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The Inside. The center hub of depravity and decadence only bolstered over time due to the actions of its unfortunate inhabitants.
With no more than 200,000 residents of this massive forsaken land over an area spanning approximately 47 square miles, this place has been firmly filled with all kinds of human vice and degeneracy that humanity could offer.
Violence? Prostitution? Drugs? Murder? Robbery?
Whatever vices were thought to be the bane of the common man's society was nothing but the norm of this area. After all, Japanese law enforcement held no sway in this land.
In the ruined dilapidated buildings lining the land, it created a suffocating atmosphere where one wouldn't dare to sleep without one eye open, in fear that a temporary rest could become an eternal one.
Surely if it wasn't known before by many, then by now, others growing up learning to live within The Inside would quickly come to realize that this was a cruel, cold, and inhospitable living space.
In essence, this was a land void of any of the traditional laws that constituted human rights, and a place where only the strong had earned a chance to live another day.
But what about the weak and downtrodden?
The young, the ill, the frail, and the elderly?
Well, what about them? In this place, the long-time aspect of the now-discredited theory of Darwinism known as; 'Survival of the fittest' had seemed to be in full effect, if one can judge by the constant dead bodies littered across the streets, either due to starvation or by meeting their untimely demise.
In the end, might makes right, and the strong rules over the weak.
However, in the annals of this hellhole, there exists those who refuse to lay low and accept this fate of a horrid life within this bleak space. As many as they can be, striving and suffering to get stronger, most of them fighting not for any grand or lofty complex goals, but for the chance to wake up tomorrow.
Such a person was none other but a little boy with brown eyes who was wrapped in a cloak. Nameless, yes, just like the rest of his fellow neighbors who had nothing in the way of family names, identity, or education for that matter.
Living in the Tokita Ward, life was free indeed, however, a fulfilling life filled with safety and security was a privilege only for those who were truly the strongest, whether it be physically, or financially.
The young lad no older than the age of 10 draped in ragged cloth from head-to-toe continued to traverse throughout the area in which he lived, his eyes constantly darting to and fro cautiously before finally resting as they narrowed on a certain group of thugs holding weathered briefcases.
Carrying around a few small fist-sized bags almost filled to point that it would burst, the brown-eyed boy in a cloak pushed them deeper into his pockets, sinking into the crowds as he tried to blend in as he tailed the trio.
'Hmmn? Is someone watching me?' Feeling slightly off, it was as if someone was tailing him, watching him afar as he trodded along on his 'daily commute'.
Shaking his head, he pushed the thought to the back of his head as he looked forward.
'Looks like my next meal is about to be served. Let's get this job over with.' Rounding behind the corner of the building where he saw the thugs tread, the boy inched closer to listen in and watch the trio formulate his plan.
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"Fuck! Who the hell do they think they are, huh!? And then giving us chump change after we busted our asses off working all day!?" In the poorly-lit shadowy alleyways there stood three figures discussing their latest haul after a job as it seems.
"And now we have to play 'deliveryman' too!?" Becoming even more agitated, the angered man was quickly calmed by his second partner.
"Calm down. Since we're fresh recruits of course they ain't gonna take us too seriously, not off the bat... but soon... soon they will." The second thug remarked, looking towards the several briefcases perched nicely on a canister nearby.
"But bro!"
"Drop it. Let's focus on what we have now" The second thug said, motioning towards the briefcases.
"Alright." The first man replied, still slightly miffed about his situation.
'Wait till I make it big, we'll see how those fuckers try to boss us around then' the first man bitterly thought.
"Enough talk, bring the goods; on the double." The third thug had finally spoken.
"Gotcha."
"Understood."
Gazing at the trio of thugs conversating in the poorly-lit alleyways, the brown-eyed boy in a cloak could tell which one to attack first, and just where to do it.
A sort of innate talent of his so it would seem.
'The first one, the hothead that's bitching ain't the strongest of the three, but not the weakest either. Maybe in the middle of the three. And he's most likely a brawler.'
'The 'mature' acting one, judging by his posture seems to be a fighter that mainly uses his fists, while not too weaker than the rest, he's by far the weakest in this trio.'
