Kenji hummed a low, discordant tune as he strolled through the ruined, ash-choked streets, his hands tucked casually into his pockets.
The white mask, smooth and featureless save for the narrow slits for his eyes, covered his face completely. It had been a long time since he'd worn it. The mask hid his power and presence, so he was able to roam around without too much trouble from the lower vampires that were around.
Right now, he was just a predator moving through a dead world, as he killed every vampire he encountered. After his conversation with Death of the Endless, the literal personification of the end, everything else felt small.
He'd informed the others through the group chat that he'd be operating solo for a while. There were no arguments, just a series of "Be careful" messages. They had decided to stay and work with Barbara and her team while he tried to keep the vampires' attention on his actions, as he made headaches for them by making vampires disappear.
And truth be told, Kenji needed the "grind." He needed to see numbers go up, to feel the steady surge of experience points flooding into his soul to remind himself that he was still the Gamer, especially after that loss of his. When was the last time he lost a fight? He couldn't remember. He tilted his head. Had he even ever lost a fight since he became a gamer?
He shook his head. Let's not think of it. It wasn't important, now what was important was the sound he was hearing, not far away.
He moved with grace, as he heard some vamps moving in a pack, they were not strong at all, and without even the slightest struggle, he erased them cleanly, leaving no trace of them, no blood, nothing at all.
Of course, all through this, he had made sure not kill any of the stronger and higher up in the chain vampires, so as not make the Vampire King decide to take things more seriously and send over his stronger pawns to take a closer look.
For now, he kept his hunting grounds focused. He didn't stray too far from Gotham, branching only into the decaying shells of nearby cities. Blüdhaven was a no-go zone, of course, given it was Nightwing's territory, the hornet's nest, and he had no interest in kicking again so soon after his last "Game Over."
Metropolis, however, was a different story altogether.
The City of Tomorrow was a skeleton of its former glory. Even now, the "Man of Steel", the hollowed-out, vampiric shell of Superman, still patrolled the skies occasionally. Even enslaved, even twisted by the King's will, some remnant of Clark Kent seemed to linger, a ghost of habit and affection for the city he once called home. Kenji watched him from the shadows of a skyscraper, his Presence Erased, watching the red cape flutter like a tattered shroud against the grey sky.
Why risk the city of the man who had just killed him? Loot, of course.
And where better to find loot than the home or former home of the man of steel's former archenemy.
Kenji had made a beeline for LexCorp. The central spire stood like a gutted corpse in the heart of the city. The vampires had clearly scavenged the place before, entire floors were stripped of obvious tech, vaults were torn open, and laboratories were smashed into glittering dust.
But Lex Luthor was a man defined by spite and a paranoid obsession with Superman. If someone told him he put kryptonite in his morning coffee just to get an edge over Superman, Kenji would believe.
Kenji knew that even if it looked like everything was gone, there was still something in here, somewhere here that held other things that nobody would be able to find easily, especially a Kryptonian, as he was sure Lex would be wary of Superman to just lead his tower unprotected from things like X-ray vision.
Thankfully, he had something. Observation, after all, wasn't just for reading character levels, it was for reading in sight, and he used that to give him a clue to what he was looking for.
Sure enough, behind a lead-lined, vacuum-sealed chamber hidden three sub-levels below the basement, he found the jackpot. It was a room filled with the peak of human and alien hybridization. Experimental weapons, prototype power suits, and cases of currency. And, as expected of Luthor, lead-lined canisters of Kryptonite in every hue, green, red, and even pink. He let out a chuckle, if not for the fact that Clark was currently a vampire, right now he would definitely have used this on him. But as he was well, it was better not to have a gay vampire Superman with no morality chasing his ass, and that can be quite literal if he was not careful.
Kenji took it all, his inventory accommodating the hoard.
He even managed to get one of the mainframe terminals running. He spent hours downloading research logs and weapon schematics and evensimple technology.
He could already see the implications back in his home world. Expanding his wife's shipping company into a tech and private defense conglomerate would help expand her business. Profit, after all, was its own form of power, and you could never lack money, and Lex Luthor had been the master of that particular craft.
Still, everything was what he expected from Lex. Nothing truly surprised him... until he reached the final cased pedestal at the back of the room.
Kenji froze. He stared. Then, he burst out laughing, a loud, borderline hysterical sound that echoed off the reinforced walls.
"Are you kidding me?" he whispered, lifting the object with trembling hands. "Is this my Tier 2 Luck finally paying off?"
It wasn't like the one in the movies, and it wasn't like the ones in the animated series. No, it was a rectangular handheld device, a black casing etched with circuitry that felt alive to the touch, with a glowing interface of pulsing red, orange, and yellow.
