The tears ca rolling out in white-hot streaks.
Mark and Gabe.
Those were our killers' nas.
They spoke casually, bouncing between topics like Gabe's—the gunman's—pregnant girlfriend, Mark's new sound system, and Black Mask's second wind. Sionas had ambitions of running Gotham like the Falcones used to—every racket and cri under one banner.
He was determined to get it right this ti. His cult was more organized. The old Sionas would've had them leave us there in the rain.
I rembered the news stories.
I wondered how long it would take Batman to send him away this ti.
A month? Two? How many people would die in the gang war that would inevitably spring up from the clash between cri bosses?
I wasn't holding my breath.
As the drive went on, the air in the trunk started to turn. It stank of iron and piss, and it grew harder and harder to distract myself from the rapidly cooling body pressed up against .
Eddie was dead, and his murderers were a few feet away.
There was a rush of that strange energy again, in lockstep with my anger. It was blue and smoky at the edges, only growing brighter and bigger.
It helped not think about the blood soaking into my clothes and how much I wanted to skin those bastards.
The tears stopped.
"Cursed Energy," I muttered as I watched it play along my fingers. This was what the sudden knowledge in my head called it, and I could do all manner of things with it. The most basic and potent of them involved using my innate technique.
However, alien energy and technique were not the only things that made different.
My muscles felt thicker and stronger. I didn't know if it was from this so-called ta-gene that I had or the power I inherited from parents I never t, but it made confident—so confident that I was sure I could make my way out of the trunk and wring both of their necks.
I just had to bide my ti. I let out a deep breath. The car had to stop eventually.
My energy output dipped notably after that thought, shrinking from a roaring fla to a gentle but potent cloak.
"Emotions. So that's how you work."
I tapped into the rage churning deep in my gut and watched my Cursed Energy spike again before I reined it back in by going to my happy place—the boxing ring.
After our first job, learning to fight seed like the smart thing to do. So, I set aside so of the cash we earned from that score and hired a trainer in the cheapest well-put-together gym I could find. It was there that I t one of my best friends, Artemis.
The Cursed Energy cloaking dimd even more, the bulk gathering around my fists. It wasn't perfect by any ans, but there was potential.
And the system seed to think so, too.
You've learned:
Cursed Energy Manipulation Level 1: Foundational skill of every Jujutsu Sorcerer. Allows for finer manipulation of Cursed Energy using Jujutsu sorcery and other important techniques. Increases the efficiency and power of all Jujutsu-related skills and techniques over ti.
Cursed Energy Reinforcent Level 1: Achieve active and passive boosts in physical paraters by circulating Cursed Energy through your body. Active enhancent provides a more pronounced benefit, while passive enhancent occurs naturally over ti as you gather more Cursed Energy and beco more proficient in manipulating Cursed Energy.
Current active boost: 15%
Passive boost: 5%
2 CE per second.
All that was left was to lie in wait and practice.
"See any stones nearby?" Gabe the Bruiser asked as the car ca to a stop and the engine died.
"What stones?" Mark grunted. "Mooks picked it clean, burying bodies. Are you still sure about this spot?"
"It's the boss's pick."
"Too many bodies. It'll muck up the evidence if there's any left."
"Hmmm," Mark grunted. "Let's get this over with, then. I'll grab the stones. You get the bodies ready."
Both n alighted from their car, heading in separate directions.
One rounded the car, and the other went searching for a stone.
I kicked out when the trunk opened, legs reinforced with Cursed Energy, as I heard a key slip into the lock of the trunk.
It startled the bigger man, unbalancing him long enough for to leap out and charge him. He swiped at my head as I ducked low, activating Inverse. His knuckles rapped against my forehead with no effect, but I got him straight in the jewels with my knuckle duster.
I could tell I had shattered them when he let out a long, wilting scream and dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.
I pressed my advantage before he could recover, leaping into the air and stomping down on his neck with both legs. I was surprised by my brutality but delighted by the results nonetheless. His neck snapped, and that was when I heard the gunshot.
It sent stumbling forward, pain blossoming from my trapezius. It was like soone took a bat to it, but it felt miles better than getting popped in the head.
