023 THE HUNTERS BECAME THE HUNTED
Damen didn't wait for their knives to answer. He bolted, sprinting with everything he had. Against so many Meta-humans, standing his ground would be suicide.
"Flash Dash!"
Damen gritted his teeth. He wasn't stupid—running without using his own Meta skill was pointless. This was life and death. Pretending was no longer an option.
He triggered his own Flash Dash and shot through the maze of alleys, finally breaking into a cluster of abandoned buildings. Crumbling concrete and twisted steel surrounded him.
"Good… this is a perfect place to hide," he thought, slipping behind a chunk of partly collapsed wall.
Moments later, Big Boss and four of his men materialized with the same skill as his- Flash Dash.
Damen's eyes narrowed. "So, it's true… Flash Dash is standard skill for this gang."
He quickly aimed his phone, pulling them into his mining app's radar and tagging all five into his favorites list.
"Spread out. Find that creep," Big Boss ordered.
The thugs fanned out.
Damen crouched deeper in the shadows, forcing his breath into silence. But then… one of them veered toward him with uncanny precision.
"Did he… sense me?" Damen tensed.
The thug's eyes locked onto the concrete slab. "Found you!" he snarled, lunging forward into the shadow with a dagger.
Damen's stomach dropped.
"How the hell did you find me?" he almost shrieked.
He jammed his thumb against the Acquire button on his phone—only for the screen to freeze.
"Dammit! I've hit the acquisition limit!" Panic surged through him. "That trick won't work on these thugs this time."
Previously when he went on a rampage of Acquire in the MMA stadium, he's already taken up to his limit. Acquire doesn't work for him now.
Steel flashed. The dagger stabbed down towards him… missing by an inch.
Damen wasn't the same desperate kid who had fought Mad Cat weeks ago. A month of training at Heroes' Gym had honed his instincts. While there he went for many self-defense lessons from ex-military officers and could handle himself.
He twisted, caught the thug's wrist mid-strike, and wrenched the dagger free.
"What the hell? Are you just a student!" the thug cried, shocked that Damen was a skilled fighter.
Damen's eyes were cold. He didn't hesitate. He reversed the blade and drove it upward, piercing through the skull of the attacker.
Damen didn't train to fight. He trained to kill.
The thug's body stiffened, then crumpled lifeless to the ground.
The dying screams echoed through the ruins. The others were closing in his way.
"Damnit, how can I fight so many meta gangsters at once", he complained.
He slipped into another hiding spot, deeper in the ruined building. The place was cavernous and dark, forcing the thugs to split up again.
"This is Perfect", he thought.
A grin tugged at his lips as he crouched low, dagger in one hand, phone in the other. "I'm ready now."
Footsteps echoed nearby. Another thug drifted too close, unaware of him. Damen's breath stilled. Then, like a striking viper, he lunged from the shadows, his dagger slicing clean across the man's throat.
The thug tried to scream, but only a wet gasp escaped before he collapsed.
Damen wiped the blade against his sleeve, his eyes cold.
"Two down," he whispered. "Three to go."
"The hunters had become the hunted."
-----
Damen picked the meta gangsters off one by one, moving like a shadow and striking without mercy. The alley filled with the wet sounds of collapse and silence.
These gangsters had meta powers, but they were not trained in real combat. Damen had an advantage over them because he had a month of training- training to survive.
When the dust settled, only Big Boss remained.
"Come out, boy. Don't hide. Come to papa," Big Boss taunted, swaggering forward.
Big Boss wasn't like the others. He was bigger, and more composed. Damen estimated he was at least G-rank power at a glance.
The rest of the thugs had been H-ranks like Damen.
[Meta-humans are ranked in alphabetical order, a system that measures their power and abilities.
H-Rank: Ordinary humans and newly awakened metas. Weakest tier.
G-Rank: The first step into the professional class.
From there, strength climbs steadily: F → E → D → C → B → A.
At the summit stand the S, X, and L Ranks—the pinnacle of meta strength. These are revered as Superheroes.]
Damen had to be careful.
Damen hugged the wall and waited. When Big Boss drew near, Damen sprang with the cold focus of a predator. His dagger flashed and slashed across the man's neck.
"Ouch, you little prick," Big Boss snarled, leaping back.
The cut should have been fatal for anyone else. But the blood soon stilled under Big Boss's hand as if stitched shut by his palm. The wounds closed miraculously. He was healed.
Damen's mouth went dry.
"What the hell!! He's got a healing meta," Damen thought.
"Don't underestimate them. I cannot underestimate metas," he repeated to himself.
Before he could move, Big Boss was on him, his huge hands closing around Damen's throat.
"Damnit, he got me."
The world narrowed. The city's noise dropped away.
Fighting a Rank G, Hero class meta, wasn't just hard. It was suicide. They were stronger, faster, and more skillful. Damen felt each of these advantages snarling at him.
"Did I overestimate myself?" he gasped internally.
"Please…spare me. I know about the ring," he blurted, his voice thin in a desperate move.
It was a gamble: he thought by giving information, it might buy him a chance to survive this.
Big Boss loosened his grip and let Damen drop. He smiled, as though indulging a curious insect.
"You know about the ring, bastard?" he asked. "Where is it?"
Damen swallowed. "What ring? Why would you kill for it?"
Big Boss's reply was calm but hungry. "It holds secrets and power beyond your imagination. With it, I rise within the organization."
"The organization?" Damen echoed.
Big Boss chuckled. "Every underground force in Melrose belongs to us."
Damen's mind raced.
Dammit. I stepped into gangster territory.
This was far beyond what he could handle alone. But none of that mattered now. Survival did.
He had only two options—kill Big Boss, or run.
Running was impossible with Big Boss's hand still on him. That left only one choice.
"I have to kill him."
But the thought chilled him. Big Boss was a Rank G—killing someone like that bordered on the impossible.
I need to get close, Damen realized. Sneak an opening.
It was the only plan he had.
Big Boss leaned in, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "Now tell me about the ring—or I'll kill you."
"All right," Damen said, his voice suddenly calm, almost obedient. "I'll tell you."
He met Big Boss's eyes and gestured faintly.
"Come closer."