Rain continued to fall down hard in the dark of the night, the chill midnight wind preparing the land for an onslaught of snow the likes of which likely hasn't been seen for centuries.
It was a very harsh night. "Mhmm..." Ynim muttered to himself as he returned to his thoughts, which were surprisingly calm, despite him having murdered someone just a few minutes ago. There was a slight panic as he realized he was standing over half a charred corpse, with the rusted bridge screaming beneath him. He didn't have much time to think, so he ran forward and thusly, back from whence he came.
This brought him right back into the ghetto which was considered the territory of the Yulcers gang, effectively meaning that he would have to walk several kilometres extra in order to reach his high-rise home. Normally, he'd just buy a taxi because there was no way he was going to walk that far. However, something was different right now.
He had expected to feel guilty or even break down and cry himself into a ball due to the murder he committed, but he felt nothing. In fact, he could even say that right now, he felt great. Empty, like a ton of stress had just been unleashed. Stress that had piled on for many, many years prior. And, for some unknown reason, his body wasn't reacting negatively to it.
Perhaps, his supposed 'allergy' wasn't nearly as simple as it seemed. "Its like when I nut half my soul out when Mona uses that spinner9000 function, although somehow..." He mused with a snort and joking tone. "This feels like its going to last a lot longer than just what I'd get from sex."
A personal release of pent up emotions. What did they call it? Euphoria? No, that was the feeling.
This was...
Catharsis.
Emptiness.
Not fulfilment, just a clean-up. Like he'd taken out the trash from a trash can that was piling up for years on end. Either way, it felt fucking amazing. "And its all the result of me killing someone. Haaa..." Ynim exhaled a very heated breath of relief. He'd never felt this way before, to the point that the emotion made him confused.
Was this... happiness?
Did he get happy from killing someone? Nah. No way.
He was an angel of God, after all! Surely, this is just God's way of saying 'good job, kid'. "Good job, eh?" Ynim smiled to himself and looked at the heavens. "Geez, ... nobody's ever told me that... thanks, God."
And with that said, Ynim ceased walking as he came across a familiar sight; namely the hideout of the Yulcer's gang. He'd been here just recently, to browse their large selection of 'military grade painkillers' and 'happy pills', not that the latter ever worked for him, though the former did its job well enough.
Now, Ynim simply watched and waited, lost in thought as the shabby, former warehouse building seemed to struggle to maintain itself due to the howling wind. Nobody was standing guard outside, not in this weather, not even Yulcer was that much of an asshole to make people freeze to death for his convenience. He'd still shoot them dead in a second if they annoyed him, though. But Ynim didn't need to open the gates to see what was going on inside, not any more.
A crib full of prostitutes, drugs and casual human hedonism, complemented by a couple people crying due to the fact their organs were going to be carved out by some random backstreet 'medical professional', so they can pay for the drugs provided by the gang. A couple of them look like rich people too, with their stupid, nano machine-fabricated clothing.
Hyperweave, a material forged atom-by-atom by an AI guiding nano machines, because humanity needs clothing of that luxurious level for some rabid reason. "I really have no right to judge them, though. Not as I am right now." Ynim chuckled to himself as he tugged on his new clothes. Not even this horrible weather wore them down, since he was wearing mostly hyperweave clothing too.
He didn't specifically ask for it to be hyperweave, of course. In fact, if he was asked, he'd probably just go with an outfit of full synth-leather and not just partial. Either way, it didn't matter right now.
What caught the boys attention however, wasn't the clothing or the debauchery going on inside, but the signature door of the Yulcers hideout. The giant metal contraption wasn't particularly special on its own, but it had a ton of holo-posters installed into it, showing a multitude of flickering, half-working screens that all presented the viewer with the exact same thing.
Namely, the bounty page for Yulcer himself, as well as those of his gang lieutenants and other persons of interest. All in all, their bounty exceeded sixty thousand credits, which wasn't a small amount. In fact, its enough to buy you an apartment in the same block that Ynim lived in, as well as pay for a good three years of rent.