A Mother Box. Specifically, the version he recognized from Young Justice.
"If someone offered me this entire building, plus the city itself, or this... I'd pick this every single time," Kenji muttered. He marveled at it. Even in the hands of a fool, this wasn't just a tool, it was a god-tier artifact. Reality manipulation, technopathy, boom tubes, and so many more things, a true DC fan knew that holding a Mother Box was like holding a key to the source code of the universe. He'd give up half his skills and ability for this if he had to, though he was glad he didn't.
He tucked it into his inventory instantly, his heart racing. He had no intention of ever letting this go. If Darkseid himself came looking for his property, Kenji would tell him to square up because he was not letting this thing go without a serious fight.
Now here he was. That discovery had been three weeks ago. Since then, he had stayed in constant contact with the group via the chat.
The situation was "complicated," to say the least. Sora had informed him that Barbara Gordon still didn't trust them. Up until now, she had refused to take them to the "Main Base," instead making the excuses and decision to split the resistance.
She had formed a secondary cell with her team there, and Erza, Sora, and Van, claiming it was a tactical necessity to prevent the King from wiping them all out at once. Van had noted that the other heroes hadn't been happy with her decision at first, but they'd eventually yielded to Batgirl's logic.
But Sora knew the truth, the woman didn't trust them, so she didn't want to even take the chance to invite them to their base, which was somehow making things harder.
Still, Sora, however, had surprised Kenji more than anyone.
The boy had changed since his awakening, he seemed to have stepped up. He had taken a much more active leadership role. He was gathering information from Barbara and her team, studying maps, and learning everything he could to help them.
He had even started sending Kenji side missions, requests for sabotage or distractions for when they needed to do something but needed the vamps' attention elsewhere.
Kenji smiled behind his mask every time a new message from Sora popped up. The kid had potential back in his own world, and Kenji had seen it in the anime when he was king, but seeing him step up without Shiro really was something else.
It was also showing just how terrifyingly smart the half of "Blank" really was. With just the little infor he was getting, he was turning the resistance's little struggle into something else. They had already started pushing the vampires in the city back, while avoiding the heavy hitters using Kenji to draw their attention away.
Sora was doing a great job, Kenji had been worried for him, and he knew the kid didn't really have many skills and power since he didn't really spend his points that he got from side quests, and he knew why that was. Kenji knew Sora wanted to buy an Invite Ticket for his sister. Honestly? Kenji didn't see the problem. They could use a mind like hers to help them more in the future.
Kenji's humming stopped as a shadow landed silently in front of him. He didn't shift his stance, he didn't need to.
A man knelt on one knee before him. He had blond hair and a pair of leathery bat-wings folded respectfully behind his back. A Devil.
He was one of the fifty devils and magicians Kenji had enslaved during that disastrous meeting with the leaders. He had stored them in his inventory after enslaving them and knocking them out.
He had released all but ten, five devils and five mages, back to their factions to act as his personal eyes and ears in other factions, and the last ten were the ones that had been left in his inventory and now were here with him in this world.
He had brought them out to help with his grind, slaughtering vampires and feeding him a steady stream of experience. As his servants, they gained 30% of the EXP, allowing them to level up and grow powerful enough to be genuine assets. Some of them had even stopped screaming about their "bondage" once they realized that serving Kenji meant they had a chance to grow in power.
"What is it, Zeph?" Kenji asked calmly.
"There was a sighting of a significant conflict not too far from here, my lord," the devil reported, his voice low. "I was told to find notable figures and report what I find."
Kenji expanded his senses. Ah. There they were.
In a blur of speed that left the pavement cracked, Kenji repositioned himself. He perched on the edge of a jagged ruin, overlooking a battlefield choked with fire and ice.
He recognized them instantly. Raven, vampire Wonder Woman, vampire Plastic Man, vampire Heat Wave, vampire FireStorm, Killer Frost, Adam Strange, Peacemaker, and Bones.
His eyes narrowed behind the mask, locking onto the Amazonian princess.
Kenji's smile widened, turning sharp and cold. He had said it before, he was a petty man. Wonder Woman had been part with the duo that had killed him.
He wasn't going to let that slide.
He felt Zeph land beside him. Below are the humans and vampires. It was a perfect opportunity to thin the board, remove some "troublesome future problems."
"Zeph," Kenji said softly, his eyes gleaming with a predatory light behind the porcelain mask. "I need you to do something for me."
The devil bowed lower. "Your will, my lord." Kenji just smiled. This one seemed to have already accepted his position. he turned back to the conflict, eyes glowing.
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