It was a full moon tonight as the citizens of Emerald City continued on with their nightly activities. Even though it looked as if Emerald City was a very top-tier city, it was not the case. If cities were to have a ranking out of five, Emerald City would most likely be a tier 3 city.

What defined a city to be top-notch, was determined by a multitude of factors that were not traditional by any means.

Nowadays, the prestige of a city was measured by how many strong individuals they had as its “protectors”, how many credits do they generate each year, whether or not there were training centers for ability users, and whether or not it had the resources to have an arena built in the city for tournaments.

Arenas were the number one source of income as people from all over the world would come to watch two high-ranking individuals battle to the death. Cities that managed to build an arena and managed to keep them up to standards each year would receive a massive increase in their Per Capita Income.

Emerald City didn’t have a power arena and because of that many training agencies didn’t want to open training centers there as well. This led to most people who wanted to follow the path to power with two choices. Either to join the military and gain enough fame and experience to be hired by companies as travelers, guards and if lucky athletes or to move to a different city altogether to look for better opportunities.

The main problem with the second option was that most people didn’t have the money to be able to move to a different city. Even though it looked as if Emerald City was economically stable, the truth was that most citizens made barely enough to survive with the majority of the wealth being captured by Mafia Bosses, Kingpins, and Elite Businessmen.

During the night, Emerald city was not as safe as it would seem as the street crime was often very high and especially around areas with a heavy population. Mako was lucky enough that he had his own place to call home so he didn’t have to pay any rent, but also that his house was located on the outskirts of the city, so he was well away from the dangerous areas.

Tonight; however, Mako could be seen walking toward one of the areas of the city where street crime was the highest known as the Rosewood District.

Rosewood District was equivalent to those areas in the olden cities where thugs would roam around all the time, homeless people could be seen on every corner, and pollution was at its peak. Rosewood District was not at the same level as those areas of the past but compared to how far humanity had progressed, it was an accurate comparison.

Making his way over to Rosewood District, Mako decided to take a detour through a bazaar of some sort, red lanterns were hung up on string all across the street with various stalls lined up on both sides.

Mako was hungry from his training session earlier, so he decided to grab a bite to eat from here so that he would be in top shape and have his Energy replenished.

Exquisite and unique aromas entered Mako’s nostrils as he was almost hypnotized by the smell of the delicious food being displayed on multiple stalls. Not being able to control himself any further, Mako went on quite a bit of a shopping spree as he almost spent 200 credits on food alone.

Mako hated to spend money like this as he learned to always save money and not waste them on useless things, so this was completely different from how he has lived his life up till now, and he could stop himself from being disgusted by his own actions.

Mako was carrying a huge brown paper bag filled with treats, that he intended to share with Bill as well. There were Steamed Dumplings, General Tso’s Chicken, Rice Cakes, different kinds of Sushi and Sashimi, etc.

Mako was about to leave the bazaar with his bag full of treats which he intended on just putting in his inventory till he came back home, but before Mako could do so, a firm grabbed onto his wrist as he was about to turn around the corner.

There was no real power behind the grip so Mako didn’t panic and instead turned slowly toward the person who had grabbed onto his hand.

The person who grabbed him turned out to be an old man who kept pointing towards the last stall that Mako went by as he was exiting the bazaar.

“Young man, would you be interested in taking a look at my masks?” The old man asked politely while still keeping his grip firmly on Mako’s wrist. ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖

Mako politely refused the offer as he tried to make the old man let go of his wrist, but before he could do anything, the old man bounced with joy as if Mako had agreed and started dragging him towards his stall by pulling his arm.

Mako was lost at what he should do, it won’t be right to use his aura to escape the old man who was just looking to make a purchase, but Mako was also short on time, and by the looks of it; the old man won’t let him leave anytime soon.

“Here we are, please take a look around, I am sure you will find one that suits your interests.” The old man said as stood right beside Mako, still having his grip on his wrist.

Seeing no way out, Mako decided to just buy one stupid mask and be on his way.

When Mako started to a bit of attention to the masks that were on display, they didn’t look like cheap quality masks, rather they were rather very high quality, coming in many different faces, and colors.

Now that he had decided to buy a mask, he noticed that there were a few that were speaking out to him and he personally thought they looked very cool. One was a white mask that had a face that of some type of an eagle, with a grand yellow beak, and white and brown feather-like texture that was really elegant.

The second mask was green and gold in color and the face resembled that of a King Cobra, the hood and the forehead is covered in green scales that reflected gold light, and a super detailed mouth where the sharp teeth and tongue could be clearly seen.

The last mask that caught Mako’s attention was a mask that was red and black in color, it had mostly human characteristics, but had massive bloodshot eyeballs, a huge mouth from which four huge fangs came out in different directions, and two horns that protruded out from the forehead. It looked like a demon from ancient times.

Mako was intrigued by the last Mask as he picked it up from his right hand to take a closer look.

‘Wait?! When did he let go of my hand?’ Mako thought as he stared at his hand and then to his side only to find that the old man was not there.

“Ahhh! I see you have picked something of your liking.” A voice came from the back of the stall, and as Mako turned around, he was greeted by the same old man who was standing behind a counter.

Mako was beyond confused with how the old man was able to trick him so easily, but right now he was more interested in this demon mask.

“What is carved on this mask?” Mako asked the old man.

“Oh my boy, I see you’re a man of culture. That mask has roots all the way back to an old country that went by the name of Japan.”

“Japan had a very rich and interesting culture filled with legends, myths, and stories. One of them was an old Japanese tale about a villain that the Japanese believed to be possessed by a demon and they would call him by the name ‘The Oni’.” The old man started explaining.

“The Oni used to terrorize the lands and rob people of their lives, until one day a legendary samurai put an end to the Oni’s life with the swing of his mighty katana. Even though Japan and most other countries don’t exist today, their culture was carried on through the generations,” The old man explained in a somber tone.

Mako was quite surprised that a simple mask would hold so much meaning and viewed the mask in a whole new light.

“So the Oni was a person who would wreak havoc and kill people? Interesting…” Mako really liked how the mask looked and the story that the old man shared had sealed the deal.

“I’ll take it!” Mako said as he brought out his money card to pay for the mask.

The old man was beyond excited by having made a sale as gladly received Mako’s payment and wished him well on his way.

Mako decided to wear the Oni mask after exiting the bazaar since he needed some way to conceal his identity in the first place. He was going to do this by pulling up his hoodie first, but now that he had a sick-looking mask, why not make use of it?

After placing all his food items in his inventory, and the mask now concealing his face, Mako was ready for action.