Ryker's eyes widened in panic, looking at the butter knife with quivering lips. His target just told him to stab him freely, but he'd die if he didn't succeed.
He was acting, of course.
It was the exact development the teen had gambled for. While he didn't like gambling, it was better than meeting certain death during a suicide mission. A chance is always more rational than a guarantee.
"Get up!" The man barked, "This is your only purpose in life, so make it count!"
Ryker compiled and grabbed the knife and then put both hands around it with shaky legs.
Mario put both arms up high in a grand pose.
"Welcome to Lexicon, everyone!" He laughed.
"If you don't know how Scythes' powers work, you're about to find out.
There's something called God's Blessing that protects us.
To attack [blessing], you need God's Intent, which you get from killing or eating monsters.
If you haven't killed enough monsters or use a weapon without enough [intent], you literally can't touch a human or monster here. Hell, you can't even pluck a blade of grass!"
THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP!
"Please give me a close-up of my jacket. I'm assuming you creepy freaks did.
Ready? Let's demonstrate what happens when the weak attack the strong in Lexicon.
Idiot, stab at me with a butter knife as hard as you can.
Then get another close-up of my jacket before I kill him. He won't touch me. Go!" Mario barked.
Ryker took a stance with shaky legs.
THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP!
His heart went wild.
"I'm coming!" He screamed awkwardly, trying to showcase his wild ineptitude and lacking maturity.
Ryker ran at half speed clumsily.
Mario laughed, and then his eyes filled with killing intent.
Ryker knew that the man never planned to let him live. Mario's explanation was a ruse to hide his real one: demonstrating what happens when the weak attack the strong.
He always planned to kill Ryker for foolishly thinking an enemy would let them stab them.
THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP! THU-DUMP!
Ryker knew that. So at the last moment, he feigned, tripping to get Mario moving downward.
Thu-dump! Thu-dump! Thu-dump! Thu-dump!
Then he caught his footing and used the Level 7 strength to kick to his left, preemptively dodging the super human's attack.
Thu-dump! Thu-dump!
Mario's eyes widened in panic as Ryker's fear dropped horrifyingly unnaturally.
While he had superhuman speed, the inertia from his sloppy grab carried his hands forward, missing Ryker's preemptively dodging wrist.
The direness of the situation became clear a split second later.
A suffocating pressure from [intent] hidden in the butter knife got released. It was at least an S-class item, the second rarest in the world.
It was not something he, nor any other Scythe, would have ever expected.
CURRRRRLLSH!
A horrifyingly unnatural sloshing noise filled the air as Ryker stabbed the man's right rib and effortlessly cut upward through his heart.
Blood washed over the teen, drenching his neck-length black hair, face, and Lexicon-issued leather clothing.
Mario's death was instantaneous.
Thu-dump.
Ryker grinned at the sight.
With enough blessing, an A-class Scythe couldn't touch another's clothing. With enough intent, a butter knife could cut through anything.
In an ironic twist of fate, the demonstration proved Mario's point.
However, the footage didn't go to the world. No Scythe Corps Association member nor subscriber would ever see it.
It was being streamed to a select number of people of a shady organization called [Amusement Society].
Ding!
[Revenger! A guard is approaching near the outside door. Turn around and take a right toward the west corridor.]
Thu-dump!
Ryker's heart pounded naturally against his restrained mindset, and his flight response triggered.
He immediately complied, turned around, and ran.
The blood on his clothing was leaving a trail. However, he was now in the system's hands.
Ding!
[Revenger, three rooms to the right there's an unlocked door, enter it.]
Ryker ran to the room, knowing there was little time before the witness would show.
The killing was legal in Lexicon. However, people weren't free to do it without consequences.
The teen killed a ranking Scythe Corps member on association property. He'd get killed without question if he didn't hurry.
Ryker fumbled with the door, which was hard to open from the blood on his hands.
Click!
"Hey! Mr. Manega! Is that you!"
Thu-dump! Thu-dump!
The witness was officially there.
Ding!
[Revenger, there is a large vent for a body in the room and a window that leads outside. Those are your potential escape routes.
You've been sent a screwdriver, new clothing, and a plastic suit.
A dummy is currently impersonating you in your stead. The actor will leave once you return to your room.
They will stay until you swap or the end of the game.
Good, luck, Revenger!
May you live, kill, and die for our entertainment.]
Ryker carefully moved to the room's right side.
Then, after a slight prayer that his new power was strong enough, he pulled his hand back.
Thu-dump! Thu-dump!
BOOOOOOM!
CRAAAAASH!
He smashed his fist against the wall, blowing a hole through it large enough for him to run through. The impact shattered all of the glass as well.
Ryker hit the wall for a reason.
"Evacuate the area!" A woman yelled outside the room, "There's an A-class Scythe that isn't filing! Avoid the west wing to prevent them from killing witnesses!"
The teen grinned and charged out of the room with a beating heart.
He ran out of the room and into an alleyway, where he stripped his clothes and stored them in his item storage.
Then he quickly put his body into the plastic suit and ran [back into the room].
