Ichiro entered his house with a dirty-looking outfit. It was filled with dirt and leaves.
''That gorilla woman.'' Ichiro paled when he thought about her; he took his shoes off and entered the living room.
It was already 11.45 PM, her parents and Ayako were sleeping already.
He opened the refrigerator and saw a plate filled with food from dinner; he took it and put it on the microwave.
While his food was heating up, he thought about the ''training.''
Ichiro had another term that was more fitting, torture.
He touched the back of his head and felt his hair shortening by a great deal.
*Ding* *Ding*
The microwave ending sound came, which sounded like machine-gun fire at night.
Ichiro quickly opened the microwave before waking up the entire house, ''Why can't they make silent microwaves?'' He took the plate and sat down on the table.
He emptied the plate quickly and put it on the washing machine.
He was about to go to his room to get sleep, but then with the corner of his eyes, he saw a suspicious individual standing outside of his house.
Ichiro narrowed his eyes; he took his shoes and opened the door.
Ichiro locked his eyes with the suspicious individual.
''Kurogami Ichiro, correct?'' The man said.
Ichiro nodded, ''Yes, are you the Santa Claus?''
The man didn't change his expression; he took an envelope from his pocket and threw it towards Ichiro.
Ichiro grabbed it effortlessly, ''What is t...'' He was about to ask, but when he looked towards the suspicious individual, he didn't see him anymore.
Ichiro narrowed his eyes and looked towards left and right, but the figure completely disappeared.
''Fucking weirdos.'' He shook his head and entered the house; he took his shoes off and walked towards the couch.
He sat down and opened the envelope.
[Dear Kurogami Ichiro. I am more than impressed seeing you survive the Assassin sent by us, but that cost a lot of money. The League of Assassins is already aware of one of their men dying, and they need a repayment. I have discussed your proposition with my colleagues and the Emperor, and they agreed, but since we have only a month before we need to repay, you need to do your first mission instantly. The League of Assassins sent a mission, and you need to complete it within a week.
[Elimination Order]
[Target: The Boss of Yakuza]
[Martial Rank: Low Martial Captain]
[City: Irio]
[Mission Importance: B-Rank]
[Mission Difficulty: C-Rank]
[Time Limit: 1 Week]
''Boss of Yakuza? Why...'' Ichiro touched his chin, usually, Yakuza is part of Underworld, but it seems that Irio is different than Ramu in terms of alliances.
''But Low Martial Captain...'' He scratched his head out of frustration.
The mission time limit 1 week, he has time to do his Quest first, but then he has to find a Yakuza hideout somehow in a few days.
Ichiro sighed, ''I guess I need to ask for Mistress' help... She can find their hideout.''
He doesn't like to ask her for help, but he has no other choice.
He ripped the paper into thousand pieces and put it on the trash can.
Ichiro grabbed his phone and sent a text message to Quella; she gave her phone number in the forest.
{KingOfGames: I got Elimination Order from the Underworld, they told me to kill the Boss of Yakuza in 1 week, but finding their hideout will take me at least a month, can you find them?}
After he sent the message, he closed the phone and left for his room.
He lied down on his bed and instantly fell asleep.
...
''Boss.'' The man with mohawk bowed deeply.
He looked respectfully at the man in front of him; he had short black hair and sharp brown eyes. He had an above-average face with sharp eyebrows and a sharp jawline, with a small beard growing. He was sitting in an office with a man with a mohawk standing a few meters away from his desk.
''Raul.'' The man said towards the man with a mohawk.
The man with a mohawk, also known as Raul, bowed, ''Yes, boss.''
The man in front of Raul was Irio's Underworld boss Luren.
''Is it delivered?'' Luren asked.
Raul nodded, ''Ichiro received it.''
Luren nodded and smiled, ''Young and foolish.''
Raul smirked, ''Writing wrong Martial Rank on the letter was a good touch, boss.''
Luren laughed, ''Yeah, not sure how he killed the previous Assassin we sent, probably with dumb luck. But every information I gathered said that Ichiro is only Half-Step Martial Captain; the spar proved it.
''Boss of Yakuza is Peak Martial Captain, he won't survive with luck again.''
Raul smirked, ''Now you don't need to pay for another Assassin; you can let the foolish Boss of Yakuza do the work for free.''
Luren nodded but then turned serious, ''Now we need to deal with League of Assassins.''
Raul's face turned solemn, ''Is the situation bad?''
''Arkenthym isn't happy. He is being grilled by the 30th Death of League of Assassin.''
Raul grimaced.
League of Assassins has 50 extremely strong Assassins who work everywhere in the world.
