The Leader's Greed

In one of the abandoned houses close to the forbidden area. A group of men was paddling one of their members using a huge pair of wood.

"How could you let that man steal the wallet!" a man spat in anger and lifted the wood to hit the man in his thighs.

"We got lucky, but that luck ended after a few minutes," a firm voice spoke. He was the group leader, sitting on one of the chairs and enjoying the view of his member getting beat up.

"Please, I'm sorry. It was too fast that I wasn't able to — "

The man couldn't finish his sentence when he was pounded again. He screamed in pain, but no one was there to help him.

"Then you must learn your lesson today," the leader stated coldly. He went out of the house to smoke a cigar and let his other men take care of the beating.

The leader lightened up his match when he heard a small laugh behind him. He turned around but saw no one but darkness. He shook his head and continued smoking while looking at the bright full moon.

"Be careful. Cigarettes can kill you."

The leader turned around and saw a tiny boy standing one meter away. "Who are you?"

"I got lost. Can you help me find my way home?" Yami spoke with an innocent smile. He took a step forward until he was closer to the man.

The man smirked and blew a cloud of smoke into the air. "If you pay me, I will take you home, little boy."

"Really? I appreciate that. How much money do you need?" Yami stated and took out his paper money. He waved it in front of the greedy man's eyes. "May I know your name?"

"Sam, are those real?" Sam squinted his eyes. He was suspicious if the money was real or fake, especially that it was in a boy's hand.

Yami chuckled, pulled one piece of paper money, and handed it to Sam. "You can check it yourself. After all, you know about money more than I do."

Sam snatched the paper money and smelled it. The scent engulfed his lungs, and his mind was instantly swallowed by desire. He nodded and folded the money before putting it in his pocket.

"Where's your house, kid?" Sam asked. He threw his cigarette and lighted a new one.

Yami didn't say a word and pointed at the back.

Sam looked at where Yami was pointing. It was the darkest part of the area since no lights were operating, but Sam paid no mind and agreed to take Yami there since he had his own goal to achieve, which was to steal all the money from Yami.

Yami started walking first, and Sam followed behind him. The money was still in his hand to feed Sam's greed.

As they entered the darkness, Yami used 'Shadow Shift' to teleport behind Sam and prepared himself to execute his plan.

Sam didn't realize that he was alone. He continued walking forward until he needed to light another cigarette. The glow on the match made him know that Yami was gone.

"Little boy?" Sam called out. He stood on his spot while looking around, but all he could see was darkness. Sam rubbed his eyes and waited for his vision to adapt to the night.

Since his eyes were exposed to the match light. It would take a long time for his sight to fully adjust.

Sam shrugged and turned to leave, but his mind recalled the amount of money Yami had in his hand. He wanted those; even if he needed to venture into the darkness alone, he would do it.

In Sam's mind, Yami was just a harmless boy that he could manipulate.

Yami watched as Sam decided to move forward. He shook his head in amusement at how greedy a man could be at the sight and smell of money.

'Let's see how these stringers work,' Yami thought, activating the skill. A pair of arm blades appeared on both of his arms.

The arm blades were curved from the base of Yami's knuckles up to his elbow. Both ends were sharp and pointy that could cut anything in the path.

Yami's fingers also shifted into an elongated and sharp set of claws.

"Woah," Yami exclaimed. He couldn't believe his body would morphed along with the skill's weapon. Yami moved his arms to test it out, and the purple color of the metal glistened in the moonlight. "It's beautiful."

The sight of his weapon made Yami smile. "It's a pity. Your beauty will be smeared by someone's blood."

Yami looked back at Sam. He never wanted to harm any humans in the world he entered, but he couldn't help it. As a previous spy, he had no problems killing anyone in his line of work.

"If I let you live, you and your gang will bring harm to anyone living in this area," Yami muttered. He prepared his body to use the skills he had gotten from the system. "That's why you need to be eliminated."

[SHADOW SHIFT IS ACTIVATING.]

Yami teleported behind Sam, used the 'Stinger of Death,' and slashed his back. He immediately teleported back into the darkness before Sam could see him.

[STINGER: 1]

A message appeared on the right side of Yami's vision. Indicating the number of stingers he had gained.

"Ah!" Sam screamed in pain. He glanced at his back and saw the amount of blood flowing from the vast wound. "Who's there!?"

Another slash landed on Sam's back, repeated three times.

Sam couldn't do anything. Even running was useless to him at that moment. His body was losing too much blood that he became dizzy.

"Help!" Sam screamed, but no one could hear his desperation to survive.

"Are you scared?" a soft, menacing voice spoke.

Sam looked up and saw Yami walking toward him with a maniac smile.

"You!" Sam yelled. His eyes bulged upon seeing Yami's figure.

"You're a Raider!"

"Yes, I am." Yami didn't waste time and lunged at Sam with his stingers, ready to kill.

"DIE!"