Clues

Looking through the binoculars, Maximus noticed that a thin man was sitting on a chair with some documents in his hands. His appearance matched that of the description Chester — the man he spared — had given. Outside his simple house, under the shadows of neighboring trees, two people stood with assault rifles in their hands. In the outskirts of the city where the poor lived, there wasn't much security except the monthly rounds of local police, it allowed for gangs like these to take root and infest the cities.

He continued using the binoculars to scout the surroundings, during which he found ten more people covertly looking in the direction where the boss resided, just that none of them had assault rifles, just simple pistols. After putting away the binoculars, Maximus began walking over to the nearest person he had singled out.

In contrast to the earlier altercation involving inebriated individuals who paid little attention to their surroundings, these individuals were notably vigilant. Therefore, Maximus knew he needed to approach the situation with caution and discretion.

Crouching behind a wall, Maximus used a mirror to determine the position of the man. After waiting for a while, he broke into a run as soon as the individual had turned his back. Silently creeping closer, he hit him on the indentation where the skull meets the neck, knocking him unconscious. But after a second thought, he slit his throat, giving him a painless death, and hid his body nearby after eating the soul.

Running back to find cover, he hurriedly recited the Augmented Spectralization Scripture, his vision naturally didn't shift as he resisted the distinct 'pull' and still kept his eyes open for any threats. In under a minute, he was able to absorb the soul energy of two guys. After feeling about his ability, he muttered,

"Not quite there yet."

Maximus immediately set off for the other members and picked out the outermost ones quickly. He had already checked earlier that these people didn't have any checking systems in place. Like calling in at certain intervals, so he didn't have to worry about getting discovered. He would eat and absorb the soul as soon as he had killed them, but as soon as he had done the same with the 7th one, his vision shifted, this time his resistance futile.

His gaze fixated on the gene strand emanating a soft, ethereal glow in the distance. As seconds passed, the radiant illumination persisted, casting a mesmerizing aura. In stark contrast, the neighboring gene strand remained dull and lifeless, devoid of any vibrant hues.

Less than ten seconds after he had entered, his vision shifted back to his body and he immediately felt a change in his ability.

With newfound mastery, his ability to alter the prominent aspects of objects expanded to encompass a radius of 10 meters. No longer confined to physical touch, he could now extract and attach the desired properties at a mere thought, effortlessly reshaping the nature of his surroundings. He also felt that his 'fuel' storage had increased a lot, giving him ideas about what he previously didn't dare to do.

It was a qualitative change which would immensely help him. But the storage limit on 'aspects' still remained the same, at 3.

One thing to notice was, his ability also srill depended on the original property of the target of extraction. Example if knife A was sharper than knife B, and if he were to extract the 'sharpness' of both of them, the property of 'sharpness' of knife A would be still sharper than that of knife B.

This was also the reason he was able to hold the knife in his first fight while his spoon stabbed the heart. He had taken that 'blunt' aspect from a ball, which was enough to be able to let him hold it.

Taking a plastic bag from his utility belt, he extracted the 'flexibility' aspect and stored it.

Emerging from his cover with a newfound confidence, he continued sneaking up upon the people and eventually only the two doorkeepers were left. Keeping hold of the 'flexible' aspect he extracted from another plastic bag on his one hand and the one still stored inside him. He silently got close in the 10 meter range of two bodyguards and applied both 'flexibility' aspects of a 'plastic bag' to the spine of two bodyguards.

Instantly, the spinal structure of the two men collapsed as they died without a sound. But simultaneously, Maximus felt his vision blurring as he almost fell unconscious on spot. After barely stabilizing himself, a wave of intense headache hit him as he felt like fainting would've been a better option.

'Did I overdraft that "fuel"?'

Maximus thought to himself as he had felt massive amounts of energy rushing out of him as soon as he used the ability on humans for the first time. It seems his 'fuel' storage was still not as large as he had thought, and using the ability on humans cost more than on inanimate objects.

After thinking for a second, he recited the scripture and he instantly felt the headache wear off.

'Does that scripture help in 'refueling' as well as increasing the realm?'

Maximus didn't have answers to these questions as he was still new to this, so he just put it in the back of his mind and focused on his current task. After absorbing the souls of the two guys, he instantly felt a lot better, almost back to his prime as he extracted back the 'flexibility' to not leave any traces and put it back on plastic bags. Hiding the bodies along with the gun, he walked over to the house where the boss was supposed to be.

He had taken care to not make any sound, especially to not alert the boss or he would've used the pistol he got from Chester to kill everyone.

