As A Mafia Boss, I Refuse To Be An Extra

Damian pulled himself out of his thoughts and spoke quietly.

"Status.

" The familiar screen materialized in front of him, glowing softly in the dawn light.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━Name: Damian Valcor Age: 16 Rank: C+ Talent: S Core Attributes:Strength: 548 Speed: 540 Stamina: 545 Vitality: 550 Aura: C+ Will: 310(23) Perception: 200(17) Intent: Slaughter Skills: Shooting: A Hand Combat: A Telekinesis: A Macro Vision: A Sonic Blink: A Self-Healing: A Obsidian Hide: C Aura Control: B+(D-) Body Control: C+ Aura Magnification: 2× Weapon Arts: Omega Point - S: Level 3 Abyssal Slaughter - SS: Major Success Devourer Body Art - ???

: Minor Success Bond: Kuro (C+ Rank) - Unknown Entity - Talent Unknown Domains: Domain of Despair [Currently not Accessible] - A mental Domain capable of making any person within its boundaries feel the full weight of their negative emotions and experience absolute despair.

- Host can use his own negative emotions to power the Domain.

The more the host understands the essence of despair, the more powerful the Domain becomes.

- Current Range: 100 meters ━━━━━━━━━━━━━His eyes scanned the numbers first.

The physical stats had grown significantly from consuming those creatures inside the portal, though not as dramatically as when he’d eaten the Giants.

Still, the increases were substantial enough to put him far above normal awakeners.

Then his gaze fell to the debuffed stats.

Will: 310 (23) Perception: 200 (17) Aura Control: B+ (D-) He let out a long breath.

Those numbers showed his current functional capacity.

His Will was operating at barely seven percent of normal.

No wonder everything felt foggy and distant.

’It’ll take time to recover.

Nothing I can do about it except rest and wait.

’His eyes moved down to the Domains section and stopped at the words that made his jaw clench.

[Currently not Accessible] SnapHe raised his hand and snapped his fingers the way he used to when deploying the Domain.

But nothing happened.

The air didn’t shift, the darkness didn’t rise and no black ground or crimson sky or manifestations of despair became visible.

It was just dawn light and cool breeze and the sound of the city waking up below.

Damian’s face went grim.

’I was hoping to feed all the negative emotions into the Domain, let it absorb everything so my mind could be clear.

But...

’He couldn’t access it, which meant the whispers would continue.

The hallucinations lurking at the edges of his vision would keep appearing and the feeling of Nera’s accusations following him everywhere wouldn’t go away anytime soon.

He was better than he’d been in that interrogation room, but he was far from completely stable.

As he moved to close the status screen, something caught his eye in the Skills section.

Obsidian Hide: CHe stared at it for a moment, confusion rippling through him.

He hadn’t learned any such skill before the portal.

He was certain of it.

"Obsidian Hide.

" His Aura responded immediately, flowing through his body in patterns he didn’t consciously direct.

It felt instinctive, like the skill had always been part of him and was just waiting to be called.

A viscous black substance began emerging from his pores.

It looked like liquid obsidian, thick and dark, spreading across his skin with unsettling speed.

The liquid hardened as it spread, forming jagged, leathery plates that covered his arms, his chest and his legs.

Everything except his head became encased in what looked like natural armor.

Damian raised his hand and stared at it.

The obsidian coating caught the dawn light, gleaming dully.

He flexed his fingers and the armor moved with him, perfectly at every joint.

He pressed his other hand against his forearm and felt the hardness beneath his touch.

It looked exactly like the armor those mindless creatures had worn inside the portal, the ones he’d killed by the hundreds, the ones he’d...

’The leader...

When I ate the leader completely...

’The Devourer Body Art!

It didn’t just consume flesh for physical enhancement, it integrated them into his body like they’d always been there.

For a moment, Damian’s mind went completely blank.

’Am I really becoming a monster?

’The thought hit harder than he expected.

He stared at his obsidian-covered hand, at the alien armor that had grown from his own skin, and something cold settled in his chest.

"You ate them...

you became what you killed...

monster...

worthless monster...

"Nera’s voice whispered at the edge of his awareness, not real but feeling real enough.

Damian shook his head sharply and deactivated the skill.

The obsidian receded, flowing back into his pores like it had never existed, his skin returned to normal, pale and human and unmarked.

He took a shaky breath and looked away from his hands.

The table and bottles still sat there, evidence of the night’s conversation.

He waved his hand and collected everything into his spatial ring, the items vanishing without a sound.

Then he turned and headed back downstairs, leaving the rooftop and the rising sun behind.

**** Damian descended the stairs quietly, his footsteps barely making sound on the polished wood.

He heard voices before he reached the bottom.

One loud and scolding and the other defensive and slightly panicked.

He entered the living room and stopped.

Alaric was squatting near the couch, both hands pressed over his ears like a child trying to block out a lecture.

His expression was the picture of a man who knew he was in serious trouble and had no escape route.

Lyandra stood over him, arms crossed, her black eyes blazing with the particular fury that only a wife could generate.

"You clearly went outside to drink at a club with your friends!

Don’t lie to me!

You absolutely REEK of alcohol!

" "I didn’t go to any club!

" Alaric’s voice came out muffled through his hands.

"I was just–" "JUST WHAT?!

Bathing in Phoenix?!

Rolling around in a distillery?!

" "I can explain–" "Oh, I’m SURE you can explain!

Just like you explained the last time!

And the time before that!

" Damian stood in the doorway, watching his legendary father get absolutely destroyed by his mother’s verbal assault.

It was almost funny enough to make him forget everything else for a moment.

Then...

Lyandra vanished from his vision.

ThudOne second she was standing over Alaric and the next she was wrapped around Damian, her arms tight enough to make breathing difficult.

She didn’t say anything as she just held him, her face pressed against his shoulder, her whole body trembling slightly.

Time stretched.

Damian stood there awkwardly, not quite sure what to do with his hands, acutely aware that his mother was holding him like he might disappear if she let go.

"...

Mom?

" "Shhh.

" Her voice was muffled against his shoulder.

"Let me hug my baby.

" Damian stopped trying to pull away.

He stood there and let her hold him, feeling the warmth of her embrace, the desperate tightness that spoke of fear she’d been holding back for days.

His mind drifted back to Alaric’s words from earlier.

’Even if your past life was tragic, you’re very lucky to have a second chance...

you have loved ones...

’That was right.

He was lucky...

incredibly and impossibly lucky.

He raised his arms and hugged her back just as tightly.

"Sorry for worrying you, Mom.

" Lyandra pulled back suddenly, holding him at arm’s length, her nose wrinkled.

"...

Why do I smell the same alcohol from you?

" Her head whipped around toward where Alaric had been squatting.

WhooshHe was gone.

There was only an empty space where he had been moments before, teleported away the instant he’d seen an opening.

Lyandra’s face crumpled dramatically as she pressed the back of her hand to her forehead like a character in a tragic play.

"My husband is a drunkard and my son is a drunkard too!

What did I do to deserve this?!

I tried to raise good men and this is what I get?!

" Damian’s face went blank.

’I should NEVER let her see me smoke!

’Lyandra’s dramatic despair vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

She looked at him with sudden sharpness, a sneaky smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

Damian recognized that look immediately.

She’d used it on him countless times when he was a kid, usually right before asking him to do something he didn’t want to do.

He sighed.

"What is it, Mom?

" Her smile widened, transforming into the most innocent expression he’d ever seen on a person capable of slaughtering hundreds of people in a second.

"It’s been such a long time since we went shopping together!

You used to love shopping with me when you were little.

You wouldn’t refuse your mother, would you?

"