It was 12:00, the time when sinners came out to play.
Kyle was sitting at the top of an enormous clock tower that overlooked the city, his legs dangling from a thousand-foot drop.
The wind was just the right temperature, a gentle chill that stung his skin each time it blew past, making the evening feel even more exciting.
As he sat there, his crimson eyes roaming from one flickering light to the next, his senses heightened to the highest degree, Kyle had a thought.
After defeating the Nomu and copying its quirks, he had been rather docile, allowing the knowledge of his existence to plague both the heroes and villains.
Right now, they were probably hatching up one plan or another to get him.
He scoffed.
It was a futile attempt…
Now that he had waited long enough, it was about time he went back to his original goals, ridding the city of its poisonous ideologies.
In order to take a city, one needed three things.
The first was money. People often said money made the world go round, and some would go as far as saying money answered everything.
They were right.
With money, there was a certain amount of authority you could command, especially when in the right hands.
With money, you could buy loyalty, and with just the right amount… you could even tempt a devil or two.
His café was not doing badly in sales, but the cash inflow was barely enough to make an impact.
Kyle would have to expand soon as well as look into other ventures, maybe use his knowledge of the future to earn big.
He breathed out a sigh, staring at a car too far for any normal human to see.
He watched as the car evaded the police, doing 150 on a 50 highway. The police were just too slow to catch him, and so a hero had to intervene.
"Pathetic, just like the state of this world."
The next thing you needed to conquer a city was power.
Power could be classified into two types: power as in strength, and power as in authority.
Kyle had the first part, but he was too poorly connected to influence anything as he currently was.
'I have to build my connections.'
If he truly wanted to oppose both heroes and villains, then he could not do it merely with brute force; it would only make him look like a terrorist.
But with the right people on his side… the right whispers would be spread, rumors of who he was and what he stood for would grow to the point they could no longer be contained.
And finally, perhaps the most important of them all, was an army, the purpose of which was pretty self-explanatory.
Now that he could create vampires, Kyle's interest in grooming his personal army was growing by the day, and he already had the perfect candidate for his first sire.
'Himiko.'
It had been two weeks since their last meeting. Kyle had expected to have heard from her by now, yet he had not heard a peep.
He considered visiting her a few times but decided against it. He had already sown the seeds in her; now it was up to her to make a choice.
Kyle needed her curiosity to swell, and for that curiosity to grow into interest. If she was not interested in him or what he had to offer, then convincing her to join him would be next to impossible.
He firmly believed that Himiko could be saved from her fate, but she had to let him help her—it could not be forced.
But that was not the only reason why he had not visited her…
Kyle pouted and folded his arms across his chest.
"How can she leave me hanging like that? And here I was thinking we had some sort of connection."
As strange as it was, he was a little offended…
A screen suddenly appeared in front of him, and Kyle read through the details.
Ding!
『New Quest!』
[Quest details: Create your first sire]
↺ Duration: 1 week
✪ Rewards: 20 general stat points, 700 EXP
✘ Failure: Torment
He paused at the last part and perked a brow. "What does it mean by torment?"
Daisy immediately popped her head out from within his shirt and read through the details.
"Oh, that means excruciating pain…"
Kyle stared at her blankly. "Why is that even… you know what, never mind."
He could focus on his quest later; right now, there was a more pressing need he had to attend to.
[Hunger Level: High]
He licked his lips and stood up, slowly walking at the edge of the building but never losing his balance.
From where he stood, Kyle could see as far as the people walking on the streets in perfect detail.
If he concentrated well enough, he could even pick up a few conversations, although the sounds would be distorted.
"Who will be my next prey?"
He thought out loud, then he paused, and a bright smile appeared on his face.
"There—"
It was the car from earlier…
Whoosh!
His feet left the building as he shot forward, gliding through the air like a rocket.
•••
There were countless eyes gleaming in the darkness, each one staring at Himiko with malice burning in their pupils.
And yet, none of them dared approach her.
She was wearing a sailor's uniform, black tights, and a flared skirt, but the reason no one dared approach was the mask she had on her face.
Large teeth with elongated canines, fashioned into a large mask that covered the entire lower portion of her face.
She placed her hand into her pocket and picked out a card. On the card was scribbled a certain address, the location she had gotten from the mysterious man that had visited her.
The temporary base of the League of Villains.
After getting shot in the arm, she had to pay nearly all her savings to an underground doctor that treated people—no questions asked.
Thanks to the doctor's quirk, she had made a full recovery in that time, and so she came looking for clues.
Himiko needed to know why she was attacked, and who would possibly want her dead.
'So that I can kill them myself...'
There was only one place she could get her answers: the League of Villains.
She pushed the door open and stepped into the dark room, her dagger held tightly in her hands.
For a few minutes, she walked in the dark, her only sense of direction being the wall by her sides, and then after a short while, she arrived at a well-lit room.
There were several chairs filling the space, each of them arranged in a descending pattern to allow the next person in front of them to have a good view of the stage.
And on that stage was a large white screen that spanned several meters.
"An abandoned cinema?" Himiko said to herself.
"Don't worry, it is only temporary, a means to an end—"
Himiko immediately spun and slashed, her dagger slicing through the air to meet the man, but her hand sunk into what looked like a living shadow—
Only to reappear right in front of her face, her own hand and dagger inches away from her eyes.
'What the—kind of quirk is this?'
"Calm yourself, we aren't here to fight you," the shadow said, his yellow eyes narrowing slightly.
Himiko's hand disappeared and appeared back in place.
She rotated the hand to make sure it was still functioning properly, her eyes wide in amusement.
Himiko smiled. "That is a pretty neat trick. Can you do it for my head? I want to see my body from afar—"
The shadow cleared his throat and shifted back a little. "Well, if you really want to—"
"Is this what the League is about? If I knew this was a daycare, I would have brought some sweets."
They both turned to the source of the voice, a man in dark clothing with burn marks marring every single part of his body.
Blue flames were flickering in his eyes as he watched them, the temperature of the room rising by a few degrees.
..
..
..
A/N
A reader called my attention to a mistake I've been making with Himiko's name (it is Himiko not Himeko) if you come across this mistake, please point it out and I'll try to fix it.