It was more money than Ynim had ever possessed and though ESCP was kind enough to pay for his rent and other bills this month, nobody said they would continue to do so in the next. Who knows? Maybe they didn't 'pay out of kindness', but just to put Ynim in their debt. "Yeah, the latter is the probable case."
Then Ynim stopped to think to himself once again, standing directly in front of the gate and wondering if he should try to charge inside and kill everyone present, like some video game character. "Yeah, no. I don't even have the ability to see my health bar and its not like I'm immune to bullets, right?" It wasn't a good idea and even Ynim's recent thoughts of suicide weren't enough to grant him the courage required to pull that off. "Still... its not like I have to kill 'everyone', right?" I'm sure God does not like it when I kill people, anyway.
"Well, normal people. Sinners don't count as people, after all."
Making up his mind, Ynim walked around the compound using his memory to climb up to a vantage point. A couple of freighter containers, old and dilapidated, used much as cover from firefights, were situated all around the building. Normally, you'd need to be a cyborg to climb them, or at least it felt that way to Ynim since the boxes were stacked on top of one another, but with his new powers, it wasn't very difficult for Ynim to reach the top. "W-whoa!"
It was a loud and strenuous process, with the wind and hail not making it any easier. In fact, with Ynim on standing on top of the stacked containers, the wind almost seemed to blow even more powerfully, as if it was trying to push him down. However, after some thought, he just laid down and grabbed four ends of the container with all of his limbs, which was enough to stabilize him.
Then he took out his new phone and promptly phoned the police. "Good evening. You have reached City 42 information department, how may I help you?"
Ynim went stiff and quiet for a moment, unsure of what he should even say. Biting his lip and hating on himself for not thinking about it before he called, he just decided to get straight to the point. "I'm just calling to grab a piece of info so I'll be quick; I'm a Cleaner, standing in front of the Yulcer's gang base. In order to claim the bounty, do I need him alive or dead?"
"A moment, please." Strange, office-suite sounds echoed through the phone for a few moments, as well as those of a keyboard being speedily abused. Ynim had no clue why people don't just use holo or thoughtboards in this day and age, though perhaps the physical variant is easier to control? After all, thought-boards write everything you think down once you connect, which can lead to a lot of embarrassing situations. "Joseph D. Yulcer is your target, yes?"
Ynim blinked in surprise and quirked an eyebrow. "Hell if I know his name. Its the guy leading a gang in the northern ghetto, south of City 42's District R."
"Alright, please give me a few more moments. What did you say your name or codename was, sir?" Once again, Ynim was stuck. After a couple moments of silence, the woman on the other side asked. "... sir?"
"Ah, sorry. Uhm, just call me Nihil." Ynim blinked in confusion as he said those words. Nihil? What was that name and where did it come from? "Hmm... if it just came to me out of nothing then... God must've given it to me!"
"Alright. Sir Nihil, your target is considered a minor gang boss, despite his wealthy status. This means that his bounty will remain unchanged regardless of his clinical status." Ynim let out a breath of relief. "That makes things easier on me. So uh, do I need to bring the body to you or?"
"Under normal circumstances, yes. However, due to the fact that Yulcer's bounty was placed by a group of individuals rather than a single patron and him being considered as largely insignificant, you only need to provide us with the expected cause of death and, should things go awry, call us to make a change." Ynim's eye twitched as he heard the woman call a gang boss that murdered at least one person a week as 'largely insignificant'. Even more reinforcement to the jaded view he himself had cooked up.
He thought about it for a bit now, though. How would he kill Yulcer? He could feel where the man is due to all the negativity surrounding him in this place, protected by the weather by a semi-think concrete wall supported by whatever salvage and trash piles that the gang managed to cook up and make nice enough to call it the 'bosses crib'.
