Only I Am A Reader-Chapter 552: First Hit

New Enigma City.

"Have you heard? There…"

"Oh yes, it's certainly…"

The perfect haven created for awakened and normal people alike, and also the safest place on Earth.

As long as one could afford it, they could practically recreate any random thought they had. In short, all wants and desires had no limits.

Still, simple and cheap habits like wandering around with friends were still pretty popular, especially since the central parts of New Enigma City lacked the ugliness of the modern world.

"Alright, I will have to take a detour through here, I need to pick up my son."

Just like a certain protagonist envisioned, this was a society where a collage of select people controlled the flow of power. Not everyone who had an ability could run free with it.

Rules had to be followed. Otherwise, an endless stream of Heroes would be out to get you!

"Sure, I will hail a cab, call me when you want to go out again."

"Yeah."

Of course, that was just the facade that the majority of the world believed in, and a middle-aged woman who believed in this facade was now cutting through a very dark alley.

"Hello?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

She thought she saw something moving, but when she turned to look, nothing was there. However…

"Hehehe…"

Now, a completely covered-up figure was standing behind her. With red eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth, it looked more like a monster.

"Aaah-"

Turning back to be on her way, the woman finally saw the terror, but she couldn't do much before a hand decorated with sharp claws covered her face.

"Shhhh."

The reality was often different from what the public believed in. It was just that the only ones who were aware of this face were those who had already experienced loss due to their initial beliefs.

Soon, this woman's family was bound to learn that evil always lurked in the shadows, especially in a city where a different kind of evil held the reins.

"I also like silence, but don't you think you are overdoing it?"

Fortunately for her, evil wasn't the only thing around. These specific shadows were also inhabited by a new villain-turned-vigilante!

The monster-like figure turned around only to find a figure wearing a similar outfit also standing behind him. For a moment, its red eyes froze in confusion.

Was its mind playing tricks on it? Or was there some strange costume party close by? Perhaps… Was this a person with the ability to copy the appearance of others?

However, the monster-like figure soon dismissed the latest thought. Aside from the body covering outfit itself, the person wearing it had normal eyes and teeth. If he could copy something, he could copy clothes at best.

"Aren't you too careless?"

The monster-like figure finally made up its mind to smack this clown away for ruining its fun. It first had to handle the exquisite prey in front of it. However, the arm that it intended to raise was nowhere to be seen

"Huh?"

Only as the cold eyes in front of it shone in ghastly purple did the monster-like figure realize that its arm had fallen to the ground. All that was left from it was a short stump and a ton of blood.

"Ahhhhhhhh…"

The monster-like figure exploded into an even worse cry than the woman tried to let out earlier. At this point, it could instinctively tell that the strangely similar pattern wasn't a coincidence.

The monster-like figure could tell that it was this person's target, he appeared behind it… Or rather 'him', on purpose.

"Murder Beast. An unsightly clown who takes pleasure in haunting the night, he uses his monster transformation ability to bring out the utmost fear from his prey before killing them to immortalize them as masterpieces… Am I right so far?"

Having his identity dismantled right in front of him, the disguise that removed all fear from the man-beast's heart was failing to do its job.

"It's all a big joke to you, no?"

At this moment, the man-beast completely forgot about his target, he just wanted to run away as far as possible, but for some reason, his legs were unable to move.

"Let's make a joke of you then."

With his entire body frozen like this, the man-beast felt a powerful sting in his abdomen, before he knew it a dark blade was already embedded in his stomach.

"Uh- Uh-"

"So how does becoming my art subject feel like? Have you reached your utmost threshold of fear yet?"

He had been stabbed, he could already feel the sword protruding from his back!

"Do you think it would be right to end your misery right now? Or do you prefer a few finishing touches to make you into a true masterpiece?"

"Aaaaah!"

Without any further comments, the man-beast screamed in terror before he collapsed on the ground, his eyes rolling back as his transformation deactivated.

'Fainting just from this? What a pathetic scarecrow.'

"Aaa-"

Seeing her attacker fall to the ground, the middle-aged woman was about to unleash a larger scream, but a shadow tendril went ahead and sealed her mouth before Leo smiled at her.

"Don't worry, he isn't dead. He was only scared to death, almost."

In reality, most of what happened just now was just an extreme illusion. Leo merely gave the man-beast a surface wound on his abdomen, the rest was showmanship created from a concoction of intangible shadows and fear hallucinations.

Someone like the Ability Eraser had to die, but Leo wasn't going to run around killing whoever he found guilty. In order to maintain his psyche, he couldn't allow himself to have this much freedom.

'Taking one arm as well as his ability should be enough.'

Of course, he still made good use of the Ability Eraser's legacy. Leo wasn't sure how the police would handle him, but he was confident that this man-beast would no longer prowl around his territory.

[ Plot Change confirmed. Unique Event occurrence has been detected. ]

[ You have received 49 Reading Points. ]

[ Repeatable Quest Bonus applied, you have received an additional 49 Reading Points. ]

"Here, you can give this to the police after calling them."

After tying up the helpless clown, Leo gave a picture of his transformation to the middle-aged woman before disappearing into the shadows once more…