Kyrs was annoyed beyond words. What's up with those youngsters? Do they not know how business is done? 50% was more than enough, especially considering that he was the one providing them with the opportunity on top of having done the more difficult part all on his own.

'Damn it…'

He tried to distract himself by thinking about how this was the easiest money he had made in his life. Two bags of cash walked right into his shop. They let their guards down and didn't even notice when he turned off the air conditioning and started pumping the sleeping gas into the room. He was waiting on the 20K ransom he demanded for their release. Once it was in his pock, All he has to do now is Dive into their NIMs while they were asleep and send messages saying they had been released.

Crouching down, he took hold of the handle attached to the round hatch. That thing was more than a little heavy, so he hated having to open it each time. Beyond it was the secret prison sell he sometimes keeps people in before ripping out their bionics. One of his previous victims managed to escape one time, and ever since, Kyrs had made a habit of locking the hatch from the outside.

Of course, things were different this time. His captives were both Level 0 Basics. They had no bionics to speak of, and they certainly weren't Genomes or Sorcerers. Just in case, he had tied both their arms and legs using cuffs capable of restraining Level 2 Cyborgs, and he had checked on them not that long ago. It was impossible for them to escape in that time when they had nothing they could use.

An audible click informed him that the lock was now open, and so he began pulling on the hatch. Just as he got it halfway up, it suddenly jumped at him, slamming him in the face.

~[ ]~

Oliver debated whether to go back to the room where Bella was waiting and lay his ambush there, or charge head first at his captor and the bounty hunters waiting for the chance to claim his life. Though the former choice was clearly the right one, he still picked the latter, and the reason was beyond even him.

Holding onto one of the bars stuck to the wall, he pressed his feet against the hatch and waited for the moment it would be unlocked. That position was far from comfortable, so he was thankful that the short, hairy man didn't take his sweet time.

Kicking the hatch with both legs, Oliver tucked them back in then launched himself upward, exiting the hole in one smooth motion. Landing right beside it, he took in the surroundings in one look, capturing everything before making his next choice.

The two bounty hunters were stunned for an instant but drew their weapons in the next. By the time they took aim and fired the first shot, Oliver had already rolled behind a nearby stack of crates, miraculously evading the gunfire. He reached up and grabbed the first thing he touched, which turned out to be some mechanical part the function of which he didn't know.

Not that it mattered.

Oliver tossed the cylinrical part at the two bounty hunters, somehow making the arch gentle enough for it to reach them without hitting the ceiling. At the same time, he was already on the move, circling to the other side of the crates while the bounty hunters were busy looking at his projectile.

At the time, Oliver hadn't realized it, but his perception was much higher than usual, and his reflexes improved to match that change. Because of that, he was able to close the distance between him and his opponents, positioning himself at just the right angle for one of them to be in the line of fire of the second one.

The two were both cyborgs, though likely low Level ones as indicated by the bad state of their bionics. That didn't stop them from showing off their modified metallic arms and chest plates.

Though caught by surprise, the first cyborg still managed to get his gun in the right direction and pulled the trigger. The shot came close to blowing a hole in Oliver's head, but he was already out of the way by the time it reached him. In his panic, the cyborg fired two more shot, not even coming close to hitting his target, and that's because he was way too close.

'This will definitely hurt...'

Beside Soul Manifestation, the one thing Oliver has yet to get a good grasp on was parrying. It was an essential part of the martial arts style he was being forced to learn, but because his teacher had alloy arms, he didn't have that many chances to learn it. He has yet to learn how to counter properly for the same reason, and if it weren't for Riot being there, he would have been stuck at the evading stage for a while longer. That had to change, however.

Oliver braced himself, blocking the natural responses of his body as he proceeded to punch the first cyborg in the face. That did very little damage, but he didn't stop. The cyborg swung his gun at him, but Oliver's left arm shot up, striking the bastard's wrist at the right moment, sending it flying away.

Bionic hands were supposed to have a better grip than normal hands, but maybe because of its low quality, the cyborg's loosened from the blow, enough for the gun to slip and continue on its path upward. Oliver caught sight of it in the periphery of his vision, but he didn't rush to grab it.

Two punches to the face to the face, one for each shoulder, then three to the stomach, followed by one to the chin. It felt as if he was hitting a sheet of metal, one that wasn't thick enough to break his bones from the impact alone, but painful nonetheless. Oliver experienced the gut turning sting of each blow, yet he never flinched, chaining more blows into his combo before reaching up and grabbing the gun that had begun to fall.

The second cyborg was already on the move. With his companion struggling to brush off the effects of an attack that should have one no damage to him, the second stepped back then to the side, putting himself at the right angle to shoot. What he didn't expect was to be met with a gun barrel to the head. No. To his eye. His right eye.

There was no reacting his way out of that situation, and Oliver knew that. The short distance meant that he didn't have to worry about the accuracy of his aim, and considering the quality of both cybors's bionics, it was unlikely that either of them could afford to get optical implants.

BLAM

A single bullet entered the second cyborg, but it didn't come out from the other side, the alloy plating he reinforced his skull with trapping it inside. Oliver turned his attention to the first right away, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up. He shoved the gun into his open mouth without hesitation, and the next moment, the cyborg's brain exploded, the splash painting the ceiling.

Dead. Both of them.

Oliver didn't bother to look at the two cyborgs, his disinterest showing in the way he turned in a certain direction right away. He whipped the gun in that same direction and shot at the rat crawling on the floor. Unfortunately, the rat scurried away just in time to evade the bullet.

Slowly lowering his arm, Oliver took a step back then walked, stepping between the two corpses without looking down.

"By the way, how long were we out of it?" He asked in light tone, and listening to him, one would never believe that he had just killed two people.

"Wha-…. you…"

BLAM

Another bullet took flight, though it wasn't intended to hit a specific target. Oliver kept his gaze on the source of the voice as he walked, but not before stopping to pick up the second gun.

"Did you claim the ransom money already?"

BLAM

"I hope it was worth it, Kyrs. I really hope it was."

BLAM BLAM

"None of this had to happen, you know? You could've just sold us the gun and we would have been on our way. Heck, you could've used asked us to put in a good word for you. I hear the boss has a lot of random stuff he wants to sell."

"Really now?"

A strange distortion twisted Oliver's vision, and a screen popped up, informing him that something was attempting to access his NIM remotely. The distortion was gone right away, and the screen was replaced by another one confirming that the Dive attempt had been blocked.

Considering the more bloody rumors surrounding the Red Demon, a lot of people tend to forget his second moniker and why he earned it. One of the thing all members of Inferno got upon joining the gang was an upgrade to the software in their NIMs that fortifies their defenses and prevent malicious Diving attempts. The Cyberpunk was used to incapacitating people through the implant, so he made sure that the same couldn't be done to his underlings.

"C'mon, Kyrs. No need to make things difficult." Oliver fired two more shots. "I'll make it quick so-"

CLICK

The faint sound announced the emptiness of the gun's magazine, and as if it were a signal, the hairy man jumped out of his hiding spot, grinning as he aimed a rifle. That grin vanished as he witnessed the darkness that lies at the end of a gun's metallic cylinder.

BLAM