Okada Philippines, Casino Hall.
It was late in the evening yet for the patrons of the casino, it was like the day had just arrived. Hundreds of people filled the slots, depositing money into the machine and hoping to win the jackpot. At the other side, there were tables for baccarat and poker with players mingling with one another as they played.
One individual, Felix, was watching a poker table from a distance. This was his first time being in a casino. He only has ideas of it from the movies and series that he had watched. To be in the same place felt different as there were people wasting a lot of money in just a span of minutes or seconds.
"Hi handsome," one of the women that passed by said to him.
Felix smiled and waved a hand back flirtingly. He must admit, he was handsome. Standing at six feet tall with a lean muscular body achieved through a gym, complemented by a face with sharp jawline. He was a head turner for girls.
But why was he here anyways?
The reason was that he loved exploring different places. He had a job at an engineering firm and today was his day off. He wanted to see for himself the place where you could get insta rich or insta broke.
And based from how people spends in this casino, it felt like he might not last here for a second.
"Time to just eat I guess," Felix said.
Just as he was about to reach the exit of the casino, he saw eight men dressed in black and a balaclava covering their heads. They unzipped the bags they were carrying and that's where his eyes widened.
An assault rifle was pulled free and brought up without hurry. Black metal. Long magazine. The man holding it checked the chamber with a practiced tug and let it snap forward.
Another zipper opened.
Then another.
Felix froze where he stood.
The first shot came before anyone screamed.
A sharp crack split the room. A man at the poker table dropped straight back, chair tipping as his head snapped sideways. Blood sprayed across the felt and splattered chips off the table. The dealer didn't even have time to stand.
Then the rest of the rifles opened up.
Short bursts. Controlled. The sound punched through the casino, echoing off marble and glass. Slot machines kept chiming for half a second longer before alarms drowned them out.
People ran.
Felix ran with them.
A woman beside him was hit mid-step. Her body folded and slammed into a machine, leaving a wet streak across the chrome. Someone tripped over her and fell. Feet crushed fingers. A scream cut off when a round caught the back of a man's skull and dropped him face-first onto the floor.
Felix shoved through bodies, heart slamming against his ribs. He smelled burned powder and something metallic. His shoes slipped. He didn't look down.
Glass exploded overhead as rifle fire tore through display cases. Shards rained down. A man tried to crawl under a baccarat table and took a burst through the legs. He screamed until another shot punched through his chest and silenced him.
Security guards rushed in from the side corridor. Two made it three steps. One spun as a round hit his neck, blood spraying against the wall. The other raised his pistol and fired twice before a burst lifted him off his feet.
Felix ducked behind a roulette table as bullets chewed through wood and padding. He crawled on elbows and knees, scraping skin, breath coming in short, useless gasps.
He reached a pillar and pressed himself flat against it. Three others huddled there—faces gray, mouths open but silent. A grenade bounced across the floor and stopped near a chair leg.
Felix lunged away.
The blast knocked him sideways. The pressure crushed his ears. The table beside him flipped and slammed down hard. When the ringing faded, one of the people near the pillar was gone—just pieces and blood soaking into carpet.
Felix staggered up and bolted toward a service corridor half-hidden by curtains. A man ahead of him took a round in the back and slid forward on his stomach, leaving a dark trail. Felix hurdled him and slammed into the door.
It gave.
He spilled into a narrow hallway packed with people. Emergency lights flickered. Someone was praying. Someone was vomiting.
Gunfire chased them down the corridor.
A man tried to push back against the flow and was trampled. A burst cut through the crowd and bodies dropped like sacks. Felix dove through a side door into a laundry room and shoved a cart against it.
Felix stayed low behind the cart, counting the gaps between shots. When the gunfire shifted farther down the corridor, he pushed up and cracked the door.
A man lay facedown in the hall, one leg bent wrong. Beyond him, two people crawled toward a junction, dragging a third by the arms. Felix stepped out and grabbed the third by the collar.
"Move," he said, voice thin.
They moved.
