Half an hour passed before ash felt the car slowed to a stop. With a click he stepped out of the car sighting the familiar cottage close by. With a few big strides he stops at the door take in a deep breath and walk in.
Everything was exactly how he left it, nothing was tempered with, walking to the back of the cottage he kneeled and bowed to the two grave stones.
He stayed still and silent for a few minutes before finally speaking."mom,sis I've avenged you, rest well".
He stood up, eyes calm with a new air of maturity on him.
Walking back to the car, he sat gazing at the tinted glass lost in thought unknown to ash a faint odorless colourless gas was released into the air. A single wiff and ash lost consciousness.
Meanwhile the car entered stealth mode and continued forward.
New York City
Top floor of a luxurious skyscraper
Crash!!
"What the hell did you just say!?" A young man with striking blood red hair yeld angrily with his fist that was holding a wine glass seconds ago clenched.
A subordinate bowed in front of him drenched in wine repeated,"we haven't found traces of the young master, we tried all means but we always seem to be obstructed".
The young man wished to hurl another glass at his useless subordinate but he knew anger won't take him anywhere now. He asked with a soothed tone;
" Have you at least found out my useless younger brother past movement?"
"Yes sir, according the our sources,his last reported case was of him poisoning a daughter and her mom to death in the outsketch of the country, then leaving to deal with their youngest child but disappeared afterwards" the subordinate calmly reported.
"Disappeared? Where could he have gone in that small place, what about the child he went against"
" It's reported to be a 10 year old begger, the child seem to have agreed to young master challenge and went into the forest later, he took mysteriously disappeared"
The young man frown upon hearing that, he wasn't surprised about his younger brother doing something insignificant but rather puzzled.
" What about the forest,any clues?" He asked having a bad feeling.
"That's the blockage sir, we were advised by a mysterious informat to not dig deeper unless we'll have serious consequences to pay".
The young man heart sank. You should know he was quite powerful and has an infamous reputation, not many could obstruct him the A rank villain top 20 in the ranking; Dante the crimson reaver without him knowing.
" Are there from the hero alliance?"
" No my lord, we confirmed it was someone from the villains organization"
A brow rose "a rival?"
"No my lord, it's someone from the council"
Dante pupils constrict " Keep on looking but tone down the search, whoever is behind this is someone I can't afford to offend, right now at least" he instructed.
"As you wish my lord"
He layed back on his chair with a sigh "keal,keal,keal you foolish younger brother of mine, your luck must be so bad to be caught up in a scheme of a council member, I just hope you return alive if not there's nothing I can do"
*Knock knock*
Hmmm
A maid stepped in " young miss is here"
"Alright, I'll be right there "
"I always wish you best little brother" he muttered walking out to meet his guest.
In an undisclosed location
Five figures stood around a floating obsidian table.
All wore identical ash-colored cloaks. All bore smooth masks marked only by a single number etched in dull silver.
Ⅰ. Ⅱ. Ⅲ. Ⅳ. Ⅴ.
A-tier villains.
Monsters who had clawed their way into notoriety spilling rivers of blood.
Mask Ⅰ stood at the head, hands clasped behind his back. His voice carried no emotion.
"They've crossed the perimeter."
Mask Ⅱ tilted his head slightly. "How many?"
"Two thousand," Mask Ⅰ replied. "Ages eight to twelve. All have superpowers"
A low feminine chuckle echoed from Mask Ⅳ. "thats quite a lot."
"This was only possible because we widen our search world wide", Mask I informed
Mask Ⅲ tapped a gloved finger against the table. With each tap, holographic files bloomed into existence—children's faces, biometric data, fear indexes.
"The selection criteria were followed," Ⅲ said. "High adaptability. Low external attachments. No influential bloodlines. If they disappear, no one shakes the world asking questions."
Mask Ⅴ, who had remained silent, finally spoke. His voice was distorted, layered, as if several people spoke at once.
"And the purpose remains unchanged?"
Mask Ⅰ nodded. "We don't need heroes. We
don't need villains."
A pause.
"We need weapons."
The word settled heavily in the room.
Mask Ⅱ leaned forward. "The heads won't tolerate failure".
Mask Ⅳ scoffed. "won't tolerate? They should try following their own orders in the timeframe we were given."
" Careful girl, they are S ranks, most importantly they are S ranks villains, they can kill you and A ranker very easily so be careful with what you say" mask II warned.
Mask Ⅴ's mask tilted. "death is inevitable. Direction is optional. Failure is not."
The obsidian table shifted, revealing a three-dimensional map—an enormous complex isolated facility buried beneath layers of false terrain.
Mask II whistled
Mask I spoke calmly, " this location was created to serve another purpose but was then refurbished to fit the mission criteria. It contains training zones, isolation zones, medic wing, field venue, arenas and dormitories. A fully equipped site with state of the art tech."
" They really pull out all cards in this " mask III said in surprise.
"What's the first phase?" Inquired mask V.
"Culling" mask I answered.
Mask IV tilted her head" and how do we go about that?"
With a smile in his tone mask I answered " simple, survival of the fittest".
No one spoke but everyone could understand the cold meaning.
*Beep*
A notification broke the cold silence
" They have arrived" mask I said tapping the table, changing the hologram to numerous live feed of rooms with 5 kids lying around.
"The plan has begun".
Ash woke to stone pressing his spine and cold biting through his clothes.
For half a second, he thought he was sleeping in the cottage. No the straw bed doesn't feel like this.
His eyes snapped open to total darkness, thick and suffocating, the kind that swallowed sound. The air was damp, metallic and old.
This was clearly not forest nor the cottage and definitely not the car.
"What…?" His throat scraped as he tried to speak.
He pushed himself up—and his fingers brushed rock. Jagged. Uneven. Real. The walls weren't walls at all, just raw stone stacked and carved like a tomb. The ceiling felt low. Too low.
Panic surged, hot and instinctive then he heard—
A groan.
Another voice. It's was unfamiliar.
Then coincidentally a firefly flew nearby, flickering on and off then like a reaction a number of them came too life. The room revealed itself in fragments—rough stone walls, no windows, a single steel door with no handle on their side.
And four other kids.
Ash froze.
They were sprawled around the room, stirring one by one like bodies dragged from a river.
A skinny boy with messy brown hair clutched his head, blinking rapidly.
A dark-skinned girl with braided hair pushed herself up, confused black eyes wide scanned frantically looking around.
A pale boy with freckles sat up too fast and immediately gagged.
The last was smaller than the rest, curled near the wall, shaking silently.
They couldn't have been older than twelve.
Ash's heart slammed into his ribs.
Where the hell am I?
He clearly remembered he was in the car after visiting his family grave when he suddenly blacked out.
"This isn't funny," the freckled boy said, voice cracking. "This better be a prank."
"No one builds a stone dungeon for a prank," the girl snapped back, already on her feet. She touched the wall, pressed her ear against it. "Where are we?"
Ash swallowed. His mouth tasted like iron.
"I was in a car," he said slowly, testing his voice. "Then I passed out."
All eyes snapped to him.
"So did I," the skinny boy said quickly. "One second I was sleeping, next thing.....am here."
The small one by the wall finally looked up. His eyes were red. "I was… I was begging near the bridge. Someone told me they'd give me food."
The dark skinned girl said " I was training in my village when suddenly bandits attacked and kidnapped. I was one of the kidnapped.
Ash felt something cold coil in his gut.
This wasn't random.
They were definitely kidnapped.