It wouldn't be too hard to penetrate it with his powers. "Lighting strike." He could almost feel the lady on the phone blinking in confusion.
"S-sir?"
"Yulcer's cause of death is going to be a lightning strike, a punishment sent by God, you could say. Anyway, I'll call again later, bye."
"S-sir! Wait! What do you me-*beep*"
And with that, Ynim cut the policewoman off. Then he went back to thinking about how to do this. The man wasn't that far, just a mere twenty-ish meters from his current locations, but could he actually generate enough power to bust through the concrete? He wasn't sure he could do it on his own. After all, he was currently feeling rather spent, having used most of his energy to blast his previous target into nothingness, as well as the bridge beneath them both.
"Fortunately..." Ynim, or rather Nihil, grinned widely as he turned back to look at the warehouse. "I have a whole sea of negativity just waiting to be tapped into~."
Somehow managing to stand up as the wind continued to push against his back, Nihil closed his eyes and began to channel the energy, to focus his thoughts into those of the gangs. So many memories of swindling, of robbery, of threats and bloodshed, but also of regrets, of guilt, of mourning the dead comrades, brothers in arms who had stood with them till they were gunned down.
Nihil considered these memories for a moment, almost beginning to feel slightly bad for the gangsters, but each and every memory was followed up by a rather striking resolution, a thought that hit him deep. "They were devoured by the City." That was the gangsters excuse, a cruel motto that seemed to permeate the thoughts of every gunfight resulting from the gangs actions.
All those that they lost to this pseudo-war, this endless conflict against what was apparently just a simple need for survival. The people that died here, they weren't victims of the gangsters, their enemies or their actions. "Oh, no-no-no! Because how could they ever blame themselves for this shit!" Ynim/Nihil muttered under his breath, the gust already becoming misty and heated from the rage he was gathering.
All the lust, the drugs, the pain, the temporary relief, the dread of awaiting the next day, still alive to face it. Hell, everyone here had suicidal thoughts at some point.
"No..."
Not everyone.
Yulcer himself was a man filled with thoughts that Nihil couldn't really resonate with. A lot of it was just a jumble of psychopathic realizations and otherwise wicked thoughts of what he would do to others, but Yulcer didn't have something that just about everyone else in the gang did.
Self-hate.
Yulcer, did not hate himself for his actions. He didn't hate killing, torturing or threatening people alive. It was almost as if he was missing a piece of normal human mentality. There was no remorse, no pity. Others weren't even tools or toys in his head. No, to Yulcer, as far as Nihil could tell, at least, people were simply there, until he made them not be.
It was almost like the man just figured he was god. The main character, that sort of thing, but he didn't have any overreaching pride. In fact, this man was... "... content."
He wasn't especially happy, though a disgusting feeling of self-satisfactions and assurance permeated the drug-addled psychopath that lead the gang of his own namesake. However, this isn't anything especially unbelievable. After all, you had to be a crazy psychopath to have this many thugs and scums start calling and thinking of you as the boss.
Who knows? Maybe Yulcer was different before. Maybe he was just born this way? At the end of the day, Ynim found himself caring for Yulcer's truth about as much as the man himself cared for the suffering of others. Which is to say; not at all.
Roaring thunder dominated the background, disallowing any sound to be made as the winds howled in unison with the storms. The dark of the night covering everything that the eye could see, apart from the spot where Ynim stood. All the focus he had managed had resulted in a ball of glowing hot plasma, ready to be unleashed. Gathered hatred, spite and regret, coiling and cooking the very air around it as the essence of the memories absorbed continued to flow. Ynim knew that he could control the ball of power, so long as that only meant throwing or directing the energy towards his target.
But stopping it now? He could feel sweat falling down his brow. This amount of energy was beyond anything he thought was around him. Why was there so much?
It didn't take him very long to realize the truth; Yulcer's own men wanted him dead. Not just them, but just about everyone that had ever come through these doors wished for his death once or twice in their criminal career. "Is that just normal in gangs? To wish for your leaders death?"
