BLACK DRAGON CONTRACT

Chapter 2: The First Bill

Marco was drowning, sinking deeper... but then, the pain arrived.

It wasn’t the pain from Vinnie’s blows. This was different. It felt like millions of flaming needles were being injected directly into his bone marrow. His heart pounded violently, threatening to burst.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

In the murky depths of the water, Marco’s body spasmed violently.

[REPAIRING BONE STRUCTURE... COMPLETE.]

[STOPPING INTERNAL BLEEDING... COMPLETE.]

[ACTIVATING FEATURE: NIGHT VISION (LEVEL 1)... COMPLETE.]

[ACTIVATING FEATURE: BRAWLER MASTERY (LEVEL 1)... COMPLETE.]

Marco opened his eyes underwater.

His eyes didn't sting. He could see more clearly. The dark water seemed bright with a greenish hue. He saw his own legs. He watched the blood streaming from his wounds stop flowing.

He felt power. His body, which had been utterly helpless moments ago, felt different now. A raw, savage, blood-demanding strength had merged with Marco's body.

[FIRST MISSION: SURVIVAL]

[OBJECTIVE: KILL 3 THREATS ABOVE THE DOCK.]

[REWARD: STARTER PACK & EXP.]

[FAILURE PENALTY: PERMANENT DEATH.]

Marco grabbed a rusted iron support beam of the pier. The iron... felt soft in his hand. He squeezed it, and the metal instantly buckled, conforming to the shape of his fingers.

He was no longer Marco the dockworker.

He grinned underwater. Air bubbles escaped his mouth. Above the pier, Vinnie was still standing, smoking.

"Are you sure he’s dead?" Tony asked, peering down. "It's pitch black, Boss!"

"Falling from that height with his body all smashed up?! He’s definitely crab food by now," Vinnie chuckled, flicking his cigarette butt into the sea, "Let’s go! We’re heading to the widow’s house. I’m gonna collect the 'interest' on her debt!"

"Yes, Boss. Heh, I heard his wife is pretty..."

CRACK!

Suddenly, a wet hand clamped onto Tony's ankle from the side of the pier.

"SHIT! WHAT THE—"

Before Tony could finish his sentence, he was pulled down with monstrous force.

SREEEET! SPLASH!

Tony slipped and fell off the pier. His scream was swallowed by the sound of the waves.

"Tony?!" Rizyo panicked, looking for the sudden disappearance of Tony. He quickly pulled a pistol from under his jacket, "Who's there?!"

Vinnie took a step back, eyes wide, "What the hell..."

From the darkness beneath the pier, a figure climbed up with unnatural movements. Fast. Efficient. Terrifying.

The figure landed on the concrete with a heavy 'thud'.

He stood tall under the pouring rain. His shirt was completely shredded, revealing muscles that looked as if they had been re-sculpted from granite. The wounds on his face were gone. His nose was straight again.

And his eyes...

The swelling was gone, completely healed. Those eyes stared at Vinnie with a deadly, dim blue glow.

"M... Marco?" Vinnie stammered, gaping in shock and disbelief. His new cigarette fell from his lips, "How can you... you should be dead!"

Marco tilted his head. A notification sound rang in his mind.

DING!

[COMBAT MODE: ON]

"I am already dead, Vinnie," Marco’s voice sounded different. Deeper. Colder. Without the slightest tremor of fear.

He stepped forward. One step. Two steps. A murderous aura emanated from him, so thick that Vinnie felt the surrounding air thinning.

"Shoot! SHOOT HIM, YOU IDIOT!" Vinnie screamed at Rizyo.

"DIE, YOU DEMON!" Rizyo squeezed the trigger.

BANG! BANG!

Two shots. Close range.

Marco didn't dodge. He just... moved slightly. Very little, but enough.

The first bullet whizzed past his ear. The second grazed his shoulder.

[DODGE SUCCESS. ADRENALINE RUSH ACTIVE.]

Did it hurt? A little. But Marco laughed instead.

"My turn," Marco whispered.

Before Rizyo could pull the trigger a third time, Marco was already in front of him.

He grabbed Rizyo’s gun-wielding hand.

