Chapter 38 Red Eyes

Similar to the cities of old, Emerald City also had a lot of options that young people could explore. From street racing to eating out, going to clubs, and partying with friends. There were a lot of options and Emerald City was just as lively at night as in the day, with the only difference being the fact that nighttime was when small-time thugs and gang members would come out to cause trouble.

"I told you number 6 was going to win! You just didn't believe me." A young woman wearing a skimpy dress said to another woman wearing a short skirt and a jacket in a childish tone.

"I am telling you, Sophia, number 8 was bound to win, I don't know what when went wrong." The other woman replied in a defeated tone.

The two girls just came out of a small building in the rosewood district that resembled a modern bar. They had spent the entire evening drinking together and betting on Hovercar races that were being televised on the Holoscreen.

A couple of guys at the bar took advantage of the girls' drunken state and fed the girls who were definitely newbies to the world of racing wrong information and extracted 600 credits from making bets.

The girls eventually had enough and decided it was time to leave, but there was a problem when they decided to check out. They got so drunk that the bartender confiscated their keys for the Hoverbikes that were parked outside, saying they were not fit to drive.

With no money on hand, as they had lost all of it by betting, their only option was to walk home. Luckily, Sophia and Anna lived close by and it was hardly a 20-minute walk through the Rosewood District.

The girls staggered on high heels as they made their way back to their apartment.

The girls made a turn through an alleyway that was a shortcut to their home. After reaching the halfway mark through the alley, suddenly two men wearing black leather jackets and bandanas appeared in front of them and blocked their path.

"Well...Well..., what do we have here?" The man on the right said in a lustful tone while eyeing the girls' dresses.

"We sure caught a good one today, the boss will be pleased." The one on right said in a rather unusual high-pitched voice.

The girls immediately realized the situation they were in and quickly did a 180 to try and get away from the thugs that stopped their path, but they suddenly bumped into someone who was behind them.

"Hey...come on now, there is no use running, just come quietly." The man they bumped into said again as he pulled Sophia's hair with a strong pull, dragging her away from Anna.

Sophia started resisting by kicking and punching, but it was obvious that the thugs were also ability users, because they weren't budging one bit.

Sophia was a water ability user, and with no water in the vicinity, her ability was pretty much useless. When she turned towards Anna for help, she saw that Anna was already knocked out by the man they bumped into, and he had two more lackeys behind him.

Seeing her options run out, Sophia gave out a desperate scream for help which was quickly shut by the man with the weird sound, wrapping a cloth tightly around her mouth.

"Knock her out, and let's move before anyone comes." The man they bumped into commanded.

The man brought out an injector of some sort to put Sophia to sleep just like they did Anna, but before they could do so, a deep voice resounded in the alley.

"TOO LATE!"

Turning around, the five men saw a hooded figure standing in their way with his head down. The hooded figure was of course Mako, and he started releasing his aura toward the enemy. Mako had his head down so the goons could only see the top of the hoodie, but had worn the Oni mask underneath so that his identity wouldn't be compromised.

"I'll give just one chance, Leave them and run; otherwise, I am afraid it won't look good for you in the end." Mako threatened as he cracked his knuckles making loud popping sounds that echoed in the alley.

"Just what do you think you can do alone? HAHAHA!" the man with the high-pitched sound mocked Mako.

Since they weren't fazed by Mako's aura, Mako determined that some or all of them were also level 3 ability users. Although Mako now had two abilities, he could still only use one ability at a time, and that also held true about his aura. He could either emit his Level 3 fire ability aura or his Level 3 lightning Ability aura, but it didn't really matter since both were of the same intensity.

The man that the girls had bumped into signaled the remaining four goons to attack Mako while he proceeded to wrap the two girls with some rope so that they wouldn't escape. Sophia kept resisting the best she could, but no match for their leader's strength.

Mako used his Analyze skill to check which abilities he would be dealing with, only to find that all five of them were level 3 fire ability users. This would make them equal to Mako in terms of ability, but there were so many other factors that determined the overall strength of a fighter, such as what skills they had, or how much experience they had fighting.

Mako didn't have much fighting experience, but he had an abundance of skills, that the goons didn't have. This was mostly due to the reason of getting their abilities from a poor-quality ability book. They would still unlock their ability through such books, but learning skills would be rare for them.

Making fists of fire, the four goons surrounded Mako and threw out simultaneous punches, hoping to deal with him quickly. Mako didn't move from his position as the four fists approached him from all directions, but instead lightning started to envelop his hands as he swiftly smashed both his hands on the ground.

[Electrical Discharge has been activated]

A bubble of electricity erupted from the ground with the area Mako struck being the source. The bubble quickly expanded and covered all four of the goons that were within range of the bubble.

When the electricity passed through them, the goons expected it to hurt but it actually didn't hurt at all, rather once the electricity passed through them, they could feel their muscles contract. Their joints locked in place and their bones quivering. They were now paralyzed for the duration of Mako's skill which was 15 seconds.

Mako wasted no time as he quickly gave a couple of strong punches and kicks to all four of them, and since they weren't able to move or block, they just stood there, taking blow after blow. The four goons were significantly hurt by the time the 15 seconds were up, but they now sought to return the favor. In their minds, Mako couldn't repeat the skill again in rapid succession because it would have cost a lot of energy to cast, which was only partially true.

Even though there wasn't a description that stated it, each skill had a different cooldown as to how often a user could use it. This cooldown could be as low as a second and as high as a day as it was depending on the type and skill level or ability used.

Since Mako had mostly low-level abilities, the cooldown wasn't even worth mentioning as it wouldn't change the outcome. Mako also had a greater energy pool than others, so he wasn't at a disadvantage unlike what the goons thought.

Before the goons could even counter, Mako's fist started burning with flames as he quickly did a 360-degree spin causing a wheel of fire to erupt from him.

[Flame Wheel has been activated]

The goons were caught completely off guard by the change in element as they didn't even have enough time to defend against the attack.

The flames struck all four of them, blasting them off their feet and throwing them back a bit. The barrage of punches and kicks while being paralyzed combined with the damage done by the flame wheel was too much for the goons to handle as all four of them were knocked unconscious.

*DING!*

[A Level 3 Opponent Has Been Defeated]

[+500 EXP]

[A Level 3 Opponent Has Been Defeated]

[+500 EXP]

[A Level 3 Opponent Has Been Defeated]

[+500 EXP]

[A Level 3 Opponent Has Been Defeated]

[+500 EXP]

The leader watched in horror as Mako made quick work of all four of his companions in less than a minute. Sweat rolled down his forehead as Mako turned to look at the leader, lifting his face a bit, the leader was horrified by seeing a pair of red eyes stare at him from the mask Mako was wearing.

The mask already looked scary enough, but what the old man failed to tell Mako was the fact that the eyes glowed red when a person wore the mask, giving him an even colder look.

Letting go of the rope that was holding Sophia, the leader made a run for it as he knew this was a battle that he couldn't win, so he decided to give Mako the victory whilst he searched for another option.

"Fire team is compromised, I need reinforcements near the Emerald Tree Fountain." The leader spoke in a communication device as he sprinted away from the alley, leaving his companions behind.