The dagger flew through the air, piercing the target with such strength it was buried all the way to the hilt, almost cracking the target in two and pinning it to the wall even harder.

“Hey, don’t damage my wall!” I scolded, pushing Pilar out of the way. “And put out that cigarette.”

“Come on Boss, it’s not like it’s gonna hurt Ya,” The thin man pouted, but pulled out the blunt and squashed it against his mechanical palm.

“It hurts my nose. You have any idea how much those things stink to me?” shaking my head, I waited until a servant finished changing the targets. Picking up four throwing knives, I twirled one in my right hand and asked Ha-Jin. “So, what do you think about them?”

My right hand man wasn’t wearing his usual suit but a simple shirt, sipping the last of his glass, he released it on top of the table and started pulling up his sleeves before grabbing four knives of his own and standing by my side. “They’ll do, Young Master.”

“Really?” I lifted an eyebrow and threw my first knife. I could have done it hard enough to obliterate the target and at least two walls behind it, but that wasn’t what this was about. Instead, it flew true, striking only half a centimeter away from the absolute center, I grunted, I was more accurate with my own bones. “I thought you’d prefer a more… disciplined team.”

“Not really, with professionals I’d have to be wary of their inevitable betrayal,” Ha-Jin’s own knife flew swiftly towards the target, striking perfectly on the Center and dislodging my own throw, causing my knife to fall on the floor. Seeing my annoyed look, he only smirked.

“Really? I’d think they’d have more loyalty than that?”

“Professionals require support, training, a web of connections…” Ha-Jin threw his other knives, hitting the bull’s-eye repeatedly. “Any organization capable of that would also have a bounty on my head.”

“Does it get tiring?” I asked, throwing my own load, almost hitting Osen as she walked between me and the target. Kunoichi didn’t even blink, just ducked her head as she walked.

“It did, that’s why we’re working for your father now,” He just shrugged, then considered things a little and leaned against the table. “Having access to the kind of equipment your father uses doesn’t hurt either.”

To my right, most of Maine’s crew was talking with Kiefa and Daz, getting used to each other. At one corner, I saw Rebecca and Tsubame wearing VR headsets, probably trying to kill each other in some PvP game, from the way their bodies sometimes convulsed.

Approaching the window, I looked down on the club to see it was filled with people, most looked like gang members, but they were all having fun while acting with respect. It seems like my clone had done a good job of instilling the rules of the house.

At the center stage, a short tomboy was dancing. With long, brown hair and a very revealing outfit, the young girl must have been barely 18. Clearly, she was very new at the job, acting incredibly shy even as she tried her best to dance around the pole.

With a flick of her arms, she finally ditched the schoolgirl shirt she was wearing, revealing her tan lines and very small but perky tits, I watched her almost lose her courage but, with a completely red face, continue dancing to the public’s cheer and made a note to talk with her later.

She really didn’t seem to want to be here, and I had other jobs if she was willing and really needed the money. Really, stripping was a fast, easy and perfectly acceptable way to earn money for a woman, but it wasn’t the only one.

Then again, my clone should have already offered her something like that, I didn’t want any of my employees to feel pressured to do things. So, if she was still dancing, it was because she had chosen to do it.

“Say, did you think you could have done this operation alone?” I asked Ha-Jin, causing him to pause and think about it.

“Possibly, but it would have been far more dangerous,” he answered, taking a second to watch the floor with me. “Using a team gives us a much bigger safety margin and lets us pursue more than one goal at the same time. Why?”

“Kinda want to kill them all by myself if I’m being honest,” I shrugged, since killing Zaizen I had started feeling like it was such a pity to let anyone else mess with my prey.

“We can focus fully on the slave’s rescue and leave the killing to you. It’s not like the others enjoy it all that much,” Ha-Jin offered, taking another sip from his drink and turning his back to the dancers.

“No, no, just leave the big fish to me and take care of everything else,” I shook my head and turned away from the tomboy to watch four women enter the club, trying to find out why they were so familiar. I improved my eyesight while speaking. “It would be a pity if I missed Kenta the dragon or some other slaver because I was chasing after some small fry. By the way, you sure you don’t want any of the cyberware?”

