Roars and squeals echoed throughout the air like the sound of a kitten mashing a piano. It was enough to drive a man crazy with how unique, yet torturous, their cries were.
Simon's first thought was to slowly wait for the Beasts to tire out before making his escape. But the more he analyzed their vigorous movements, it was not clear when that would happen — Simon couldn't tell if he would even have the energy for that many Beasts.
If he clung to the thought of trying to escape now, all of them would rush towards him without another thought. This was because they all viewed him as superior; whoever managed to kill him would be found as the rightful king.
(It would be smarter to kill a few before trying to make my escape. Furthermore, to increase my chances of escape, I need at least three people to back me up.)
With that, Simon hid in the nearest building, quickly pulling out his phone. With a few taps, he had switched to the bureau's network.
This network was designed to use the waves of the Hollow World to make connections not only across dimensions but also into the Human World.
Simon was starved for time; every moment that he didn't act was a moment wasted — a second that could make the life leave his body!
He dialed the first number he saw, eagerly waiting for the person to connect.
It didn't take long for them to answer, though.
"Yo."
"Hello? It's Simon. I need assistance at the south side of section eight." Simon whispered.
"Haha. You already fucked up your first job? No, that's not like you, Onyx Ace. You need help cleaning?"
"Not the time, Leo!"
Simon was a little familiar with Leo Han, after all, he was a year younger than him. They were both a part of the same recruitment class. The history between them is ugly and full of rivalry, mainly on Leo's side.
Although Simon was Leo's main interest at that time, Simon paid attention to other detectives. This was because Leo was only placed fifth among the Trainees.
"Alright, alright. Care to enlighten me with what could have placed the great Onyx Ace into stress?"
Simon recalled everything that he had done so far, not missing a detail. That had all led him to talk about the reason he had called Leo in the first place, and the fact that there were already Beasts surrounding the building.
"Shit. I'll contact the rest of the squad, just try not to engage with anything for as long as you can."
Roarrrrr!
"It's too late for that!"
Simon glared out the window and saw a pride of lions using all of their strength to climb the side of the building.
Simon hung up the phone, jumping onto the balcony of the building on his right.
He had to calm himself, had to analyze properly, and prepare himself.
He pulled out his daggers, a bit disgusted by them. This was because they were weak compared to what he was used to. The entity that had contracted the weapon could only make the user twice as fast.
This was nothing to all of the contracts he was used to; not a single ability or increase in strength was tied to this one.
He looked out the window again. There were a total of five lions, surprisingly all in adulthood.
(Just my luck...)
However bad this was, only one of them was not injured. Most of them had scars, and one of them even lost a leg.
He leapt down onto the streets and snuck past the other lions, covering his tracks by going into random alleys and stores to confuse them. It was hard not to make noise, even if the flooding blood only reached his ankles.
Eventually, he had thrown their scent as they circled the four buildings around him.
The amputee lion growled, trailing behind the rest of the group. Simon grabbed this chance by the neck, pouncing at the lion.
He pulled back the lion's mane, digging one of the daggers into its chest and slicing. The lion roared.
By the time the rest of the pride had rushed towards him, Simon was already back to lurking in the shadows.
He took a deep breath as he entered an alley. He had to stay calm, alert, and most of all, be precise.
Simon fell back to the opposite side of the lion's rushing and the weakest one, slashing at its flesh before lurking in the shadows once more.
The lion was heavily injured, but it could still run. It chased Simon into that shadow, but still it lost him.
He was a few breaths away from the lion; he took a sharp right and patiently waited for its next step.
*Thm-drag.*
Simon stabbed the lion directly in the eye before plunging the second dagger into its throat and twisting.
He stood there for a while, catching his breath before taking the daggers out.
Simon soon froze in place, realizing that he had been in one spot for far too long, trying to swiftly back away.
However, it was too late; the three lions surrounded him, each of them foaming from the mouth.
Simon readied himself, holding his daggers up on either side of him as they danced in beautiful circles around him.
"Probability of me not being injured."
This was Simon's signature: the ability to predict the probability of anything that may happen, and manipulate it to his will.
His right eye flickered white, a dice appearing in front of him.
Most of the dice sides had two circles and one half circle. This meant that he only had a 25% chance of getting out of this uninjured.
He exhaled deeply, onyx particles surrounding the dice as it absorbed it. This was Simon forcing the probability up with his Life Energy, and the chances slowly rose to 75%
The lions thrusted themselves towards Simon at full force; at the same time, the dice in his head began to roll.
If the dice landed on 25%, there was a high chance he would die here; if not, he would win without a scratch.
He swiftly dodged one of their claws before throwing his dagger into the next's nose.
Just as he did that, the dice successfully landed on 75%.
He jumped up in the air, landing on a lion's back and forcing it to gnaw on his own kind.
Shk! Shk! Shk! Krk!
He stabbed into the opposite of the one his feet had touched.
Until it's head came clean off.
With that, he stabbed deeper into the one he was riding, until it finally fell to the ground.
The last didn't even attempt to move closer. It growled, but sounded more like a whimper for help.
Huh... Mhhrrrrrrr...
The last lion just happened to be the one who was in the greatest condition, but even still, it thought it was at a disadvantage against Simon.
The scarlet rain began to fall once more, the halos regaining their white color.
Additionally, the lions he had killed began to turn into maggots, shimmying their way towards the bigger crowds.
Simon was internally disgusted, but he sat there in the rain to intimidate the lion.
He raised a dagger.
With that, the lion backed off, and relief washed over Simon.
To tell the truth, his body was exhausted after running so much. He could finally use this time to catch his breath. He watched the lion desperately run and crawl away until a golden dragon suddenly came crashing down on it.
The dragon soon disappeared, and a man emerged from it.
He was around Simon's age with his jet-black hairstyle in a bun with two bangs hanging off on each side, wearing a black and gold Yankees baseball cap. He wore a T-shirt with graffiti symbols on it and a dragon wrapped around the sleeve of his jacket all the way to the chest area. Along with this, his sneakers had gold laces and were also black.
It was Leo.
He glanced down at the lion with a grimace, yet was fascinated by its size.
"Pride is an eyesore — people who are filled with pride are often just trying to hide their weaknesses. Like, look at this lion, its muscle mass is not even compared to that of adolescents." Leo said before kicking the already dead lion.
"...Yeah, where'd you hear that from? I know you didn't make it up on the spot, asshole." Simon muttered between heavy breaths.
"Fuck you... I heard it from Haruto. I should've let you die."
Simon shook his head before walking towards Leo and cautiously scanning the area around them.
"We need to get away from here; they'll smell the blood sooner or later."
"Yeah, yeah, stole the words out of my mouth."
"Do you ever say anything other than what isn't the truth?"
"Okay, I was being serious that time."
With that, they returned to a nearby supermarket, although everything in it was rotten. The smell didn't bother them much; in their line of work, this was the best thing their noses would capture for a while.
"How long until the rest come?"
"No clue, the only one that responded was Haruto, but I don't think he's gonna be that useful here."