In one of the dilapidated warehouses at an abandoned harbour, a shimmering sound of a shower could be heard. A boy is seen to be cleaning himself from dirt and sweat he had from his harsh training. You could see various scars, fresh wounds, bruises and scratches all over the young boy's body. If anyone were to see him in such a state, they would look at him with pity eyes. The boy was Akira.

For the past 7 months, he had been given a small space in one corner of a warehouse to sleep. The area was dimly lit with old lamps hanging from the ceilings. There was no bed. Just several layers of blankets to cover oneself from the cold night air. But for Akira, he had long been used to the cold that he no longer needs blankets. He used them as bed sheets instead to stay comfortable on the ground. A wooden box sat at one end of the small area he was given. It was filled with his change of clothes, a black rucksack, gadgets, weapons, books and various other items.

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I feel slightly anxious. After I had my shower, I dried my body with a piece of towel and donned my black trousers, grey long sleeve shirt and a black sweater. I put on my utility belt and strapped my knives in a neat manner. I also put on the holsters around my waist and chest and placed a gun in its place at the left side of my chest. I strapped a dagger at the back of my waist as an extra.

I don't know where Rapscallion is planning to take me, but I ought to be more prepared this time. I pulled out my rucksack and began to put a change of clothes, packets of bullets for reload purposes, some gadgets and items that deemed useful. By the way, I was not given a hand phone. If I had one, I had contacted the police a long time ago and escape from this hellhole. But hey, I am surprisingly closely monitored by that bastard. Find a different hobby, you perverted stalker!

After I recheck my clothes and equipment, I head to the fireplace where we have our meals as instructed. It was a little bit early so I waited patiently by the campfire. A minute before 11, I could sense a presence approaching. My detection skills have raised several levels compared to when I was in wilderness. I had to learn to detect that mad killer after all, and he is no joke.

Due to relentless hard work, I could finally detect his presence to some extent. But it is still not very practical in combat yet since I had to concentrate real hard. In combat, I had to be able to detect his presences and predict his attacks in order to dodge effectively as fast as my instinct and reflexes go. The higher my reflexes, the higher the capability of my detection skills. As easy as it sounds, it's hard to actually implement.

As we fought day by day, I could gradually comprehend his versatile fighting techniques, feints, habits and attack patterns but my body still could not keep up with them. Even if I spot several weaknesses or opportunity to strike, faster than I could hit, he already moved to defence or counter my attacks. So frustrating!

Rapscallion stood before me. He gestured with his head to follow him so I did as he told. After walking towards the exit from the harbour into a deserted street, he told me to get inside a black car parked there. I opened the car door to get inside when suddenly a loud *pang!* sound was heard and my vision turned dark. I got knocked out again!

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*murmurs*

My eyes twitched in annoyance. My consciousness slowly returns to me. My ears picks up some noise but I could not comprehend what they were saying. I felt my body to be laying on some kind of a soft couch. It has been awhile since I felt such soft material. What bliss!

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Hold on! Now's not the time to feel comfy! I spread out my senses at its peak and could feel two presences near me. Suddenly, I felt my body being lifted up. Wait a second! Where are you taking me?! I felt uneasy but I did not dare to open my eyes.

[I have brought you the kid. I will let you see what this kid is made of, so be sure to fulfil your part of the deal] Rapscallion.

[Hmm! The kid looks promising. Alright. If he satisfies me, you get more than what you are promised!] Unknown presence.

Hey! Hey! What deal?! If it's about me, then should you not include me in the discussion?! I already had enough of surprises! Anyway, it sounds real shady. Well, they are criminals, huh. I continued to feign sleep as Rapscallion brings me to who knows where.

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[Damn it! Damn it all!] Akira. 

Guess where I am. 

In a FREAKING DEATH arena! 

I did NOT signed up for this! Sigh...not that I have any say in anything for that matter. I can only grumble grudgingly and irately at my circumstances.

