Chapter 1: Dead

Brooklyn, New York

Dark grey clouds converged in the sky, painting an ominous scene over the calm and peaceful night. Before long, raindrops emerged from the clouds. Falling under the guise of the night, the pellets sent the people below scurrying for cover. The rain quickened in a matter of minutes, encouraging the foolish people who have yet to find shelter to do so.

Eventually the rain settled down into a consistent and steady rainfall. The streets and sidewalks of the city had long since become desolate, with the exception of the unfortunate cars that have yet to reach their destination. If not for the cars, the night would only contain the soothing sound of the rain.

-Crash-

A window exploded into pieces on the third floor of an ordinary building, disrupting the tranquility of the rain, as a man leaped out of it’s wreckage. The man wore plain black clothes that further concealed his figure into the darkness of the night. Landing gracefully onto the sidewalk, he soundlessly sprinted down the street without hesitation.

Within seconds the remaining windows on the third floor exploded as well as more men, dressed in similar attires, jumped out. Taking a moment to recover their balance on the sidewalk, they chased after the man in an intimidating fashion while more men jumped out behind them.

The dozens of men ran at an astonishing speed, however, their feet barely made any noise, drawing no attention to an otherwise startling scene.

The lone man was aware of his pursuers but had no desire to presently address them and instead continued to run away, hoping to lose them in time. In his mind, he was confident in his ability to swim therefore his goal was to find the nearest large body of water.

Street after street, avenue after avenue, the numbers blurred past his eyes as he solely focused on finding the nearest body of water. While traversing through a parking lot of an enormous factory, he noticed more black clothed men were waiting in front of him.

He decisively pivoted towards his left and prepared to continue running before realizing that there were more men on that side as well. Halting his momentum, he slowly turned his head to examine his surroundings. Black clothed men stood on all sides and the only gap was soon filled by the ones pursuing him. He was surrounded.

Not one word was spoken as the dozens of men all stared at the man in the center of their encompassment. The pursuers each pulled out a variety of short weapons, ranging from crescent-shaped daggers to short single-edged knives while cautiously released their killing intent. The already cold night became chillier through the combined aura of their killing intent.

Killing intent was the aura one gathered through the action of repetitive murder. As the dead bodies piled up one’s killing intent would release a cold and suffocating air towards those that were nearby.

The joined killing intents produced by the men were enough to make any normal person faint, however, the man effortlessly bore it all. Unfazed by the pressure, he calmly assessed his current situation knowing that fighting was inevitable.

The battle of eyes ensued as not one person took the initiative. The pursuers vastly outnumbered the man but not one of them dared to make the first move, clearly defining the immense strength of their opponent.

If not for the still falling rain, one would think that time had frozen with how motionless the men stood.

-Rumble-

Suddenly, a thunderous sound of lightning erupted from the sky. As if it was a predetermined signal from the heavens, the man simultaneously pulled out two Desert Eagles from inside his clothing and instantly pulled the trigger. The first bullet released from each gun synchronized with the sound of the lightning which made it seem as if he had harnessed the ability to shoot lightning.

Of course he had no such ability, however, the bullets were almost just as deadly as they immediately disabled two men. Knowing that they had to act now or be sitting ducks under the mercy of the man’s weapons, the group of pursuers launched themselves at him.

Unfortunately for them, even with their newfound resolve, they were unable to reach the man. He spun in circles, the water dancing beneath his feet, while shooting with a near god-like precision, bringing down a body with every bullet that flew that pierced through the rain.

Luckily the man did not have to fear any potential guns from the pursuers because he knew that if they were to use such methods, with the amount of men present, they would only suffer from friendly fire.

As the pursuers witnessed the amount of casualties they suffered without being able to even touch the man, a seed of fear planted itself into their minds. Each one of them had yet to face such a fearsome opponent. They all knew the man was a legend but legends were merely stories before being experienced with one’s own eyes.

The renowned legend mentioned that the man before them had inhuman strength and was a cold-hearted killer, who did not understand the definition of mercy. His targets did not even have the luxury of pleading before they felt their life fade away. Although the pursuers slowly acknowledged his inhuman strength, what they continued to see left them perplexed.

The unfortunate ones who fell prey to his unbiased attacks were unable to rise, however, they were still able to move. As the fallen were surprised from their lack of death, the ones still capable of fighting were stunned. Before they could even think of potential coincidences, the man released his now emptied clip and reloaded a fresh one, with seemingly no delay, and resumed shooting.

