Ch31. Unholy confessions
When Kurt woke up again, he was in an alley full of trash.
He tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't obey him, and when he put more effort to it, an insurmountable wave of pain would cross his brain.
"Broken legs, awesome..." He snorted painfully. "At least I still have my arms.
But before he could put the thought that crossed him mind to action, he remembered Leblanc's words, right before the chief went on to torture him.
'We'll beat you, break you, and then... We'll seal your abilities. And with that, you won't have anything as a wielder, anymore!'
So he tried opening the system window.
NAME: KURT BLAKE
LVL: 15
AGE: 16
CLASS: Rogue
STAMINA: 36/500
HP: 109/600
MP: 500/500
"Good, it still works." And he scrolled down to check what mattered the most to him.
[SKILLS
Steal LVL 10
Prying eyes LVL 10
Shadow walk LVL 10
Master of All Poisons LVL??
****** LVL**
****** LVL**
****** LVL**
****** LVL**]
"MOTHERFUCKERS!"
The scream sent pain through Kurt's entire body, but it wasn't as unbearable as the rage he felt towards the monitoring division.
"No... Towards the whole Association... They have to pay..."
But then, he remembered everything, and the memory made him go completely numb again.
'Yes, in the end, they're just charging you the price for your sins...' A voice that wasn't his thoughts, echoed through Kurt's mind.
"Who the fuck are you...?"
'Oh, don't mind me. No, wait, please, do mind me! See what I did?' And the voice cackled like an old, hoarse bird. 'You know me already, but at the same time, I think you don't. So let's just be good friends until you do...'
"It isn't an answer..."
But everything went quiet, then. And the voice ceased to speak in Kurt's mind.
"Great! Now I'm also going insane...? Fuck that, I gotta get out of here!"
He scrolled up on the system window, and found his items with a sigh of relief. He took one [FULL RECOVERY] out of the inventory, and opened the crystal lid.
"One down the hatch..."
Drinking every drop of the flask's content, he felt his bones mending, his blood returning, and even his lost teeth growing back.
A few seconds later, he was up and kicking again.
He thought of going to the cafe from that day and by some food, but when he checked his wrist, he noticed that his holowatch's screen was blinking in red.
"No, no, no... Oh shit."
The holowatch kept blinking with a <NO DATA> sign.
Before, he was a nobody, expelled from home and killed by his brother. He then became someone powerful and dear to the Shadow Guild's leader.
But now, he became a nothing.
"I'm a ghost, as good as dead..."
And as a ghost, starving and without a single credit on him, Kurt thought that there was only one place he could go to, so he left the alley and started walking, already feeling a lot better with his stats fully replenished.
He needed time to think, and to see a friendly face.
***
After one hour of walking, cloaking himself with [SHADOW WALK] from time to time when he saw members of the monitoring division walking by, he finally arrived at the place.
'Looks a bit deserted, but it still feels like the good old Black Market headquarters...'
The entrance was guarded by two men wearing leather jackets, sunglasses, and earpieces.
It would look rude and pretty weird if Kurt cloaked himself and showed up in front of Nikolai completely unannounced, so he walked towards them, and asked like it was nothing.
"Is Nikolai in here?"
the guards looked at Kurt through the sunglasses and exchanged glances.
"Selling or buying?"
"Tell him that Kurt's here to repay for the favor." And after the guards clenched their fists, ready to get aggro on him, he added. "Don't worry, guys. I'm a friend of his, from school."
They exchanged glances again, and nodded at each other.
"Okay, but you stay here."
One of them went inside, and after a few moments, Nikolai appeared with a different guard, smiling and waving at Kurt.
"Why are you looking like a dead fish that went trough a garbage can, my friend?"
"You're looking good, too, Nikolai." Kurt gave a faint smile and walked towards him.
"Come, let's go inside and eat something, you sure look like you need a meal."
Nikolai turned around and led the way, with Kurt walking a bit faster to stay by Nikolai's side.
They walked for a while, climbed some stairs, and when they arrived at the third floor, Kurt's jaw dropped.
The whole floor was Nikolai's office.
"Sorry if it looks a bit messy, the people will come tomorrow to help with organizing everything." Nikolai pointed at a chair so that Kurt could sit. "What do you think about Chinese?"
Kurt's stomach replied with a rumbling growl, and he looked a bit embarrassed at Nikolai, who laughed wholeheartedly.
"That pretty much answers the question. But what brings you here, my friend? And why do you look like shit?"
'I missed your honesty, man...' Kurt thought, and before he answered the question, Nikolai typed something in his holowatch.
"The food will be here in no time, now, spill the beans."
"Nikolai," Kurt's tone became darker, almost grievous "I have to tell you something, but... First of all, how did you do... All this, in, like... One month?"
"Ah, this?" Nikolai's arms seemed to embrace the whole building. "My father is a very influential man from a shady organization of wielders, which basically means that he's from the mafia. So he taught me how to thrive in the most difficult situations, and as you see, I learned it pretty well."
Kurt's eyes went wide, and his lips bobbed up and down, not knowing how to retort that kind of answer.
"But... Why did you drop school? Why are you living in the streets?"
Nikolai looked at the office walls for a moment, silent, then turned back to Kurt, smiling.
"Just because papa taught me how to survive doesn't mean he was a good papa, so I decided I would go at it by my own... And take over the world in a different way than my father's."
"That's why you're starting the Black Market?"
