Tick…
Tick…
Tick…
The sounds of rhythmic ticking on a watch echoed through the room.
Inside a small warehouse somewhere in NQSC, a room of eight people, three Ascendeds and five Awakeneds, all stood, on guard, against one man.
Jack the Ripper—
That was his nickname in the underground district of NQSC for the past two weeks, and his deeds were way worse.
Once information spread that the Ripper was after you, there was nowhere in the waking world that could protect you, and his success rate was 100%.
No matter how many people you bring, no matter how far you run or hide, as long as you were in the waking world, there was no escaping the Ripper.
Seven different hidden organizations had met their ends, right at his hands, the secret weapon of the government, and now, they were face to face with that nightmare.
"Carl, right, that's your name… also known as the wall walker" the Ripper said as he scrolled calmly through his communicator.
Even as he was faced by multiple awakends holding different weapons, he wasn't showing the slightest of fear, instead, it was Carl himself that was shaking.
He put on a brave face as he stared right at the man opposite him, the Ripper had pale white hair and two different colored eyes, and slight dark shades underneath them. He stared at the calm face and spoke while trying his best to suppress the fear in his voice.
"Jack the Ripper…"
"That's my name… well at least that's what they call me, I swear I let it slip once and you guys just pick it up from there" the Ripper muttered the last part under his breath, but with the quiet of the warehouse, it was still audible.
The funny thing was that the infamous Jack, didn't bother to hide his face, almost everyone in the underground district knew his identity, Jayson, however none of them had dared to approach that side of him.
After all, removing the fact that he was backed by the government, someone had once done digging into his personal life, and the discovery was that, Jayson, the original identity of the Ripper, was simply a sibling to two people, however those two people were transcendents.
That alone silenced any thoughts they had towards the Ripper's personal life, incuring the wrath of a Saint was nothing anyone wanted to experience.
Ignoring his numerous thoughts, the Ripper spoke again, his gaze not moving up from his communicator, he looked like any other random person, except there was an illusory book floating beside him, whether it was a memory or an echo or something else entirely, no one knew.
"Since introductions are out of the way… I'll ask you something Carl, will you surrender?" He spoke in his calm voice.
Before he could even think of a reply, the Ripper continued.
"Name: Carl.
Nickname: Wall Walker.
Age: 32.
Rank: Ascended.
Threat level: B+.
Offences: Multiple Homicides, Armed Robbery, Illegal use of abilities, Smuggling of stolen goods, Property Damage, Killing of Multiple Government Officials… etc.
Suspected Abilities: Moving through physical objects (helps in escaping an ambush)."
The Ripper read out his file like he was talking about a change of weather, as if he wasn't even considered a threat.
"...so how's it going to be, are you surrendering?"
Carl scoffed and said.
"You might have felt strong after wiping out those lesser gangs, but I am different, even if you're strong enough to take on all of us, you cannot still stop me from escaping if I want to"
The Ripper tilted his head, "So you don't surrender?"
He grinned in reply.
"To you… never"
The Ripper didn't show any emotional reaction, he simply returned to his communicator, he was shocked by the nonchalant attitude he was receiving, however he wasn't going to blindly attack, after all, it might just be an act and the Ripper was waiting for his move.
Contrary to expectations, the Ripper simply dialed a number, under the baffled gaze of everyone, the communicator rang for a few seconds before the call connected.
"Master Jet, It's Jayson…
Yeah, I'm still on the job…
Well I asked, and he refused to surrender, so I'm moving on…
You know what, next time I'm not going to call to ask for permission, if anyone refuses, I'll just start dropping bodies…
Alright, and I might have to skip on our training tomorrow, I have to spend some time with Ari…
Okay, bye…"
And with those words, the call ended.
"Now then… I gave you your chance" the Ripper said, then his communicator disappeared, and the next moment, blazing white lightning filled his right hand.
Screeeech!
"Chidori…"
He didn't give the Ripper any chance to attack as he shouted to his subordinates.
"Attack!"
However, contrary to what he expected, the movements never came, only two Awakeneds showed signs of moving forward, the rest stood still like statues.
The Ripper chuckled darkly.
"You seriously didn't think I was wasting time for the fun of it did you?"
..