'And the silent one... the lanky type huh, he'll cause the most problems. He doesn't look like much, but I could tell that he's holding a weapon on him. Engaging in a frontal fight would be suicidal seeing as he doesn't have that many weaknesses at first glance.'
'Not yet, that is.'
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"Yosh!" Exclaiming, the brown-eyed boy in a cloak jumped out into the narrow alleyway, standing in front of them, before going silent.
"Eh? The hell you want brat!? I'm not in a good mood now so fuck off!" Already irked, the hotheaded man was even more pissed if not bewildered as what to him was the appearance of some 'shitty brat' covered head-to-toe in someones 'bedsheets'.
"Hey, stop." The 'mature' man said before turning in the boy's direction.
"Hey, kid. Get lost."
"..." Finally moving, the brown-eyed boy turned around and took a step, before once more turning back around to his previous spot, to flip the bird at the trio, tauntingly waggling it as if beckoning them over.
"This little shit!" the hothead growled.
"You can't be serious! There is clearly something up with this!" the 'mature' man tried to reason, but to no avail.
"It's just a little shitty brat! I'll worry about that after I beat this little snot-nosed brat to a pulp!" Quickly sprinting towards the boy, the hotheaded man raised his fist to strike down the boy.
"Heh." Smirking, the hotheaded man changed his form from a left-straight into an uppercut with his right. Sending it with all his might, hoping to vent some frustrations upon the boy.
And closer and closer it got, mere inches away from the cloaked boy's face until;
-SMASH!-
It connected, sending the boy hurling into the trash, knocking over trash canisters as glass bottles broke everywhere.
-SHATTER!-
"Uhh! That feels more like it! How 'ya like that you little shit!" Yelling excitedly, the man pumped his fists in the air repeatedly.
"Was it really necessary to use that on a kid? That left-straight could've done the job just as good." the 'mature' man inquired.
"Nah, Nah, that little fucker had it coming sooner or later, so I just had to help him." Cackling like a hyena, the hotheaded man casually strolled over to the boy, lifting him in the air by his head.
"What now kid? What are 'ya gonna do before I end your ass huh?" Raising his fists, he positioned himself to strike once more before he heard the childish voice ringing out.
"This."
"!!!"
The man wanted to let the boy go, but before he could manage to do so, it was already too late.
-SPLURT!-
"Eeek!"
Spitting blood into the man's eyes, the boy held the arm of the man holding him in the air, arching his body slightly with his right leg reeled backwards, the boy sent it slamming like a sledgehammer into the man's groin.
"Ooof!" Keeling over, the hotheaded man was slightly discombobulated as he tried to regain his bearings.
-WHAM!-
However, due to the limited space in this narrow dark alleyway, the man faced great difficultly in doing so before having his head slammed with a brick near the trash cans, knocking him out.
-THUD!-
"Damn it, you idiot!" Rushing towards the boy, the 'mature' man sent out a flurry of blows, kicks, and punches. However, unlike his partner, none of these attacks connected.
Running circles around the man, the brown-eyed boy in a cloak realized that not only was that strange feeling of being watched had intensified, but the 'silent' man who had barely spoken a few words, was only standing still while watching the boy who had taken out his comrade, with an amused smirk on his face.
"Hyaaat! Haaaa!" After sending out unsuccessful attacks, the 'mature' gave chase to where the boy was, then sending out a low kick. However, due to misjudging his surroundings, he had unfortunately slipped on the blood of both the boy and his partner.
"Shit!" the 'mature' man cursed.
Moving quickly the boy quickly rained down blows at full power at various parts of the man's body.
After all, he was just a little boy, and a kid without such training couldn't possibly completely defeat a grown man in a strength contest. So naturally, since there's no such thing as fairness in a street fight, the boy resorted to trickery.
The brown-eyed boy in a cloak knew that in the height, power, reach, experience, and skill departments, he was quite 'under-staffed'. And because of these weaknesses of his, this was exactly why the boy had made sure that they won't be able to use their strengths at full power.
