An hour before the new dawn after various commotions that happened around Jinkai City in the night because of Kars' little visit to his targets, now the slum boss has descended upon his last target at the mansion of the Juon Jun Ju family in the inner district of the city to help them see the error of their ways...
"Do you fucking know why you are about to die like a bitch tonight?" Kars asked, his voice seeming casual but filled with unhidden malice, to the old man below him as his boot pressed down hard on the old man's windpipe, his heel grinding into the flesh and bone beneath the long gray beard, almost crushing the old man's cervical spine with how hard he pressed the old man against the ground.
"Why the silence? It's not that hard of a question, is it?" Kars glances down mockingly at his last target, who is supposed to be one of the Jinkai council members named Du-ho and the patriarch of the Juon Jun Ju family, which is a merchant family that the locals like to call the "Juju Gang" with contempt because of how they are pretending to be honest businessmen while operating like the mafia.
"And here I thought I already did enough to warn the people around here..." Kars continued to speak while ignoring the fact that Du-ho, who gurgles incoherently with fingers clawing desperately at Kars's boot on his throat while the jeweled rings on the old man's fingers scratch uselessly against the thick leather, can't even talk back to him.
"But clearly I didn't do enough, huh?" Kars mumbled with some irritation in his tone as he looked up from the struggling Du-ho and looked around him at what used to be a luxurious Asian-style mansion and beautiful courtyard of the Juju gang, which now lay in ruins with flames consuming the building and the garden that illuminated everything in orange light as dead bodies could be seen scattered around all over the place after a massacre that followed Kars' surprise visit to one of the wealthiest and most influential merchant families of Jinkai City.
Not far away from Kars and Du-ho, there are still alive servants and members of Juon Jun Ju's family that fearfully huddle up together as they are being surrounded by a group of men with pure white skin and eerie glowing green eyes under their steel helmets in red clothes and steel armor, as these strange-looking men are Kars' homunculus soldiers that he has created to be his minions by stuffing a modified soul inside a duplicated and alchemically enchanted human body.
They are Kars' most loyal and fearless warriors, as the indentured people that were competent enough to fight for him were very few in number, so Kars had to rely on these homunculi instead, as they are pretty good combatants and minions overall, considering Kars was able to make them physically strong at peak-human levels and low-maintenance enough that they only require half a portion of food and water for the average man to be functional.
Currently there are a total of 500 homunculi in Kars's service, and right now 50 of them are standing motionless like mannequins around the mansion, waiting for their master's order as their glowing green eyes are fixed on the surviving Juju gang people whose whimpers were drowned out by the crackling flames as they watched their once high-and-mighty patriarch reduced to just a pitiful dying old man by someone they used to look down upon and dismiss as just a thug boss of the slum.
"Gaahkk..." Du-ho wheezed out as his fingers started to lose strength; his once-pristine white silk sleeping robe was now shredded and soaked in blood from the dozen wounds Kars had carved into his body before the old man finally got pinned down outside after Kars had dragged him out from the mansion by his neck.
"..." With some difficulty, Du-ho's still-working right eye, as his left one is swollen shut from a brutal backhand, rolls hazily toward the burning ruins of his home and his remaining family with anguish on his face, as their fate now depends on the madman's whim. He still can't believe that the slum boss would be so bold and attack his family without any fear of the consequences.
When he arrived, Kars had been very straightforward as he kicked on the Juon Jun Ju gate on a very late night and started killing anyone who got in his way while he walked to the mansion with his homunculi pouring out from the portal he opened at the front gate to capture or kill anyone who didn't surrender, as he doesn't want to bother doing that by himself.
At first the arrogant Du-ho just laughed at what he perceived as Kars's foolishness and ordered his entire 300 guards to kill him, not knowing what kind of monster he was dealing with. And to the surprise of the patriarch of the Juju gang, the fight was short, brutal, and very one-sided, as Kars and his minions easily slaughtered everyone with their enchanted weapons before Kars finally pinned Du-ho down in the ruined courtyard after a serious beating along with those that surrendered right after the homunculi were about to run them through with swords and spears.
Du-ho's remaining eye starts to go dark as he sees his old wife trembling in her torn nightgown, weeping quietly; then he looks at his remaining youngest son, who had cowardly surrendered after seeing the first sign of their guards losing, and right now the young man is currently looking down at his own feet and refusing to see anything around him. Whether in shame or just simple relief, the Juju gang's patriarch doesn't really know or actually care enough to find out; he's just glad that one of his sons is still alive.
"..." Du-ho's gaze then eventually ends up staring numbly at the lifeless bodies of his other sons, who got brutally executed for their defiance, before the soon-to-be former councilman's throat suddenly vibrates beneath Kars' boot as he wheezes out a soundless laugh, his eye now glaring back up at Kars, trying to speak something in defiance but unable to with his throat being crushed and all.
