A Black Market LitRPG

The arena devolved into a frenzy, the audience thinking that the ensuing fight was part of the show. The fence surrounding the ring shook violently, the crowd cheering on the Ilysian Punk Guards and Sasha. Everyone was here to see blood.

Sasha deftly avoided the first lunge, parrying with her arm and twisting her body to deliver an elbow strike right into the first Punk’s head. An arctech aura burst out from her right hand, increasing the force of the strike and snapping his neck instantly, killing him.

The other two guards fared no better, being eliminated with precision punches all aimed at their heads. Makoa’s eyes squinted, before motioning for more guards to attack her. Who is this girl? Did the Wretches finally send one of their famed assassins?

However, Makoa noted that the fight was not just happening in the ring, but on the exits as well, with random audience members fighting against the Ilysian Punk guards. The audience members were well equipped – arctech equipment hidden underneath their clothes augmenting their strength and skills.

Makoa quickly grabbed an arctech radio handed over by a servant, barking into it: “Observers, where the fuck are the Seven Snakes now!?”

[Boss, we’ve spotted Damian at the food market, and Kyle was last seen eight hours ago coming out of the factory, but he headed into one of their dummy bases.]

Then who the hell is attacking us now?! “What are you idiots doing? Swarm them now!” Makoa roared, spurring the remaining Ilysian Guards to move down to apprehend Sasha. He also began to leave the VIP section, heading towards the armoury to gear up.

Sasha exhaled slowly, having defeated the three guards. She could already see the rest of her strike team stirring up a fight amongst the crowd against the other Ilysian Punks. Glancing up again at the VIP section, she noticed that Makoa was now missing. [Sir, target on the move.]

[Priority is to rescue Keith. Most likely Makoa will protect Keith.] Kyle replied over the wireless communication engraving.

Sasha nodded to herself, noticing two more Ilysian Punks geared with basic armour and swords, charging towards her. She nimbly avoided the first swing, pushing out with her palm against the lower chin of the first Punk, slamming his jaw into his skull and sending him spiralling onto the ground.

A sword swing swiped across her head as she instinctively ducked and spun around in a crouching position, delivering a strong kick to the shin and cracking the bone within. The second Punk screamed out in pain before Sasha recovered to a standing position and elbowed the Punk right in the face, causing him to stagger back and drop his sword.

Sasha picked up the sword and immediately slashed his neck before moving towards the fighters’ entrance, entering the hallways. As she turned a corner, an Ilysian Punk ambushed her, throwing a punch that shot straight at her face, but she spiralled to the side before slashing off the arm in one fell swoop, followed by a forward stab into the Punk’s neck.

“Who the fuck are you!” One of the Ilysian Punks yelled out from across the hallway, armed with a repeating crossbow aimed at her. He fired off two shots in succession, but Sasha simply used one hand to lift the dead body of the Ilysian Punk she just killed, using him as a pincushion as she charged forward.

Before the crossbow user could retreat, Sasha used all her strength to fling the dead body at him, slamming into him and causing him to fall over onto the floor.

In a blink, Sasha was already on top of him, stabbing downwards into his vitals in rapid fashion. She grabbed the repeating crossbow and the pack of bolts, running down the hallway and checking for Keith.

Sasha assumed that the holding cells were located below, so she took the first staircase she found that led downwards. However, as she stepped off the first flight of steps, a resounding crack echoed through the entire stairwell, causing the concrete below her to collapse.

The fall had her crash into a pile of rubble below as the soot and dust kicked up all over the base floor, obscuring her vision. Sasha quickly recovered, instinctively blocking a metallic fist aimed straight at her torso with her sword, which broke in half from the sheer strength.

Another metallic fist came swooping in fast, nailing Sasha right in the exposed ribs and sending her flying into the wall with a loud thud, her bones fracturing internally as her body slumped to the ground.

“For an assassin, you’re doing a piss poor job. Seven Snakes did not pay you enough to afford arctech equipment?” Makoa grinned as he moved towards Sasha. Arcia engravings on the surface of his two metallic gauntlets glowed purple and churned as the arcite fuel pack strapped to his belt gurgled away, feeding the gauntlets through pipes.

