In the outer districts of the South Zone, as always, many people filled the streets, there were those who were on their way to work and also those who were returning home to finally rest after a hard day's work.
Of course, not to be forgotten either were the stores that were open on both streets, which saw customers from time to time, although they were not overflowing with customers, they were not doing badly at all either.
Together they formed the scene of a rather energetic part of the city, though of course this was a somewhat normal scene here.
However, unlike other days, this time the air throughout the South Zone felt different, if before people felt as if they were afraid that something was going to happen, now they were walking around simply worrying about their own problems.
It was as if a faint but lingering curtain of worry had finally lifted to never appear over these people again.
This was the effect brought about by the fact that Metal Body had finally defeated Wolf's Fang.
Because the inhabitants of the South Zone feared that a small or large-scale fight over a territory dispute might break out at any moment, they were always afraid that they might end up involved in something like this.
Fortunately for them, that and many other things had changed.
The day after Metal Body defeated Wolf's Fang, without wasting any time, Garel immediately set to work to take over all the territories controlled by the gang.
Both he and the executives and guards were in an extremely weak state thanks to the use of the blood pill, but anyway, proving that not only his body was made of steel, but also his will, Garel left the hospital to organize everything.
After unifying all the territories using the help of the normal members, assigning guards to each zone, distributing the territory that belonged to the Laers Guild and dismantling all kinds of illegal businesses that Wolf's Fang had, he began a series of reforms over the entire South Zone, repairing several apartment complexes, roads and other essential businesses to revive the economic development of the South Zone.
Thanks to the fact that they didn't fully pay in credits for the blood pills, plus they ended up seizing Wolf's Fang's money after looting their warehouses, they still had a good amount of money that they used to finance it all.
The Laers Guild also noticed this, so they wanted to try to fund some of these projects in an attempt to gain some more authority, but to their surprise, Garel rejected them outright.
His intention was clear, he would not let them dig their claws any deeper into the South Zone than they should!
As for the Grey Rat nests he had discovered when he fought Jared in District 4, thanks to Jared eliminating most of them, there were only a few Grey Rats left, which were quickly eliminated by the Metal Body members.
These constructions generated several jobs for the inhabitants of the South Zone, who were always looking for ways to make extra money.
Thus, although everything was still under construction and there were countless things left to do, it was only a matter of time until Garel managed to return a functional part of the South Zone.
In this period of time, Garel was no longer the fearsome rank (C+) super that everyone knew, becoming something of a mayor, recognized both by the majority of the inhabitants of the South Zone as well as for other parts of the city.
***
While the South Zone was going through all these reforms, there was one person who had remained unaware of any of this, or rather, without having the opportunity to find out anything about the outside world.
On the outskirts of Nightown City, in the center of one of the towns farthest from the city, stood a particularly large building which resembled a 2-story inn.
There wasn't much to draw attention to this building, even when one entered, one could only see the receptionist waiting for a customer to come in.
However, behind this receptionist's desk was a secret passageway, one of many entrances which led to a subway labyrinth that served as a sub-base for none other than the Laers Guild.
The reason they had made this base so far from the city was because the Heroes Association and the Hunters monitored the surroundings of the city periodically to find out if any monsters were making their way into the city with the help of tunnels.
This was something that had happened in a number of cities in the past, a nest of monsters suddenly burst out in the middle of the city, catching everyone off guard and generating a horrific death toll.
Fortunately for the Laers Guild, the monitoring was only focused on the city and its surroundings, not reaching this town.
This labyrinth had been rebuilt so that instead of a maze, it looked more like a cold concrete base that could hold hundreds of workers at the same time.
In fact, several people could already be seen inside these tunnels completing the tasks that each one had been given, they were preparing everything so that this base could operate at full power.
Among all these people, there was a certain woman with short hair and a suit who stood out from the rest, she was walking through one of the lower levels of the subway base, every time she met one of the workers, the latter looked at her with reverence and respect in their eyes, making it clear what her status was.
After a few minutes, she reached the last level of the base, which was nothing more and nothing less than a huge prison that was separated from the sub-base by a large metal door, both the door and the interior was guarded by several rank (C) supers.
Upon seeing the woman, without her saying anything, the guards immediately opened the door to let her in, to which she thanked them with a smile that made both guards blush a little.
Finally, the woman stopped only after reaching a particularly large cell which housed the former head of Wolf's Fang, Jared.
She then entered the cell, observing Jared, who was chained to the wall with a special type of metal for security reasons.
His appearance, although better than the time he had fought Jay and Garel, had undergone several significant changes, mainly because of his presence.