CRACK!

"ARGHHHH!" Rizyo screamed as his wrist snapped like a dry twig. The pistol fell into the puddle.

Marco didn't stop. A fighting instinct that was not his own took over. His knee struck Rizyo's solar plexus with a speed Vinnie’s eyes couldn’t follow.

BAMMM! CRUNCH!

Rizyo lifted off the ground, his eyes rolled back, and then he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He was no longer moving.

Now only Vinnie remained.

"The Shark," who had been so arrogant moments ago, began to feel intimidated. He fumbled in his pocket, searching for his folding knife. His hands were slick with sweat and rain.

"Don't move, bastard! I... I'm the Shark! I own this harbor! If you step forward, I won't hesitate to kill you, you dog!" Vinnie brandished the small knife menacingly.

Marco looked at the knife, then at Vinnie's face. A thin smirk appeared on Marco's face. A grin the old Marco had never possessed.

"Shark?" Marco spat to the side, "There's only one predator here, Vinnie!"

A blue screen reappeared in the corner of his vision.

[FINAL ENEMY. KILL HIM.]

Marco walked through the rain, ignoring the knife that was beginning to tremble in the thug boss's hand.

"And I'm starving!"

The heavy rain couldn't mask the sound of bone meeting concrete. On Pier 4, a new natural law had just been rewritten.

Vinnie "The Shark" retreated steadily, his expensive shoe heels slipping on the dock moss. The folding knife in his hand trembled violently, reflecting a flash of lightning that streaked across the sky. In front of him, Marco Rossi stood tall—not as a man, but as a force of nature.

"You... you're not Marco," Vinnie hissed, his voice cracking between desperation and denial, "Marco, you're a loser! He was just trash I stepped all over!"

Marco didn't reply. In his head, the ringing sound was replaced by a cold, monotonous notification.

DING!

[TUTORIAL QUEST COMMENCE]

[TARGET: ELIMINATE 2 ACTIVE THREATS]

[PROGRESS: 0/2]

[SYSTEM NOTE: OPPONENT WIELDS SHARP WEAPON. 'LETHAL FORCE' RECOMMENDED.]

"Lethal force..." Marco muttered. The words felt foreign on his tongue. All his life, the worst violence he had ever committed was punching a table after losing a bet. Killing? That was a sin. That was a ticket to hell.

But then, the memory of Vinnie's face, ready to throw him into the sea, flashed by. The memory of Vinnie's threat against Maria. Against his family.

The greatest sin would be allowing this bastard to touch his family.

"Rizyo! Get up, you idiot!" Vinnie screamed, kicking his henchman’s sprawling body.

Rizyo, whose wrist Marco had already snapped, groaned in pain. He tried to reach for his pistol, which had fallen into the puddle, with his trembling left hand.

[THREAT DETECTED: 6 O'CLOCK DIRECTION. DISTANCE 2 METERS.]

Marco's body moved on its own. It wasn't a reflex; it was programming.

CRUNCH!

Marco spun, and his right foot lashed out, slamming into Rizyo's chin just as he was attempting to lift his head.

BAM! CRACK!

The sound of his neck snapping was sharp, louder than the accompanying thunder.

Rizyo's head jolted back at an unnatural angle. His eyes stared blankly up at the rain. The pistol in his hand was released, falling back into the murky water.

[TARGET 1: NEUTRALIZED (DECEASED)]

Marco froze for a moment, staring at the corpse at his feet. His breath hitched. 'I... I just killed a man?' His stomach churned. Marco's heart pounded wildly.

But the System gave him no time for grief or regret.

DING!

[UNEXPECTED THREAT DETECTED: 3 O'CLOCK DIRECTION. DISTANCE 2.5 METERS.]

"HEY! WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

A shout came from the direction of the black sedan parked at the end of the pier. A heavy-set man with a baseball bat ran closer. Benny, Vinnie’s driver. He had only realized the commotion after Rizyo fired the shots earlier.

"Benny! Hit him! Smash his head in!" Vinnie shouted, regaining a small measure of control with the arrival of help.