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It has been a couple of months since Rapscallion dropped me here. I was suddenly told to fight against these criminals in a competition called "Battle of Redemption". Anyone who immobilized or killed an opponent will get redemption for their sins. Meaning some kind of reward and ranking in the criminal list. And with that, comes privileges and respect from fellow criminals.

Here, they have hierarchy in place. The stronger you are, the higher your ranking will be. The higher rank you are in the hierarchy, the higher the fear point (FP) you have. The criminals here are all well-informed of these rankings. Those with high FP were marked red. Meaning they are criminals that you should not mess with. Here, it is the law of survival of the fittest.

In this underground society, which I figured no sooner than 10 minutes after I was brought here, is a haven for criminals, well except for the fact of it being a darker, twisted and crueler version of the "upper society", everything else are about the same. They have libraries, public amenities, administration offices that keeps records of criminals identification and all that shit.

Instead of hotels, there are brothels. They even have schools for children born out of wedlock, production of you know what, to become better criminals than their parents, or whatever mind set these people drilled into them. The schools teach them basic education such as reading, writing, other languages, maths and other subjects that I rather not talk about. Of course most things, books or whatever present here, or should I say ALL of them, were acquired by illegal means or you could just simply say they were stolen and placed here for their use.

The criminals here have an administration office to ensure that all criminals are identified and properly managed other than to avoid spies and sneaky authorities. Obviously, they did not want their safe haven to be found out.

Now, while the "upper society" has what it is called a prime minister, this underground society has one too. That is right, I am talking about the "big bald fat ass guy" that I heard conversing with Rapscallion the first time. He is the richest man here, and the one to put out the missions and bounties for the criminals.

That's how these criminals live and survive in this dump. It is how things work around here, how they fill their plate. The missions ranges from trivia to dangerous ones such as theft, robbery, murder, assassination of the prime ministers and other important looking figures in the "upper society". Funny how I got used to all this, considering where I came from. Perhaps I have been tainted more than I would like to admit. Especially more so since I have long since stop batting an eye when I kill them.

Though I don't go crazy and went for a killing spree. I only kill those that threatened me. I remembered the day I first killed someone.

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*Flashback to first kill*

I was battered and bruised. Not something new. I have been hanging on a lose rope ever since my first match. It made me realize how weak and vulnerable I was compared to these veteran criminals. They know no mercy. Only fear for the strong. So there is only one answer. I have to become stronger than them!

I gripped my knife, blood lust in my eyes, and make a dash towards my opponent with the intent to kill. They are criminals. They have killed countless innocents. What is wrong with me killing them then? Battle of Redemption? Harrumph! I will screw all of you to hell! If the law cannot reach you, I will pass that judgement! I will EXECUTE! While my mind were filled with such thoughts while I was parrying, defending and attacking at my opponent and dashing for the kill, I could hear a faint laughter from afar as my vision of my surroundings grew darker and darker.

[*Laughs* That's it boy, let the darkness embrace you!] Rapscallion.

*Flashback ends*

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That had been my 15th match in the battle of redemption. My previous matches had been lenient. The criminals had a soft spot for children, my best bet since, while they did beaten me brutal and bad, they did not finish me off. Either that, or it was because of Rapscallion.

They probably did not dare to kill the boy raised by the one and only heinous serial killer. After all, Rapscallion is fourth place in the rankings. A huge GAP in strength and prowess. When I was updated in the list the first time, I was naturally the bottom feeder. After many battles and kills for a week, I have only jumped to rank 1086 out of 22043 criminals registered in the underground society.

There are other small fry criminals that were not worth anything to be included in the society. They will only end up dead and increases the number of corpses on the dark streets and alleys. Not that the current odor of the place is any better.

But to jump among the 1000th, the PM was impressed and Rapscallion's mad grin could only grew wider (if that is even possible). I don't know what kind of deal they had, but I definitely do not like it. Not one bit. After a month, I had jumped to 778th, and by now, tribute to Rapscallion merciless training, I am now ranked 416th. And I am a CHILD. When my rank upgraded to this point, the PM had proclaimed my name in the underground society as Emeth, the child assassin.

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Well peaches! That's chapter 3 for ya! Till next time.