A burst chewed the wall at the far end. Plaster dust blew back down the hall. Felix shoved the pair into a side alcove and took a step after them when another line of fire cut across the floor, sparks skittering at ankle height. He dropped flat. Heat passed over his back. A round clipped the cart behind him and sent metal ringing.
"Stay down," he said, then crawled backward until his shoulders hit a doorframe marked WOMEN.
He kicked it open and rolled inside. Someone else fell in with him. He slammed the door and threw the latch, then shoved a trash bin under the handle. The lock clicked once and held.
The bathroom lights flickered. Mirrors ran the length of the wall. Stalls stood closed, one door hanging loose. Water dripped from a broken sink.
He wasn't alone.
A woman was sitting at the far wall, trembling with hands covering her mouth and eyes streaked with tears. She appeared to be Korean in her early twenties, wearing a tight-fitting shirt that highlighted her hourglass figure and short shorts that revealed her long slender legs.
Felix raised his palms. "I'm not with them."
"Are…are they heading here?" she asked in a broken English.
Looking back, he saw the armed men chasing them so there is a possibility that they might sweep this area.
"We have to hide," Felix simply said as she approached her. Then suddenly, a shot rang out that tore out the door.
Felix didn't wait for her answer.
He crossed the room in two steps, caught her wrist, and pulled. She stumbled once, then moved when he leaned his weight forward. Another burst hit outside, the sound close enough to rattle the mirrors.
"Stall," he said.
They slipped into the nearest one. He shoved the door closed and locked it. The metal shook as something struck the wall outside. Dust drifted down from the ceiling.
Felix crouched, listened, then looked up at her. "Up. On the seat."
She stared at him, confused.
"Now," he said.
She climbed, heels scraping porcelain, hands braced against the divider. Felix pressed in beneath her, boots flat, knees bent, back against the door. He reached up and steadied her ankle, then pulled his hand back and wiped it on his jeans.
"Don't move," he said. "Don't breathe loud."
Footsteps entered the bathroom.
A shot followed.
The sound was tight in the tiled room. Porcelain shattered. Something heavy hit the floor. Another stall opened.
The Korean woman trembled above him. Her breath hitched despite herself.
"They're… they're killing everyone," she whispered, voice thin. "We're going to die."
Felix lifted his head just enough to look up at her. He shook his head once.
"No," he said.
Another stall was gunned down.
So they are even fooling around huh? But there were only two of them in the bathroom so there'd be no casualties until the man got to their stall.
Should he do it now?
This was a secret that he had been hiding to everyone. But the situation calls for it.
They were still standing on the toilet seat and he could feel her D-cup breast pressing against his chest. He looked down and saw the bare skin from it. He felt something was rising.
"Do you want to live?" Felix simply asked.
The girl nodded simply.
"Then I apologized as I have something I need to do with you," Felix said before kissing her on the lips and then his right hand reaching for her groin.
"Wha—" the girl was surprised and pushed him, causing him to fall.
The impact made a loud noise and she realized that she just revealed their position. The armed man heard it and was rushing towards their stall.
Then, the girl noticed his eyes gleamed golden radiance.
The gunman stopped in front of their stall and just as he was about to unleash a full magazine on their stall, Felix acted quick.
He simply pushed the stall
The stall door tore loose and went flying down the row, a slab of bent metal smashing into the gunman mid-step. The impact folded the man backward and slammed him into the sinks.
Rifle fire answered on instinct.
Rounds punched into Felix's chest and dropped to the floor like spent coins. They clinked against tile and skittered into the drains.
The gunman froze, finger still squeezing the trigger.
Felix took one step forward.
He grabbed the rifle from the handguard and twisted it. The weapon bent, metal screaming, then snapped at the receiver.
Then he grabbed him by his chest rig and hoisted him like he weighed 500 grams.
He threw him forcefully to the side and the body of the gunman splattered upon impact. It was a gruesome sight but the girl saw it all from her stall.
Felix looked back and the golden glow from his eyes faded, signalling the end of his supernatural strength.