All those thoughts of brotherhood and blood bound by conflict... it meant nothing to these people. Nothing in comparison to their ambitions and desires, their yet-to-form sins. Sure, some liked the boss, for many reasons such as him allowing things other bosses perhaps would not, but nobody around Yulcer loved him.
Nobody would care if he died, but many were actively wishing that he was gone. There was a lot of shame in the gang, a lot of failed attempts at killing Yulcer. Some out of revenge, a few failed attempts at heroism by outsiders, but most of it was just greedy gang-members wishing to take the spot of the top dog.
Funnily enough, Yulcer rarely ever killed these people. It was as if he enjoyed seeing the losers squirm at the fact they failed.
But... all these gangsters were just that; gangsters. They were normal people, even if they did criminal stuff. Even Yulcer himself, though touched in the head in his own way, was no esper. Nobody here had the powerful emotions required to form this ball of barely-shackled lightning. "Did I miscalculate the negativity in this place?" Ynim whispered to himself as he watched the white-hot ball grow an unnatural crimson and gold, his instincts flaring at him, telling him to fire it soon.
"Oh well. Who cares, anyway? The ball being this strong works in my favour." With those final words spoken, Ynim fired the charged-up lighting bolt directed at Yulcer, rending apart a myriad of trashy barricades as well as the concrete barrier after it. The knock back of the force sent him flying into the air, though he felt so emotionally spent he couldn't even scream in surprise.
This eerie calm allowed him to see Yulcer's shocked expression just as the plasma reached and obliterated him, alongside what looked to be a young woman full of bruises and a few cuts. Ynim let out a sigh. "I was so focused on Yulcer that I forgot to check if there was anyone near him. Oh well, she looked like just another crack whore, anyway. Better off dead if you ask me."
Time seemed to resume as the sound of the blast reverberated in his ears, the force of the thunder causing him to slam back-first into the half-finished wall of another dilapidated building. This much sound would surely attract attention, so after giving himself a quick check-up and making sure there weren't any open wounds from the fall, Ynim quickly made himself scarce from this place.
And as he walked away, he could hear the screams echoing besides the midnight thunder. It made him smile as he picked up his phone and called the police again. "Eyo~. Yes, this is Nihil. I'm calling in to confirm my kill. Now, how much did you say the bounty was?"
Change of POV
My name is Hofuku Ayano.
I'm what you could call just your typical city girl being made to walk a dishonourable path. I'm sure my Oji wouldn't approve of anything that I've been doing for the past few years, using the sword he taught me to do horrible things and betraying my family, as well as my own honour. He always said that it was especially important too keep that honour now that the world has clearly fallen extremely low.
He raised me to be a paragon of virtue and yet, here I am, stuck in this stupid gangsters den.
And why?
Because I couldn't pay off my elder sisters debts. Because she just had to go ahead and reject our grandfather's teachings and indulge in the abhorrent debauchery of modern life, even when grandfather warned her that the heavens themselves will surely punish her for this.
...
But these are all excuses for where we both are now; one sister splayed out on a makeshift bed, eagerly pleasuring a psychopathic gang-boss, as her 'honour-bound' little sister is chained up against a wall and made to watch it happen, while gangsters film the whole thing. Apparently, they think people will love my hateful expressions of betrayal and screams of dishonour.
However, I've already thrown out all of my spite. Now, I'm just wondering how someone so fucking disgusting could ever possibly possess the same illustrious bloodline as I do!
"Hey! You better start making some ugly faces for us, bitch!" A foot struck against my face as a nearby thug kicked me, bloodying my nose in the process. I spat the blood on the floor. "H-honey~, you should fuck my ass in front of her! That oughta let the little bitch squeal some more!" My sisters voice echoed through the room, which stank of alcohol and drugs.
"Oooh, now there's an idea." Yulcer stopped what he was doing and promptly grabbed my sisters hair, dragging her around as she let herself splay out on the floor defencelessly, like a toy that enjoyed being used up.