No one would come to it until an A-rank or higher showed up. So now it was the safest place to be.
It was also a recommendation from the system. He was confident it wouldn't be given as an option unless it was secure.
Ryker carefully unscrewed the vent covering with the fitted screwdriver. He carefully placed it on the ground and did a handstand with his knuckles.
Once his toes made it into the vent, he released them, pushed down, and popped upward into the vent.
THUD! Thud!
Ryker was eighteen but had fourteen years of combat training for self-defense. So his new powers made ridiculous tasks possible.
It was a shaky start, but everyone had evacuated the area. So Ryker placed the covering back in and prayed his investigators wouldn't check the screws.
Twenty minutes later, a man entered the room. He was wearing a leather suit made from an A-class beast, and his intent pressure was suffocating.
Thu-dump!
Even with Ryker's ability to suppress his heart, the man's overwhelming aura triggered primal instincts in his brain.
The man examined the ground, looked out of the window, and approached the vent.
Thu-dump! Thu-dump!
The man stopped before the vent and reached into his item storage.
Item storages were linked to spatial magic, connected to them by the id on a Scythe's neck.
When the individual used the feature on their communications interface, it opened a warp gate linked to a real storage container.
The person could pull out anything that could fit, and instantly materialize items [slotted] for quick drawing.
Thu-dump! Thu-dump! Thu-dump! Thu-dump!
Ryker watched the man's arm disappear through the warp gate with superhuman slow motion, prepared to act.
The arm returned with two screws and an identical screwdriver from the warp gate.
Ryker watched in shock as the man casually screwed the vent wall back in and then covered the area with a cloaking item that tinted the air.
The event only took a few seconds, and the man never even looked at Ryker.
It was strictly professional.
The teen summoned all of the power he had to control his desire to laugh. It was a painful suppression that lasted for nineteen hours while Scythes and personnel walked in an out of the room.
Whatever the man did to the vent, it wasn't natural. No one looked at the area again, making him suspect it was a type of cloaking magic.
So he observed people coming and going with a grin, and casually watched a feed of his beaten and broken body double, who used illusion magic, interacting with Scythes with a real broken jaw.
——
"I broke my arm to get admitted to the private hospital my target was visiting, and reduce suspicion I was the killer.
I broke my jaw to prevent needing to explain my situation to the hospital and to prevent my body double from speaking to the Scythe Corps investigators.
Both worked spectacularly, proving my newfound mindsets have beautiful virtues in all of the wrong places.
My insanity doesn't make me irrational. It just makes the ironies in life a lot more amusing."
——
At 11 pm on the second day, he got a notification.
Ding!
—
Congratulations, Revenger!
You have completed the requirements for the Revenge Game: Assassinate the Target!
Rewards:
1. System will alter live Scythe feed and communications coverage, allowing you to act and level up without detection 24/7 while wearing the mask.
2. Continued ability to alter your stats to hide your power.
3. Access to the Revenge Games gifting system.
4. (1) resource request.
5. (1) health and mana recovery potion.
Note: After your Qualification Exam, the patrons had to see just how deep your insanity went. You didn't prove them wrong.
That was the best game we've seen in years! You've been awarded 500 RP, and you'll soon understand the power of the Amusement Society gifting system.
—
When Ryker shut the dialogue box, his system sent a flurry of notifications.
Ding!
—
The user has leveled up!
The user has leveled up!
The user has leveled up!
…
SKALBEAR has gifted the Revenger!
Manic_Moon has gifted the Revenger!
Fallen_Angel21 has gifted the Revenger!
…
—
"You're not the only one that can work the gifting system anymore, eh, Vincey?" He whispered while holding his stomach, suppressing a painful desire to laugh.
Despite being able to leave, he stayed inside the vent. He was starving, but he endured it so that his double couldn't take a healing potion.
Ryker didn't enjoy hurting the man, he just found amusement in the situation's absurdity.
The minute he arrived, the man would instantly recover from the pain like it was a bad dream.
Like Ryker, he broke his jaw because he knew it would be healed without consequences.
And now the teen simulated a real broken jaw simply by staying put. It was bizarre.
Everything about it was surreal, from the magic to the mind-bending resources he got from the system and organization.
Nothing about it was natural, and it delighted him.
The action wasn't personal. Ryker would have found the same enjoyment if the man were a plant or something non-living.
That was what was terrifying.
On 11 PM the third day, Ryker whispered that he wanted out from curiosity alone. Like magic, a man showed up and unscrewed the vent before disappearing.
Ryker's desire to laugh grew painful, but he suppressed it until he stripped off the body suit, put on his new clothing, and walked back to his house at 11:30 pm.
While his clothes were new, his face and hair had blood all over them.
He didn't have to worry since killing Scythes was common, so he casually walked down the road with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.
That was what Keira London Snow saw during her stakeout before Ryker got in his room, took a shower, and laughed himself to sleep.
——
"As for the blood and the smile, I killed an A-rank Scythe with a butter knife and survived.
I assure you, dear sister, you would have been smiling too."