"Ah? If you want to say anything about the other council members actually doing anything about this, then don't ever bother; they will do absolute nothing when I throw in some money and benefits their way." Noticing the old man's action, Kars said with a smirk, as he knew vaguely what the old man was trying to say to him before he suddenly twisted his boot until the old man's cervical spine finally broke with a disturbing snap that startled the Juju Gang people.
Du-ho's body went limp after twitching for a while, his remaining eye frozen in a stare of impotent rage as he died so uncinematically. Kars then lifted his boot with a satisfied grunt, watching the old man's head loll to the side at an unnatural angle. His work tonight is almost done.
"Your soul is mine..." Looking down, Kars whispered ominously as he pointed his hand at Du-ho's corpse before a sickly green glow pulsed beneath his fingers as the Juon Jun Ju patriarch's essence tore free from his flesh in a torrent of green energy, and Kars sucked it all inside his hand and consumed it in a few seconds, leaving only dust and bloody clothes beneath his feet.
The courtyard fell utterly silent, save for the crackling flames consuming the mansion and garden as the Juju gang people witnessed Kars's mysterious soul magic for the first time in person, and their bodies couldn't help but shake with primal fear.
"Well then..." Kars then turned to the surviving people while kicking Du-ho's dust off his boot like dirt. His amber eyes scanned their terrified faces with a smirk as he walked toward them. "Let's talk business."
"What I have here is an agreement, a treaty between your family and me..." Kars raises his empty hand in the air and turns his palm upward before a thick pile of papers materializes in his hand with a glowing green light. It is what Mei Mei had prepared for him beforehand in case he clashed with the council member.
"If you agree to sign this, then I'm not going to wipe your entire family out..." Kars smirks as he hands the document to Du-ho's youngest son, who is now the new patriarch as he accepts it with trembling hands. The contract's terms are simple: complete financial control, absolute obedience, and forfeiture of all Juju Gang assets to Kars Aloha, which is basically a full-on subjugation. And consequently, all of this would fall in Mei Mei's lap later for her to manage as she pleased in his stead.
"What the hell..." And after reading what was on the papers, the young man's fingers trembled against the parchment, his eyes wide as he scanned the terms in outrage, as each line was more damning than the last, but he could only resign himself and sign the document with a shaky hand since he didn't want to die. His remaining family members fell to their knees in despair, some weeping silently, while others just looked resigned to their fate. Kars watched them all with cold amusement as the ink dried.
"Now, as a reassurance, I'll pick someone to be in my care." Seeing the paper signed, Kars then hummed as he looked around the Juju gang as he searched for the hostage before he stopped and pointed at a young girl with long black hair that has two pigtails that are tied up like a pair of horns and a pair of purple eyes who seemed to be around 13 years old. "You, girl, come here."
The girl flinched when Kars pointed at her, her small hands clutching the hem of her nightgown. She glanced at the sobbing woman beside her, likely her mother, who looked like she wanted to protest but didn't in the end because of Kars's intense stare before the girl dejectedly stepped forward on unsteady legs. The flickering firelight cast shadows across her face as she stopped just out of Kars' reach, her chin trembling while she was looking at her feet.
"...!" The girl almost stepped back and yelped in fear as Kars suddenly walked toward her and crouched to her eye level, his smirk widening as she looked up at him with some tears in her eyes.
"What's your name, my little hostage?" Kars asked with amusement while thinking about what he was going to do to this girl. Ah, no, not in doing it Diddy-style or Jeffy-style, but maybe he would when she grew up some more; Kars just wonders if he can train her into his loyal subordinate or something...
"J-Juri..." the girl stammered, her voice barely above a whisper as she swallowed nervously, her purple eyes moving between Kars's face and what remained of her grandfather behind him.
Kars studied the girl, Juri, with curiosity as the flames reflected in her purple eyes made them look like liquid amethyst. She was trembling, but her jaw was clenched tight as well as her fists. Most children would be sobbing uncontrollably by now, but she seems able to find her courage. A fighter in the making.
"Juri, huh? You can call me Boss from now on." Kars smiled a little and then stood straight as he opened up the green portal behind him with such ease that it looked like he wasn't even the one who did it.
"We're leaving!" Kars announced out loud, his voice reaching all of the homunculi before they formed ranks, their boots crunching over the debris-littered courtyard as they marched toward the portal without question. Kars then glanced back at Juri, whose small fists were clenched so tight her knuckles had gone white.
"Come, or would you rather I drag you along?" he added casually, turning on his heel as he walked toward the portal, not worrying that she wouldn't follow him.
"Yes..." Juri spat out when she thought Kars wouldn't hear her and stumbled forward with her bare feet before quickly running after him to the portal. The heat of the burning mansion licked at her back as she nervously followed Kars inside the glowing green portal while trying not to touch the glowing light.
"..." When she stepped into the portal, she couldn't help but glance back once, just once, at her mother's crumpled form as the woman's face was buried in her hands. Then the portal swallowed the girl whole as she was gone, leaving the Juju gang to wail in their misery.
Not far away, at the tree that was not on fire, a crow watches the entire scene unfold as it caws ominously before taking flight toward the morning sky...