EVIL SYSTEM

"No matter who they are… Kill them," one of the men ordered.

The men reacted immediately and aimed their weapons at them.

Everyone panicked; Roger raised his hands, and Ryuji flinched, but Dante stepped forward with a determined stride.

"Wait!!" he shouted with an authoritative voice that made all the men hesitate to shoot. "You're from M16, right?"

This made them even more cautious about firing. They bore no insignia of their gang, and all their tattoos were covered.

So… how could this kid possibly know they were from M16?

"Didn't Rafael tell you?" Dante flashed a smug smile and looked at the man as if he were a rat.

The man's heart skipped a beat upon hearing the name Rafael. He was one of the highest-ranking members of the organization, with a nickname like M3.

But the next second, he pointed his weapon at Dante and threatened, "I don't know how you know his name or about us, but if you don't give me a reason not to kill you, I'll pull the trigger."

"No need." Dante raised his hands with a smile. "I've already made you waste enough time."

The man couldn't understand his words when a figure appeared at his side at tremendous speed.

He didn't even have time to move his weapon when a punch landed on his side, sending him flying through the air with broken ribs and parts of his flesh scattered across the ground.

"What the hell?" The other men reacted quickly and fired at Ben, but in a burst of speed, he dodged the bullets effortlessly.

He rolled on the ground, grabbed a bent rod, and threw it with all his strength. The rod flew through the air like a missile and impaled two men, who looked at their chests in horror as they tried to pull the rod out.

Many of the men were still on top of the car, so Ben rammed the car from the side, leaving a dent shaped like his body.

Several of the men fell off the vehicle, and one had the misfortune of falling toward Ben, who met him with a powerful uppercut that deformed his neck in a very strange way.

He was undoubtedly dead.

He took the man's weapon and, with cold precision, began taking down the men one by one.

When it was all over, Ben stood on top of the car with a machine gun in hand and a row of bodies around him.

"Damn!!" Roger couldn't believe what he was seeing. The crying, fragile kid from just minutes ago had turned into a perfect, emotionless killing machine.

That, combined with his insane power.

"Now do you understand why I found it so unbelievable to see him cry?" Ryuji laughed smugly.

"He's a monster," said the man, who couldn't stop looking at Ben with fear.

"He's the monster who saved your life," Dante scolded, and his eyes suddenly turned cold.

"I don't know what's going on." Ben returned with several weapons and placed them in each of their hands. "But this will serve as a means of defense."

"Great!!" Ryuji pointed his weapon at Ben, who lowered it with one hand.

"Never point at your friends and comrades. Sometimes weapons misfire, or you make a mistake… You don't want to carry that burden."

"Okay." Ryuji lowered the weapon, crestfallen.

"We have to get out of here," Dante said suddenly.

"Where to?" Roger asked.

"Out of the city."

Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" Ben asked, pointing at Ryuji and the man. "We have to get them to a hospital."

"This isn't just happening at the station and this street." Dante looked at each of them seriously. "It's happening across the entire city."

"The hospitals are probably overflowing and won't treat them, if the hospitals are even still functioning."

"Really?" Ben raised an eyebrow as he approached Dante. "And how do you know that?"

"We don't have time for this." Dante brushed off Ben's question and turned around.

But Ben grabbed him by the shoulder. "I'm asking you a question."

"Let go of me." Dante shot him a defiant look. "Staying here isn't safe."

"Let's calm down, guys." Ryuji saw the tension rising between the two and tried to intervene, but neither backed down.

"A while back, I met a monster that could parasitize people," Ben tightened his grip on Dante. "And it claimed it could see the future."

"Really?" Dante raised an eyebrow, surprised. "That's new; you never told me that."

Dante lowered his head slightly and whispered under his breath, "That explains the zombies."

"You've been acting very strange lately." Ben grabbed Dante's head and pulled him closer.

Roger wanted to step in for his grandson but had also been having those suspicions. He had been asking questions, but Dante never answered.

His kind and smiling grandson had suddenly become cold, calculating, and fearless.

The tension was clearly palpable in the air when Dante let out a sigh.

"It's too late."

The building beside them suddenly collapsed as a figure shot past them and crashed into the asphalt.

Ben watched as the man split much of the asphalt in two and slammed into another building across the street.

Everyone watched with wide eyes as the man stood up as if nothing had happened. He shook off the dust and raised his head.

He was a tall man, almost two meters. Square face and strong jaw, he seemed like a very strict and cruel man.

He looked at them for a second, then at the bodies of the gang members on the ground. Then he stared at the weapons in each of their hands and connected all the dots.

"You killed my men?" he asked, but he wasn't really seeking an answer.

With a single leap, he appeared at Dante's side, but Ben stepped in and took the blow with his arms.

Ben's shoes scraped across the ground for several meters, and then he rolled on the ground, losing his balance.

A lot had happened, but his body was still intoxicated, so he wasn't really at full strength.

"Oh! How interesting!" the man said, shaking his fist with a smile.

He was about to continue attacking when suddenly the gravity vanished from his body, and he slowly began to float.

"Damn it, not again!!" His figure flew through the air before crashing into a building in the distance.

Everyone watched in horror as cars, debris, and even entire houses were lifted from the ground and hurled at the man, who created a shield of water around himself.

"Want to leave me alone?!" the man shouted, between frustration and rage.

The man who had been chasing him was floating in the air above everyone. He wore a very expensive suit and had a cold expression.

Gray hair had completely taken over his head, along with a thick mustache.

It was Alexander Crapp, the mayor of Magnolia.

His response was the most incredible scene any of them had ever witnessed.

Raising both hands to the sky, he began channeling his magic in massive quantities. No one knew what he was trying to do until, with their mouths wide open, they watched as two enormous buildings were slowly torn from the ground.

Not only Ben and the others reacted with disbelief. The people inhabiting those buildings reacted even worse upon seeing their homes and the ground beneath their feet begin to float.

Several unsuspecting people fell to the ground and died, crushed like tomatoes.

But the worst part was for those who remained inside the buildings, as Alexander used both buildings like two giant hammers to smash M5 into pulp.

He didn't care about the lives he sacrificed in the process or the immense damage their little fight caused to the city.

---

[Notes]

I'm going to leave this chapter as is, because surely many of you have already read as far as you should, and I don't want you to be confused by something I add later in the next chapter.

I'm going to leave this chapter as is, because surely many of you have already read as far as you should, and I don't want you to be confused by something I add later in the next chapter.I'm going to leave this chapter as is, because surely many of you have already read as far as you should, and I don't want you to be confused by something I add later in the next chapter.I'm going to leave this chapter as is, because surely many of you have already read as far as you should, and I don't want you to be confused by something I add later in the next chapter.I'm going to leave this chapter as is, because surely many of you have already read as far as you should, and I don't want you to be confused by something I add later in the next chapter.I'm going to leave this chapter as is, because surely many of