Benny, stupid and loyal, rushed at Marco, swinging his wooden bat, "You're dead, Rossi!"

Marco turned. Time seemed to slow again. In Marco's eyes, now glowing dimly blue, he could see the trajectory of Benny’s swing before the bat even moved. An imaginary red line was drawn in the air.

[COMBAT ANALYSIS: FRONTAL ATTACK. SLOW. FULL OF OPENINGS.]

[RECOMMENDATION: COUNTER-ATTACK.]

Marco didn't dodge. He stepped forward to meet the swing.

Just as the wooden bat was about to hit his temple, Marco's left hand moved like lightning, catching the end of the bat in mid-air.

THWACK!

Benny stared, "Huh?"

He tried to pull his bat back, but Marco's grip was as strong as an iron vice.

"Wrong opponent, Ben," Marco whispered.

With one jerk, Marco pulled the bat, causing Benny's heavy body to stumble forward. Marco delivered a perfect right hook directly into Benny's ribs.

KRAK!

Benny coughed up fresh blood. His shattered ribs pierced his lungs. He fell to his knees, gasping for air like a fish out of water.

The System gave a blinking option in front of Marco's eyes.

[FINISH HIM.]

Marco raised the baseball bat he now held. He hesitated. Benny was already helpless. Was it necessary...?

"He will kill your child if he lives," whispered a voice in his head. It wasn't the System's voice. It was Marco's own fear.

Marco swung the bat with all his might at Benny's head.

SMASH! CRASH!!

Silence.

Benny's body slumped to the side. His head was crushed. Blood flowed heavily, mixing with the rainwater, forming a small pink stream on the concrete.

[TARGET: NEUTRALIZED (DECEASED)]

"Devil..." Vinnie backed away until his back hit the pier railing. His face turned ghostly pale, whiter than a corpse, "You... you're a demon!"

Marco threw away the cracked baseball bat. He walked slowly toward Vinnie.

"Two minutes ago you called me trash, Vinnie," Marco's voice was flat, devoid of emotion, "Now I'm a demon?! You change your mind fast!"

"I'll pay!" Vinnie raised his hands, the folding knife already dropped somewhere. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a thick wallet, and threw it at Marco's feet, "There's three thousand dollars in there! Take it! Your debt is cleared! CLEARED, MARCO!"

Marco kicked the wallet into the sea without looking at it.

"The money debt is settled," Marco said, now standing directly in front of Vinnie. Their noses were almost touching. The scent of expensive cigarettes and panicked sweat wafted from the mafia boss's body, "But you just threatened my wife. That's a debt of life!"

Marco's hand clamped around Vinnie's neck. He lifted the 80-kilogram man into the air with one hand as if he weighed nothing.

Vinnie struggled, his legs kicking the air. His face turned purple. His eyes widened, pleading to be released.

[TARGET 4: VINCENT "THE SHARK" MORRETTI.]

[EXECUTION RECOMMENDED.]

Marco's fingers tightened. He could feel Vinnie’s pulse beneath his fingertips. One more squeeze, and this throat would shatter.

[KILL HIM.]

[NOW FOR YOUR SAFETY.]

The system urged, but Marco’s hand trembled. Doubt began to permeate his mind.

Vinnie’s watery eyes reminded Marco of human eyes. Not a monster, not a target. Just a terrified human bastard. Marco's humanity, the remnants of the kind-hearted dockworker, rebelled.

I am not a killer... I can't...

Marco's grip loosened slightly due to the hesitation.

Vinnie, a cunning street predator, felt that doubt and seized the opening. His struggling hand fumbled for his back pocket. There was a small, two-shot Derringer pistol he always kept for emergencies. His cunning smirk began to spread quickly.

BLAM!

A small muffled gunshot echoed between their bodies.

Marco felt a searing heat in his lower abdomen.

"Argh!" Marco stumbled back, releasing his grip.

Vinnie fell, coughing violently while holding his bruised throat. He wasted no time. Seeing Marco clutching his bleeding abdomen, Vinnie didn't attempt to attack again. He knew he couldn't win against this monster alone. He used the opportunity to flee.

