Rebecca Lee

Before you read the chapter, just a little note to ask you to read the authors note at the bottom. It's very important that you do as I have made a creative decision you might not know the meaning behind. It's not a spoiler as it's something that will never be explained in the actual story or explored in any form of depth. So please read it.

-X- Line Break -X-

Fighting.

Training.

Sleeping.

Eating.

Surviving.

That was my existence, and it was a fucking awful one. For someone like me who wasn't a huge fan of working too hard, well it wasn't fun at all. In fact, I hated every second of it. But I had to do it, this was a means for me to grow stronger and if I didn't, then my chances of surviving in this world would be impossible.

A good foundation in martial arts would enable me to protect myself should I become exposed to combat. I'd like to avoid it if possible, I'd even like to go on and just become a mage, using magic to cause planetary destruction. But there was always something I had known about mages, one of their biggest weaknesses was close-quarters combat. That was a weakness I couldn't afford, not if I wanted to live. Then again, I'm a perfectionist in a way. Hadn't been previously yet it was something that had developed upon coming to this world.

Crushing the coke can in my hand, I chucked it over my shoulder and shoved my hands in my pockets. I was covered in bruises from my recent training session, but no one paid it any attention.

That was the Inside, no one cared.

And, my reputation preceded me, I was still known throughout as the boy who conquered three of the sectors and disturbed the status quo. But recently I was known for something a little more different, the student of Tokita Niko.

I recognised the name, and it explained why the guy looked familiar. In the story of Kengan Asura and Omega, he only ever appeared in flashbacks I think, and there were very few of them. But I knew of him, the one that trained Ohma's creepy stalker and aided in the death of Ohma's, Tokita Niko. The one who created the Formless style used by Kanoh Agito and the one who created the copy/counter to the Kure Clan, Removal. This was called the Advance.

And lucky me, I was getting taught them all.

The Niko Style, the Formless and the Advance.

He'd only taught me the basics in the months I had been training with him. I had learned all the techniques of the Adamantine, Flame, Redirection and Water Katas. Hadn't mastered them, but I had them all stored in my mind. I had also gained a grasp of the Formless, but once again, hadn't mastered it. The only thing that still eluded me was the Advance, which was something I wanted the most.

I wondered what it would be like if I gained the Advance, and then enhanced it with Magic?

Speaking of which, I still hadn't gained access to it, Magic that is. I had asked Tokita about it, but he had just laughed and called it a useless art. I disagreed, but I wouldn't say as much because I still wanted to learn as much as I could from him.

"Stupid little bitch!" Turning, I looked to see a young girl, about two, possibly three years older than me getting slapped, by a fat, ugly man across the face. She collapsed to the ground with a cry, clutching her bloody and bleeding nose as the man glared down at her. "You had one fucking job! One job! I took you off the streets, I gave you a roof over your head! Food in your belly! Next time I tell you to suck a cock you fucking do it!"

A prostitute then? That made sense, young girls and boys, men and women, people of all ages survived in the Inside by selling themselves. Some willingly and no doubt in the case of the young girl I was looking at, unwillingly.

She was probably being manipulated and abused by her pimp into believing she owed him. Hence why she was remaining so calm, looking up at him with a blanked face look in her eyes as she wiped her bloody nose.

As I went to continue on the street, it was a common sight, so I dismissed it. Or I tried to, it was just a passing thing, the man heading inside leaving the young girl dressed in rags to lay kneeled on the ground. And she looked to me just as I looked back. I don't why I did, couldn't really explain it, but I did.

-X- Line Break -X-

It was cold.

Snow was falling down blanketing the land in a thick blanket of white. The clothes on my back were soaked, the wind making it colder. The simple shirt, with holes in it, covered in sick and cigarette burns. The shorts and the socks with holes around the toes, it was hardly the proper clothing for a child in this weather.

But I was numb to it.

I couldn't feel my fingers. Couldn't feel my feet. Couldn't feel the cold nor the violent shivering of my body.

I didn't try knocking on the door, it was locked, and the people inside wouldn't come out. They never did, not until she was done servicing the men for the evening. There was a few of them today, so she'd make some money.

Money that would be spent on drugs and alcohol.

The door opened, light from the inside bathing me and the garden outside. A rush of warm air came to me, and once again, I was cold. I could feel the shivering of my body, the painful numbness of fingers and toes and I curled tighter into a ball as the footsteps drew closer.

One by one, men stepped out, cursing about the cold.