Getting up again, the man tried to perform a feint leading to a liver blow, but after being tripped by the brown-eyed boy in a cloak, he fell in a bad position, smashing his head upon the concrete.
"Gryaaah!"
Whatever was his status maybe now, the boy thought that he was surely 'unconscious'.
Heck, 'alive' might be a stretch.
"Haaa, Haaa-" Stopping for a moment to catch his breath, a minute passed by in complete silence as both figures in this poorly-lit alleyway stared at each other, unmoving, and not budging one bit.
With the man possessing a height of 197cm, with long, yet compact muscles, and a weight of approximately 100kg, he had towered over the brown-eyed boy in a cloak by at least 60cm, not to mention the boy's weight seemed to be only 30kg heavy.
"You, why'd you just stand there and watch your buddies get taken out?" The boy asked, his tone betraying his masked curiosity.
"Just wanted to see what a runt like you could do, Nothing else." After a few seconds of silence, the final thug finally responded.
"So, what did you want kid? It's the package ain't it? But forget about it kiddo, 'cuz you won't be needing it in the afterlife" Breaking into a nasty smirk, the lanky man gazed at the briefcases then back at the cloaked boy grimly.
"48." the man suddenly said.
"???"
"So far it's been 48 of you little shits like you that try to pull a fast one on me." His nasty grin spread wider, and the lanky man kicked the briefcases away, pulling out a combat knife in a reverse grip.
And with that, the man pounced at the cloaked boy.
"And with you, that'll be 49!" the lanky man sneered.
-SWISH!, SWOOSH!, SWISH!-
Dodging quickly, the boy had tried his best to evade the ever-changing attack rhythm of slashes and thrusts aiming at his vitals with the intent to kill.
-SCRATCH!-
"Quick on your feet aren't you~"
Looking at the shallow wound he miraculously got after evading the lanky man's flurry of attacks, the brown-eyed boy in a cloak narrowed his eyes under the cloak he wore, gazing at the man and his combat knife intently.
"But that won't be enough, after all, with a swing of this I could even cut concrete as if it was hot butter~" the lanky man hummed joyfully.
'Twice to the eyes, thrice to the jugular veins, four times to the heart, and then twice to the legs.'
'Every time I seem to get the rhythm, he starts to change it up. Looks like he's really not all talk.'
'And now, to finish this.'
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, the boy lashed out, giving out straights, jabs, and kicks in an almost haphazard manner.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. This won't do little boy!"
Dodging the almost mindless attacks without breaking a single sweat, the lanky man lunged at the boy attempting to slash at his jugulars.
-SLASH!-
However, in the nick of time, the boy had managed to duck, evading the slash by a hair's breadth. Unfortunately, the man had long expected this, sending out a knee to the boy's stomach before sending him flying back with a front kick.
-CRASH!-
'Weird, I clearly hit him, but it doesn't feel like it fully connected, if at all... Is it also similar to his case?' The lanky man mused, looking over at his hotheaded partner as he compared his attacks to him. Frowning slightly he backed up from the kid, clearly suspicious now.
"Get up kid, you won't fool me with that twice." the lanky man barked
"Haaht!" Jumping up suddenly, the boy started throwing glass shards that were strewn about, broken due to him crashing into the trash canister earlier. He also threw fist-sized rocks at the man hoping to catch the man off-guard.
"Have you given up? If so then the thrill won't be as good!" The lanky man snarled in a fed-up tone.
-SLASH!-
Slashing through the rocks while dodging the glass. the lanky man once more sprinted towards the boy in this narrow dark alleyway
"Well, time to wrap this up!" The lanky man shouted.
This time, it seemed as if the boy had only thrown three fist-sized 'rocks' towards the approaching man.
'This again huh? Looks like the kid ran out of steam. Tsk, tsk. You're no fun, kid'
Slashing the 'rocks' effortlessly like hot butter, not sparing another second for the kid to perform his other tricks, he moved to finally gut the 'pesky' brat.
"!!!"
But as soon as he cut the three 'rocks' in quick succession...
they exploded.
