He once again returned to his natural state before evoking Aurethia’s power.
Two more eyes appeared below his pairt of original two eyes.
He could see the world in ultra clear vision, not missing a single detail before him down to the very thin motes always floating in the air.
A blade ford and with one slash, a training block shattered into thousands of microscopic fragnts.
West paused while breathing hard. "...What the hell..."
The skill lasted three minutes before the connection broke and everything returned to normal.
West stood there completely stunned before smiling. "...This is insane."
He looked at his hands.
"This... changes everything."
West wanted to keep training and exploring more but they had already been on this for a week.
The world wouldn’t wait for them... Shadow Reapers was official but they hadn’t started making any waves.
It was ti to change that.
West’s eyes glead. "It’s ti we increase our gang ranking."
"Its ti for our first official Shadow Reapers clear."
...
...
Minutes later, West stood at the center of the training arena with hands in his pockets, watching Jax finish a clean arc of frost-infused sword strikes while Nina layered three construct familiars at once with impressive fluidity.
They had improved.
He gave a small nod. "Alright."
Both of them stopped and looked over as West’s tone turned serious.
"I’ve already told Aria to put in a request for a ruin permit."
Nina’s eyes lit up. "Wait... seriously?"
Jax grinned imdiately. "Finally."
West nodded. "It’s ti."
But Jax’s expression changed slightly after the initial excitent.
"...Don’t we need more mbers first?"
West tilted his head slightly before shrugging. "Yeah... but the three of us are more than enough to clear a ruin."
If anyone had heard this, they’d think he was just arrogant... they wouldn’t know that West and Jax had cleared the third layer of a ruin all by themselves.
West continued, "We’ll let Aria handle recruitnt."
"Our focus right now..." his gaze sharpened. "...is ranking."
Silence settled for a mont before he added, "We’re still at the bottom."
"No official clears."
"No reputation."
"The change begins now."
Jax tightened his grip on his katana. "Then let’s go."
Nina smiled. "About ti."
—
Without wasting another minute, the trio headed straight for the Awakened Bureau, where all official ruin permits were processed and regulated.
The building was a fusion of governnt and awakened authority. Dark glass panels reflected the sky while reinforced entrances were integrated with scanning systems.
Inside, there was order... sothing rarely seen when it ca to awakened and gangs.
Awakeners moved in and out, so filing reports, others negotiating permits, and a few simply standing around radiating danger.
West approached the front counter with Nina and Jax beside him.
The woman behind the counter didn’t look up at first.
"Next."
West spoke calmly. "Shadow Reapers."
Her fingers paused on the keyboard as she looked up.
Her eyes imdiately sharpened. "...Shadow Reapers?"
West nodded. "We’ve already paid for a ruin permit."
Sothing flickered in her expression as she began typing quickly.
A full minute passed before she suddenly stopped and slowly shook her head.
"Unfortunately..."
West’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"...another gang has already paid for it."
Jax mouth opened slightly. "...What?"
West leaned forward. "But when we initiated the request..."
"That permit was unacquired."
"We paid."
He spoke in a very calm tone that spread a bit of chill to the surroundings.
The woman avoided his gaze as she responded. "Unfortunately it has been allocated to a different gang."
"Your paynt will be refunded."
West straightened before speaking again. "Okay."
"Process the refund."
He turned slightly while dialing Aria over the phone. "Get another one."
"Preferably closer to the city."
Aria responded imdiately. "On it."
—
A few minutes later, West ended the call and looked back at the counter.
"Another paynt has been made."
The woman nodded, typing again as she checked and processed the selection.
After about a minute, her expression changed again.
West noticed it but stayed silent.
"...Unfortunately..."
Jax’s face twisted before she even completed her sentence. "You’ve got to be kidding ."
"...it has been acquired by a different gang."
Nina frowned. "But we just paid for it."
The woman bowed her head slightly. "Your gang will be refunded."
West’s eyes narrowed in suspicion but he stayed silent as he called Aria again.
"Try one more."
Keyboard clacking sounds rang out from the other end as she responded quickly. "This is the last one close to the city."
"The others are far out."
"Multiple cities away."