Their rank is not determined by their strength; instead, it is determined by how many successful Assassinations they have.
But of course, the Assassins in the Death Rankings are powerful individuals.
''What does he want?'' Raul asked.
Luren sighed, ''Death of Kurogami Ichiro isn't enough; they want Arkenthym to do one mission for them.''
''That's outrageous! It was only Peak Martial Captain; they have dozens of them!'' Raul shouted angrily.
''They can be unreasonable because they are stronger than us, simple as that.''
''All this because of that brat.'' Raul gritted his teeth hatefully.
Luren shook his head, ''It is because that Assassin was incapable of doing his job.''
''But Arkenthym is now angrier than ever, even if Ichiro somehow manages to escape the Yakuza hideout, he can't escape from him.''
Raul nodded.
Luren sighed and looked out of the window, ''Shame, I was rooting for him in the tournament, but foolishness has its consequences.''
...
*DING *DING*
[WAKE UP, HOST!]
Ichiro stood up in a hurry; he looked around the room with killing intent.
The killing intent left his eyes, and his black eyes turned normal, ''Fucking system.''
He scratched his head and took his phone, he saw that he had received a message last night.
{QuellaDragonQueen: Hmmmm... Fine, I will help my dear disciple this time, but we will double our training <3}
Ichiro went pale; he closed the phone with shaky hands.
With shaky legs, he started doing his morning routine.
Went for a few hour run and returned at 7 AM.
He saw his parents watching TV, which broadcasted morning news.
''What are you watching?'' Ichiro asked and walked towards the coach.
''Watch.'' Eiji pointed towards the TV.
Ichiro saw a news anchor speaking with a solemn face.
''Hello, citizens. Last night, approximately at 3 AM, Gensa's only Martial Emperor Arkenthym attacked a City of Hiena. After Arkenthym left the place, around 5 AM, there weren't any survivors found. I repeat, Hiena has been completely wiped out by Martial Emperor Arkenthym.''
Azumi and Eiji looked shocked.
Ichiro grimaced.
A videos clips were shown. A man was floating mid-air; with each wave of his hand, a portion of City was destroyed.
The video clips were muted; otherwise, there would be a lot of screaming.
Ichiro stopped looking at the TV; he ran towards his room.
He sat down on his bed with sweatdrops appearing on his forehead.
His body trembled; he remembered the destruction that one man had caused.
''Why I have a bad feeling about this...'' Ichiro can't help but think that his destiny is linked with Arkenthym.
[...]
The system decided to stay silent.
But then suddenly... Ichiro's eyes turned white.
He started seeing a vision.
A black-haired man in his 20s was facing a tall red-haired man who grinned viciously.
''Ichiro... I admit you grew faster than I anticipated.'' Arkenthym grinned.
Ichiro stayed silent, his black eyes glaring at Arkenthym.
''Don't be like this... You became stronger because of my help; you should be grateful.''
''Grateful for what? Almost dying every single day?''
Arkenthym grinned, ''Fight for death made you stronger, besides... It wasn't all bad, right? You are now so-called Heavenly Child, or some bullshit the media spouts.''
Ichiro gritted his teeth; the aura around him instantly changed.
Arkenthym grinned, ''Even though my Age of Deterioration has begun, I am still Emperor!''
Ichiro's black eyes suddenly turned grey, ''Doesn't matter. Now that I am Martial King, you are no match for me!''
''Let's see!'' Arkenthym shouted and started floating from the ground.
He put his hands forwards.
[WIND TEMPEST!]
A wind started gathering on his hands. Arkenthym grinned and released the wind pressure, which became countless invisible wind slashes!
Ichiro's body started transforming, his 190cm long human body started turning bigger and bigger.
His flesh started disappearing, a silver-colored metal replacing it, his face also started transforming, his nose became pointy and sharper. His grey eyes shined brightly.
His body has already become 50 meters in height with huge wings, metal scales covering his body, and a long sharp tail. He has 4 sharp metal legs with a long neck.
His face became monstrous with a serrated jaw with rows of sharp teeth.
Ichiro opened his monstrous mouth and showed his sharp teeth, but then suddenly, his mouth started glowing.
Ichiro glared at Arkenthym.
[Metal Dragon - Death Breath!]
*ROAR!*
A beam of silver-colored energy left Ichiro's reptile-like mouth.
Arkenthym looked at the incoming point with a calm smile.
He waved both of his hands which caused a wind to appear in front of him.
[WIND SEVERING!]
*CRACK*
*CRASH*
The battlefield next few hours was filled with painful roars of dragon and painful grunts of a man.