Chapter 36: Chapter 35 - Evil Point Manipulation
As Kaito wanders through the busy streets of the White District in search of the mysterious crack marked on his map, he pays no attention to anything that is happening around him, nor to the people staring at him, nor to their comments about him appearing to be lost.
And when he finally gets close to the place where the cracks appear on his map, he looks across the street and sees nothing but a busy commercial avenue.
'I should be right next to it… But, there's nothing really different…''
There are a few girls laughing and chatting, a man in a suit with bags up to his shoulders as he closely follows a fat man, and a few more luxurious cars crossing the avenue. In other words, it looks like any time in the White District on a weekday.
Kaito looks again at the map in his hands to check if it is in the right place and above the crack appear the pair of numbers one and zero. Kaito is confused and frowns. Then the ten turns into a nine and then into an eight.
'A countdown!' Kaito immediately concludes. 'But what for?' he wonders and begins to look around.
Finally, as the count reaches zero, Kaito raises his eyes urgently and as he looks towards the building across the street, where the crack should be, he sees a burst of energy that lights up everything, painting the landscape with an incandescent flash. A deafening boom erupts in the sky, shaking the ground beneath Kaito's feet and the entire district he is in. A shockwave rushes through the air, creating a blindfold that throws Kaito's hair back and speeds up the novice Duelist's heart. Kaito puts up his arm to shield his eyes, which are fixed on the source of this chaotic whirlwind, from all the dust and smoke flying toward him.
Panic spreads quickly throughout the area, like an epidemic through the crowd, which scatters frantically in all directions, seeking safety and shelter inside the stores or simply running as far away as they can.
The alarms of parked cars start beeping, because not only have they been shaken by the gale, but the impact wave has shattered the windows of some of them, as well as some shop windows.
At the top of the building where the crack should have been, a sinister opening opens before Kaito's eyes. Part of the building's facade has ceased to exist thanks to the explosion, and where it was approximately the sixth floor there is a large red portal, whose edges are no longer just part of a vortex, like the first portal he saw, but have literally begun to tear reality apart, like cracks. The cracks seem to widen progressively, and in front of the portal at the top of the building appear creatures that defy human logic.
"Specters?" Kaito quickly distinguishes which Transcendents are in question.
Specters are monsters of almost humanoid form. They have two arms and two legs, only his limbs are disproportionately larger compared to their torso. Their skin is also dark gray, and from the inside of their body they emit a bluish light, which fills their mouths and eyes. Basically, they are very tall, thin and gray humans, but they walk on four limbs, like animals.
Contrary to everything and even his body, for his hands are shaking, Kaito smiles at this situation. "Like it or not, that's good news for me."
The Spectres are basic enemies and not very powerful, which makes Kaito excited. However, they can be frighteningly annoying in large numbers.
'Probably the portal appeared in some not-so-used storage room inside the building and therefore could not be noticed until it finally broke...'
However, unlike what Kaito is used to because of Mortal Tower, not everyone can protect themselves from the Specters and he also doesn't have all the time in the world to analyze what his next steps will be. While he is still thinking, several Specters start jumping around the building and onto the commercial avenue, which has caused widespread panic to grow.
In the distance, Kaito can already hear the sound of sirens among the many shouts of the crowd, which means that the guards will take a few minutes, but the security forces will arrive.
This is a fleeting moment of paralysis for Kaito, because he must decide whether to act and reveal that he is an Awakened One to everyone, or to run with the crowd. Kaito knows that it's not his duty to act like a hero, after all he won't gain anything from it, but it doesn't take him more than a second to make this decision, not because he desperately wants to save these people who are in danger, but because he is elated by the feeling of nostalgia for seeing simple Specters and is excited to test his strength on them.
Courage bursts into his chest like a powerful, indomitable force, propelling him to action. His spirit ignites, fueled by an unshakable conviction. With a fire burning inside him, Kaito charges forward, and with a swing of his legs, he hits a Spectre who is running after a fat man with a funny mustache.
The Ghost hit by Kaito flies several meters and hits a billboard that was running an advertisement about the latest generation of weblinks. The sign explodes into pieces, raining debris and sparks onto the street.
Stunned by the fight, the rich man, looks at Kaito with a mixture of gratitude and surprise on his face. "Boy... Thank you...!"
"Come along, old man. This place is going to turn into a fierce battlefield when the other Awakened Ones arrive." Kaito says, looking back over his shoulder.
The Spectres who were near the anxious crowd of civilians begins to pay their attention to the young Awakened One. Their eyes glow with the bluish light emanating from within them, and also with an insatiable desire for violence.
'I'm without a weapon, so I'll have to get creative.' Kaito thinks and then has an idea, 'Maybe this would be a good time to test that other skill.... Activate <Evil Point Manipulation>.'
As soon as Kaito thinks of the name of the skill, a system window appears before his eyes as he is surrounded by the Spectres.
[Evil Point Manipulation skill activated].
[You have 4 evil points.]
[You can create or copy a skill, but the number of points required to complete the action will depend on your natural affinity for the type of skill desired.]
"Let's try the obvious..." Kaito says aloud and thinks, 'I want to get the ability to manipulate matter!'
[To obtain the skill 'Ethereal Matter Manipulation' requires 1 billion evil points. You don't have the required amount of points].
'A billion?!!! Humph! why did I freak out, if I had the ability to alter matter it would be like a cheat and a billion points seems fair to me, but to get all that I would have to, I don't know, destroy a country or...' Kaito was thinking when he heard the growls of the Spectres again. 'Right, I have to focus. I already understand how this skill works. The more powerful the skill, the more points will be needed. If that's the case, then I just want to have claws without having to use <Life Drain>."
[To get the skill 'Poisonous Vampire Claws' requires 100 points of evilness. You don't have the required amount of points].
'It doesn't have to be poisonous!'
[To obtain the skill 'Simple Vampire Claws' requires 10 points of evilness. You don't have the required amount of points].
Kaito snaps his tongue at seeing the message and realizes that he will need to do something bad to get at least a few more points. At this moment he sees two scenes: a rich old woman is lying on the ground, trying to collect the pearls from her necklace even in the chaos, and a few meters away there is a rich young man crying because he has scraped his knee on the ground.
Kaito is then undecided about which two will have to be his victim. He prefers to choose the least bad, only he also prefers to do it all at once and get a lot of points, so the old one might be more 'rewarding'.
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