I took my first life when I was 15.

One year later, that kill count rose into the dozens and by the time my teenage years were over...I could barely recall how many people fell victim to me. Most people around the world such as policemen and news reporters think it's around...five hundred. But I know the real number lies within the thousands.

Maxus Tan stood at the edge of a tall skyscraper overlooking the Marina Bay Skyline, the gorgeous beautiful city of Singapore, his home, a sight that his eyes had feasted upon hundreds of times and yet, each time he gazed upon the city he would still feel a strong sense of belonging like every time was his first. 

He was known as many things. The Soultaker,  The Sole Defender of Singapore, Vigilante of the Lion City, Southeast Asia's Deadliest Man... some people didn't even think he exists, that the Soultaker was a myth created by the locals to steer criminals away from Singapore. The infamous vigilante who is widely known to be the sole hero of Singapore for over a decade while some straight up thought of him as a dark entity who is uncontrollably, who might be a threat as much as he is a hero.

Year 2022. The Soultaker has been known as the legend who defended Singapore single-handedly for almost a decade until one day...he just vanished.

2013.

9 Years Ago.

Maxus Tan lifts up the black cloth up to his nose to ensure that his face was covered, lifting his hood above his head before looking down at his boot and tightening the zip on his hoodie, creeping his way above the warehouse roof he was standing on, observing the gang of 7 beneath him silently.

The seven gangsters who he had followed for the past two nights to this warehouse, the gang that had been harassing people in back alleys, taking the money of others and extorting the neighborhood business, most of which were just ordinary people trying to make a living in a society where the cost of living is constantly going up.

The night weather made it the perfect condition for him, the forest surrounding the warehouse able to shroud his black clothing from public sight as well as hiding his pressence from the men he was stalking. Sure, he could drop in at any time and the chances of him being able to take out all seven of them were fairly high. However, things would get messy and as much as he wanted to, he had to go to school the next day, the first day in his new Polytechnic. 

He had to make this as clean as possible.

"I'm gonna take a piss first,you guys continue."One of the gangsters mentions, standing up and leaving his gambling mahjong table, walking towards the outside of the warehouse. "Hurry the fuck up dude or we'll start the next round without you!"

"Bro just fucking wait aite or I'll piss on you instead!"The man says,jogging to the side of the warehouse before relieving himself at the bushes.

"Eh bro hurry!"

"What's the rush for?!"The man says irritably, zipping his pants back up as a cold, sharp thin blade pressed against his neck, pushing clean into his gullet as he felt his own blood spill out of his neck, his vision blurring out in an instant and collapsing straight down into his own pool of piss...

Maxus took his first breath, drawing his second knife from his belt, looking down at his first kill of the day." Eh bro hurry....you take ten bloody years to pee is it?" The voice inside the warehouse repeated as another added:" Dude what the heck man how long does peeing take you?!"

"Dude what's taking him so long?"

"I'll check it out."

Maxus leaned against the wall of the warehouse as he awaiting his next victim on the other side of the wall to come towards him. The footsteps were getting louder with each passing second as Maxus held his breath once more, clinching his fingers tightly against his weapon as he saw the man walk out in front of him.

Maxus plunged the blade right into the man's neck, his eyes filled pure shock that slowly melted into despair, looking at his killer in the eye. Without hesitation, Maxus jabbed his other blade right in between the man's eyes, the edge of the blade clearly breaking into his skull as with another push, Maxus sunk the blade right through the skull which was crumbling like cereal as the vigilante pushed out his blade, his victim collapsing into a pool of blood in front of him.

The remaining five men stood up from their gambling table, watching their friend's corpse collapse in front of their very eyes.

"What the heck?!"One of the gangster stood up, looking at the shadowy silhouette of their friend's murderer standing at the entrance of their warehouse. 

"Who..."

Maxus glared the five men in front of him dead in the eyes as he clenched both his knives, charging at them without hesitation.

The five man stumbled back in horror, watching as a masked figure covered in blood rush towards them. Maxus easily jumped towards the top of an empty chair, landing down and stabbing the first man closest to him in the shoulder , pulling the blade out violently, tearing a huge portion of his arm out and finshing his combo by kicking him back into the chair.

The other four gangsters scrambled, jumping back to try and find anything to use as a weapon to defend themselves while trying to maintain their distance with the bloody vigilante in front of them.

