The group of Tsukuru and Riley waited for Riley and his group to pass, and then headed to the register.
In an ironic twist, the boys spying on Riley's group were themselves being spied on.
Behind them and being completely ignored, was Layla.
'What the hell?' Layla thought, as she narrowed her eyes. 'What are those two, joined at the hip?! And why the hell is that boy buying a mask? It's MONTHS away from halloween!'
Layla decided to follow the two, who in turn, were following Riley's group.
Riley and his friends were splurging their newly-gotten gains from the day.
Even after having sold that Basic-Tier dagger Tsukuru had traded him and splitting it four ways, they still ended up getting 500 credits each.
"Hey, we're gonna go shoot some hoops in the park." One of the boys replied, turning to Riley. "You wanna join?"
Riley shook his head.
"Nah, you know my Ability is useless in that kind of thing."
Riley's statement made Tsukuru roll his eyes. Heaven forbid a single activity not be about using one's Ability.
Riley's face cracked into a cruel smile.
"Besides, I wanna head back to the school gate." He replied. "See if there are any more suckers I can leech some credits from."
Both Tsukuru and Quinn's eyes began to twitch.
"You'd think that after handing them that dagger and telling them they could get rich by selling it, they'd think that extorting daily credits from us would be the equivalent of getting chump change." Quinn muttered in a deadpan tone.
"What do you expect?" Tsukuru muttered back. "Greedy asshole."
Riley's friends looked at each other, conflicted looks on their faces. It was clear that they were only doing the whole "entry toll" thing because they had to.
Riley, on the other hand, looked like the type of individual who gained pleasure from throwing his weight around and bullying those weaker than him. In other words, he was the kind of person Tsukuru hated with a burning passion.
Riley started to head back to school and passed through a small park on the way.
The area was completely void of people and had very little lighting. In other words, it was a "dark alley" in every meaning of the word other than actual appearance. It was perfect for an ambush.
Tsukuru turned to Quinn.
"Showtime." He muttered.
Quinn nodded, and put on his mask.
The two followed Riley through the wooded area waiting for him to get to the perfect spot for them to attack.
At one point, Riley stopped to look down at his watch. In his arrogance, he didn't even think to lower his voice, so the two heard everything.
"140 credits! I'm a genius! And that's just from stealing credits from low Levels! I STILL have that extra 500 credits from my share of that dagger!" Riley exclaimed excitedly.
"Why didn't I think of this sooner? I have enough to pay off Dan, plus I get to keep a hefty profit for myself! And with Dan protecting me, nobody will try to attack me!"
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes at that last statement.
"We'll see about that, asshole." He muttered.
He opened his hand, and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled the spot they were hiding in, as Tsukuru created a copy of his Black Obsidian Dagger.
Hearing the sound, Quinn snapped his head over towards him.
"Can't you do anything about that racket?!" He whispered. "You're gonna give away our element of surprise!"
Hearing this, Tsukuru narrowed his eyes in irritation. The "sound" was a by-product of his Ability.
Asking him to "turn it off" was like asking an Ice User to not make the area colder or a Fire user to not make his flames produce heat.
Luckily for the two of them, Riley seemed too engrossed in his own success to notice the noise.
Dagger in hand, Tsukuru turned to Quinn.
Quinn nodded, showing he was ready.
Riley was so caught in his daydream, that he didn't even realize that Tsukuru's Beast dagger had penetrated the back of his calf until he felt the stinging pain, and was knocked down.
As he looked up, he saw a boy in a horrifying mask looming over him.
The boy performed a leg sweep, hitting him in the side of the head with his leg, and being sent flying by the resulting force.
Riley landed a few feet away.
Riley reached down, and pulled the dagger out of his leg.
Looking at it, it looked identical to the one that he and his friends had just gotten in a trade from that Level 1.3 earlier.
His gaze snapped upwards, and he saw Tsukuru walk up to the boy in the mask. He still had that look of pure rage and contempt still present on his face.
Instantly, rage surged through Riley.
His gaze snapped towards the boy in the mask.
Seeing his curly hair, he realized it had to be that black-haired boy who was
standing behind Tsukuru earlier.
Riley threw the dagger to the side.
"You two just made your last, fucking mistake!"
Tsukuru and Quinn both looked at Riley, activating their individual "Inspect" Skills, though Tsukuru's activated automatically.
[Name: Riley Blake
Race: Human
Ability: Stone Transformation
Ability Level: 2]
[Name: Riley Blake
Race: Human
Ability: Stone Transformation
Ability Level: 2
HP: 6/10
Blood Type: B-]
It was also at that point that Tsukuru's "Battle Mode" had activated.
The System's vector vanished, and a green health bar appeared above both Quinn and Riley's heads.
Additionally, a health bar appeared at the top of Tsukuru's vision, like a health bar in an old arcade fighting game. The number "10/10" appeared below it at the end of the bar.
"His health bar looks about three-fifths full." Tsukuru replied, glancing over at Quinn. "Seeing how I also damaged him with my dagger, he must be stronger than Kyle. Your hits aren't hitting as hard."
Quinn nodded in agreement.
He too had noticed that Riley had gotten right back up, and hadn't staggered like Kyle had the previous night.
Quinn smashed his fist into his open hand.
"All that means is it's gonna take a couple more hits to knock him down!" Quinn announced.
Tsukuru nodded, and created a new set of Black Obsidian Daggers, holding one in each hand, holding them in a reverse grip.
Seeing them, Riley grit his teeth.
He clenched his fist, and it started to harden, taking on the color and consistency of rock. He lunged towards the two.
"I'm gonna take those stupid daggers, and shove them right up your ass!" He screamed.
Hearing him, Tsukuru smirked
"I'd love to see you try, dickhead!" He sneered, purposely taunting Riley to anger him, and throw him off his game.
Quinn clenched his hands into fists and ran at Riley, intending to intercept him. Tsukuru leaped back, and swung his hand, throwing the first dagger.
With the use of his System's "auto-targeting" feature, the dagger was on a direct course for Riley's thigh.
The dagger hit true, and Riley was forced to his knee by the pain.
As he looked up, he saw Quinn directly in front of him, his fist on a crash-course with his face.
Riley's eyes widened in surprise.
'Oh, SHIT!' He thought.