Nikolai's eyes widened and his brow went up as Kurt spoke.
"How do you know that? I mean, I didn't even name it yet, but Black Market sure has a nice ring to it. Anyway... How did you know that was my plan?"
Kurt's face went deadly serious, and he rested his chin over his hands.
"That's what I want to talk to you about..."
Ch32. Silence
"So..." Nikolai looked intently at Kurt, analyzing all his expressions and gestures, but his friend didn't show any signs of lying. "When you went to take the test last month, you didn't awaken. It was this strange system that you acquired from dying and... Going back in time?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's what it is..."
"And according to you... I died because of you."
Kurt breathed in deeply and nodded. He already expected Nikolai to not believe him, but he was completely taken aback by what his young Russian friend did after.
Nikolai took a notebook, walked towards Kurt, and as he observed Nikolai's movements, his friend slightly smacked the notebook to the back of his head, smiling.
"That's for stealing from me." Nikolai laughed. "I don't like when people steal from me, even if I'm dead. But it doesn't sound crazy..." Nikolai gave it a brief pause. "It sounds 'bat shit lunatic', Kurt. But I believe you."
"You do?" Kurt's eyes lit up for a second, a faint glimpse of happiness crossing them.
"Yes, even more because I know what those bastards at the association are capable of. But you know..."
Nikolai paused for a moment, as if considering something, but dismissed the thought, immediately speaking.
"I know we know each other from school, but when I met you at the Association, I also understood, somehow, that you were different. Like I knew you from somewhere else. And what you just told me actually explains that feeling."
They kept talking, and Kurt kept telling Nikolai about the differences between the previous version of his world and the new one, and how guilty he felt about Rodrick's death.
The food arrived, they ate, and Nikolai told him to go to the penthouse.
"You'll be living here from today on. You need headquarters and I need more manpower, so let's go up together, and teach those Association 'suki' one lesson they will never forget, my friend!"
And so, Kurt spent the last three weeks honing the skills he had left, helping Nikolai to establish the Black market as a solid organization, without the need to worry about Quintus anymore.
However, he knew that the Association still presented a big threat, and needed to be dealt with.
***
Kurt woke up in the dim light of his room, with Nikolai at his door.
He focused his sight, still a bit groggy, and noticed Nikolai's hands moving, ever so slowly, as if trying not to draw someone's attention.
'H.I.D.E. Oh shit!' Kurt thought when he opened his mouth to speak.
He activated [SHADOW WALK] in no time, and when Nikolai saw Kurt turning invisible, he let out a sigh, and finally spoke.
"Come in, and see that I'm telling you the truth."
Nikolai stepped aside, and Leblanc entered the room.
He had a wicked grin on his face as he stepped in, but the grin slowly vanished, as he searched the room from side to side, finding nothing but a few second hand electronic devices.
He glared at Nikolai, who simply shrugged.
"I told you the man was lying." Nikolai said, performing nonchalance. "Why would I hide a wanted man here, when my business is blooming so beautifully?"
Leblanc grunted, but before he left, the chief looked dead in Nikolai's eyes, and said.
"You may be telling the truth, but you're still a regular, so you better behave. I'll be charging higher fees on your business from now on." He grinned. "And if you don't meet pay every single credit by the end of the month, you're going to know what happened to the guy who told me that Kurt was here."
He then turned around, and left the building.
Nikolai waited for a few minutes before speaking.
"Okay, Kurt, you can show yourself now. Kurt? Kurt...?"
But Kurt didn't answer. Only silence accompanied Nikolai in the room.
***
Kurt followed Leblanc until he left the building and went to the monitoring division squad car. There, he entered the car and prepared to take off.
There was a man with him, in the backseat, the man who threatened Nikolai with the firearm earlier in the day.
'So he did go to the association to rat me out, but how?'
And even before Kurt could think of an explanation, Leblanc got in the car, checked his holowatch, and when the screen appeared in front of the chief, there was a photo of Kurt, from his register.
And above the picture, the words WANTED blinked in red.
'Son of a...'
But the car sped off before Kurt could finish the thought.
He ran back inside and found Nikolai looking for him.
"Goodness, where were you?"
"No time to explain, Nikolai, I need your services!"
Nikolai immediately frowned and his expression became dark.
"What did Leblanc do...?"
"He's going to kill the man from earlier, and I need to record it. I have a plan."
Kurt told his plan to Nikolai, and he smirked.
"Consider it done, my friend! Go to the basement, I keep my secret stash there, you'll find everything you need-"
Before Nikolai was done speaking, Kurt ran off to the basement, and when he arrived, he remembered in the same instant everything about the place.
"Oh, yeah. I'll need these later." He grinned, looking at the boxes filled with various dried herbs.
But in the meantime, he just took a smart recorder, a microphone, and an oni mask he found lying around, running off to the street, while activating [SHADOW WALK] again.
'I'll need some mana potions if I keep spending mana like this, while I'm not able to level my intelligence up.' He smiled at the thought.
It had been a while since he felt the thrill of a mission, and the way the adrenaline coursed through his veins made him feel good for the first time in a long month.
Kurt focused his senses, to be able to feel Leblanc's mana signature. After a few seconds of concentration, he could find the chief's trace.
And he was moving towards the docks where Quintus had thrown Kurt down the water in a barrel.
A grin sprouted through Kurt's lips.
"Hunter becomes prey..."
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