Makoa could tell that Sasha had no obvious arctech equipment on her save for the stolen crossbow, which made him let his guard down. However, a sudden green aura surged from the base of her spine, healing her bones and damaged muscles at a visible rate. Makoa quickly lunged to attack, but Sasha was already anticipating it, diving out of the way and performing a rolling recovery into a fighting posture.

“What the…?” Makoa was confused, but he was not given the time to comprehend what had happened, Sasha immediately firing off the remainder of the crossbow bolts before tossing it away and charging with two knives previously hidden in her clothes. Makoa raised his gauntlets in a defensive posture to block the bolts, one of it which lodged into his thigh.

Sasha tried to dash in close to stab Makoa, but a single swing of the gauntlets forced Sasha to back away lest she got slammed into the wall again. While she had an healing engraving on her back, it took arcia energy to activate it – using too much would cause her stamina to plummet.

“Bitch!” Makoa roared as he threw straights and hooks at Sasha, who sidestepped most of them, the two of them dancing in circles on the uneven pile of rubble. As Sasha ducked to avoid yet another swing, she kicked a loose stone in the pile of rubble with all her might, dislodging it.

Makoa stepped forward, only to find himself falling over as the rubble beneath him began to slide down. Sasha quickly dashed forward with her knives, activating their engravings to slash at the now exposed pipes between the arcite fuel pack and gauntlets.

The pipes flailed wildly as they were chopped off, spilling arcite fuel that sprayed all over the area, coating it with a distinct smell and colour. Makoa landed on his back as well, crushing the fuel pack under his own weight. “URGH!”

Before Sasha could close in for the final blow, Makoa suddenly aimed the glowing gauntlet at her, which fired off like a rocket towards her. The unexpected movement caught her off-guard, the gauntlet slamming right into her guts and pushing her back into the pile of rubble.

Makoa grunted as he stood back up, removing his now-dead gauntlets and tossing them off into the puddle of arcia fuel. “Looks like I won’t have the chance to interrogate you.” Makoa retrieved a match from his belt, lighting it and flinging it into the puddle before retreating down into the basement.

The arcia fuel erupted into flames, burning straight towards Sasha, who was still badly hurt. Makoa did not stay around to make sure she died, instead focusing on his own survival. Shit, I lost my arctech equipment – at least I still have my belt. I have to get out of here, along with Keith!

Makoa rushed down the basement, passing by countless holding cells where traitors, slaves, enforcers were held. They were all shocked at the condition of Makoa, a sliver of hope appearing in their heart.

Makoa ignored them, heading straight for the holding cell of Keith, where the captain and the two guards positioned to guard him were already waiting for him. “Boss, what’s the plan now?”

“Give me your arctech radio!” Makoa snatched the radio away from the captain. “This is Makoa Montoga. Get a wagon up to exit C right now!”

[Yes boss!]

“Grab the prisoner, we need him alive as a hostage. You, follow me. You two, head down that way and make sure every attacker is dead! Don’t let anyone through the fire!”

The two guards nodded, rushing off while the captain hoisted the unconscious Keith on his shoulder, making a beeline for their secret exit. It was a long underground tunnel that led to an alleyway exit one block away.

As they reached the end of the underground tunnel, a large metallic door awaited them. Makoa quickly rushed to the door, tapping on it with a secret pattern. However, there was no reply from the other side. The captain grimaced as Makoa gave him a knowing look, prompting the captain to retrieve his arctech pistol at the ready.

Makoa retrieved a master key from his belt, unlocking the metallic door from his side. Makoa pushed the door outwards in a rapid swing, with the captain immediately clearing the room with the arctech pistol. None of the guards stationed here was found anywhere, the room was completely empty. The sounds of rain could be heard echoing down a short stairwell that led to the street level.

“You, go check if the area is clear. Hand me the prisoner.” Makoa motioned to the captain, who complied with the order. The captain stepped up silently with trepidation, wary of his surroundings. He peeked his head out of the entrance, noticing the alleyway to be completely empty and devoid of the two guards that should be nearby.