From the corner of his eye, the next gangster opposite him launched himself onto the table, trying to reach for a knife as the vigilante hurled his own blade, using it like a projectile as the weapon shot through the gangster's hand and onto the table, pinning him to the table top while the next gangster beside him hurled a punch that Maxus quickly avoided, stepping back to dodge the punch and quickly countering with a fatal stab right into his eye, kicking the man aside.

Maxus quickly steadied himself as the two remaining uninjured gangsters, each now armed with a machete and stick respectively, attacking him wildly.

The vigilante watched, predicting his opponent's attack trajectory as he jumped between their two swings, elbowing the gangster on his right with a quick elbow before ducking under the machete wielding gangster, grabbing his arm and jabbing his bicep with his blade, pulling the weapon clean through the gangster's arm.

The other gangster tried to swing his stick at Maxus who side stepped it quickly, throwing his knife to stop the first gangster he attacked from standing up, the blade shooting right into his heart and allowing Maxus to focus his attention on his current opponent.

The gangster growled in frustration only for Maxus to launch an uppercut, stunning the gangster in pain before grabbing him by the collar, pulling him in for a painful knee into his ribs, using his spare leg to kick the desperate machete wielding gangster back onto the ground before unleashing a series of attacks in the same spot the gangster's ribs was struck as blood spilled out uncontrollably from the gangster's mouth.

Maxus quickly turned his focus back onto the machete wielder, grabbing his arm and yanking the weapon out from his grip by force, finishing the gangster with a slash right across the face, turning around and impaling his previous opponent right in the chest.

"Who....how..."

Maxus ignores the remarks, pushing the corpse of the gangster to the ground.

Now only two gangsters were left alive. One pinned to the table and one on the chair with one of his arms barely hanging on to his torso. Their lively night hangout now a complete bloodbath, ruined by a mysterious man with horrifying combat abilities.

"You're probably curious...who am I?"Maxus lowered his tone.

"What....I will...fucking kill-"Maxus threw the machete right into the head of the gangster at the table, his corpse collapsing into the ground while his hand...still stuck onto the table. Maxus walked over to the body of his latest kill, plucking his blade off the gangster's hand before walking over to the gangster at the chair.

"Dude! What- why?!"

The vigilante looked into his victim's eyes...nothing short of a man who is engulfed by fear and desperation to live and see another day.

"Whatever you want....I will...I will give it to you! Is it the money?! Take it! Take it all!"The gangster looks at Maxus, his good right arm holding on to his left arm which was starting to fall off completely.

"I'm not here for the money...even though I will take it back to the store owners you extorted."Maxus reveals, grabbing a chair and sitting opposite his victim. "What do you know about the arson at Lao Hawker Center?"

"Lao Hawker...? Nothing much...I only know a fire burned the place down a year or something ago? Arson , loan sharks or something I'm not too sure but it isn't us!"

"I don't care if the gang responsible was you or not. Tell me everything you know."

"That's it! I swear dude..."

"Then I have no use for you." Maxus says, finishing his last victim off.

-

Dawn hit.

First day of his Polytechnic Life. His orientation.

Maxus was unfamiliar with his new environment, just like all the first years that were going to be in school with him. A simple beige pants and a black oversized tee should be okay right? But before that...Maxus now made his way over to his father's columbarium.

"I killed the men harassing the streets of Woodlands' Industrial Area last night. They were a small gang of seven, but they have managed to avoid police detection for a long time due to how well they covered their tracks but... they didn't expect me to find them. I know this is the last outcome you want to become of me but...because of me, the Industrial Area's businesses can now operate with a peace of mind...Dad."

Maxus looked up at the picture of his father in front of his funerary urn.

"Today will be my first day attending Nanyang Polytechnic...studying Psychological Health and Well Being just like I promised you back then. I know you will be worried that these activities of mine will affect my chances of having a normal life but... I just can't rest knowing that the people responsible are still out there. I promise you though...when I find out the people responsible and hunt them down...I will live like a normal person again."

Maxus paid his respects, leaving behind a small flower beside the urn before making his way out of the columbarium.

From the corner of his eye, Maxus spotted a familiar bearded old man in his late 60s, dressed sharply in his black and white traditional Chinese tunic, his grey hair combed back sharply.

"First day to school?Are you excited?" Tony Ang asks Maxus.

"Same old. It's just another school right?"

"It's not just another school Maxus. Polytechnics offer a completely different experience from secondary school. You have time?I have extra breakfast sets that I can't finish by myself."Tony offers Maxus, the temple Tony teaches in being right next to the columbarium. "Of course, I was just about to drop by anyway."

