Chapter 6 : The Abandoned City

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The Abandoned City was once called New York in the olden times. The deserted city stood roughly two and a half miles away from Nouva City. It looked like something out of a zombie apocalypse scene: shattered glass scattering the roads, broken windows decorating the skyscrapers, ripped and bloodied clothing scattered across the roads. Cars left untouched and covered in dust, the sky displaying an orange glow.

Gale walked through this, his eyes scanning each building for the specific address.

"350 5th Avenue. 350 5th Avenue. 350 5th-" Gale repeated the address, his eyes suddenly landing on the desire location. Before him, one of the largest skyscrapers in New York towered above him. Comprised of hundreds of floors and thousands of feet in height, the Empire State Building used to be a marvelous sight for sore eyes. Used to be. Ever since the demon invasion, The Abandoned City had become uninhabited by humans. It turned out that The Abandoned City was a portal for demons to teleport and massacre the humans living there. As a result, with no humans within killing radius, the demons hardly ever teleported to the Abandoned City. It could serve as a good sight for massing forces for an attack on Nouva City, but being one of the remaining few Metropolis' in the Northern Hemisphere of Lukonya, Nouva City had the most powerful Demon Slayers and as a result an attack there would only spell death for both sides.

Gale stepped through the broken glass door, not even touching the door frame. His shoe crunched several shards of glass as he entered the large tower's main entrance. Perhaps when humans had inhabited this area, it was beautiful, glorious. Instead, ripped carpeting, shattered glass and broken debris, even skeletons of long-passed humans dotted the interior. The stench, however, was gone. As if someone had cleaned the place of the horrible smell.

"Hey, hey, hey! Look who it is! He actually showed up!" Kyle shouted as he landed next to Gale from somewhere above.

"Glad you made the right choice." Kyle said, placing his hand on Gale's shoulder. Six more men wearing long, black trench coats and black sunglasses to match. Their faces were covered by the shadows of their hoods hanging over their faces.

"Kyle, is this him?" One of the six asked. Kyle quickly turned around, bowing as he did so.

"Yes, Boss. It's him." The one had spoken up suddenly revealed a sinister grin.

"Good. Then we can proceed."

---

King suddenly awoke in his room, a headache plaguing him. He glanced at his surroundings, turning his head and noticing the person slumped over with their head on their arms.

King shifted upwards, yawning as he did so. His movements awoke his mother, the sleeping figure next to him.

"Lance.... didn't I tell you not to go overboard?" Claire said to him while yawning.

"I know." King replied.

"And I called the school. Your name is still 'King'!? Even after I told you to change it back to Lance Lockris!?" His mother shouted at him.

"I don't want...." King said quietly.

"You don't want what!?" His mother shouted at him.

"I don't want people to know that I'm related to Vincent Lokris, the strongest of the four heroes." His mother's angered glare softened, but only for a moment.

"You're lucky Naomi called me first, otherwise the hospitals might have revealed your true identity to her." Someone suddenly knocked on the door, interrupting their conversation. King's mother quickly left his room to answer the door. After what seemed like 2 seconds, someone shouted for him.

"King, get down here!" His mother's voice came flowing up the stairs. King threw the blankets off before slowly walking down the stairs to his front door. To his surprise, Alicia was waiting at the door for him. She was sweating, either from the exertion it took to get to his home or from sheer worry and anxiety. Her breathing was horrible and untamed, a sure sign of panic.

"King, please." Alicia breathed.

"Help me save Gale."

---

Gale nodded his head. In front of him, of the original six that had greeted him along with Kyle, only one remained. Gale suspected that he was the leader as the other six obeyed all of his commands.

"Now, Gale, do you know the saying 'An eye for an eye'?" The leader asked. Gale nodded his head, prompting the leader to notice his silence.

"You are silent." The leader said, suddenly changing topics. "Is it because we terrify you? Is it because you are afraid we will harm you in any way shape or form?"

"No, it's because I don't have a name to call you by." Gale responded. His eyes suddenly flashed blue, a sign that he was using his ability but that fact was not known to the people before him. After slowing time, he quickly surveyed the scene: about 34 in total around  and above him, with six in front of him. Kyle had disappeared somewhere, something about a "welcoming committee". 40 minions would be far too much for him to handle on his own, plus he didn't even know their strength. He quickly deactivated his ability.

"While I can't give you my real name, I can tell you to call me Gustavo Kendrick." The leader said.

"Now, back to what I was saying before. 'An eye for an eye' is another way of saying one thing for another. Payback, revenge, justice. It's all the same under this principle." Gustavo said as he turned to Gale.

"Now, since we did you a favor and gave you an option to keep the girl out of this, I want you to do me a favor:" Gustavo suddenly removed his hood, revealing a gruesome and twisted face. Going down the right side of his face was a long and jagged scar, likely from a demon's claw. Gustavo's left eye had been scratched, leaving a mutilated white pupil.

"I want you to kill King."

---

Someone suddenly slapped Kyle's arm, pulling his attention away from his phone.

"He's here." The person said as Kyle hopped down from the broken debris he had been relaxing on.

"Course he came. He ain't got no other choice." Kyle replied, smiling as he drew his spear. Ahead of him, amidst the broken buildings and deserted streets, King and Alicia walked in his direction.

"How do you know this is where they're going to be?" Alicia nervously asked King.

"Because I've dealt with them before." King replied, drawing his saber. Alicia caught the look in his eyes before she glanced at the oncoming seven members charging them.

"It would be best if you stayed out of this." King said suddenly as his eyes darted between each of the seven.

"Why? I can hold my own." Alicia responded.

"It's not about holding your own. It's about keeping you out of this conflict." King said as he suddenly charged forward, leaving Alicia alone behind him. She suddenly thought of the look he had in his eyes: a determined and vicious setting inside of his eyes. That look was far different from the one he had when she and Gale had fought him. Back then, King held a serious attitude, as if surveying their attack patterns and memorizing them. He was taking his time, almost as if absorbing their battle-styles and creating counter-measures in his mind on the go. Speaking of his eyes, Alicia suddenly noticed that when she had glanced at them earlier, they were red. However, when she first saw him at Nouva High, his eyes were silver. Could it be his ability?

She suddenly remembered the soft, calm look his grey eyes gave off. Now, however, all his eyes revealed was a killing intent so intense that Alicia could do nothing but stand and watch as King easily fought all of the seven on his own.

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