He waited for a minute, before realizing there was truly no one around. A rumbling sound of an arctech wagon could be heard pulling up to the exit of the alleyway, with the captain squinting. He spotted the emblem of the Ilysian Punks on the wagon, signalling to Makoa that it was all clear.

“About damn time.” Makoa grunted as he hoisted Keith’s limp body up, jogging towards the wagon with the captain. The driver was already waiting for them at the front. They tossed the body into the back before hopping on themselves. “Go now! What are you waiting for!”

“Yes sir!” The driver anxiously stepped on the pedal, but before he could turn the steering wheel, a loud bang and a subsequent whizzing sound was accompanied by the shattering of glass.

“What the fuck?!” Makoa could only say those words as the driver fell over onto the steering wheel, his feet still on the pedal as the wagon veered off the street and slammed into the wall of a building, frightening the residents within, who barricaded their doors quickly.

The bang frightened the pedestrians on the street as well, causing them to flee in all directions or take cover in one of the nearby buildings.

The crash nearly concussed Makoa, but he was quick to recover. He slapped the unconscious captain awake. “Get up idiot! We’re under attack!”

“wh-What?! From where?!”

“Get out there and find out!” Makoa ordered him, with the captain immediately complying. The moment the captain stepped out of the wagon however, another loud bang was heard, this time followed by the squelching sounds of brain and meat as a hole was drilled through the head of the captain, his body crumpling backwards to the ground instantly.

Makoa was shocked. A pistol? No, a musket. Or a cannon. But from where?!

He patted his belt, checking and making sure it was still working. Grabbing Keith’s body, he held him as a hostage, stepping out of the wagon slowly. “I DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, BUT IF YOU TRY ANYTHING I’LL SNAP HIS NECK!” Makoa roared out into the open, his eyes frantically darting around trying to find the shooter.

No one replied, which gave Makoa even more confidence as he started to retreat into the alleyway. This way, he only has one angle to shoot me. However, before he could step back, a loud bang had a spiralling metallic ball projectile the size of a marble slammed into Makoa.

His belt activated, a personal energy shield suddenly protecting him.

However, the force sent Makoa stumbling backwards, causing him to drop Keith onto the floor with a thud. As he staggered back, two more shots were fired at him, depleting the energy shield and knocking him back even further. The belt vibrated violently, the shield flickering. Makoa’s eyes widened as he realized his shield was about to dissipate.

Fuck the hostage, I have to survive myself!

He quickly sprinted down the alleyway and disappeared, leaving Keith on the floor. Soon, the sniper revealed himself to be Kyle, walking up to the unconscious body of Keith and checking his pulse. Kyle noticed the numerous slash marks on Keith’s face, hands and legs, whipped till the skin was raw.

He glanced down the alleyway, noticing he would not be able to catch up with Makoa. The energy shield... Yet another heritage from the Galactic Era. It seems Versia is where I should be finding my answers.

[Sasha, I have Keith on me.]

Back in the collapsed stairwell, the two Ilysian Punks ordered by Makoa to clear out the base watched the raging fire. “Makoa said not to let anyone through the fire, but how is anyone going to clear this?”

Just as he finished the sentence, a human figure suddenly leapt through the fire, slamming straight into one of the punks. “GAH!” The punk gasped as he was knocked onto the floor. Before the other punk could react, a glowing right fist was already in front of his face, pummeling him right into his nose bridge with a followup uppercut, dealing a severe concussion.

The first punk struggled to see who attacked him, only to see a lady with her clothes half burnt, along with burn marks across her face healing at a visible rate. Her skin was already cauterized by the severe burns, the gaps revealing the bloodied throbbing flesh beneath. “Mon-mon-monster!“

Sasha walked up to kick his head with as much force as possible, snapping the neck in a single instant. [Do we retreat now?] Sasha replied on the wireless channel mentally, using the effects of the Designate Follower skill engraved onto the back of her neck.

[No. Kill everyone. Not a single Ilysian Punk gets out alive.]