Continuing to stare at the ground floor, I finally realized that the middle woman was actually Souma Mitsuko, and another two looked like slightly younger versions of her, so they were probably her daughters. The only one I didn’t recognize was the tall amazoness walking with them; she had a large mane of brown hair, was taller than the other women from the Souma family and had impressive muscles.

Huh, guess some guys in the club were getting lucky today… knowing the Souma family, maybe even all of them.

“No thanks, I have nothing against cyberware, but I prefer to remain independent from a tech super,” Ha-Jin explained.

“So, you wouldn’t be opposed to an enhancement if it didn’t need maintenance?”

“Hmmm, If you have anything like that,” Ha-Jin looked at me and I shook my head. I didn’t have anything like that, yet, but I could probably create something with my power if I took the time to think about it. “Well, if you create something I’ll probably take it, the only reason I refuse cyberware is because the benefits don’t justify the detriments, not for me.”

“I’ll see if I can come up with something,” I said and finished my own drink.

Noticing my empty cup, one of the waitresses came over. She was a tall woman with purple hair coming down to her ankles; she also had very large breasts that weren’t sagging and a stern face, despite being only 20 or so.

“Masters, your refill,” The girl said, revealing a mature voice. I just nodded and let her pour me a new glass, but Ha-Jin shook his head. “Perhaps the master would like to have a more… private experience?”

I took a second to stare at the girl, she really was gorgeous, even if our waitress outfit helped a lot, it was practically black lingerie that barely covered her nipples and pussy, covered with a thin fishnet and coupled with a pair of red high heels and a choker. It actually looked quite elegant while also being extremely obscene.

Breathing in her scent, I noticed that she was only a little excited at the proposal, so I shook my head in denial. It was about time we talked business anyway. “Please, have everyone leave the room.”

“… Yes, Master,” She bowed her head and I noticed some disappointment before she quickly went to speak with the rest of the staff.

Soon, the club’s staff completely left the room and the atmosphere started to change, both Rebecca and Tsubame pulled out their headgear and we all sat around the room, each one of us with our respective teams.

Sitting at my desk, I noted that Maine’s crew consisted of him, his girlfriend Dorio, Rebecca, Pilar, Kiwi and Sasha. It seems like Lucy still hadn’t joined them here, and neither had David.

Hmm, gonna see if one of my investigators can find them somewhere in the country later.

On the other side were Daz and Kiefa, wearing several different kinds of weapons and armor. Kiefa seemed to be the one in charge, sitting on the sofa with Daz standing in support behind her and trying to appear more threatening than he really was.

At my side were Ha-Jin standing behind my chair and both bat clan kunoichi sitting at each side of my desk. Pressing a button, I closed the huge window, blocking the view from down the club. “First, Maine, if you would?”

Maine nodded my way and motioned to Kiwi. The tall woman grabbed a case at the side for their couch and put it on top of the center table, opening a connection with it. I watched the case unfold into a small tech tower and then sensed a pulse of electricity go through the room, disabling any monitoring devices. “We’re safe now.”

“Alright, now, what were you guys able to find out from the auction location?”

Osen and Sasha traded a glance, then Osen waved her turn and the netrunner got up. Pulling a cable from inside her hand, Sasha connected it to a projector at her side and caused a hologram to appear in the center of the room.

First, it showed a pink cat head that winked at me, shortly after, the image dissolved to reveal the plant for multiple floors of a building. Quickly reading the description, I noticed that only the first three floors were above the ground, but the building had seven in total.

“I was able to hack their security without being detected, but I wasn’t able to get a list of the invitees, or a complete list of their merchandise,” Sasha grimaced, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and continued, showing three different brands on the hologram. “What I was able to find out was the plan for the building, that the auction will happen on the second underground floor and the prisoners are likely being kept on the fourth. As well as the three organizers responsible for supporting the auction.

“The first is the Beeren Union, they’re an interdimensional crime union. They tried to get a footing here, but the Hero Union tends to crush them fairly fast, so they resort to supporting other villains and don’t act on their own.”

“Any idea if they’re getting more involved here, or just opening a portal when everything is done just to collect the rewards and disappear?” I asked, the Beeren Union was a well known organization, recognized for their cockroach-like survivability. Dark Slug and Eighth Wonder had crushed them several times, but they always came back.

