Chapter 12: Chapter 12 – Cigarettes, Thugs

Atsuku went to the city as he passed some people who had recovered from panic. As he walked, he tried to meddle with his earring a little, figuring out how to use the space storage.

‘Is it like this?’

He tried to insert Arcane into the earring, and it reacted slightly. It sent knowledge about the items held inside the space storage directly to Atsuku’s brain.

“Oho?” He let out a pleasantly surprised sound. “Most of my items are still here. Sadly, my beloved weapon has been lost, huh? Well, it was destroyed when I fought Valkyrie with Adam, so it can’t be helped. More importantly…”

Inserting the Arcane into the earring once again, he activated the space storage. A void appeared on his left side; its hole was the size of his hand. He inserted his hand inside without hesitation and took out a pack of cigarettes.

“There you are, lovely shit.”

He opened the pack skillfully. Inside, there were 20 cigarettes, specially made with his own recipe that he had researched to calm his mind.  

He had stopped taking cigarettes for more than a week, but today’s stress had built up, so he needed to take one of these.

“Fortunately, Gaia saved this item. I don’t think a normal cigarette will be able to calm my mind.”

Taking one of the cigarettes out, he put it in his mouth and threw the pack back to the space storage. He raised his finger, and a small flame appeared from the tip of his finger. Iblis was a Devil that controlled Fire, Disaster, and anything related to those.

With him assimilating with Iblis and reaching a First Stage Core, he could use his Arcane inside his body to create fire. This phenomenon was often called Magic.

Atsuku took a puff and huffed smoke as he stopped in the middle of the city. The street was destroyed, and some people fell unconscious in the middle of the street.

The billboard was busy spreading the news about the crack in the sky, and the countdown in the sky had reached 0:03:41.

“It’s about time.”

The shadows, Devils, had decreased considerably. Some of the big ones with 3 or 4 horns had been taken in too. Possibly, the majority of people who assimilated with Devils had read Atsuku’s novel, so they knew what they should do.

Of course, the bigger the Devil, the harder the process was. But humans were funny creatures. They always succeed one way or another, even if that means sacrificing other people to succeed.

“They should be around here,” Atsuku muttered as he looked at the alleyway between the buildings. He then entered the dark street, devoid of people.

Thugs always gathered at a place like this. He needed at least one of them to deal with something that would appear when the countdown reaches 0.

At the end of the alleyway, there stood three thugs, puffing off cigarettes similar to Atsuku. However, their cigarettes’ qualities were way shittier than his. It made him smirk in disdain.

The road was dark, so the thugs didn’t realize Atsuku’s presence yet. They joked around with each other as if the current situation was funny.

When Atsuku went deeper, he then noticed another shadow sleeping on the ground. From the shape, it was a woman, and she was naked. Her body was full of bruises, and there was a sign of violence all over her body. She didn’t move, possibly dead.

After he saw the woman’s body, Atsuku couldn’t help but remember Fantasia’s slum. This was Japan, a country where the public order was good. However, it didn’t mean there was no one like them in this world.

He couldn’t help but click his tongue in disgust and cursed, “Shitty trash.”

Atsuku’s voice wasn’t loud, but due to the alleyway having no other sound than the thugs’ who were joking around, his voice was clear, and they could hear him just fine.

“Hah?! What did you say, brat?” The thug scoffed, and he turned to Atsuku. He tried to intimidate Atsuku with his big body as he approached him, stopping right in front of Atsuku and holding his cigar in one hand. “Say it again, and I will show you who you are dealing with.”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on a brat!” One of the thug's friends exclaimed from behind.

“Just kill him, Endou. We can just blame it on those shadows, like what we did to that woman.”

“Hahahaha”

The three of them began to laugh. They were everywhere.

Atsuku was by no means a hero. Even when he was called the Depraved Hero in Fantasia, it was only due to his strength that rivaled the Hero at that time, the Miracle Hero Adam.

If someone looked at his track record, then Atsuku would be more fit to be called a villain.

Bam!

A loud gunshot rang inside the alleyway, and the man standing in front of Atsuku fell to the ground, a hole in his head.

Thud!

When the thug dropped dead, the other two were surprised, and their bodies jolted. 

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They looked up at Atsuku, then they noticed a silver gun that Atsuku held in his hand. Smoke flew into the air from the tip of the barrel, indicating a bullet had been just shot from it.

Casually, Atsuku held his cigar with his free hand, puffing out smoke, and said coldly, “Kill each other. I will spare the winner.”

His eyes were cold with no emotion. He had no mercy for scum, especially after they said proudly that they killed the woman on the ground.

“I will count on three, or I will choose a random guy.” He continued, pointing his pistol toward the thugs.

“H-H-Hey! Y-You’re kidding, right!?” The skinny thug was terrified of Atsuku. His face went pale, and he walked back until he hit the wall.

“Endou! Fucker, you must be kidding me!” The other thug went into a panic.

“One.”

Atsuku began to count, and at that moment, the second thug appeared to lose his cool.

“Fucker!”

The thug shouted loudly as he flung his fist toward Atsuku. His movement was slow for Atsuku, who had assimilated with Iblis.

Assimilating with the Devil not only gave someone the Devil’s ability and Arcane but also enhanced their body’s strength. Right now, Atsuku could even beat the best athlete in running and boxing. He had become a superhuman.

Facing the slow punch, Atsuku had an urge to yawn. But this made things easier.

‘I don’t need to choose. The idiot has come to me himself.”

That was why he skipped the two and said, “Three.”

At the same moment, he pulled the trigger of his gun.

Bam!

The bullet flew from the barrel and pierced the thug’s head right between his eyes. The punch didn’t even reach Atsuku, as he dropped dead in front of him, leaving only the skinny thug.

Magic wasn’t needed to be used against someone like them. He wanted to converse his Arcane to deal with that thing that would appear later.

“Now, then…” Atsuku put his pistol back into the gun holster beneath his coat after making sure the safety was on. He then walked toward the skinny thug with a cold expression.

The thug was terrified; he slumped on the ground, holding his knees and begging. “P-P-Please don’t kill me! I-I was forced to do this by those guys!”

Shifting blame was a common thing for the last survivor when they were desperate to live.

“Of course, I know,” Atsuku said with a smile. It wasn’t the warm smile that he showed to his friend but a cold smile that he often showed to his enemies. “That’s why I leave you alive.”

However, that cold smile looked like a salvation for the thug. He had seen a way to live, and he smiled.

“T-Thank you! Thank you! I will do anything to repay your kindness!”

“That’s good. Then can you help me with something? I would like it if you followed me for 5 minutes.”

“S-Sure! I will do it! Anything for you, boss!”

“Good, good.” Atsuku nodded, satisfied. Finally, he got the last piece before that thing appeared.

“Then follow me. Don’t try anything funny or…” He made a gesture with his finger like a gun, pressed it against the thug’s temple, and said, “Bam!”

Gulp!

The thug gulped before nodding nervously. He stood up slowly, putting his head low to avoid Atsuku’s cold gaze.

“Let’s go.” Atsuku called out. He was satisfied with the thug, he was obedient just like what he wanted. Fear was really the best way to control people.

He turned around and walked out of the alleyway, with the thug following closely behind him. The ground began to be dyed red from the blood pouring from the hollowed head of two thugs.

‘I got the sacrifice. Then I just need to kill that certain Devil before it creates a mess in this world.’

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