My Apocalypse System Awakened Five Years Early

Blake, the Boss of the Scorpio gang, and Damien, the Boss of the Corals gang, walked inside the building and took the stairs to the roof.

Blake was a tall man of a chocolate color, his eyes sharp yellow like those of a wolf, and his buzzed white hair had cuts running across the sides.

He wore black boots and pants with an open white jacket that exposed his upper body covered with inked tattoos, and a heavy gold chain dangling around his neck.

Damien, on the other hand, had braided shoulder-length black hair, and he donned a purple two-piece suit over a black shirt and a modest silver chain around his neck.

Unlike Mercy and Blake, Damien seemed more like a businessman than a gang boss, and maybe that’s the image he wanted others to have.

"I was having a good day, and both of you ruined it by showing those faces to me," Mercy muttered with a disgusted look on his face.

Blake didn’t react to his demeaning words.

Meanwhile, Damien shot him a glare and spat, "It must be horrifying for you to look at your own face in the mirror, then."

Mercy’s face twisted, and he growled, "You—"

However, before he could finish, Blake’s deep voice cut him off.

"Have you come here to play around?"

Mercy and Damien looked at him with frowns, and the former muttered, "Then tell us why you called us for the meeting."

The monthly meeting wasn’t compulsory unless one of them asked for it, and if someone did, then all of them had to join it no matter what.

That was one of the rules set up by the Bruma Syndicate when they had given them the night market.

"I was getting to it," Blake said as he stepped away and the person who had accompanied him as his guard stepped forward.

The moment he did, both Mercy and Damien frowned deeply, and the former asked with a confused expression, "Who is this kid?"

The person accompanying Blake was a teenager and one that Klaus had met before.

’Why are you here?’ Klaus frowned behind his mask. ’Erick...’

The teenager was none other than Erick Elten, the young brother of Dustin Elten and the one who had been acting stupid in the police station.

Erick smiled at the two gang bosses and said, "I am Erick Elten, and I’ve come here to talk to you both on behalf of the syndicate."

Mercy and Damien looked at Blake, and he nodded toward them, confirming Erick’s words were true.

’The syndicate?’ Klaus narrowed his eyes. ’So all of that was an act?’

Remembering Dustin, who still hadn’t been found, a terrifying possibility formed in his mind.

’There’s no way, right...?’ Klaus’s eyes darkened.

"W-Why are you here?" Mercy asked while peeking at the masked man from the corner of his eye.

Erick crossed his arms behind his back and asked while strolling across the roof, "Do you know why the Bruma Syndicate was formed?"

Everyone stayed silent as none of them knew the answer.

Erick chuckled. "Of course you don’t. The previous syndicate head, my uncle, killed everyone who knew."

"You don’t mean..." Mercy’s eyes widened, and Damien’s face darkened.

"Oh no. I am not the syndicate head. I am just a member," Erick quickly cleared up the misunderstanding and answered the question from before.

"Anyway. On the surface, the syndicate had been formed to stop other corporations and conglomerates from taking a piece of the Golden City."

"However, the actual reason for its creation was to take care of anything or anyone that could become an obstacle for my father, who dreamt of becoming a board member."

His smile widened. "And now he has what he always wanted."

Suddenly, he frowned and clicked his tongue a few times in pity.

"Unfortunately, he no longer has something he cared for much more than that dream. Someone he could pass his legacy to. His lovable son and my elder brother. It’s a pity that he still hasn’t found him."

’What a psycho,’ Klaus remarked inwardly.

By listening to Erick’s words, Klaus was entirely sure that he had a hand in Dustin’s disappearance and was playing a fool to throw everyone off his back.

"What does that have to do with the meeting?" Damien asked with an irritated expression. He had come here for the meeting, not to hear a crazy kid talk about the past.

Erick turned to him with a faint smile and tilted his head. "I just wanted to make the mood perfectly gloomy for the announcement."

Mercy glanced at Klaus for a moment and took a step to the side as he asked somberly, "What announcement?"

Erick frowned. "Why do you both keep ruining the mood with your questions? Just because you are gang bosses doesn’t mean you have to act like dumbasses, right?"

The two of them frowned and fell silent. Even though they wanted to retort, they couldn’t. Erick was here on behalf of the syndicate; any wrong move could cost them their life.

"Finally!" Erick clapped once. "The mood is set."

He turned to Blake and grinned. "From this moment, the night market solely belongs to the Scorpio gang!"

Everyone except Blake and Klaus froze and mumbled under their breath, "What?!"

"Shocking, isn’t it?" Erick chuckled and stepped behind Blake.

"Why are you doing this?" Damien asked, his voice desperate.

Erick met his gaze and said with a tilted head, "I have no reason to explain it to you."

He patted Blake’s back and commanded, "Kill them."

"W-What?" Damien stammered and turned to Mercy. "Why are you just standing there? Say something! Do something!"

Mercy looked at Damien and then shifted his gaze to Klaus, his heart beating loudly against his chest.

’Please,’ he pleaded inside his head because he couldn’t say the words.

He knew that the masked man was beyond human strength and speed, but his opponent was a member of the syndicate.

Even a fool would know that running away was the best choice he had.

Blake threw his jacket off, exposing his muscular arms full of old scars, and stepped forward with a wide grin.