Duke fiercely muttered under his breadth as he practically ran for his life. Although, within him he cursed himself for bringing this trouble upon himself with his own hands and at such a time as this. Nonetheless, he was genuinely happy he was able to save 'her' from what was coming.

A few minutes ago, while he was quietly and invisibly passing by an alley just after a life or death battle, he'd seen these guys harassing this beautiful lady, and he couldn't bring himself to ignore it. Or that was what he'd guiltily programmed himself to think.

And so, he'd deactivated his invisibility skill and told them to stop. They actually stopped, but it was only to get within their sights the misguided hero who had lost his way and would never find it ever again, except in Hell.

At first, none of them recognized him instantly due to the mask Duke had created using the last ounce of phantom energy he had within him.

The intentions of the mask was obvious to him, but not to them.

One of the thugs, whom Duke guessed to be their leader had decided to ask who he was. Of course, while being painfully aware of his current status not just here in Haveiton but in the world at large, he'd answered with another name. Within him, he prayed there would be some negotiations in favour of the lady.

Alas, the thugs had other thoughts. The very fact that there were six of them—all huge and muscly—and just one of him gave them just the right amount of confidence to proceed to manhandle him too.

However, they were completely mistaken. Regardless of the fact that he'd just returned from a battle that nearly claimed his life; In the space of three, maybe four minutes, he could—with just a pen in hand—riddle their entire bodies with deep, fatal wounds.

But then again, he couldn't do so as that very action could jeopardize his plan to stealthily reside in Haveiton. Before disabling the invisibility skill, he'd carefully scanned the alley and discovered three security cameras placed in such perfect angles that the residents wouldn't miss a single detail of whatever went on in their alley. And if it filmed him fighting these thugs, he definitely would be up for investigation by the local police and their guide would be the mask on his face.

This wouldn't have posed a problem, assuming he had more masks to cover his face with. But due to unforeseen circumstances and events (actually he'd seen them but didn't take them seriously so much so that they eventually took him by surprise) he was stuck with just this one mask.

Duke Priester would never dare to reveal his true face to the world ever again after what he did and so, if said mask was under investigation, there would literally be nowhere else to hide in Haveiton which would undisputably lead to a 'plan failed' scenario. And what was worse, he had no 'plan B.'

In other words, maiming or killing them probably might help the girl, but it would be at a cost he wasn't prepared to pay just yet. Therefore, it wasn't an option.

And so, thinking fast, he came up with a plan. He would thereafter taunt them and degradingly insult them and his plan would be a 'huge' success and the lady would escape for her life and virginity.

[You are wondering how he knew that right?]

But then, his luck ran out.

His mask suddenly parted, revealing his handsome face. And fortunately/unfortunately (depending on who's side you are on) one of the thugs immediately recognized him. This was because he had been a huge fan of Duke Priester's work before now. So recognizing him (his real face) was easy.

This, was what led to the very pursuit at present.

Duke had known that his mask wouldn't last for long, but he wasn't expecting it to rent when it did. He could only sum it up to him being more spent than he'd actually surmised.

As he ran, he noticed that his assailants didn't bother calling for help in catching him, perhaps so they only could claim and share the bounty after catching him.

'Well aren't you guys ambitious sons of bitches.'

He thought.

Unfortunately for them and luckily for him, despite having no phantom energy left, his impressive physical stats remained.

In terms of speed and agility, they were nowhere near him.

But just as he thought he was definitely going to escape them, an explosion materialized right beside him, flinging him a few meters to his right. He skidded on the ground before finally hitting a wall with a 'thud' sound and immediately coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Right about now, Duke was far away from the busy towns of Haveiton. He was in one of the loneliest areas of the city—the walls. So barely anyone would know what was going to happen to him...or them.

"The fuck?" Duke muttered as he slowly forced himself up from the ground, his head slightly dizzy.

'Who would have thought one of them actually had the Explosion ability. And to think it almost got me.'