Some spared me a glance, but simply lit a cigarette, zipped up their coats and trudged through the snow. They never looked back once they did, never extended a hand, but I didn't expect them to. They never had before so why would it change now?

That's when a hand reached out, a bruising grip as I was ragged inside, the door slamming shut.

-X- Line Break -X-

My steps halted, and I released a sigh.

Turning around I saw the man previously stepping out, another man, a customer no doubt handing him over some money before walking towards the young girl on the floor. There was a leering, lusting look in his eye.

And before I knew it, I had closed the distance between us and leapt onto the man shoulders. 'Tesshi (Iron Fingers)' I thought, jabbing my right index finger into the man's neck. There was a pause the warm blood coating my finger as it dribbled out, the man choking. I looked down, the young girl looking up at me with wide, confused eyes.

Then I ripped my finger out, blood spurting everywhere as the man collapsed face-first into the ground.

"W-what the fuck?! What the fuck have you done?!" The owner of the brothel exclaimed in shock, more than a few people looking at me. I turned my head, seeing him fumble in his pocket, it didn't take a genius to figure out what he was reaching for, everyone Inside possessed one.

'Rekka (Raging Fire)' Digging my toes into the ground, I burst off using one of the techniques of the Flame Kata and blitzed towards the man. In an instant I was there, right in front of him, fist drawn back. 'Shuntetsu Sen (Raging Fire Pierce)'

As I thrust my fist forwards, I extended one finger and pierced it directly into the chest of the man. Passing through the gaps in his ribs and stabbing them into his heart.

Each of these were techniques used by the Niko Style.

The Iron Finger, an aspect of the Adamantine Kata.

Raging Fire, an aspect of the Flame Kata.

Raging Fire Pierce, a combination technique between Raging Fire and Indestructible. A combination between the Flame and Adamantine Katas. The two Katas I was most advanced in.

That was when the screams started, a prostitute on a higher floor that was no doubt warning the guards inside. Which by the fact that I heard movement rushing down the stairs, told me that they were coming to see and no doubt, kill me. So, grabbing hold of the young girl's hand, I dragged her to her feet and rushed down the street.

-X- Line Break -X-

Coming to a stop in a nearby alleyway, I dumped the girl on the ground and looked out, seeing a few men questioning people, all heading in the opposite direction to where we were currently. Turning back, I slid down the floor and looked across at the ten-year-old girl who was looking at me in confusion.

"What?" I asked.

"Why did you…"

"I have no fucking clue." I interrupted, looking away with a frown. Why did I save her? I didn't know and I didn't like it. She's not even real so why did I give a fuck about what happened to her?

"Thank you." I scoffed, spitting on the floor as I got to my feet, my frown growing deeper as I looked at the blood on my clothes.

"I'm not some fucking hero, so don't say thank you. You're on your own now anyway, I want nothing more to do with you. I've done my good deed for the day and I'm not doing anymore." Shoving my hands back in my pockets, I walked back onto the streets leaving the girl where she was.

Why the fuck did I save her?

That wasn't like me at all, I didn't give a fuck about people and certainly not people that lived in an anime world. I didn't kill those in the place and no matter what I said, it wouldn't have changed anything. But I was fine with letting them die because I thought at that time, it was a test. I agreed because I thought that was my only way to prove myself to Saechōrō and gain access to magic and proper training.

It was all about survival of the fittest and I wanted to survive more than anything in this world. If playing the hero would have gotten me what I wanted, I would have done it. If saving those on that plane would have gotten me what I wanted, I would have done it.

Good, evil, hero, villain. They were just acts, performances that I would put on to gain the most profit. I didn't believe in any of that shit, never had and never would.

But what I did just then, there was no profit to gain from that. There was just a loss.

So why did I do it?

-X- Line Break -X-

She was a prostitute in the Inside, a former rape victim at the hands of police and the daughter of an abusive father. She was also a rat that had been saved by a young boy who killed two men and dragged her to safety.

Looking down at her hands, her dried blood still coating them, she looked up when she noticed a shadow engulf her form. Looking up, she saw a young black man, muscular and bald-headed, clad in a flak jacket, cargo pants and military boots. A cigarette was in his mouth as he crouched down, presenting to her a handkerchief.

"Names Dutch." Hesitantly, the young girl took the handkerchief and dabbed at her nose, getting rid of the blood stuck to it. "What's your name, kid?"

"Rebecca." She responded quietly. "Rebecca Lee."