This location is not subjected to nightfall.
It rather imposes itself over.
As I gradually kept on traveling more deeply and farther from the BLACK LOTUS area, the weight of the atmosphere going along with me was thicker than ever before.
The life and death battles of the past lingered here like ghosts among the ruins. The Black Lotus had not yet claimed the ancient murdering grounds, thereby making the place a rightful so-called domain for demons or even worse.
I was crouching on a derelict billboard, my shadow spread out barely above me, and like an animal I was tasting the soil. I was already so close to becoming one with it. The sound of footsteps was coming from way down—calm, well matched.
Definitely, not monsters.
People.
Three groups.
Different movements.
Different purposes.
Gangs were circling.
Thus, ENMA-KAI had not pick up the pace soon enough.
I allowed my shadow to move ahead, passing through the ruins, sticking to the walls, and lying flat under the rubbish. Whatever it touched, it remembered. Whatever it remembered, it informed me.
Names came up—not pronounced dirty, but pointed out through system panels appearing momentarily over heads.
IRON VEIN.
GRAVE CHOIR.
A third group that hasn't been given a name yet—desperate, unformed, hungry.
Wolf pack after the territory.
A slight smile of disbelief curved my lips.
It was gonna be a nasty one.
---
I did not interact.
At least not at this moment.
Rather, I took them along with me.
Here a wrong step. There a flicker of shadow. Just enough for one group to perceive the other.
A rock thrown.
A murmur.
A deceit.
Along with the IRON VEIN, the clash of steel signified the GRAVE CHOIR scouts would be the next intruders mistook. Shrieks became louder.
Powers were expanded. Somebody let out a scream.
What an interesting scenario I had up on high as chaos unfolded the same way as a wound that was reopened.
That is nice.
Let them first draw each other's blood.
The system noised lightly in my head.
[CONFLICT ESCALATION DETECTED]
No prize.
No alert.
Only witnessing.
I pulled back before the first lifeless bodies dropped.
---
It was during the breaking of BLACK LOTUS territory that dawn, if such term can be used, was already filtering through the fissures in the roof a weak copy of light.
Dragon had been very much awake already.
Needless to say he was.
"You went very far," he commented though still not glancing.
"Not far enough."
He looked at me for a second. "Are they other gangs?"
"Yes."
"By how many?"
"More than one."
He took a deep breath. "Akino has to be informed."
"He will know," I said, "when it is of importance."
Dragon didn't protest. That was a sign of his understanding.
Or perhaps he was beginning to be afraid of me.
In either case, it was fine.
---
The system was not long in coming.
It never is.
[TERRITORIAL PRESSURE INCREASING]
WARNING: UNCLAIMED ZONES ATTRACT HOSTILE FORCES
BLACK LOTUS charmed.
Akino was in the middle, his hands were clasped behind him, and his face was an inscrutable mask. The wound on his side was freshly dressed—but it didn't hinder him at all.
"The enemies are testing our defenses," he said. "Indirectly. Not yet."
The glances changed.
The feeling of fear came to the fore.
"We do not have the force to fight several gangs at once and win" Rei stated softly.
"That is not necessary," replied Sasha, her fingers being gently caressed by flames. "We attack first."
Akino signaled with a hand. Dead silence came.
"We will grow," he told. "But in a slow and cautious manner. We will take the key spots. Control the movement. Make it too expensive for anyone to even think of being close to us."
Every eye was looking at Dragon.
Then—
At me.
Akino's eyes became hard. "Kuro! You have been there. You know them."
I moved ahead.
"They are not a united front," I said. "They are starved. Scared. And keeping an eye on us."
"What then?" Taro asked.
"They believe us to be weak," I went on. "Because we spared ENMA-KAI."
Sasha growled. "Then we must rectify that error."
I waved my hand in disagreement.
"No. It will only be worse."
The whole group was taken by surprise.
I looked at Akino. "We allow them to read us as uncertain. We entice them. One by one."
Dragon smiled ever so slightly.
"A funnel."
"A slaughterhouse," Sasha said, flashing her teeth.
Akino did not say anything for a long time.
Then he consented with a nod.
"Get ready," he commanded. "We will set out at dusk."
The system beeped once again.
[GANG OBJECTIVE UPDATED]
EXPANSION PHASE INITIATED
My shadow got longer and soon I could see that it was excited.
Then I felt it—the change with in me.
I was not just a reacting person.
I was the one deciding the game.
A knife doesn't bother about the person holding it.
Only the place of the cut matters.
And before long, the world will discover that BLACK LOTUS did not only stake a claim.
It devoured it.