It seemed that his pursuers were getting desperate after realizing that he would definitely outrun them and had begun attacking him. But this got Duke thinking for a moment.

'I thought I was needed alive? Since when was it changed to "dead and in pieces?" Guess I'll just have to devote more time to the papers.'

[-2HP] [HP: 12/175]

[Responsive Shield at 2℅]

Upon seeing this notification from the Phantom System, he sighed grimly. Once again, he'd underestimated his enemies' combat abilities. The only silver lining was the fact that the result wasn't as fatal.

As his pursuers got closer, Duke willed his body to move towards a dark alley which was four buildings long and had a thirty feet wall at its end. This wall was 'The Great Wall' that encompassed the whole of Haveiton, and which marked its territories and borders.

Just as he walked past the first building, the thugs appeared at the alley's entrance.

Duke turned to face them with a smug look on his face. Of course that barely represented what he was feeling at that moment.

"Ha ha ha! We've...got y-you cornered...now you fucking...prick!" The biggest thug struggled to complete the sentence as he tried to catch his breadth.

"So what are you going to do now?" Was Duke's question. He was simply too tired to do anything right now. Not after all he'd gone through. It was obvious. He'd reached the end of the rope.

Somehow, he felt a peaceful feeling within him, knowing that finally an end could be brought to his guilt. There was no need to run anymore.

The leader walked forward, pounding his hands together with an evil look on his face, after finally getting his wind back.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did to all of us."

The Duke Priester on the news was said to be a rogue—a very dangerous man, notable for 'his ability' to turn anything in his grasp into a weapon. But this Duke Priester in front of him seemed to him a sissy whose only weapon was his mouth. This was going to be too easy for him.

With the huge bounty he would get as a reward to capturing the bane of literally everyone's existence, he and his gang would finally be able to live a good life with no worries. In fact, he would open up a restaurant and drop the thuggery. After all he'd had one before the calamity Duke had caused.

But, just as he was about to strike with a skill that would inflict a 'great' amount of pain on Duke before knocking him out, a dreary, unexplainable feeling stopped him dead in his track.

The killing aura that suddenly began flowing around the alley superseded his own, rendering him motionless instantly. The same could be said for his gang behind him. It felt as if a Chaos

rank beast was staring at them right in the eyes.

At first, they thought it was Duke who had finally decided to drop the facade and reveal his true power, but upon looking at him, they realized even he was in a state of confusion and he had a wary look on his face.

Duke had once felt this particular pressure and it wasn't so long ago. Back then, there was no time to investigate or brood on it as he was literally fighting for his life. And now, here it was again.

Why was it here? To kill him?

"If you're really bored of breathing, please, take another step forward."

The voice sounded so sweet, but it was in direct opposite to the aura its nonexistent owner exuded as the intensity of the killing intent within the aura magnified exponentially, causing the legs of the thugs to grow soft like tofu and making them land on their butts at once, their leader included.

'This voice...'

As for Duke, he actually didn't feel anything at all as none of the malicious aura was directed at him. Assuming it was, perhaps he would have been in the same state as them, regardless of his responsive shield —even if it was at a hundred percent.

However, he felt a familiarity with the voice, but he couldn't place where or when he'd heard it or who's it belonged to.

Still, Duke monopolized this chance.

"I'd advise you punks to scramble before your innards are ripped out and shoved up your asses."

Just as he finished saying that, the pressure reduced, only giving the thugs a chance at escaping by crawling on all fours. Which of course they did as quickly as they could.

Once they were gone, the aura disappeared instantly as if it was never there.

Duke sighed in relief.

'I wonder who this person is.'

His only lead for now was that the pressure belonged to a lady. Hopefully, he would be able to find more information after he was fit.

"System, open a portal to the realm of rest." He said.

[Opening Portal to the Realm of Rest]

In a few seconds, a purple portal a few cubits wide opened up in front of Duke.

Duke walked into it and the portal vanished, eliminating every trace of Duke's presence from the alley completely.