Osen actually perked up. “Oh yes, the petty bastards are really looking forward to getting away with a lot of heroes, they seem to want to stick it to the Hero Union by stealing some of their members. They’re even sending one of their leaders, Nero.”

“Is he strong?” I questioned.

“Yes, he’s able to use some kind of instant movement ability to escape even Eighth Wonder, though he almost died doing it.” Osen confirmed.

So, he was at least strong enough to take a punch from an S class, and had some kind of teleportation or something… really doubt he could escape her if it was only speed. Shaking my head, I motioned for Sasha to continue.

“The second group is the underground vampires. It seems like they’re sending a vampire count to oversee the entire thing, and the Queen herself is supporting the auction.”

“So, they already have a new Queen, I thought things would still be chaotic there after Edwin fucked up?” I questioned.

A few years before the infernal invasion, a vampire king tried to take over the country, but his means were really despicable and he pissed off just about every hero in existence. Then he also tried to destroy the world or something, and he pissed off every Villain as well.

Long story short, he’s still alive, but he’s really, really, REALLY wishing he wasn’t.

“Yes, My Lord, it seems she had been planning a coup for some time so, when he fucked up, she was ready to take over,” Osen shrugged while Tsubame actually showed me a photo on her phone, she was a blond woman with very large breast… and a tendency for walking around only wearing a black cape. “Remains to be seen how long she’ll last.”

“Well, the third is probably the most problematic, if they are present. The Incubus king’s forces are supporting the auction,” Sasha shivered and hesitated to even continue. “Although, there’s no indication that anyone at his level will be here.”

Well, a demon king was an entirely different kind of deal. The last demonic invasion had been led by a demon king and it took three S class heroes to take him down, and they were three of the top five heroes. Those guys were just so much stronger than Archdemons it wasn’t even funny.

But really, I was almost sure any of the three S classes could have defeated the demon alone, it would just have been a much harder fight and, as I remember, my ROB did say this world wasn’t in any danger of being destroyed, so there were probably beings capable and willing to make sure things turned out fine living here.

“Alright, any idea of who will be present then?” I questioned, only for Sasha to shake her head, but Osen nodded.

“Yes, my Lord, I was able to find a list, it’s probably not complete, but there are a few that stand out,” feeling smug, the Bat clan kunoichi actually flicked my nose with her tail before sending everyone a copy of the list. “As I already mentioned, there’s Nero, the vampire count, Kenta the dragon, Our dear kidnapper, who’s called Derek by the way, has a powerful electric ability that’s capable of stimulating a woman’s body, but also do damage, as well as many of our dear politicians and even some heroes.”

“Heroes?”

“Oh yes, My Lord,” Osen twisted around on the desk, putting her feet on top of my chair’s arms. “It seems like not all heroes are bastions of morality.”

“Damn, and I thought the union did a good job of crushing bastards like them.”

“Apparently not,” Maine commented, analyzing the plant for the building.

“Alright, anyone has any new ideas about how to distribute our forces, or how to best do this?”

“Well, way I see it, we have two main objectives,” Maine said, looking over the building plant one last time. “I’m thinking we divide our forces, with the Boss being the main distraction when he attacks from the inside while we burst in from outside.”

“Daz and I can probably take out the outer defenses, we’re known for attacking slavers and working alone, so we may not raise too much suspicion,” Kiefa commented. “That should draw out some of their defenders to deal with us, even if it will make them more alert.”

We all considered that, then Ha-Jin decided to take charge of things.

“Our main objectives are killing the organizers and rescuing the slaves. If we can manage that, then our secondary objective is to gather information on everyone involved and kill the participants too,” Ha-Jin said, making sure everyone was on the same page. “With Miss Kiefa and Daz drawing attention outside, I say we actually separate into three groups. My wife can stay outside to give them cover while the Young Master attacks from the inside and a third group bursts down the building as fast as they can to rescue the slaves.”

“With Zaizen’s invitation I can take three companions with me,” I explained, pulling out the electronic card and throwing it towards Sasha, she caught it and then passed it to Kiwi. “Any chance we can clone this to get more people inside?”

