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..."
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