It made me want to vomit.
Yulcer threw her in front of me, causing her to roughly fall on the ground, only to kick her in the ribs when she didn't instantly get up. "Ow-ah, h-honey, n-not so r-rough!" She squealed like a pig, causing me to almost snort and promptly get another fist in the face from another thug. "Hey! Boss said no happy faces!"
The cybernetic fist had me reeling in pain, but I could almost say that I didn't feel a thing. My hatred had eaten everything from me.
That didn't stop Yulcer from pushing my sisters head down into the ground in front of where I fell due to being hit by a fucking cyborg thug. "Ha, there ya go! Now ya sisters are on the same level! Oi, Stephan! Get that cam nice up and close! Don't ya dare miss a fucking tear."
"Yes, boss!" A third thug basically smashed a camera into my head. "Oh hell yeah, boss. Those net freaks are gonna looooove this!" The cameraman exclaimed happily as he took what must've been a shot of me gritting my teeth in hatred as my sister licked the floor with a bleeding tongue.
I felt my heart stop at her expression.
I hate this.
I hate my sister.
I hate the thugs.
I hate Yulcer!
...
I hate myself.
For being so fucking powerless.
All this could have been avoided if I was just strong enough to perform better as a Cleaner. Then, maybe then, I could have gotten enough money to pay off her stupid drug debt and have her clean her system. Maybe then, I could be standing here, triumphant and with all this fucking scum dead or dying next to me.
With Yulcers head on a pike!
...
But no.
I'm just a fucking powerless, worthless little girl with kendo skill and a couple of inherited cybernetics that I don't even know how to use. So what if I can hunt down a wild animal? People are a whole different can of worms and I was an idiot to think that I could...
That I could do anything at all. "AH! LOOK, BOSS! There she goes!"
"Ah, she cryin'? Ooooh~, hell yeah, this is gonna sell well. Looks like we're gonna pay off that debt o' yours real quick, darlin'." My sisters moans echoed through the room as my body twitched and I lost all control, bawling my eyes out in horror and desperation.
Hopelessness. "I wish you were ... I wish you were never fucking born!" I spat in my sisters face, causing her to laugh and lick it off. "Oh yeah, you little bitch? Been feelin' that way for you since you crawled out of mother's cunt!"
I hate this.
I hate her.
I hate everything and everyone.
I hate... "THIS ENTIRE FUCKING WO-"
*sound of flashing thunder*
White.
All is white.
My ears are ringing.
My head is spinning.
I can hear myself breathe, but am unable to move, as if someone threw a stun grenade straight into my face.
What is happening?
What just happened?
Where am I?
Did I die?
Did my hatred cause my heart to overwork itself and expire?... no.
No, I can still feel my heartbeat.
Ah, my ears... the ringing has stopped. "... boss?" I heard one of the thugs speak.
"Did that really just happen?"
"Oi, boss!"
"What the fuck was that? A lighting strike?"
"Holy shit, what the fuck happened here?!"
"I-it was t-t-thunder man! Fucking thunder came down like some 'punishment of God' movie kinda crap. Fried the boss and the bitch he was fuckin'!"
My vision returns. "Uhh..." A terrible groan erupted from my sore throat and as soon as I managed to fully open my eyes... "A-.. a-ah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-u-ugh-URGH!" Everything I still had inside of my stomach came rushing out as projectile vomit, as my elder sisters charred frame came into view, bits of blackened flesh falling off her face and her half-cooked tongue crackling with what looked like red lighting.
Yulcer's own blasted body fell into pieces on the ground, steaming as whatever remained of their blood pooled together on the ground beneath me.
"A-aa-...urhh..." I was speechless.
Not because I couldn't talk, but because of the deep pit of hatred that had just opened up inside me. "You mean... after all this shit... I don't even have right... to get my own revenge?... Kami-sama?..."