“No way, we just don’t have the equipment,” Kiwi said after analyzing the card and throwing it back to me.

“So, who goes with me? I’m gonna be killing the organizers by myself, but I need people capable of protecting any slaves on the main floor while I do it.” Well, I didn’t exactly need it, but it would make things less annoying if I didn’t have to worry about innocents.

“With Young Master posing as Zaizen, we can probably only get away with one obvious bodyguard,” Ha-Jin commented. “The other two would have to be beautiful women.”

“Arm candy you mean?” Maine asked, looking at the girls around the room. “You think he’d take his mistresses or his own slaves with him?”

“Not necessary, it would actually be better if they appeared competent too. Beautiful and competent bodyguards are very expensive and exactly the kind of thing Zaizen would use.”

“I can’t go,” Osen said while looking at the map. “The place where they’re probably keeping the slaves while they wait for their turn at the auction is too far from the main floor, I’ll need to infiltrate the place first if we want to have any chance of rescuing them alive.”

“I can go,” Tsubame volunteered. When most of us looked at her with raised eyebrows, she pouted. “I’m Kunoichi; I can make myself look older!”

“I’ll go too.” Sasha spoke out. “Kiwi can take care of hacking from outside, but you may need me to protect the girls at the auction if there’s any electronic security there.”

“I can’t be the obvious muscle,” Ha-Jin said. “I’m too easily recognized in certain circles, and it’s well known I’m working for the Young Master, even if I wore a mask I’d be found out.”

Maine traded a glance with his girlfriend and, seeing as nobody else volunteered, lifted a hand. “I guess I can play the obvious muscle, but I’m gonna need a mask if we don’t want to risk anybody recognizing me.”

“Very well, I take it I’ll be allowed to lead your crew then?” Ha-Jin asked.

“Yeah, but I’m putting Dorio as second in command.”

“Good, our goal will be to reach the remaining Slaves as fast as we can while Osen protects them,” The assassin said and considered everyone in the room to see if there were any other ideas and then continued. “We’ll be going hard and fast, using as much firepower as we have, there will be no need to hold back.”

“Fuck, that’s what I’m talking about!” Rebecca actually yelled, almost jumping out of her seat and causing Pilar to lay a hand on top of her head to push her back into a sitting position. “What? I’m tired of fucking worrying about collateral damage! Plus, I get to test my new baby!”

We spent another hour figuring out all the details until the plan was fully laid out; it was a solid plan, with room for improvisation in case anything went wrong.

Really, most of the danger was on there being someone I couldn’t defeat in the main room but, with the Qiankun pouch, I was confident on at least surviving long enough for the others to finish the rescue, then I could just trigger the teleport inside my chest and get out of there. Not that I had any intentions of doing that.

After that, Kiefa and Daz were the first ones to approach me after the plan was made. “Hey, Boss, I guess we’re leaving.”

Staring at the red haired woman, I couldn’t help but sense her discomfort at the entire situation. Ugh, I never did anything to make them fear me, why wouldn’t they speak up? With an annoyed voice, I asked. “Alright, what’s wrong?”

“What?” Daz laid a protective hand over Kiefa’s shoulder and asked.

“Come on, if you have anything against the plan just speak up, I don’t bite,” I sighed and thought about what I just said, quickly correcting myself. “Well, I don’t bite my employees.”

“Ah, that’s not…” Kiefa patted Daz’s hand before shaking it off. Gripping the gun at her waist she shook her head. “No, I think the plan is solid, I just can’t get comfortable here, it feels too… familiar.”

“I guess it’s too close to what you almost faced,” Kiefa was almost sold as a slave to work at a brothel herself before I helped the both of them out, so it made sense she wouldn’t be at ease in a strip club. “We can meet somewhere else next time if it makes you that uncomfortable?”

“No, no, it's fine, I gotta get used to it after all,” Kiefa said and shook her head. “Anyways, see you later boss.”

“Kiefa…” Daz mumbled, then waved me goodbye. “Thank you for the help boss.”

The both of them walked away, with the larger Orc actually putting an arm over Kiefa’s shoulders and squeezing it for comfort. The woman took comfort in it for a second and then seemed to brighten up and leave the place in a much better mood.

