(Dialogues with * are in japanese. I couldn't think of anything better, ok?)
"....KYO DAKE DEMO!" Said the distorted voice on the video.
"And you are sure this is supposed to be a song from Wanima? I mean, it's clearly a rock fan, but he clearly doesn't know japanese or even the proper lirycs.*" Asked the pale older asian man.
"Yes sir, i also don't know the whole thing by heart but i checked the lyrics together with Oga, the same phenomenom happened on two more locations through the city. It sung Yoasobi, Kenshi Yonesu, Hello sleepwalkers and several more anime songs, generally of the rock genre or with a heavy message, though some exceptions here and there.*" Said the tired detective massaging his browns.
"Takamura, do all the videos last the same amount as this one?*" Asked his superior, frowning even more.
"Yes sir.*" He nodded. "We got calls from precincts over three other towns. Aparently the suspect started adding adresses to the scenes, written in blood, that detailed the suggested sequency to listen to the music. The decodification team is trying to decode some meaning out of all this while working with several others, but personally, i think it's just an idiot's playlist formed over time.*" Getting up from the chair, the man imediatly laid down on a nearby sofa, ussing his coat and his arm as a pillow.
"Rest well liutenent. Thank you for holding the fort while i went on my trip.*" Said the older man, sitting on his chair.
"I will own an apoligise to your wife for not being able to solve this myself, but thank you for coming back sir.*" Said the very sleep deprived man before collapsing from his coffee induced rush.
"How fucking big was this blood bath...*" Murmured the man as he looked through the images of the rapazard buildings filled with mutilated, cut and bludgeoned corpses. There were several men and women left behind from what he'd garnered over the phone, but none of them could ever agree to one description of the assailant even if they were at the same place when found. Male, female, child, elderly, tall, short, bald, filled with hair, naked, dressed in medieval armor, ridiculous descriptions filled the reports in question.
Heads caved in by metal boots that seemed to only appear as the perpetrator entered the scene, perfect shots to the head, heart, groin, joints and livers depending on victims and danger level... Whatever this was, it'd not be going out to the public, his years of experience uselessly reminded him. All victims were known criminals or confesing to a multitude of crimes after all, so as long as there were no more incidents in the same areas, these would easily be covered up.
An unkown black and white figure causing mass death and destruction was not good for the heart after all, and there were no real ways to find them either, even mirrors caught the same problem in seeing the person as the cameras after all, for it was clearly human in nature despite it's speed and cruelty.
*****
While several officers of justice despaired over said massacres, some with more indignation than others, said public menace bought his groceries and decided to finally eat one of those melon pans his sister kept insisting on him trying out, though what he should eat if he didn't end up liking it was still in question, and despite the sudden inflow of cash, it just didn't feel right for him to simply buy one of each of the more common sweets.
"Then again, i'm technically also part elf now, maybe my taste changed a bit." He murmured and decided on simply buying some less pleasure food instead. Japan's prices were rather tempting on his glutonous side, but it was honestly not as hard as not attacking random people with specially good smell. And yet, he'd also found his love for fruit to be increasing together with his bloodlust. Vampires weren't supposed to simply be human bats, but he honestly wasn't going to be complaining on that part considering how much diversity waited him back in Brasil.
Beef and sauce had also become more pronounced in his mouth, but vegetables and fish had actually been harder to stomach with their new intensity, execpt maybe some tubercules. He'd always be a potato at heart.
Blood, on the other hand, he'd finally figured to not actually have an actual taste, more like a sensation similar to a soft drink, small diferences soothing his troath instead of some other effect as notes of flavor appeared here and there. He'd still prefer coke, guarana and even passion fruit juice if he could figure out how to properly infuse the nescessary essence into said drinks though.
The days had passed and now he could dive again, but there was simply no reason to rush things out, he'd wait for the auction, get the rest of his money and use it before anything of the sort. Some had even come in already and he'd bought a skill book for dual wielding (uncommon) for some thirty thousand, and he wanted to bring it to trancendent depending on what options were available to him, though he wouldn't be counting solely on it. Hopefully he could use his other skills to bring it to a higher level before throwing points at the problem, but he'd not be complaining too much considering some sinergies he could already see forming.
There were also skill books on using axes, spears, bludgeons and claws, the first three coming in a nice bundle for ten thousand after some negotiation, but the last one ended up costing twenty due to it being uncommon. Aki thought for a bit and spent another ten to get the skills for two handed swords and axe use. Turns out that was a good idea since after training with all of them it turned out that it unlocked him diferent effects of the similar skills, allowing him to crush defences easier with axes and deflect attacks better with swords.
He'd gained some forty thousand through minor sales by the time of the auction, so he actually still had over 125k points plus special points to his name.