Jayson chuckled as he watched the Ascended opposite him become pale, honestly he was happy, unlike others that attacked right as he showed his face, these guys were patient enough to wait for him to turn them into marionettes.
He smiled and said to Carl.
"Your luck ended the exact second I walked through your door, so if I were you, I'd start praying to whatever god you know… personally, I recommend, Primordial God Almighty, right now, 'He's' the only one that can save you from me…"
"You think you can stop me?" Carl snarled.
He didn't reply, but the next second, he used blink, immediately appearing in front of the awakeneds, out of seven, excluding Carl, he had already turned the two other Ascendeds and three Awakeneds to marionettes, leaving only two Awakeneds, and now he held one of those Awakeneds by the neck as he drove his chidori through the chest of the awakened.
..
Carl watched in utter bafflement as the Ripper brutally killed the first Awakened by impaling him with his lightning-coated hand, the hand went right through and exited the other side of the Awakened's back.
As the hand came out, the lightning crackling around it died down, and the blood on his black suit immediately started to glisten.
A second later, and every single stain of blood on his hand and suit had frozen into solids and slowly fell to the ground, making cracking sounds as they shattered.
However as they hit the ground, the ice from them spread out, within the next second, it had spread and and frozen half of the other Awakened, seconds later, and he was frozen solid like a block of ice.
In less than ten seconds, two Awakeneds had died by the Ripper's hands.
"You're next…" the Ripper said as he turned to him.
He immediately summoned his short dagger, and he ran forward, the Ripper didn't show any fear and just summoned a black scythe, that's when it hit him, the call he made earlier, he called the receiver 'Master Jet' and put together with the scythe…
The Ripper was a subordinate of the Soul Reaper—
However, even knowing that, he didn't stop his movements, after all, his abilities were very versatile, if not for the fact that he wasn't interested in the dream realm after his second nightmare, he would have held a position in the government or even some legacy clans.
He rushed closer to the Ripper, and the Ripper swung his scythe to attack him, however the scythe went right through his body.
That was his ability, it allowed him to make his whole body intangible, that gave him the power to move through walls and other obstacles.
As the scythe went through him, he rushed closer to stab the Ripper, however, the Ripper disappeared from his front at the last minute, leaving only a slight after image.
"I was going to kill you outright, however, intangibility… that's a very nice ability, so you're a kind of 'Temu Obito'... that's good too" The Ripper's voice sounded from across the room.
He continued.
"Since I'm not killing you like that, I'm going to have to lose one of these guys…"
The Ripper walked, and that's when he remembered it, the remaining five of his subordinates, they were still standing, not changing their position.
As the Ripper reached them, he stopped in front of an Awakened and spared him a glance, and immediately said one word.
"Die"
The Awakened immediately fell to the floor like a broken puppet and died just like that.
'Monster…' Carl thought as his eyes narrowed.
The Ripper turned to him, and immediately appeared in his front, after witnessing his teleportation ability twice, He was already prepared, the scythe that was supposed to cleave him in two went right through him again, and this time, his counter attack was faster than ever.
However, just as his short sword was about to impale the Ripper, his body became slightly illusory, and the attack went right through the Ripper.
As his step faltered from the failed counter, he immediately regained his balance as he sharply turned to the Ripper.
"You stole my abilities…" he said as he recalled the attack.
"Not really… it's similar but not the same, yours make you intangible, mine just uses my ability to open doors on surfaces to open one on myself… although similar, mine's more difficult to achieve" the Ripper replied, calmly explaining the difference.
He understood little of it, and even that was enough to let him know that the Ripper was far above him in strength.
He immediately turned around and fled, he ran through a wall and came out on the other end, it was an alley. He turned around to see the Ripper doing the same, except the Ripper wasn't running, instead he was taking slow calm steps towards him.
Carl didn't hesitate for even one second, he turned around and began running, he ran through a wall and arrived at another open space, however he didn't stop, he just kept running, as he turned around, he saw that the Ripper was still following him, walking calmly, and despite him running at his full speed, the distance between them was only about six meters.
He didn't give up, he changed direction and ran, moving through multiple walls, and even running into crowds, however, every time he turned around.
The Ripper was there—
Always walking—
Always six meters away—
He was becoming desperate as he ran into houses of people, moved through traffic and other things, but his situation didn't change, he couldn't outrun the Ripper, and worst of all, the Ripper wasn't even running.
