Punisher System: SSS-Class Guardians

Ain was leaning in his seat, looking bored as his fingers twirled a copper coin that he found in his pocket.

The cold metallic feeling made his nerves calm as he watched the mess in the arena.

People around him were cheering, screaming, and cursing. It was noisy. Actually, the arena isn't that pleasant a place. It reeks of the sour smell of sweat and cheap liquor.

Ain's instinct was starting to warn him to leave as he watched Yusi one-sidedly beating Ankai below. It was a rare occurrence, but he wasn't high on the sensation of gambling right now as his survival instinct was tingling like crazy.

He took a deep breath. Ylan, beside him, didn't notice his unease. He was busy cursing Ankai, saying that he was a "pathetic weakling."

The fight below reached its peak.

Yusi smashed Ankai's head to the ground and the crowd screamed for blood. It was brutal, but they didn't care.

Ain frowned and said, "I think Ankai was about to surrender," but his voice was drowned by the distraught gamblers' screams.

He tossed the coin into the air and caught it. Ain didn't feel much about the death that was about to happen below, but the feeling of knowing something was about to happen, and having no idea what it was, was digging behind his head. It was an uncomfortable, itchy sensation.

Ain let out a breath. Maybe he should leave. There was no use suffering from discomfort and waiting for the danger to happen just because he was curious what it was.

Ylan finally noticed Ain when he stood up. He was confused, "Ain, where are you going?"

"It's boring. I'm leav-" Ain widened his eyes as he swallowed his words. He was just about to take a last glance at the arena when he saw a shocking scene.

The weeping-masked man that he took note of before stood up.

Ain's eyes shifted from confusion to shock as the man pulled a fire poker out of nowhere.

Then, with no hesitation, the man tossed the fire poker into the arena like a fisherman throwing a spear at fish in the water.

WHOOSH

The poker spun through the air like a spear.

Without a miss, the fire poker penetrated Yusi's shoulder.

The crowd went dead quiet.

Ain and Ylan didn't move. Everything was still as they processed what had just happened.

After a few seconds, the arena came back to life. This time louder than ever.

"IS THIS A NEW MATCH?!"

"WHAT A TWIST! THE ARENA DIDN'T ANNOUNCE THIS!"

"WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT ABOUT OUR BET?!"

"This is cheating! I heard that you can only challenge a fighter if the previous match is already over. How can he do this?!"

"Organizer, do something!"

"Am I the only one who noticed this? That guy just threw a fire poker at Yusi like it was nothing."

"Wait! What's that?!"

"Are those chains?!"

"Oh… shit." Ain's voice sounded rough as he squeezed out a curse.

...

[HOST! щ(゜ロ゜щ)] The system was panicking as chains started to crawl out of Cia's palms. Heck! Everything strayed from the original plan. It was supposed to be secretive, right?

Not a grand entrance!

[Are you okay?] At this point, the system had no idea what to say.

"Well, I'm fine. I'm not feeling anything." Contrary to the system, Cia felt alright. When he said he didn't feel anything, it was totally blank inside.

Aside from that, there was another feeling similar to OCD. Yusi below was a glaring mistake that needed to be corrected or a stain that needed to be removed from the white canvas.

There were mistakes all over the place, but Yusi was the most irritating one. Cia's breath quickened as the system helplessly watched the Bloodlust Gauge rise in number.

---

Bloodlust Gauge: 10... 30... 45... 60... 55...

---

It fluctuated, signifying that Cia was trying to curb his urge to kill. It was a good thing since Cia was still aware of what was happening.

---

Bloodlust Gauge: 55... 50... 52...

---

It stabilized at around 50+ but not more than 60. The system sighed in relief, but what Cia did next made the system feel that it was still early to become relieved.

With the chains wrapped around his hands, Cia jumped from his seat into the arena.

[LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!] The voice on the speaker screamed. The man behind it wasn't calm either.

It was tinged with desperation, but no one really took note now as to what it was blabbing, [W-We... have an unprecedented situation tonight!]

[Y-You are in violation of arena code! Do you understand me?! The challenge may only begin after the previous fight ends!]

Who cared... All the people's attention was on the weeping-masked man. Their jaws dropped, and their eyes filled with shock as they watched those tentacle-like chains move in the air.

Because seeing those and the way the man jumped down, all of them had a guess.

"WHAT THE HELL—"

"IS THIS A GIMMICK?! THE ARENA STAGED THIS?!"

"NO WAY, MAN! THIS IS REAL SHIT! THAT'S AN AWAKENER!"

"Awakener? Are you high?! They don't exist!"

"They do! My uncle saw one years ago!"