The day was a good one, he kissed his siblings a lot, breakfast was delicious, he sent over a book on political sciences and philosophy to Vanes together with his daily snippet of encouragement and love... He really hoped she was learning english fast enough to actually have use for the things. They were a genius, sure, but it was a whole language plus whatever strange word may be used on the complicated books he sent.
Getting to the auction ended up quickly, no ambushes on the way even with the angry werewolf on his tail or the necromancer that wanted the hipnosys skill likely looking for vengeance. No, instead he was approached by five people, one after the other.
"I'm not really looking to join anything at the moment." He told all of them.
There were all kinds of reactions, though only the first guy really got the message and went away after saying his piece. Two organizations straight up treatened him, one tried to be subtle about it, and the last one even kept talking despite being repeatedly dismissed.
[If you guys have any contracts for a mystic, don't shy from contacting me, i have a good proficiency in everything but potionology, though not much practical experience with things outside of combat.] He sent to the first guy before a friend request appeared in front of him while he still ignored the last guy. That one didn't stop until the second part of the auction begun.
Aki knew he'd be getting a lot of money, but he honestly couldn't tell how in the actual fuck the players of the game relied so heavily on equipment. Sure, consumables would always be useful for one thing or another, even he bought a set of incense sticks that helped focus the mind, but if your equipment is the one doing most of the damage and defense than what in the fuck are you besides lucky?
It's a game, sure, but it was also even more real than Earth in some ways despite it's general inpartiality. How are you supposed to keep going forward if you rely too heavily on luck? He'd gained four hundred fifty thousand points just from the first part of the auction, plenty of his items being heavily disputed despite being considered subpar to him. That was not even considering the items he took from the king and general themselves.
He'd made almost a million points just with the sales of the day, being only ten thousand short. It was so much that he actually considered investing most of his golden points on putting skills to trancendent level. Obviously that would not happen, but these normal points were definetly going to help. Maybe not with the weaponry he wanted to learn by himself, but everything besides that was fair game.
On that note, he decided to push claw fighting to trancendent while still in the auction house. The golden light that encased him for a moment enough to alert others of what he'd done, but it was only mildly strange, many ambushes being done after auctions even with the robots shooting any targeting paying customers.
Aki's face went serious, many thought he received a message, but in truth, he was looking at his stats. He had 28 GP, but he needed 29. It'd been a miscalculation of his part. One of his parameters was going to need to naturaly improve now, either PER or INT, that were one point away from the next treshold.
That ment shock terapy. Luckily, there was a whole dungeon full of guns he could point to his own temple to train. Of course, shooting his temples out wasn't the plan, even if the bullets could damage him.
Stepping out, he imediatly detected his target's bloodlust. Even if they hid it, he knew that feeling too well for his spirit not to notice it. It was also just what he needed to get the spring back on his step. Luckily for him, player lobbys were indestructible , so it didn't matter if he used all the force he could put behind his lunge and it'd not be damaged.
As Aki bounced towards the alleys, several men on the oposite direction rushed towards his location. Further away, one could hear a powerful gunshot, which raised a lot of dust as it hit the ground, missing the head it had been aimed at by a small amount.
[...Honor kill.]
The sniper didn't have time to fire a second bullet, a hole appearing on his head. His helpers and extraction team were also not out of reach however, so Aki jumped into a building's roof and ran. Fortunately, another bounty hunter was right there, doing an overhead strike on him, so he just needed to extent his claws and vibrate his hands at a slightly faster rate than he could handle....
*Clink*
[...Honor kill.]
By hitting the same spot diagonally on both sides, he broke the sword with presure and edge, cutting the man's head off with hard light extending from his hand and ussing his body as a diversion as he enveloped both himself and the dissolving body into a ball of shadow before throwing it to the side.
"WHERE DID HE..." *VWOOM*
Three men were imediatly decapitated as they left an alley, Aki jumping them from inside a random building he entered. Then he ran. Running away after killing someone randomly wasn't easy, but there were several ways that allowed players to hunt farther away from their own lobby's, generaly involving concealment of a certain level and speeding through to the trains, which were practically a gray area, policemen would not spawn there if there wasn't combat inside. This made it so player killers used services from specialised groups, and it was generally an easy way to profit with almost no danger.
Unless the target of assasination reached them. The system wasn't stupid, there was a bullseye on every person involved, even those that'd not attacked, but it'd only last for five or so minutes. Luckily Aki barely needed 2 to reach them, his predatory grin scaring the dead men shitless.
*****
[Claw fighting: Apprentice - Your claws have transcended.
1. Using claws will destroy the durability of items incredibly faster.
2. Your attacks with natural weapons are a lot harder to heal.
3. Your bone structure is denser.]