I flared Inverse, imdiately shielding myself from the follow-up shots I knew were coming. Three fast ones rang out. All three hit center mass, throwing this way and that as I scrambled down and around, putting the car between myself and him. Each shot drained 25 Cursed Energy from my pool.
I caught his silhouette through the foggy window before three more shots rang out. I ducked before he took off my head.
Shit.
My heart thundered against my chest, and my body was wired on pure adrenaline. I juked left, threading a line toward the back of the car before doubling back, and it worked.
Mark circled the car, gun trained on where I was supposed to be, and began so bullshit speech.
"I don't care if you're one of those freaks. I'll pump you full of lead until you can't get up."
I counted to three before I charged him, vaulting over the car. I speared him through the midsection with my shoulder, Inverse and Reinforcent burning hot.
He managed to get two shots off during that ti. One bruised my ribs, while the other actually made it through my arm. The interval between technique activation had been too slow.
I went after his gun hand imdiately, flooding my own with Cursed Energy and tossing his weapon away. Using my off-hand, I buried a punch in his gut and then straddled him. He tried twisting and outmaneuvering , but it was useless. I rained down enhanced punches on him, pouring in as much energy as I could muster into my hands.
He let out a surprised scream at the first hit from my brass knuckles, and by the fifth hit, he was gasping for air and clawing at . A punch to the throat put an end to the resistance, and a violent jerk of his neck ended him.
For a long while, I simply sat over his body, shocked that I'd actually won, drained of Cursed Energy.
Congratulations: You've leveled up through intense combat and the use of your Jujutsu techniques.
1 in all stats and 2 free points.
Through your effort during combat, you've earned the following:
2 Vitality
1 Cursed Energy
1 Strength
1 Agility
1 Perception
Stealth Lv 1—Evade notice by modifying your steps, actions, and movent strategies. 5% boost to all Stealth.
Hand-to-Hand Combat Lv 1—An all-encompassing skill that covers various martial arts you possess knowledge and proficiency with. 1% boost to learning martial arts, damage, and speed.
The notifications snapped out of my reverie, and the effects of the level-up were visceral and imdiate. I jerked to my feet and groaned as my skin and muscles bubbled, baptized in waves of Cursed Energy. My various wounds recovered so.
I concentrated on the words again as more things slipped into place. The attribute abbreviations made a hell of a lot more sense, and the new skills reminded of one of those la video gas Ed used to be obsessed with.
I couldn't believe I didn't make the connections earlier. Attributes, powers, growth through conflict—it all lined up. I bunched my hands. It would've been perfect for Ed.
Letting out a sigh, I slicked back my blonde hair. I needed to move, deal with the bodies, get out of here.
My eyes scanned the riverside for potential witnesses in the low light, but we were entirely alone. The slight boost in perception helped a lot with that.
We were completely alone out here, just like Gabe and Mark wanted, and it gave the space and ti to dispose of the bodies.
My limbs jerked to a slow start, the sudden weight of the murders weighing down, but I had to move. This mont had been years in the making.
I knew what I had to do.
Swallowing so air, I gingerly searched the body of my dead assailant. I emptied out his wallet, which had been stuffed with about a grand, his ID, and a picture of his girlfriend.
I returned the picture to where I found it, putting it out of my mind, but the image stuck.
I moved to the Bruiser, finding two thousand more, the keys to his apartnt, his wallet, phone, and candy, of all things. I also switched out his oversized jacket for my blood-soaked one.
It took more effort than I'd care to admit to lift both n and stuff them in the car. I was drenched in sweat by the end of it. The miraculous increase in strength helped a ton.
I circled around the back of the car and took one final look at Eddie.
My eyes misted.
"Damn it, Ed," I cursed under my breath. "How am I supposed to do any of this without you? Sasha will probably kill and raise you from the dead so that she can kill you again."
With a heavy heart, I shut the trunk. "See you on the other side, buddy."
I weighed down the car's acceleration with a stone and let it roll into the Gotham River.
I stuck around for five more minutes, tracking down Mark's pistol, and chucked it into the river as well.
Then, I began the lonely walk back ho.
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