"Oh my God, are we in the middle of a secret fucking operation?!"

On the other hand, Yusi was singing a different tune from the excitement, "Entertain… the guest…" Yusi's voice sounded distorted.

---

[Skill: Binding – Activated]

[Cost: 15 MP]

[Remaining MP: 85/100]

[Cooldown begins: 00:01:00]

---

The chains on Cia's palms uncoiled, wrapping themselves around Yusi.

---

[Skill: Hell Torture – Activated]

[Cost: 30 MP]

[Remaining MP: 55/100]

[Cooldown begins: 00:04:59]

---

The arrowhead on the tip of the chain flew towards Yusi's chest. It didn't fully penetrate, but it broke a layer of skin.

"SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!" Yusi made a strange sound.

With the countdown still ongoing, Cia directly lunged towards Yusi. He pulled out the fire poker that was embedded in its arm.

He poked it again at its neck, but the fire poker bent. Cia could feel that the chains that were binding Yusi were starting to become brittle. There were already tiny cracks on it.

Cia imitated what he had seen a while ago, grabbing Yusi's head and slamming it into the ground. He took advantage of the fact that Yusi was still wrapped up and off balance.

He felt a twisted sense of satisfaction as he did that. His eyes glowed with excitement. It wasn't about revenge or letting Yusi suffer the consequences of what he did to his victims. It was more about what Yusi felt. Was it fun suffering the same way as what you did to your victims?

Cia tried to curb his bloodlust.

"His body had some kind of armour." Cia said to the system as he threw the bent fire poker away, "When I threw the fire poker minutes ago, it managed to penetrate his skin."

It was probably a mechanism that needed to be activated. Like an armadillo curling up when there is harm, but Yusi's armour seemed similar to scales.

---

[Skill: Binding – Activated]

[Cost: 15 MP]

[Remaining MP: 40/100]

[Cooldown begins: 00:01:00]

---

Once again, Cia activated the binding. This time, instead of aiming for the body, he aimed towards Yusi's head.

Cracks split Yusi's helmet.

When the metal shattered, the screaming started.

Not from Yusi, but from the crowd.

"What the—WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

"That's not a man!"

"It's a demon! A DEMON!"

"GET ME OUT! GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Who would have thought? The gamblers came here to gamble with money; unexpectedly, they gambled with their lives.

Inside the helmet was a lizard-like monster. From the fin-like ears, Cia still had the time to analyze that Yusi seemed to be some kind of aquatic demon.

"KRAAAAAAAA!" Yusi screamed, it tried to cover its face. It was looking at Cia filled with murderous hatred. Its eyes were so red that it looked like they were bleeding.

---

[Skill: Hell Torture – Activated]

[Cost: 30 MP]

[Remaining MP: 10/100]

[Cooldown begins: 00:04:59]

---

Cia became even more adept at using his chains. If Yusi's body was filled with armour, how about his mouth?

The chain directly plunged into Yusi's open mouth and like a snake, it burrowed down its throat.

Hell Torture activated.

"ARRHHGGG!" Yusi felt everything its victims felt during their final moments. All its sins were gathered. Just like the name of the skill suggested, he was plunged into damnation.

It was over. The chains already broke Yusi's organs from the inside.

The chains ripped and rampaged inside. Such a barbaric way of fighting sent chills to those watching, but Cia didn't care.

All he thought of as he watched Yusi's body twitching was that, "Finally, I removed the most irritating stain on the white canvas."

THE DAMN SINNER IS FINALLY DEAD.

Cia's lower face that was only visible showed a smile of satisfaction.

Its gigantic body kneeled down before slamming into the ground.

---

[Kill: Suvan]

[Sin level: V]

[Gained 60 EXP]

[(Sprout) Level 3: 595/600 EXP]

[Bloodlust Gauge: 57... 58...]

---

[Explain your affiliation immediately!] The person behind the speaker was now screaming at the top of its lungs.

[You're not—you're not on the registry! Don't you know that our arena already made a deal with this town's awakeners?! You are not allowed to interfere with the arena's business!]

"Noisy." Cia picked up the broken fire poker and tossed it at the speaker.

BANG!

The speaker broke, but the entire arena was still a mess.

People shoved and trampled over each other as bodies stampeded for the exits. Some fought to escape while some were crushed. Everything was chaos, but there had to be at least ten dead bodies underneath.

On a random corner, Ain's coin lay on the floor, forgotten. If it was a normal time, those gamblers would have fought just to grab a single copper coin, but this time proved that they still valued their lives more than money.

Well, maybe? But the betting box seemed to be missing from where it was supposed to be.