Vinnie rolled to the side, squeezed through a gap in the dock railing, and leaped into the dark sea below.

SPLASH!

"Bastard!" Marco cursed, startled by Vinnie's sudden action. He ran to the edge of the pier, trying to look down.

There were only black water ripples. Vinnie vanished, swallowed by the night, likely swimming under the pier or carried away by the current.

Marco held his abdomen. Blood oozed between his fingers. It hurt, but... his wound was closing?

He watched in horror as the skin on his abdomen knitted itself together, forcing the small bullet out of his flesh. 'Clink!' The metal slug fell onto the concrete.

[TARGET 4: ESCAPED.]

[MISSION COMPLETE (PARTIAL SUCCESS).]

[ANALYSIS: TONY (DROWNED - CONFIRMED DECEASED), RIZYO (DECEASED), BENNY (DECEASED).]

[TOTAL THREATS ELIMINATED: 3/4]

Marco collapsed, sitting and leaning against a stack of shipping containers. His adrenaline was gone. Now, only the cold and reality remained.

Around him lay two corpses. Rizyo with a broken neck. Benny with a shattered skull. And Tony, who was likely a carrion at the bottom of the sea.

He killed them. Three men. In less than five minutes. It all happened so fast.

"Ughh!"

Marco leaned to the side and vomited. Everything in his stomach came out—acidic water and the remains of his cheap lunch. He retched again and again until his throat was raw. His body shivered violently, not from the cold, but from the shock.

He stared at his hands. Cleaned by the rain, but in his mind, they were stained with indelible blood. An irony and a trauma.

Suddenly, a pain far more terrible than any physical wound struck his chest.

It felt as if an invisible hand had reached inside his chest and squeezed his heart. Marco screamed soundlessly, clutching his chest. His breath hitched as if the oxygen in the air had run out.

A black notification box appeared with blood-red edges.

[SYSTEM BILL: DEBT OF LIFE PAID.]

[YOU WERE REVIVED FROM DEATH.]

[COST: 1 YEAR OF REMAINING LIFESPAN TAKEN.]

[CURRENT REMAINING LIFESPAN: 42 YEARS.]

"What...?" Marco gasped, cold sweat mixing with rainwater on his face.

The pain slowly subsided, leaving a strange, hollow feeling in his gut. As if a piece of his soul had just been sliced off and discarded.

The System continued its report with annoying neutrality.

[MISSION REWARD: CASH LOOTED ($3,000 FROM VINNIE'S WALLET WHICH YOU THREW AWAY - FEEL FREE TO RETRIEVE IT FROM THE SEA IF DESIRED).]

[BONUS EXP: LEVEL UP! (LEVEL 1 -> LEVEL 2)]

[ATTRIBUTE POINT: +2 STRENGTH.]

Marco laughed softly. A laugh that sounded insane and desperate.

"One year..." he whispered to the rain, "I traded a year of my life to become a murderer?"

"God, what a wretched way to be human! What are you doing, playing games with my fate, God?!" Marco muttered to himself.

He stood up with difficulty. His legs were shaky. He had to go home. He had to see Maria and Sofia. He had to make sure they were real, to make sure he was still human.

Marco glanced at the bodies of Benny and Rizyo one last time. He couldn't leave them here, but he didn't have the energy to clean up this mess.

[SYSTEM ADVICE: LEAVE THE LOCATION IMMEDIATELY. POLICE WILL ARRIVE IN 8 MINUTES.]

Marco pulled the tattered hood of one of the corpse's jackets over his face, then limped away from the pier. Every step felt heavy, as if he were dragging sin by his ankles.

In his mind, everything that had just happened left Marco shocked and incredulous that he had just experienced the most horrific tragedy of his life. Marco from before was just a dockworker, a husband and father who loved his family. And he had tried his best.

Behind him, police sirens began to wail faintly in the distance, roaring like the cries of a grieving city. Becoming the backdrop to Marco's anxious heart, the guilt of a human being becoming a killer.

Tonight, Marco Rossi the dockworker died. Unbeknownst to him, the decision he made in his critical state was a dark, unowned black hole. The figure now returning home was merely a host to the contract of a dark system.

***