??? POV:

I looked outside the window and gazed at the droves of homeless people huddled together in an alleyway. Their faces were pale—eyes bloodshot with fear so deep their bodies trembled at the slightest sound that infiltrated their ear canals. This was the result of wrong ideals coming together, plunging a whole district into disarray. This had become the norm.

It was a sad sight to see.

I turned my attention to the two masked men that had just entered the dark alleyway. They drew long swords out of their scabbards, instantly causing panic to spread among the people once they noticed their presence. They rushed for the exit in a frenzy, but one of the men bolted forward. He darted across the building wall before somersaulting through the air as he crashed down right in front of them, sealing off their escape route with ease.

He stuck out his tongue, dowsed in saliva, as he ran it along the edge of the brandished blade. The blood vessels in his eyes had popped long ago, dying them a dark shade of red while parts of his body spasmed.

“Blood, blood, blood!”

The two men began to chant the same phrase repeatedly with bulging eyes. They charged forward and swung their blades down, viciously cutting through the dozens of innocents with glee.

The night sky was filled with screams of pain and agony while the walls noted their cries, allowing their blood to paint the rough surfaces a new colour; red. I wondered how many times I’d seen this happen now.

I still couldn’t make a move; it wasn’t time yet.

*Knock, knock*

I peeled my eyes away from the massacre I had just witnessed, swearing that vengeance would soon come. I just needed to be patient a little longer.

“Enter.”

A man in his early 20s with short, brown hair entered the room quickly. He closed the door behind him before letting out a relieved sigh. I watched him silently with folded arms, giving him some time to catch his breath.

“I found him. But are you sure this is a good idea?”

“There are no mistakes in my plan, just unaccounted variables; which is precisely why I’m dealing with them now before I make my true move. Tell me where he is, Cirris.”

He nodded his head and pulled out a map. He placed it on the table while pointing to a variety of different locations.

The map was detailed—it covered most of District 3 in-depth. From the locations Cirris had pointed out, the target was being held at several abandoned warehouses and incomplete construction sites.

‘Interesting.’

There was once a time when the people of District 3 banded together to restore the peace that they were able to experience for a short time. They started by holding weekly meetings, which led to improving the infrastructure of the estates before working on expanding the district. They fought back against the prostitution rings and the Organization itself.

Naturally, things didn’t work out as planned. With a community that large and an incapable leader, it was impossible to differentiate between who was a true ally and who wasn't. These unaccounted variables led to this result; a large area of incomplete buildings that left many homeless instead.

Well, this was a story of the past. I shifted my gaze back to Cirris.

“Which one?”

“They move him constantly. As you know, his ability works as an amplifier for other abilities. The more knowledge he has about an ability, the greater the amplification. He’s too valuable to kill, but also too dangerous to be left alone.”

“As expected. We need him on our side.”

I observed the distance between the locations Cirris had pointed out. I traced them with my finger and soon found something odd. I took a pen and drew lines on the map, connecting the points together that ultimately formed the shape of a pentagram.

“...Dammit!!”

“Calm down, Cirris.”

I threw the pen down on the table and took a step back. There was only one person who liked to use pentagrams as symbols, and that was the Heavenly King of the South. This was a warning.

The Ruler was telling us that the Amplifier was under his direct protection, not just the District's Leader.

“What should we do?”

Cirris looked at the map with weak eyes. His reaction was understandable; it was too early for us to go up against him. I also expected most of the Vices and Watchers to be at these locations more or less permanently.

“Bring me Gia. She and I will handle this.”

“Uh... Gia? That might not be wise...”

He scratched the back of his head while looking away slightly. I had the least amount of chess pieces in District 3, so there were times when I needed to use people I wouldn’t normally use. Now was that time.

“Just do it.”

“Yes, Sir!”

He got up swiftly and exited the room. I examined the map one more time before slipping my hands into my pockets. I needed to get my hands on the Amplifier one way or another.

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***

“Sir, you called for me?”

“Take a seat.”

Cirris closed the door as Gia pulled up a chair and sat down. She folded her arms and glared at the open map on the table. Her gaze alternated between me and the map while her waist-length chestnut hair swayed back and forth.

I watched her soft lips curve into a wide smile as I saw a fire, tinged with madness, burn brightly within her heterochromatic eyes. She pulled out a small knife and stabbed it in the center of the pentagram.

“So you’ve finally gone mad like me?”

“Hardly. However, in order to break the system, sometimes a little madness is needed.”

Her fighting spirit burned brighter as her wide smirk signalled her satisfaction with my response. I observed her carefully, making sure she wasn't wounded from any previous encounters on the way here.

“We move tonight. Cirris has already identified the target’s current location.”

“There’s a problem here though, Sir.”

I raised my eyebrow slightly at her words. What problem could Gia see that I couldn’t? The answer was none.

“And that would be?”

“The Amplifier. What if he refuses to join hands with us?”

I swung my hand down, splitting the table and map in half. I wasn’t angry at her worries, but it was a pointless one.

The Amplifier was currently a chess piece for the Heavenly King of the South, but after I rescue him, he’ll be controlled by me. Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.

I glared at Gia as she looked at the broken table with a smirk.

“Perfect.”

She clapped her hands and got to her feet. I told Cirris to stay on standby as Gia and I disappeared into the night sky.

***

??? POV:

A plate of food slid underneath the black bars across the murky earth before coming to a stop. I went down on all fours as I moved forward quickly and ate what I could. I felt the chains abruptly tighten around my neck before slamming me back against the hard wall.

