[THREE MONTHS LATER]
The Shadow Guild set up a huge wake for Rodrick, one week after Evellyn announced his passing.
And since a guild couldn't survive without its leader, they held an election to choose a new leader.
No one in the guild knew of what truly happened that caused Rodrick's death, but even though, Kurt never showed up in the guild's headquarters again.
Weeks passed, school break had come to an end, and the teenagers went back to their classes.
But despite Evellyn's most desperate attempts, she didn't find Kurt anywhere near school.
Because after everything that happened to him, he decided to drop school, and even though he was still a member of the guild, he still didn't want its members to see his face.
So he resorted to one person who had already been in his life once, and as life would have it, was already making his way up to the top in the city's underground circle.
Nikolai was running his eyes through the pages of a very old book, with a very impatient customer in front of him.
"That's going to be three hundred credits, my friend." Nikolai smiled.
"Just three hundred?" The middle-aged man's eyes went wide, and he started gesturing in anxiety. "Do you know how I struggled to put my hands in this edition of 'Meditations' from Marcus Aurelius himself?"
Nikolai studied the man carefully.
He had white hair, despite his age, and looked too anxious to be telling the truth, and with the knowledge Nikolai had in philosophy, he could easily understand why.
"Not enough to bring me an original copy. It was transcribed and transliterated by the author, meaning that most of Marcus Aurelius' words here are adapted to nowadays' understanding. So, three hundred credits or nothing."
The man rolled his eyes, and he showed a firearm, previously tucked in his pants.
"That'll be everything you have, then." He grinned.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Nikolai's face showed only boredom. "Kurt, how about showing this gentleman some manners?"
The man looked around, a bit startled.
"Come on, man, there's no one here besides the both of us, stop bluffing and give me everything!"
Suddenly, then, he felt the cold touch of metal on his neck.
"You heard Nikolai." Kurt's voice sounded behind the middle-aged man. "How about some manners? That, or I can't guarantee your safety anymore."
Nikolai smiled.
"That'll be three hundred credits, 'sir'. What do you think about the offer?"
The man smiled, nervously, and answered, putting his gun at the table.
"I-I'll take it. Th-thank-thank you."
Kurt moved aside after the man received the money and walked away, almost running.
"You're getting quite good at it, my friend." Nikolai smiled at him, as Kurt unveiled himself from [SHADOW WALK]. "I almost believed that I was alone in the room with the man."
"Good." Kurt nodded to his friend. "Was the book really just a copy of the original?"
"No." Nikolai grinned. "But it's always good to put some pressure into the clients, or else, I would go bankrupt even before putting it to the real business."
Kurt smiled faintly.
'Nikolai will always be Nikolai... But that's probably why he's going up so rapidly here anyways.'
"You seem a bit troubled, my friend. Why don't you go upstairs and get some rest? I don't think we'll have any customers for the next few hours, but if anything happens, I'll let you know."
"Thanks." And Kurt walked towards the stairs leading to the abandoned building's penthouse.
It had been three weeks since he reached out to Nikolai, and moved to that old, abandoned building. And it brought so many memories.
"I guess some things can't really be changed."
It was the same old building where Nikolai had consolidated the underground Black market headquarters in Kurt's previous life, and he didn't feel very comfortable with living in there again.
But after what happened at the association, he was glad to at least have a place to call home.
Kurt sat up on his bed and opened his stats window.
He scrolled through the information, and stopped at what he wanted to check.
[INVENTORY
***
CONSUMABLES
Full recovery x1
Hidden Nest Key A-rank – Blake's library]
[SKILLS
Steal LVL 10
Prying eyes LVL 10
Shadow walk LVL 10
Master of All Poisons LVL??
****** LVL**
****** LVL**
****** LVL**
****** LVL**]
"Shit! They really sealed some of my skills... But at least they weren't able to seal my innate ones."
He laid down and started at the ceiling, remembering what happened, and thinking of how long he would take to pay the monitoring division back for what they did to him.
***
"You look pretty weak, for someone who took down not just one member of our division, but also leaders of the two most prestigious guilds in the country. Now... What are we going to do with you..." Chief Leblanc grinned at Kurt.
But Kurt just kept staring through the leader of the monitoring division, as if the man was nothing but a glass window.
Leblanc glared at Kurt, and his hand flashed towards Kurt's face, and his head went sideways, blood spilling from his nose.
"It doesn't have to be like this, you know? Say something, anything. Just tell us you're sorry or what. We'll be good to you, to some extent."
Kurt's eyes finally focused on Leblanc, and he said.
"I already killed Octavius, and Rodrick's dead because of me,so there's really nothing you can do to hurt me anymore."
Leblanc sighed.
"It seems like you weren't listening to me back at what was left of the mansion... Boy, oh boy... You did kill our leader, but it doesn't mean you put an end to the New Dawn." Kurt's eyes twitched ever so slightly, causing Leblanc to smirk.
"Huh, a reaction, finally... Yes, that's what I told you. But since you 'also' killed the leader of the Shadow Guild, I'll cut you some slack and let you go with no more than a warning notice."
"You're kidding me, right?" Kurt vaguely snorted.
"Of course I am." Leblanc's grin became even larger. "We'll beat you half to death, like Quintus did back then. But this time, we'll do it 'with the intention' of hurting you." He gave it a brief pause, and after realizing that Kurt wasn't going to give any more reactions, he went on. "Oh man, you're so boring! You know how hard it is to keep up appearances? Whatever! We'll beat you, break you, and then... We'll seal your abilities. And with that, you won't have anything as a wielder, anymore!"
Leblanc broke out in a maniacal laughter, but Kurt just stared at him, silent.
Seven days.
They broke bones, punched, cut. The monitoring division had all kinds of torturing techniques for wielders, and after one week, when Kurt was almost nothing but a dead man, they finally used it.
A device that looked like a glass cage, kept at the underground of the monitoring division.
They placed Kurt inside, and then an unknown man, thin, old with grizzly hair and wrinkles all over his skin, placed his hands over a red stone that looked very much like the crystal he stole from Octavius.
And after the old man placed his hands over the stone, Kurt only felt pain, until he was left with nothing but darkness.