"What the?!" I shouted in surprise for once, it was murder sure but I wouldn't consider it a slaughter - those guys clearly had the advantage, if it wasn't for their inexperience and the fact I have such a powerful ability I'd have been completely overwhelmed within seconds.. although looking at the nice chunk of exp I'd just received I'd say it was worth it, I spent about 5 minutes in total within the Shadow Realm so that gave me 35 exp in total, putting me up to a total of 43 exp in total! I grinned to myself thinking how close I was to a level up, despite not being even half-way yet I had a path forward now and knew what I had to do to become stronger than I was before!

....

Another part of the city, an old man lay slumped against a wall counting the quarters in his palm - the world is quiet, no sound, no noise as if there's no city at all surrounding this street he just sits quietly.

"Hmm?" The man looked up suspiciously, he felt a familiar presence - one he had felt many years ago the day he had started this job, the aura of a peerless assassin... "Interesting." A gummy grin from his toothless mouth can be seen, in an instant, he disappears from the spot and arrives near the aura to see the three thugs motionless on the ground and a calm young man amongst the bodies checking them for their belongings.

"A kid?" He was startled, that aura was usually only felt from assassins on his level - it was extremely rare, almost impossible in fact for a complete novice to blend in with the world of shadows and travel within the realm itself was an even more audacious task! A novice could blend their aura with the realm, a master, however, could travel distances in an instant through the shadows of the world - yet this kid wasn't simply blending his aura, his entire body was merging with the realm as if it was a part of him. 

"A natural born killer?" The man was cautious but seeing the kid hadn't detected him it was obvious he was no more than a novice, the corpses on the ground hadn't been killed by some cold calculated killer, if one looked closely the knife in the neck of one had barely managed to hit the mark an inch to the side and the target would've missed entirely despite having been plunged in at close quarters.. 

The man was confident that this boy wasn't affiliated with any of the other organizations by the way he stood there afterward, it was like a complete novice - no stance, no defense in case of a surprise attack, even the most trained spy couldn't completely cover the aura of their power especially around assassins who were known for their acute sensitivity to the changes in even the minutest of change in the airflow.

Again the man grinned, this time at his own intelligence for picking New York as his turf, had he picked any other place this juicy piece of meat wouldn't be his to monopolize in the organization, with the contribution points of recruiting this youngster it was possible he could be promoted by the leader by bringing in such a talented youth who could even become the leader of the whole organization in the future with proper training!

With that the old man disappeared again and reappeared behind the young man, tapping him on the shoulder lightly yet exerting his aura on the boy to prevent him from running.

...

I was pushed to the ground in an instant, by instinct I muttered, "Meld" as my hand touched the floor and I traveled into the Shadow Realm, "I order you to stop!" I yelled at the Shadow in front of me, but unlike all the others this one was different - the shadow was larger, it had a dangerous aura about it.

Effects of Ability Ruler have failed, please increase the level of the ability to affect higher level enemies or level up the Monarchs base level to the same as the target of the ability: Currently trying to use Ruler on a level 5 Dark Assassin, Skill failed.

I was stunned, I thought this was the end - I had no way to resist. This was a professional and even had the ability to resist my abilities, I didn't try to run because I had a feeling that even if I ran in the Shadow Realm this man would find me... sighing I passed my hand through a layer of light on the side of a dumpster.

"What a sloppy exit. Exiting through the light? What type of natural are you?" The man reprimanded me making my face go bright red, I didn't know how he knew about the Shadow Realm but from his explanation it was obvious he knew more about it than me and could probably even traverse it from the danger I had felt just now.

I looked up at him, still kneeling from his pressure, "Yes Sir?" I felt indignant about having to bow down to another person but his power left me no choice, it left a dark thread in my heart that urged me to grow stronger quicker so that I couldn't be pressured by anyone or stepped on like this again.

"Good, good! I like obedience in the youngsters!" He laughed, the pressure instantly was taken back into his body as if it hadn't existed in the first place. I stood up and looked at him with horror, this man was simply a monster in human form - how had I never discovered the existence of such humans before? Was my standing in society really so low that I didn't even know that such monsters existed?! I was going crazy racking my brain for any trail I had overheard about people with powers such as mine yet I found nothing, yet here one was standing before me. 

I wanted to hit myself for thinking myself unique, the being who had given me these powers was probably on an entirely different level to the current me so of course people stronger than me existed! I had no right to be arrogant.. the arrogance which had been brewing within me for the last day was repressed, I had no right to be arrogant with my current strength just this one encounter had taught me that.

"Tch I see you figured it out, that arrogance of yours really made me want to give you a good whack round' the head lad." The old man laughed again, he was truly laughing however, I had no idea why? What was he going to do to me now he had discovered my powers?

"I know that look lad, my name's James - call me Gramps in the future," He laughed again, obviously finding something funny with the situation which I didn't, "Why the long face! This is good for your future kid!" He laughed again, honestly, I just wanted him to get on with it and tell me what he wanted his laughter was really infuriating. 

"Join our organization and I'll let you live." He got straight to the point, this time rather than the pressure of his aura I felt pure killing intent on the back of my neck, a sweat brewed on my brow as I felt a cold chill down my back from the words. "Why?" I managed to sputter out almost choking myself in the process.

"Because you have talent kid! If I can't acquire you for the Skia organization I can't let anyone else, have you! Simple as that." He grinned at me, but this time it felt like the grin of a lion looking at its prey, I felt cornered and trapped yet I couldn't do anything to save myself, like a child who couldn't swim falling in a pool I felt helpless against the current.

"Truly.. an offer I can't refuse is it?" I laughed bitterly to myself, I had no quarrel with joining an organization of Assassins yet the way he was forcing me to join struck a nerve, there was nothing I could do, however...

Sighing at my bad luck encountering such a tough foe, "I accept.. Gramps."

"Great!" He smiled a toothless grin and turned on the spot, holding my arm he fell into the Shadow Realm, pulling me down too - "Hey, wait, what?!" I shouted to no avail as he took off laughing, dragging me by my arm...