The second to leave were Maine and Dorio, the large couple just waved me goodbye and walked away, eventually, they were followed by Kiwi, who left alone.

Finally, Pilar and Rebecca said their goodbyes and Tsubame decided to follow them, getting far too attached to the older gun maniac.

“Really, I’m training her to be a kunoichi, what kind of kunoichi uses automatic weapons and explosives,” Osen shook her head, but didn’t move from her position.

Thinking about mangas like Naruto, with how attention grabbing their jutsus were, I just smiled. “You’d be surprised. Not gonna stop her?”

“Nope, I’m training her so she can defend herself, but I’d actually prefer she didn’t follow my footsteps,” the Bat clan smiled at me. “I love being a Kunoichi, but there are certain aspects of the profession I’d really prefer she didn’t have to deal with.”

“Hmmm, you do know I’d never ask you for things like that, right?”

“Yep, that’s why I decided to pledge to you instead of just taking a few jobs My Lord,” Disappearing in a puff of smoke, Osen appeared behind me and embraced my body, covering my shoulders with her delicate wings and squeezing her head besides mine. “Besides, I love that you appreciate me too much to waste my talents in silly seduction missions.”

“That I do,” I enjoyed the feeling of her breasts against my back for a second before turning my chair around and pulling her into my lap. The bat clan woman wiggled her ass on top of my cock, getting more comfortable. “Plus, using seduction for assassination or information gathering is such a waste. Why give those assholes any pleasure when I can have some fun doing it the hard way? Osen, never let a target feel good when I can use mind crushing terror and pain instead.”

“As my Lord commands,” she said, tracing a finger on my chest, leaning forward, she kissed me, our tongues interlocking for a few seconds before she broke the kiss, glared at Ha-Jin for still being in the room and sighed. “Unfortunately, I have to go, see you later My Lord.”

With another puff of smoke, the Kunoichi disappeared. If I had my senses dialed up to their max, I could probably have sensed her but, with them at a comfortable middle ground, Osen was too skilled for me to find.

“Huh, that was hot,” Sasha commented from her place at the couch, she was sprawled on the comfortable seats like a lazy cat, her mouth forming an amused smirk. “Say, now that everyone’s gone, what exactly are you planning to do after this raid?”

I considered the woman for a second, sensing her hesitation, mixed in with some fear, anger and determination. “I take it you have something in mind?”

“That school we found on Zaizen’s computer, are you gonna do anything about it?” Sasha asked, getting up from her comfortable sprawl and into a sitting position.

"Well, with the auction happening so soon, I don't want to raise any suspicion, but I was planning on looking at the place immediately after, why?" I asked.

My understanding of Maine's crew is that they were somewhat good intentioned, but very far from heroes and not above hurting innocents if it was necessary for a mission. They wouldn't go out of their way to hurt people, and did their best to avoid getting innocents on the crossfire, but they wouldn't be heartbroken if it happened either.

"I want in on it. It's for… personal reasons." She said, her arms resting above her knees as she leaned forward in expectation.

I considered her question, the school wouldn't have as much security as the auction, but it was possible that their computers could block my hacking programs so, while I didn't need help, she could make things easier.

As always, my interest in the school would be in punishing the culprit and rescuing the girls involved, but I was always looking for more targets.

"Fine, and I'll even pay you for it, but you have to obey me completely," I offered, deciding to take her with me. "No second guessing my decisions or hesitating when I order something."

"Great! I'll see you later!" Dashing towards me, the girl leaned over the desk and gave me a peck on the cheek before putting on some headphones and leaving the club.

With only Ha-Jin in the room, I opened the window again and spent a few minutes admiring the floor and the girls dancing.

Getting briefly out of sight from the window, I formed my clone, making as many improvements to its designs as I could. The current clone could only live for a couple of days but, since I was refreshing it daily, that wasn't a problem and its vastly increased capabilities more than made up for it.

Faster, stronger, with venomous fangs and capable of spitting out oil before igniting it with a modified version of the laser super I had killed, my clone was probably comparable to any D rank super out there, even if a serious fight could strain it's organs and reduce its lifespan to hours instead of days.

