The Butcher’s System: From Meat Shop to Underworld Overlord

Ashes and Vows

The fire smoldered for hours, long after the butcher shop had collapsed into a blackened skeleton of charred beams and smoking rubble. The flames devoured everything—his chopping block, his knives, the hooks where the carcasses used to swing, even the wooden counter where Mateo once cracked jokes while serving customers.

The butcher’s shop was no more.

Leon stood in the ruin until dawn, his face lit by the dull orange glow of dying embers. The neighbors had retreated to their homes, fearful of being seen near him, fearful of drawing Hector’s wrath. He didn’t blame them. The Serpents thrived on fear; they had built their kingdom upon it.

But as Leon stared at the ashes, he felt something shift inside him. The shop was gone, yes—but the fire had burned away more than wood. It had burned away the last remnants of the man who once thought he could live quietly, selling meat to survive.

From now on, there was only the Butcher.

The System flickered in his vision, its cold text sharper than the crackle of flames.

Main Quest Updated: Rise from the Ashes. Destroy the Black Serpents’ Empire.Progression: 0%. Optional Bonus: Establish Reputation as the New Overlord of the City.

Leon exhaled slowly, his breath misting in the cool morning air. “So that’s how it is, huh?” he muttered. “Not just revenge… power.”

And for once, he didn’t push the thought away.

Preparing for War

Leon didn’t waste time mourning. Mourning was for men with the luxury of safety. He spent the next two days gathering what remained of his tools. His cleaver and machete had survived the blaze, blackened but intact, and he carried them like holy relics.

The System provided more.

A new menu unlocked, glowing faintly in his vision:

System Shop (Level 2) – Reinforced Cleaver: +10 Damage [Cost: 200 Reputation] – Smoke Bombs (x3): Temporary Escape Tool [Cost: 150 Reputation] – Blood Refinement Skill Book [Cost: 500 Reputation]

Leon’s current reputation points weren’t enough for the skill book, but they were growing every day. Each whisper of his name, each thug who fled at the sight of his cleaver, added fuel to his legend.

Still, Hector had money, men, and corruption on his side. Leon had only blades and fury.

But fury could be more dangerous than money.

First Strike

Leon’s first target was Hector’s gambling den on the south side of the city—a neon-lit building where fortunes were made and lost, where Hector’s men laundered their dirty money.

He scouted the place for hours, watching as drunk gamblers stumbled in and out, as guards rotated shifts with lazy discipline. By midnight, he was ready.

Leon moved like a shadow, slipping past the outer guards with a precision that made him seem inhuman. The System guided his steps, highlighting weak points, timing, escape routes.

Inside, the air was thick with smoke, laughter, and the clatter of dice. The room was packed with desperate men who had no idea that death had just walked in.

Leon approached the bar calmly, ordered a drink, and sipped it slowly. His eyes scanned the room, landing on the pit boss—a heavyset man with slicked hair and a pistol bulging under his jacket.

Target acquired.

Leon waited until the pit boss leaned over the table, shouting at a gambler for trying to cheat. Then he struck.

The cleaver flashed, burying itself in the pit boss’s shoulder. Screams erupted, drinks shattered, and panic spread like wildfire. Leon dragged the man onto the table, his blade pressing against the boss’s throat.

“Tell Hector,” Leon roared, his voice carrying over the chaos, “this is the price of fire. For every brick of my shop he burned, I’ll take a building from him. For every drop of blood he spilled, I’ll drown his empire!”

He slit the pit boss’s throat in one clean stroke, blood spraying across the dice-stained table. Gamblers bolted for the door, guards scrambled, but Leon was already moving. His cleaver and machete cut through the room, carving a bloody path straight to the exit.

By the time the police arrived—paid off by the Serpents, as always—the gambling den was a slaughterhouse, and Leon was long gone.

Fear Takes Root

The city buzzed with news of the massacre. Hector’s gambling den, once thought untouchable, had been reduced to a morgue. His pit boss was dead, his guards humiliated, and his reputation wounded.

Fear spread faster than Hector could contain it. Small-time gangs whispered about joining Leon, believing the Butcher’s rise was inevitable. Shopkeepers who had been extorted for years began to dream of freedom.

And the Serpents? They began to panic.

Leon watched it all unfold from the shadows. He moved constantly, never sleeping in the same place twice, always sharpening his blades, always feeding the System with the blood of anyone foolish enough to hunt him.

Every night, the System rewarded him.

Quest Complete: Destroy Hector’s Gambling Den.Rewards: Strength +5, Reputation +200. New Passive Skill Unlocked: Butcher’s Resilience (Minor).

Leon felt it as he woke the next morning. His body was tougher, harder to bruise, quicker to heal. He was becoming a weapon, one that no bullet or blade could easily break.

Hector Strikes Back

But Hector was no fool. Rage simmered beneath his calm exterior, and when word of the den’s destruction reached him, he gathered his men in the villa once again.

“He wants war?” Hector’s voice dripped with venom. “Then we’ll give him war. But not with pawns. This time, I’ll send the wolves.”

He gestured, and two men stepped forward. Both were killers Hector had kept in reserve—trained mercenaries, their bodies tattooed with scars, their eyes cold and empty.

“Find the butcher,” Hector ordered. “I don’t care how many innocents you cut down in the process. Bring me his head, or don’t come back.”

The wolves nodded once, then vanished into the night.

Closing Scene

Leon sat atop a rooftop overlooking the ruined shell of his butcher shop. The city lights flickered in the distance, but his gaze was steady, fixed on the future.

The System pulsed in his vision:

New Challenge Incoming: The Wolves of Hector. Survive the Hunt.

Leon smirked, twirling his cleaver in his hand.

“They’re sending wolves?” he murmured. “Good. Let’s see how they bleed.”

The night wind carried his words across the city, a promise etched in steel and fire.

And in that moment, it was no longer a question of survival. It was a declaration: the Butcher would carve his way to the throne of the underworld, or he would die with blood on his blades.