-FSSSSSHH-
And with that done, a shower of sand, sawdust, ash, and glass rained uninhibited as it obscured the already narrow and poorly-lit alleyway. And out of all of them present, the one most affected was;
"Rrgggh, Arrghh!"
The man who made the unfortunate mistake of looking upwards with his eyes open.
With his eyes damaged, the man flailed about for a while before backing away, creating distance between him and the boy.
'Shit! How could I have fallen for that! Damnit!' The lanky man inwardly cursed, bitter at what pain his slight misgiving had caused.
Ignoring the pain and pulling his guard up in the case of the boy attacking once more, the knife-wielding lanky man waited.
And waited...
And waited even longer...
But contrary to the man's expectations, the boy didn't give chase to close the distance nor to attack.
In fact, the brown-eyed boy in a cloak wasn't even there anymore, he had in fact long left the scene.
"Y-You little shit. I'm not done with you yet... Just you wait... I'll kill you soon enough..." Bitterly remarking, the man had no choice but to stew in his injuries and self-loathing at the moment at the physical and physiological pain of being outsmarted by a 'mere brat'.
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-Later That Evening-
In the usual dilapidated buildings that lined the sights of the Tokita Wards, there stood a boy covered head-to-toe in a slightly tattered cloak with traces of blood on it as he was conversing with a lone man.
The man was exceptionally tall with a very defined musculature had shaggy black hair with lazy brown eyes and a permanent 5 'o clock shadow resting upon his face.
'Strong as usual, even though he acts like an idiot...Those chumps couldn't even dream to compare...' Thinking so, the boy wasn't even sure if he could manage to graze this man in a fight even if he used his usual tricks and tactics.
"This is it, old man. I've gotten the package. Now 'fess up." Tossing the package at the man in a grey gi with a black belt, he beckoned the man to hand him his payment.
"Hey, hey, hey! Watch it, kid! There's some important shit in here!" the gi-wearing man lazily drawled.
'Important enough that they sent random thugs to deliver it? Couldn't be.' Wanting to mention that, the boy looked at the gi-wearing man weirdly, but decided against it, knowing the man had most likely had already suspected it.
'Meh, not my business anyways.' He had better things to do than worry about his employer's in-fighting. Like eating and living to see tomorrow.
"Anyway kid, here's your pay." Handing over a stack of books alongside a wad of cash, the man then lazily shooed the kid off.
"Aight. Call me if you have another job." Not minding the lazy man, the boy grabbed his payment and the bag that was now his, slinging it over his shoulder and heading towards the exit.
But not before stopping halfway, to gaze intensely at the unlit areas of the building, his eyes narrowing as if searching for something before finally leaving.
"So, whaddya think of the brat eh? I mean you've been tailing him for a while now." Once the brown-eyed boy in a cloak had left, the lazy gi-wearing man brustled throughout the package before finding a small notebook, wiggling it back and forth, while gazing towards the unlit areas within the building where the kid was gazing fiercely at.
"Grahahaha! Not bad, not bad! The brat wasn't sure, but it seemed like he could tell he was being followed." A gruff and brash voice emanated from within the shadows causing the surroundings the shake as the voice echoed. The outline of the speaker's body could barely be visible; however, one could certainly tell, that due to the man's robust musculature and height, that this man was truly powerful.
A powerful monster indeed.
"Oh really? Then for a kid so young, it means that he's a real monster in the making, huh?" the gi-wearing man casually noted.
"A tad too sloppy in for my tastes, but he's got potential anyways. After all, he'd be dead if he couldn't make it here, Grahahahaha!" The voice in the shadows boomed.
"Man, you're quite the spartan, ain't ya?" The gi-wearing man wryly smiled.
'Hmmn, I wonder just how far you will get in the future, kid.' Chuckling softly, the man in the shadows gazed out of the windows, looking at the back of the cloaked boy's slowly departing figure.
Little did each of them knew, not the residents, nor even the several gangs in the Tokita Ward, that something or someone was on the rise, and that unlike the day-to-day struggling of the residents, things were about to get truly hectic.
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PROLOGUE: THE INSIDE(R) (REDUX) END