System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 29: Next in Line

The rest of Damon’s watch passed quietly.

Other than occasional low growls from outside, ones that didn’t even require his attention, he simply sat in silence until it was his time to rest. Victor was the next in line for the watch, followed by Ivy. The whole night went fast as no enemies dared to disturb their rest.

The three of them left as soon as the morning came, heading straight toward the Central Station.

Damon filled Victor in on what they were going to do next while Ivy lagged a few meters behind, likely wanting some time alone as they travelled. Damon felt that it wasn’t his place to share Ivy’s loss, so he only told his scrawny companion what he needed to know.

The journey, however, wasn’t as peaceful as their night had been. The city streets were filled with undead humans. But with their levels being extremely low compared to Damon and even Ivy, the few dozen monsters that stood in their way were nothing more than light work. Damon didn’t even break a sweat as he disposed of a dozen undead humans in seconds, his tachi whistling through the air with deadly precision.

The atmosphere in the group was rather mixed. Victor, who was unaware of Ivy’s situation and who levelled up after Damon allowed him to deal last hits to a few of the undead humans, was gleeful throughout the journey. On the other hand, Ivy was deadly silent, speaking only when necessary and avoiding eye contact as if regretful about her oversharing.

Damon’s mood remained neutral. He spent most of the walk talking to Kitsune in his head, who was asking a lot of questions about the evolution of his class.

Suddenly, just as they were a corner away from the entrance to South Court Station, they heard a commotion.

"P-Please i’ll do whatever-"

"You fool. Do you know how long I waited for my turn? Shut up and die already!"

Damon exchanged a quick glance with Ivy and Victor before charging over the corner. The moment they stepped out of the building’s edge, they saw a scrawny man lying on the ground, his arms raised in a defensive position, while above him stood a broad-shouldered man, holding an axe raised high.

The man’s head whipped around as he heard their upcoming footsteps. The moment his eyes landed on them, Damon felt a faint recognition, and after a second of thought, he realised he had met him before.

"Isn’t that the guard who charged us an entrance fee?" Damon asked Victor in a low tone.

"It is," Victor replied with a bewildered look on his face.

The guard frowned as he looked at them before speaking.

"Get lost before I-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a wave of fire roared to life, coming straight at him.

He barely stepped out of the way, half of his body sizzling as the fire caught it.

Damon didn’t linger either. He was already moving, his tachi whistling through the air as it struck the axe out of the man’s hand.

The guard tried to retaliate with a fist, but before he could reach Damon, a sudden kick dropped him to the ground.

"What the hell do you want?" the guard asked between his coughs.

"What did you mean by turn?"

Only now did the guard take a proper look and realised he had seen both Damon and Victor before.

"You’re from the station?" the guard scoffed, "Do you know what he’ll do to you for this? I have his permission, you lot are as good as dead!"

"Permission? What the hell are you talking about?"

The guard looked at Damon with a perplexed expression.

"What? You don’t know? There is order to these things! You know how hard I worked for my first kill? I had to bring him ten people before I got one!"

Damon’s blood ran cold. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could ask a question of his own, Ivy beat him to it.

"Why?"

The guard looked at her as if she had asked the most ridiculous question.

"Why? Do you know how many experience points killing a human gives? There’s no point hunting monsters-"

The man didn’t get to finish his sentence as her flames engulfed him. His words turned to a scream before his scorched body slumped to the ground.

The scrawny man on the ground scrambled backwards, staring at the charred corpse with wide eyes before turning to Ivy.

"Thank you! Thank you!" He shouted as he was already running before anyone could respond, disappearing around the nearby corner.

Damon, however, didn’t even register his words or his sudden leave. His thoughts were lost on something else, something the now-dead guard had said.

People were hunting other people for experience points.

The idea didn’t sound as far-fetched as one would think. People would do all kinds of crazy things when put in difficult scenarios. But what did make his heart drop was the man’s words about permission.

There was an order to how they killed other humans, and there was a permission which one had to get. And through it all, Damon saw only one person in charge of the Central Station... Kade.

"Damon?" Victor’s voice snapped Damon out of his daze.

He turned to see both Ivy and Victor staring at him. Damon took one last glance at the scorched corpse before turning toward the South Court station.

"Let’s go." His voice sounded unusually cold. So much so that Victor didn’t even ask the questions burning in his head, and instead, simply followed in silence just as Ivy did.

It took no more than fifteen minutes until they finally reached the end of the tunnel leading to Central Station. Unlike before, there were no guards waiting to collect rift shards. In the same way, there were no people on the platform beyond the tunnel, only empty corridors and desolate space.

Damon, however, didn’t pay it any mind. A frown began to form on his face the closer they got, and soon enough, as they reached the top of the stairs and entered the commercial floor.

The human population at the Central Station was significantly lower. The countless stands with goods were at least half of what they were. The foot traffic too had dropped, at least the foot traffic of ordinary people, as the amount of those in armour and carrying weapons seemed about the same.

A few moments passed until their arrival began to get looks. Whispers began to form among ordinary people at first, but then they spread to the guards, who quickly gathered.

"We seem... unwelcome," Ivy murmured, more to herself than to anyone in particular.

Damon didn’t reply as he noticed as much. ’Do they know about the guard’s death?’

"Damon, it’s been a while" A sudden voice cut through the floor.

Everyone’s gaze snapped toward the direction of the familiar sound to see Kade, standing in full body armour, holding a greathelm in one arm and a chained mace in the other.

Beside him stood two men.

One Damon had never seen before but the second one...

The temperature in the entire floor raised suddenly. To Damon’s left, flames began to dance around Ivy’s palms as she stared needles into the man who had injured her a day prior.

"Casper."