Each bullet from the new clip claimed fresh bodies and, like before, the bodies were still able to move. Such style of fighting left the pursuers in a greater state of shock than before. As experienced killers, they all knew that fighting against a person that was willing to kill while having no intention of killing was extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, the man before them was able to do so while completely overpowering them.

The pursuers broke out in cold sweat as they recalled a recent rumor.

“So the rumors were true, he really has gone soft”, one of the fallen pursuers muttered to no one in particular. He gave a short mocking laugh at his luck before wistfully realizing he was unable to move his legs.

The pursuers were distracted by the roller-coaster of emotions but quickly steeled themselves and continued engaging the man. The reward they had been promised for ending the man’s life was enough to make them ignore his terrifying capabilities.

Having no idea of what occurred in their minds, the man maintained his current position. From the beginning of the fight until now, he had yet to take a step away from the center of the pursuer’s entrapment. He was, instead, shooting as he pivoted off each foot. All the while, he calmly counted his remaining bullets.

As soon as he knew his clip ran out of bullets, he immediately discarded his Desert Eagles and pulled out a pair of karambits. Unlike normal karambits, the blades on his were nearly twice as long, giving it an even deadlier appearance. Without giving the pursuers any time to react, his hands blurred in the night as blood finally stained his body. Even though his weapons changed, however, his intentions stayed the same.

Instead of aiming for vital parts of the human body that would result in certain death, the man went after crippling parts; the back of the knee or the soft spot near the shoulder blades. As he did so, he dodged or parried each attack from the pursuers with frightening precision. He remained unscathed, his body deceptively coated from blood that only belonged to his enemies.

Just as the pursuers thought it was impossible to slay the man, a double-edged knife made its way through the man’s black sleeve and cut into his left arm. The cut was shallow but the pursuer responsible for the damage stared at his knife with joyous disbelief.

Before he could even think about celebrating, however, the man swiftly lowered his stance and cut the back of the pursuer’s knees then immediately kicked him away before he could fall on his own. Ignoring their fallen associate, the pursuers stared at the injury and felt their resolve renew itself for the second time this fight.

They attacked the man in a frenzied state, believing that his endurance was nearing it’s end. Unbeknownst to them, they were correct. Combatting so many experienced killers, while restraining himself from ending their life, finally took its toll on him. The first cut was soon followed by a second, then a third, and before long his entire body was covered in multiple shallow cuts.

For the first time that night, the pursuers were able to hear the man breath. The man’s breathing was disoriented and heavy due to his state of exhaustion. His current condition, however, did not stop him from continuing the fight; his precision still as keen as it had been since the start of it all.

As the man slashed the tendons above the elbows of a pursuer, disabling his arms, he saw an incoming knife from the left side of his body aiming straight towards his heart. He started to bring the karambit on his left hand to block the fatal attack but felt a sharp pain behind his left shoulder. His arm instantly felt numb and he unwillingly dropped his guard.

Before he could recover, the predetermined attack already made it’s way above his heart. The cold steel blade of the knife easily pierced through the fragile black cloth, penetrated his skin, and buried itself into his heart. The pursuer stepped back, abandoning his knife as he awaited what came next. The pursuers held their breaths, not one of them daring to believe the fight was finally over.

The man shuddered once, before his body slowly went limp like a balloon being deprived of air. Accepting his fate, he relaxed his previously tense and rigid body that was in a state of battle. The karambits slipped from his hands and landed on the ground. He lost strength in his knees as they harshly met the pavement of the parking lot. Finally he fell face-first onto the pavement and he no longer moved.

-Rumble-

As if nature had a sense of humor, lightning struck once more and it’s sound filled the ears of every man present, seemingly signaling that the fight had concluded. The remaining pursuers that stood on their feet exhaled their breaths. Their nightmare was finally over.

They gathered around his body, reconfirming in close proximity that he was in fact dying. Seeing for certain that they accomplished their mission they turned their heads to inspect their fallen associates and gave a sigh of relief, glad to have not been one of them.

Out of the dozens of men that they began with, the remaining pursuers could be counted with two hands. One of the standing men slowly pulled out a burner phone and pressed a single dial. The call went through and with a cold voice he said, “Target is eli-”

Those were the last words the man heard before his conscious faded into the darkness. He felt calm and peaceful, embracing the darkness like a lifetime friend. Then he could no longer feel, his emotions escaped him.

The rain was cold against his back and the smell of blood was distilled with the smell of rain but then… there was nothing. His senses faded as well.

He thought about how quick and uneventful death was. Eventually, he even lost the ability to think and that was when complete and utter darkness settled in.

He was dead.