That done, I grabbed the only cyberware I hadn't given to Maine's crew, the sandevistan that one of the gang members had used, and made my way home.

Taking a quick shower, I grew a pair of hands from my back and used it to position the equipment against my spine before parting my flesh and absorbing it, as well as the arms.

The equipment was made to function with an average human nervous system, so I had to make some changes, but I soon activated it and felt it overcharging my body, vastly increasing my perception of time.

In truth, I could already do something like it with my power, but the cyberware was at least three times as effective.

Moving my hand in front of my face and fast as I could, I smiled as the movement seemed to be really slow to my current senses. On my spine, I felt the equipment starting to heat up and immediately cooled my own temperature to make up for it.

The strain was too much for my brain to handle and I felt the cyberware start to hurt me, only for the passive effect of my power to activate and automatically restore me to a perfect condition. Good, the effect would make me so much more dangerous in a fight.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I felt as if I was experiencing the world in bullet time.

I'd eventually turn the device off, but I wanted to study it for as long as I could, learning how exactly it stimulated my nerves so I could replicate it with my own power. So, theoretically, I shouldn't even need the device after that.

Hearing the knock at my door, I sensed Kinomi at the other side and looked at the clock on my computer, it seemed like she was already done for the day. With a smile on my face, I opened the door and pulled her inside.

The next day, the alarm on my computer woke me up. It was on a low enough frequency that it wouldn't wake up a normal human, but would still warn me of anything wrong.

Checking the computer, I saw that there was something wrong at the club but, at this hour, the place was already closed and only my clone should be there.

The clone hasn't called me out disabled the alarm, though it is possible it hasn't even noticed the thing going off since I hadn't really focused on its hearing when I made it.

Annoyed, I didn't call for Ha-Jin, it was his day and his wife would probably shoot me if I bothered them, repeatedly. Entering the club, I frowned as I saw the destruction. There had been a fight there and it seemed like my clone had been on the losing side.

Approaching the remains, I saw that someone had cleanly cut off its head, but not before it had put up a good fight.

One of its arms seemed to have exploded from the inside out and there were electrical burns all over its chest and one leg. There were also several cuts on its remaining arm and one large one opening its chest from shoulder to groin while its left leg was hanging on by only a thin string of flesh.

Even worse was the state of the club, with burns in several locations where it had spit oil and destroyed furniture all over the place.

Improving my senses as much as I could, I frowned when I didn't smell any blood beside my own, fuck, so the clone hadn't even hurt its attackers… hell, I couldn't even smell their sweat.

While my clone didn't have my power, and I had managed to separate any memories about anything sensitive, in theory, it had all my fighting skill and experience. With how hard to kill I had made the thing, and the way it wouldn't be afraid or hesitate, it should have been able to, at the very least, hurt a weak A grade super.

Which meant, whoever had killed it was either a VERY strong A grade super or above, had an ability that completely countered me, or was much, much more skilled than I was. Pulling out my phone, I called Osen's house.

"Hey, Lord Saionji, mom's kinda busy right now," Taubame answered, her voice muffled as she was eating something. "What'd want?"

"Hello Tsubame, say, have you or your mother noticed anyone suspicious in the club today?"

"Mom! You noticed anything suspicious in the club?!" she yelled and paused a second to hear the answer. "Nope, we didn't notice anything, why?"

"Well, it seems like I was assassinated," I commented lightly while flipping my clone with my foot to see if there was anything revealing on its back, but that too was a burst.

"Really, and they succeeded? Sucks to be you.”

“Brat, get your mother on the phone.” I ordered, since I didn’t have Ha-Jin’s help today, Osen was the next greatest expert on assassinations I had.

“Why, you think it was ninjas? I bet it was ninjas!” she said while eating another snack. “Hey mom! Ninjas killed Lord Saionji!”

“What!” Osen screamed.

“It was NOT ninjas,” I sighed… it probably wasn’t ninjas, those were much rarer than simple assassins, and ones good enough to kill my clone without getting hurt were even rarer. It was probably some super mercenary working for Misogy or something.

Fuck, did they know about my raid of the auction? Hopefully not, they probably just thought I was getting ready to move on the rest of the city’s underworld. How annoying.