Chapter 42: Asura Reincarnation Art
"Sir. Sir, you have to go." She glanced up the street, toward where the bikes had vanished. "That was the Fening family. Chuzo Fening. The Fenings run half of this city."
"I know." Aidan smiled. He didn’t know, and he didn’t care.
"You don’t understand." Her grip tightened. "They own Windwell Guild. Thirty-first rank in the world. They do this regularily, they hurt people, and nothing happens to them. Nothing ever happens to them." Her voice cracked. "They never kill anyone. They’re careful about that. Broken bones heal, and the guild pays the hospital, and everyone goes home, and the city looks the other way."
An old man beside her nodded grimly. "Fening money. Fening lawyers. Fening guild." He looked at Aidan with something between gratitude and grief. "That was the bravest thing I’ve seen in ten years, son. Now run. Please."
Aidan looked around at all those faces.
At people who had just cheered for the first time in years and were already terrified of what it would cost them.
’They do this regularily?’ he thought. ’And everybody knows, and nobody can touch them.’
The heat at the base of his skull woke back up. Not much. Just enough.
"Thanks for the warning," Aidan said pleasantly. "Really. But I’ve got two more people to talk to tonight before I leave, haha."
He turned to the old man, and to the vendor, and gave them each his full attention.
"Hey, there, folks. What’s your name?"
[Daily Quest: Speak with ten strangers. Progress: 10/10.]
[Daily Quest complete.]
...
Three kilometers away, six young men slammed down onto the roof of a parking structure.
They landed hard, but they landed on their feet. Mana flared around each of them at the last second, and the concrete cracked instead of their legs.
Chuzo Fening stood up slowly.
His hair was ruined. His coat was ruined. There was a scrape on his cheekbone, and he touched it with one finger and stared at the blood like it was a foreign object.
"Young Master." One of his friends was shaking. "Young Master, are you..."
"Who was it?"
The friend swallowed. "I didn’t see, the wind came from everywhere, I couldn’t..."
"Who." Chuzo’s voice never rose. That was the frightening part. "Was. It."
He pulled a slim crystal from his coat and pressed it to his ear.
"Get me the street cameras," he said. "All of them. Main Street, the last ten minutes. I want them found as soon as possible."
A pause.
"I don’t care what it costs. Use the guild’s array. Use the family’s." His scraped cheek twitched. "And find the woman with him. Grey hair. She was standing right next to him, and she wasn’t afraid. Nobody is afraid."
He lowered the crystal and looked out over the glittering lights of City M, his city, and the humiliation in his chest curdled into something with a face.
Somewhere down there, a nobody in a plain coat had put him in the sky in front of a hundred people.
A cruel smile spread across Chuzo Fening’s mouth.
"I’ll show him the true Young Master Chuzo Fening," he said softly.
He raised the crystal again.
"And wake up Ferrus. Tell him I have work." A pause, and the smile widened. "Tell him to bring both of them back alive. I want to do the rest myself."
Behind him, his friends went very still.
Because Ferrus Halloway was the Fening family’s private blade.
And Ferrus Halloway was an Epic-rank powerhouse with assassination capabilities.
Aidan finished his quest and went to a quiet night park with colorful lights and smooth cobblestone pathways.
"It’s beautiful," Solenne muttered.
Aidan was looking at his reward.
The Mystery Box.
He opened it inside his inventory.
[Congratulations. You have acquired a Spirit Manual—Asura Reincarnation Art]
’What the...Asura Reincarnation Art?’ Aidan was surprised.
He opened it to see its contents.
[Spirit is Boundless. Life and Death are illusions. As long as the soul exists, the reality that belongs to you never ceases.]
"Let’s sit here for a bit." Aidan sat down at the bench and closed his eyes.
"There he goes." Tom landed on Solenne’s lap. "Girl, I need a massage. Do it, and I’ll give you a gift."
"A gift?" Solenne blinked and started rubbing the furry cat.
"A gift. I’ll give you a Flashport sigil. A skill that can instantly allow you to teleport to a place you have marked beforehand. Bear in mind that the further the location, the higher the cost of Mana."
Meanwhile, Aidan was reading the Asura Reincarnation Manual.
It was a crazy manual.
It taught one how to take control over another person’s soul, kill its awareness and conciousness, and make it an empty husk that only keeps its appearance. This way, one could split a tiny part of their soul and put it inside that husk, nurturing it as well as taking over the person’s body and living their life.
’Even stuff like this is possible? That’s insane...’ Aidan was speechless.
[It’s nothing impressive. There are myriad powers and paths in the Nine Realms Tree. Having this manual doesn’t make you invincible. If your soul is destroyed, it’s game over.]
’True, but I like this manual. It might come in handy.’ Aidan’s eyes glinted. ’The Cloud Whirl Galactic Alliance...it is far more massive than Earth, and surely there are Transcendent Players there. Having an established identity there should help me survive and hunt better.’
Aidan had a desire to take over the body of someone with influence in the Cloud Whirl Galactic Alliance.
’I suppose I’ll do it when the chance presents itself, like now.’
Aidan opened his eyes.
"You done, Boss?" Tom glanced at him. "Right on time."
Standing up, Aidan cracked his neck. "Come out. You’re not hiding yourself from these eyes."
A man emerged from the shadow of a tree several meters away from the bench, face covered, and body armored.
"Epic rank with such bloodlust." Aidan narrowed his eyes. "It looks like you love to kill people."
The assassin chuckled, his voice sharp and annoying. "I do indeed, but lucky for you, Young Master Chuzo wants both of you alive."
"Let’s go then." Aidan smiled.
"Huh?"
"I am saying, let’s go. Bring us to him. I’ll at least have to apologize to him first, right? Then he can decide what to do with us."
The assassin was confused, and he couldn’t help but feel that Aidan’s smile looked very, very wrong.
"We going?" Solenne blinked.
"Of course. I’m sure he’ll be reasonable." Aidan’s smile widened as he turned back to the assassin. "Right?"
"Urgh...sure. Very reasonable." The assassin nodded. "Then, get in this car."
A car came out of his storage ring.
Vroom Vroom!
’Time to vent some more.’
[Good choice. Even 0.1% venting is better than nothing.]