After a few more minutes of constant running, he turned around, and saw no one, he had finally lost the Ripper, or so he thought.
He immediately felt a hand hold his neck from behind, and with great strength, push him downwards, he felt his vision change as he was suddenly heading for the ground head straight with his feet hanging above, and a hand holding his feet to smash his face into the ground.
He immediately activated his ability to slip out of the Ripper's grip, however as he did, he didn't escape, instead his vision turned black.
..
Merlin held Carl by his leg as he was lowering him to the ground, just as Carl was about to activate his ability, Merlin activated his at the same time, however he didn't activate the apprentice ability, the one he activated was Carl's own ability that he recorded, as he did, the leg that was slipping out of his grip immediately steadied.
'It seems that it cancels each other out, tangible can't touch intangible, however, intangible can…'
Before Carl could adapt, he immediately lowered the intangible Carl, forcing his head through the ground, and leaving him halfway through.
He then spoke in a calm voice.
"Just so you know, if you cancel your ability in this state, you die, if you try anything funny, I'll kill you, but I don't want to do that…"
"I gave you a chance to surrender, but you didn't listen, you also attacked me, however that wasn't what pissed me off, you had to make me pursue you and now the rest of the marionettes have been disconnected…"
"Sure I can recover them back, however do you know how many memories I didn't take from them? Tsk, tsk, tsk… I'm guessing I should force you to apologize, however I doubt you can do that, after all… you stopped living a while ago"
He sighed and brought up Carl, his new marionette, he controlled Carl to walk to him and transfer all the memories in his possession.
[You have received a memory, Poison Blades.]
[You have received a memory…]
[You have received a memory…]
..
.
After collecting the memories, he summoned the cloak, and made Carl walk through it as it floated.
Carl disappeared into his soul sea, then he turned around and travelled back to the warehouse, there, he sent all the bodies to his soul sea, then he took out his communicator and text Master Jet.
.
— Jayson: Master Jet, I'm done with the Job, please help me handle the logistics…
.
A few seconds later, she replied.
.
—Master Jet: Alright, good job, I'll handle it… and I'm not your superior, you should be relaying all your stuff to Saint Cor.
—Jayson: Hell nah, that old man is too paranoid for my liking.
—Master Jet: You're the only one who'd dare say that about a Saint… and I'm serious about it, my workload is already enough as it is.
—Jayson: Just tell him this once, and let them transfer my money to me, I'll handle the rest.
—Master Jet: And what of the bodies?
—Jayson: Gone…
—Master Jet: What exactly do you do with them anyway? You don't have any strange hobbies do you?
—Jayson: Master Jet… your thinking might not be too far off, I'm something of a collector, however I'll only tell you the truth if you agree to Join the Changing Star cohort.
—Master Jet: I'm already part of it, you know… and what's with you guys telling me to join your cohort?
—Jayson: Huh? You're already in? How? And who else has come to you about joining the cohort?
—Master Jet: First Sunny, then Effie and even Nephis herself extended an invitation, I'm rather surprised you guys want me that badly, so last week I thought about it, and decided that I'll give you guys the chance to convince me, however they said they'll tell you about it.
—Jayson: Well nobody told me that… and if we have to convince you, why do you say you're already part of Neph's cohort?
—Master Jet: Who cares… and for something called Nephis' cohort, you really do call a lot of shots for them, why isn't it your cohort?
—Jayson: Fine, I'll make time to talk to you about this, for now just send me my money… If you ever decide to join, I'll tell you where the bodies are.
—Master Jet: Your last line sounded too strange, even for my liking.
—Jayson: You get what I mean… Well then, I'll be on my way, bye.
—Master Jet: See you later.
.
He sent the communicator into his dimension ring and stretched as he recalled the fight earlier, if it could even be called that, it was more of him scaring the shit out of Carl, from the chidori, to the freezing, and the part where he was walking while keeping up with him, all that was just him spamming 'blink'.
He sighed and checked the time.
'There' s still time to get ice cream for Ari, and this time, I'll make sure to hide it from Silver, even if I'm impaled by a hundred spikes, I will never release it…'
He then turned around and travelled away from the scene…