“Keuk...!”

The air left my lungs as I cried out in pain. My head slumped forward while I gazed at the chains that bound me. They had a timer embedded within that would automatically go off when I was too far from the end of the wall.

It was a reminder that I was a prisoner, and it was why I had been unable to eat in peace for years.

Depending on the guard watching over me, the extent to which the food was pushed in would differ. Some were... kinder than others, whereas some enjoyed watching me squirm in pain—that was today’s guard.

He crouched down with his large frame as he watched me with a smug smile plastered across his face. I cursed him in my mind but didn’t dare say anything out loud. I was afraid of getting hit. I was afraid of being touched...

“I’ve been thinking... Are you really a man? You’re far too pretty.”

‘!’

My eyes widened as my heartbeat quickened. Cold sweat dripped down the nape of my neck while I watched the man slowly stand up. His wet tongue ran over his lips—his hand closing the metal gate behind him as he took a step toward me.

‘No... Please... Not again...!!’

He towered over me like a giant while my pupils dilated to the extreme. Compared to him, I was nothing but a mouse that he liked to roleplay with. However, even mice struggled to survive.

I clenched my teeth tightly as I forced my trembling legs to move as far back as I could. He peered down at me, his lips curving into a pitiful smirk and then...

His hand shot forward.

He gripped my large top and ripped it down the middle, exposing my bare skin to him. I bit my quivering lip as his finger hooked under my dark yellow bra.

“Oho~ What’s this? So you’re not a man, after all. You can't fool this bad boy.”

The sicko pointed to his groin that expanded slightly. I held back the urge to vomit everywhere as he crouched down and grabbed my cheek with his large hand. He pulled me up to his eye level while I clawed away at his wrist, desperately trying to break free.

“Don’t worry. We have all night~”

He pursed his lips and moved in close. I twisted my neck, trying to avoid the incoming kiss, but he overpowered me with his raw strength.

‘These damn chains!!’

If it wasn’t for these strange chains, I could handle a guy like this... I could do it.

“Enough.”

His lips stopped just before they reached mine. He clicked his tongue and dashed me down to the ground.

“Heuk!”

A pained moan escaped my mouth as I hit the cold rock hard. I felt a burning sensation shoot up from my arm that had just taken the full force of my own body weight.

“Am I not on guard duty tonight, Esmeralda?”

“I wasn’t aware guard duty involved touching the prisoner against their will.”

“Gahahaha~”

He put his hand to his face and laughed loudly. Esmeralda narrowed her eyes in response while stepping inside.

His laughter came to an abrupt stop as he walked up to her and glared. The size difference between the two of them was tremendous, but she was unfazed by his appearance.

“Get out, Esmeralda.”

“Make me.”

The two released their Ki instantly. The two opposing forces clashed together, forming slight cracks along the wall from the pressure they exhibited.

They stared at each other, no one making a single move as seconds passed by slowly. The huge man eventually clicked his tongue and barged past Esmeralda.

“Don’t do this again, Andre.”

“Yeah, yeah. I wasn't going to go that far anyway.”

I watched him leave, and the sound of his footsteps slowly disappeared down the corridor. Esmeralda flicked a blanket towards me, but the gesture contained no sympathy within it. The veins on the side of my head popped as I glared at this disgusting piece of trash.

“Are you happy working alongside scum like him? You make me sick! I’ll never forgive you for what you did to me! To this District!!”

I screamed at her with bloodshot eyes. If it wasn’t for her, I never would have been captured in the first place. She was supposed to be my best friend, yet she stabbed me in the back. For what? Power? Acknowledgement?

I spat in her face as she peered down at me. She disgusted me in every conceivable way possible.

Esmeralda took out a tissue and wiped the spit off her cheek as she crouched down till her eye level reached mine.

“Keuk!!”

She raised her hand and struck my cheek as my brain shook from the blow. Blood splattered across the cell as I glared back at her just in time to see the sides of her lips curve upwards slightly.

“This was always your problem. You believed in justice and following the right path. You trusted people blindly and look at where that got you. My dear friend, I truly did care for you. I warned you time and time again, but you never listened.”

She grabbed me by the hair, and her fist sunk into my stomach as the contents of the food I had eaten earlier spewed out onto the floor.

“Heok!”

Food waste splattered everywhere as I gasped for air. Esmeralda slammed my face into the puddle of vomit; blood spurted out from a new, large gash on my forehead, mixing in with the mess below before stinging my eyes. Her grip twisted my face deeper into the contents of my emptied stomach, forcing my arms to tremble in excruciating pain as the chains tried to retract.

“You chose the wrong side, Isabelle. Ah wait, I guess it’s ‘Amplifier’ now, right?”

She let go of my head, and the sound of her heels hitting the ground eventually vanished. I wiped the muck off my face using the remains of my top as tears streamed down my face.

I slumped my back against the cold wall and gazed at the rock ceiling above. I wondered how much longer I’d need to live like this.

I created this ability to help others, to support the community I live in, and yet it was the very thing I sought to help that had put me in this torturous position.

People are cruel—this was an undeniable fact of this world, but I knew this truth didn’t extend to everyone. That is why even now, I couldn’t give up the hope that I believed in. It was all that I had left.

‘Zane... Why did you need to leave?’

Tears rolled down my cheeks endlessly as I held my throbbing arm close to my chest.