-

Where the hell are you?

Chill dude it's not like I've been here before.

I'm waiting next to 711. Yio Chu Kang MRT.

Maxus swiped away his phone messaging app as he approached the convenient store to see his secondary school friend and classmate, Reynesh Kaur waiting for him." Wassup you stinky bitch."Reynesh jokingly greets, giving Maxus a fist bump as the latter looks into 711:" Hold it, I wanna get a drink before we go."

"Sure."

Maxus found himself in the a scenario he had always hated. The teen watched on as the orientation camp leaders gathered him and his new group of classmates in a circle, getting each one of them to stand in the middle of circle to introduce themselves.

You can kill seven people the previous night but you can't fucking introduce yourself without having a nervous breakdown, the vigilante berated himself. Maxus turned to look at Reynesh who was called out next.

"Hi, my name is Reynesh Kaur, I come from Olympia Secondary and I like to cycle." Reynesh took his seat as he looked at Maxus whose eyes were filled with an eagerness to get out of this scenario. "Come on bro we did this in secondary 1 before."

"That doesn't change anything man."Maxus says the camp leader points to him:" You're up next."

Maxus sighed, taking in a deep breath, standing up and walked towards the middle of the circle where he could sense everybody's eyes focused on him. Ignore them...say what you wanna say and get the fuck out of here. "My name is Maxus Leokros Tan."

Silence.

"Uh...."

"Your secondary school and one interesting fact about you?"

Shit...Maxus quickly responded to the question:" I'm also from Olympia Secondary School. One interesting fact about me is that...I like...cactus."

Giggles were heard as Maxus awkwardly smiled before making his way back to his seat next to Reynesh who patted him on the back:" Good job dude, at least you made an impression."Reynesh tried to comfort his friend as Maxus sighed: " Wasn't exactly what I was trying to do."

"Next."

Maxus watched as the girl next to him stood up:"Hi...my name is Leah Lim-"

"Okay so after this where do you wanna go for dinner?"Maxus whispered to Reynesh as the rest of the class began introducing themselves." I don't know man I think my mom has cooked though I'll need to check. Sorry in advance if I can't make it though."

Reynesh didn't make it.

Maxus returned to his 4 room flat in Punggol on the North Eastern side of Singapore, throwing his bag onto his couch and his takeaway bag of mixed vegetable rice on his living room table. A house with no one but him, old,dusty furniture and a floor that Maxus rarely had the time to clean. Some of his lights weren't even working properly and other than the simple tables, bed and lamps, there was nothing in his flat that was remotely appealing.

Maxus walked straight into his bed room that was only occupied with a mattress , a study table and a chair that faced a board full of pins, articles and evidence, all of which Maxus collected over the past few months from his previous outings being a vigilante, trying to find out one thing and one thing only.

The people responsible for his father's death.

Maxus quickly got to work, sitting down on the chair and checking on the phones he collected from the previous nights, connected to his laptop where he began hacking into their devices since last night. Now out of the five phones he took, four had been unlocked.notes by one of the gangsters regarding collections of money and trades they made with other gangs.

"Money from eateries...small business...fucking scums."Maxus read through the notes.

Who knew that shitty gang had their own shitty accountant keeping track of their spending?

Girls from The Black and Reds...$500. What the fuck?Maxus looked at the records, confused by the note. Girls...? Maxus heard about the Black and Reds before, a notorious gang that resides in the Central Area of Singapore but other than that, he didn't know much about them. 

"Meeting with BAR...Teck Khee Primary School, today at 2am."Maxus reads the message in their groupchat.

A primary school? Wait... that makes sense. Schools are empty after the evening. BAR... probably standing for the Black and Red gang. The most concerning part though...girls, no matter how Maxus looked at it nothing seemed right.

Maxus checked his watch: 8pm.

Okay...I still have time to do this. Maxus looked behind him. His pull up bar attached to his bedroom door, his dumbbells lying by the side of his bed. He could work in a session or two before dinner and still make it in time for the meeting.

One dinner and workout later.12pm.

Maxus began prepping his equipment, wearing his hoodie and loose jeans along with his military boots he had gotten from his secondary school uniform group CCA. Belt, tightened around his waist to hold his two combat knives, workout gloves and finally, a loose dark grey cloth he wrapped around his face to conceal his identity.

"Time to hunt."

Next Chapter- Blood for Blood