After walking up close to the door silently, he held the pistol ready in front of him. The boss was still outside the ten meter range but anyway, his goal was to subdue rather than kill or his only lead would be gone.

Knocking open the door, Maximus immediately pointed his gun at the boss, who only just put down his newspaper to see a gun pointed at him. As absurd as it may sound, the room really was that big, befitting of a boss of a gang, as he was still outside of the ten meter range.

Calmly, Maximus got straight to the point without dilly dallying and played the audio player,

"Who was that person who contacted you about killing or abducting the kid with inheritance? Give me their contact number if you don't want to die."

However fake and futile it may be, Maximus still had to show him a hope that he won't be killed if he confessed everything.

But contrary to everything Maximus had thought about up until now, the following situation was something he never thought of.

The boss flashed him a bitter smile, confusing Maximus as another person came out from the door behind. It was a beautiful young woman with extremely pale skin, almost as if she had hardly left her home. Her short hair had hints of blue amidst the jet black majority. She had a confident smile on her face as he gazed at the intruder.

"Welcome stranger, my name is Katy. I assure you that we have no animosities between us but we can have a chance to cooperate about the person you have been chasing after. See? My open face and willingness to say my name is proof of my sincerity."

His balaclava fortunately masked all his facial features as he still held an expression of confusion. But without betraying any of that, he typed out on his device,

"Do you wish to find that person too?"

With a bemused expression, Katy shook her head and said,

"I already know him, I also have plenty of information on him."

"Then what do you need cooperation on?"

"To kill him. I'll give you the information, what he usually eats, where he frequently goes. What does he plan on doing, everything. I just need you to kill him. Do we have a deal?"

"Why don't you kill him yourself?"

"If I am telling you to do it, it's obviously because I can't, right?"

Maximus was having an idea of what kind of person he was dealing with. She used "telling" instead of "asking" signifying that she was used to staying at the top and ordering people around. It was probably a fight between people at higher levels. Maximus instantly recollected how Chester had acted when he saw him, he could feel that man now. He hadn't intended to fall into this so soon, but could he do anything now? Probably not. She probably already had contingency plans in place in case he didn't agree to her.

"Alright. How do you plan on giving me the information though?"

*BANG*

A bullet went through the boss' head, unexpected even for him. As he had thought all he had to do was follow instruction and get the money. Picking up the pack of papers which now had a splash of blood on them, Katy handed him the information.

With the information securely in his grasp, Maximus raised his eyes to meet the confident woman who had dared to approach him. His suspicions were confirmed; she appeared to possess a contingency plan in the event he made any moves against her.

It seemed he had achieved his goal today, albeit differently than he had guessed.

*****

"Did you already predict that someone would come knocking about Aaron's information?"

"No"

From the healthy build of the person asking the question and how he carried a sniper on his back, it was apparent that he was the element of confidence that the woman possessed about the entire situation. Just a flicker of ill-intent and the sniper would've shot the bullet.

"Then why did you hand in the information about Aaron to the gang leader?"

"So that next time when Aaron comes dealing with him, that idiot would know how rich Aaron is, he would then have to pay more to get things done. I didn't give him information about our family nor gave him the full account of Aaron's forces. It would have been best if he didn't have fear of Aaron so he could extort more out of him."

"Then why did you kill him?"

"Change of plans, I plan to let that person go after Aaron, best if my dear brother was killed. Then it is very likely that father will distribute his forces, making me the most powerful after Aaron is gone. And even if he exposed me, it'll be that bitch who'll take the fall, not me."

In a chilling display, 'Katy' pressed her fingertips to her forehead and carefully peeled back the skin, exposing what appeared to be a grotesque mass of flesh being removed. However, it was merely a poorly made mask of disguise. Underneath, a completely different face emerged, revealing her true identity. Continuing her transformation, she removed the short haired wig, unveiling a cascade of long, vibrant light blue locks.

"Lady Evangeline, wouldn't it make the situation troublesome though? Katy isn't stupid, if she managed to catch that person, then clues would surely be found. Your mask wasn't made that perfectly."

"Isn't it simple? I just have to kill the person before that happens. This way I can also take revenge for my dead brother Aaron, earning merits and gain control over the property that brat has once his protection has been killed."

They had misinterpreted the masked man to be someone the siblings hired for protection.

"You truly do think very far into the future m'lady. Your plans are elaborate and cruel as always, leaving no room for enemies."

Evangeline looked into the distance, a wide smile gracing her beautiful face as her eyes radiated a palpable amount of madness.

"I have to be, Malcolm, I have to be. It's all so that I can awaken as a supernatural being."