New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

He entered the room that was now before him, which resembled a large lounge, or living room with a bar at the far end. The furniture all looked high end, and expensive, as did the massive aquarium, which looked to be at least 300 gallons.

Inside it were fish of vibrant colours, swimming peacefully.

Alex looked around the room, walking slowly, waiting for the thugs to come at him. But Katherine warned him to stop.

"Stop! One step in front of you, trip-wire. It's tied to grenades on both sides. Then behind the sofa, there is a hastily made nail bomb. It seems remote detonated, so they are just waiting for you to pass near it."

Alex looked at his feet, and he indeed saw the semi-transparent fish wire stretched out four inches above the ground.

Following the wire, he quickly spotted a grenade lodged behind a small coffee table on the side of the sofa, and another one hidden behind a statue pedestal, on which rested a bust of what he imagined was the current owner of the house.

He smiled as he went to the sofa.

They set the traps up in the assumption of someone who would rush toward the bunker and didn't take into consideration the possibility the invader wouldn't be in a hurry.

Alex stopped in front of the eight-place sectional sofa and kicked into the center section, using his augmented strength to launch the damned thing into the bar counter, taking the nail bomb with it.

The bomb must have been poorly made, as it exploded on contact with the counter, shredding the back of the furniture to pieces, but not making it much farther.

A few nails launched over it, but they weren't on a trajectory that could harm Alexander.

He then rapidly acted again, grabbing the grenade under the coffee table, and chucked it into the corridor near the bar, causing the men hidden there to suddenly jump out, lest they turn to ground meat.

And before the second one could blow up, he picked it up and threw it into the fish tank, mentally apologizing to the innocent fish.

The grenade blew up, shattering the fish tank and killing the fish inside by the pressure of the explosion, as the massive amount of water fell to the ground on both sides of the tank.

The two men that were in the corridor jumped to their feet, machine guns ready, and pointed at Alexander.

"Give up, kid! We have the numbers advantage, and we have guns!"

Alex chuckled.

The man's face turned to a scowl.

"Why you laughin' punk?!"

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to offend, but I thought I heard you say I should give up."

The thug looked confused for a second, before raising his machine gun higher and pointing it at Alex's head.

"That's right! Give up. There's no way out of this!"

With a sinister grin, Alexander shook his head, clicking his tongue.

"Tut, tut, tut. I'm sorry, big guy. I think you misunderstand. See, I'm not looking for a way out. But you should be. You see, I'm not stuck in here with you. You're stuck in here with me."

A shiver ran down the man's spine, and his finger twitched on his trigger, causing the gun in his hand to go off. But his target had disappeared.

The room suddenly turned pitch black, which was strange, given the early hour of the day and the massive bay windows.

The goon and his pal started frantically spinning their heads in every direction, wondering where the young man had gone. Until they heard his voice echoing all around them.

"I haven't tried this form yet. So you'll have to excuse my sloppy execution. I'll try to make this as painful as I can, alright? Ah ah ah ah!" Alex laughed, his mind relishing in the fear he was sensing from the five men suddenly trapped in his newly expanded darkness.

This power came from one of the demon Counts inside Solomon's signet ring, Räum. His ability to conjure, manipulate, and weaponize shadows was impressive, if somewhat lacklustre, combat-wise.

But it was perfect in this case.

The five thugs were suddenly trapped in the room where they thought they had trapped Alexander and were already panicking, as the shadows encompassing the room seemed to move.

Alexander made sure to encapsulate the cameras so Katherine could keep an eye on him, and expanded the shadows just outside the room, across from the fish tank, where two more thugs were lying in wait.

The last one was crouched behind the bar counter, a bottle in his hand, ready to ignite the cloth that dangled from the bottleneck and chuck it at the intruder.

Alexander knew where all of them were, thanks to the annoying woman chatting away in his right eardrum, and he could use his skill accordingly.

But he was nowhere to be seen.

This was because the shadows themselves were part of him. In perspective, Alex had become the large, black, smoky dome that engulfed the room, and he was everywhere and nowhere, all at once.

He enjoyed their panic for a bit before Katherine started complaining in his ear.

"Come on, already. We don't have all day, Mr. Leduc."

He clicked his tongue, annoyed that she kept being so bossy, but knew she was also right.

How long before someone reached the cops, with all the explosions and gunshots that had already echoed?

So he got to work.

The two in the middle of the room were standing a few feet apart, looking in opposite directions, so Alex decided to have some fun.

He slid up from the shadows on the floor, right between them, and uttered, 'Boo!' as he tapped on their shoulders. He then melted right back into the shadows, as both of them turned around in panic, firing their guns, and ultimately, taking each other out.

Another sinister laugh echoed in the room.

"Ha ha ha ha! You guys are like scared toddlers, suddenly stuck in a room with no lights. How long until you piss yourselves, I wonder."

One of them suddenly snapped, running out into the lounge, and firing his gun as he screamed like a madman.

"DIE BASTARD!! ARGGHH!!!!!"

*Ratatatatatata!*