West decided imdiately. "Take it."
"Hurry."
Seconds later, Aria confird. "Paid."
West turned back. "Check again."
The woman swallowed slightly and began typing.
There was a slight expression of hesitation on her face as she stopped about a minute later.
Once again, she shook her head. "Another gang has acquired it."
Jax stepped forward. "Okay, now this is—"
West raised a hand slightly, stopping him as he spoke in a dangerously low tone. "...Again?"
He leaned forward slowly. "That makes three."
"And all three were unacquired when we paid."
The woman began to sweat. "I—I understand your concern but—"
"No," West cut her off while stepping closer.
"This doesn’t make sense."
The air felt heavier the longer he glared.
The woman hurriedly spoke. "If a higher-ranked gang attempts to acquire a ruin permit..."
"...and the current holder is more than twenty ranks below them..."
"...they can usurp the claim."
West’s expression changed as everything clicked.
A look of understanding appeared on his face as he ca to the realization... but he wasn’t the only one.
Jax muttered, "...So we’re getting stepped on."
Nina’s eyes darkened. "Intentionally."
Before West could say anything, his phone rang.
~ Aria ~
He picked up. "Hello."
Aria imdiately went straight to the point. "The three hundred thousand dollars... spent for the permits..."
"It hasn’t been refunded yet."
West’s aura instantly swept out in waves, causing oppressive pressure to radiate across the surroundings.
Everyone around felt it and the woman behind the counter almost recoiled.
West stepped forward. "What is the aning of this?"
His voice emitted a certain kind of danger... the kind that made people instinctively take a step back.
The woman rushed to explain. "The refund process takes three to ten business days—"
"It’s part of the official policy—"
West stared at her without blinking and said, "If that money is not returned within that tifra...I will destroy this entire place."
He paused briefly before adding; "I don’t care who operates here."
"Let’s go," he turned around to leave and Jax and Nina followed imdiately.
However, just as he took a couple steps forward, he paused and turned back slightly.
His gaze landed on her again. "...The gang."
The woman froze as he spoke.
"The one acquiring the permits we paid for."
She hesitated as West added. "I’m sure it’s the sa gang all three tis."
His voice softened slightly. "So go on... say the na."
The woman gulped saliva fearfully before finally speaking; "Iron Vulture."
West nodded slowly as a cold smile ford on his face. "Thank you."
Without another word, he walked out.
Jax exhaled sharply once they were outside.
"...So... they’re targeting us."
Nina crossed her arms. "Not even subtle."
West looked up toward the skyline with a calm gaze but burning underneath.
"Iron Vulture..."
He repeated the na once before smiling. "Good."
Jax raised an eyebrow. "...Good?"
West turned back to them. "That ans they’ve made the first move."
"So at the very least, they won’t get mad if we respond in kind, right...?" his voice dropped.
"Iron Vultures..." Jax muttered, cracking his knuckles. "I guess we’re not letting that slide..."
West exhaled slowly while sliding his hands into his pockets as they stepped out into the open street. "We’ll deal with them," he said in a asured tone, "Just not now."
Nina tilted her head slightly while twirling her brush lazily between her fingers. "So what’s the plan?"
West stopped walking before turning; "Since the outskirts are locked down, we go where no one can control the access."
Jax raised a brow. "You an... inside the city?"
West nodded in response.
Unlike outskirts ruins which were regulated, sold, and assigned through permits... the ones that appeared within city limits were a completely different. The Bureau could never claim them fast enough... since they were within city limits, gangs would always get there first.
Which ant chaos... multiple gangs colliding at once the mont a rupture was detected... all in order to claim the ruin for themselves.
Normally, West would have avoided that because their numbers were still too small. Their gang was newly official. Walking straight into a battlefield filled with multiple established gangs was practically asking to be swallowed whole.
Unfortunately, Iron Vultures had taken away the safer option which ant they didn’t have a choice.
"Looks like we’re doing this the hard way," West muttered.
—
Back at the Shadow Reapers base, the atmosphere changed imdiately once West relayed the decision.
Aria stood before a massive digital interface in the central command room with her fingers gliding across floating screens as she monitored activity across the city.
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