While before he seemed to be a beast that one wouldn't dare to disturb, now he was just a man of large stature who seemed to be lost in his thoughts.
"Hey, what's up~?" The woman said after entering the cell, sitting down on a small invisible bench she made with her skill.
Hearing her voice, Jared only raised his head slightly before replying in a hoarse voice, "...Now what do you want...?"
While there wasn't a hint of friendliness in his voice, there was no hostility either, it was a tone completely devoid of emotion.
Of course, this was normal.
Being in prison, with nowhere to escape to due to his gang he formed over the years falling apart, with his Core shattered, and with so many rank (C) supers guarding the place, there was no hope of being able to do anything else except wait until the Laers Guild decided what to do with him.
"Not much really, it's just that I had some free time and decided to come and pay you a visit, by the way you can also finish telling me about some of your exploits~" The woman replied with the same carefree tone as always.
It wasn't that she had a particular interest in Jared, it was just that it was a hobby of hers to listen to the stories of famous local characters that the guild captured from time to time.
"I have no more to tell, I've told you everything..."
Because she had already come here several times, Jared had already told her in great detail all the important battles he had had in his life, after all, pleasing someone from the Laers Guild would be especially useful to him in this situation.
"Hm... then how about someone from Nightown City unusual but who is little known~? Surely you must know someone like that~"
Hearing her words, Jared began to think of people who might fall into the category of "unusual" by the standards of the woman in front of him.
He thought of several people, from Garel, to some members of the Heroes Association and also the Hunters.
However, although there were famous personalities, if he had to think of the most unusual person he had encountered in his entire life, it would undoubtedly have to be....
"...The bandaged man..."
"...Hm?"
The woman's interest immediately rose after hearing what Jared said, since he hadn't said a name, indicating that even Jared didn't know his true identity, it was clear that this character was mysterious.
"I'm taling about the reason I lost to Garel, as well as the person who took shattered my Core..."
This time his tone was filled with an almost imperceptible killing intent that the woman could detect.
However, the only thing she took any notice of were his last words.
"...Tell me more."
That way, even though the information he had about Jay was limited, Jared simply began to tell everything he knew, intentionally exaggerating certain things to make Jay seem stronger than he actually was.
After a few minutes, the woman's expression changed greatly.
"Gosh... this definitely goes beyond unusual..." She said as she held her chin and a smile of interest formed on her face.
Judging from what Jared had told her, she could estimate the bandaged man's strength to be in the (D) or (D+) rank at best, but putting that aside, there were three points about this mysterious character that caught her attention more than anything else.
First would be the apparent use of an esper ability despite the fact that his body was clearly that of a pugilist, something that if true, would be unprecedented in all of history.
Unfortunately, there was no proof of this other than Jared's own words, so until this point was verified, nothing could be done.
Second was the bandaged man's ability to suddenly increase his physical capacity, going so far as to equal the standard of a rank (C) pugilist.
Although the pugilists had similar techniques, such a large increase could only be found in the higher level techniques, so her surprise was understandable.
As for the third point, and also the most important, it had to do with the disabling of Jared's Core.
Regardless of whether it was the moment the bandaged man caused a qi deviation to Jared's interior or the moment he caused a current of energy to surge within him, finally reaching the point where it rendered his Core unusable, they were all things that left the member of the Laers Guild incredibly intrigued.
'...Just what kind of esper ability did he have to cause something like that...?' the woman thought, trying to remember when she had seen something like that.
Several options flashed through her mind such as an unique esper ability to destroy Cores or perhaps something much rarer, the ability to control qi without being a pugilist.
With the limited information he possessed, she could only make such theories.
As for what had happened to Garel, because the latter had refused to meet with her to discuss any other cooperative matters, she was unaware of it.
"Hm, that's certainly the most unusual thing I've heard so far, though tell me... why exactly did you kidnap his partner?"
That was something she couldn't quite understand, facing an opponent with such rare abilities and also someone who you know next to nothing about, the least you'd want to do would be to provoke him, unless you had the strength to afford something like that.
"Heh, I just wanted to recruit him and take the opportunity to show him that he shouldn't let his guard down, if I had known things would end up like this..." When he finished saying that, a bitter expression formed on his face.
"Hm, alright, thanks for the information, I'll be sure to look for this person, even if we don't know his identity, it won't take long to find his partner."
With those words as her last, the woman stood up and left the room, a smile of interest plastered on her face.
Apparently, Jay's actions had caught the attention of a giant incomparably more powerful than 10 Wolf's Fang gangs combined.
Of course, Jay was unaware of this.
