As A Mafia Boss, I Refuse To Be An Extra

Mirah’s pinky finger separated from her hand.

For one frozen moment, she just stared at it.

Then the pain hit.

“AHHHHHHH! OH GOD, OH GOD, NO, PLEASE–”

Her scream was raw and primal, her entire body convulsing against the restraints.

“STOP! FUCKING STOP!”

Davies’s voice cracked completely, tears streaming down his face.

“They don’t keep electronic devices! The main members avoid Gia’s surveillance! Everything’s done in person or through dead drops! That’s all I know about their operations!”

Damian paused, looking at him with mild interest.

“Better.”

Then he brought the knife down again.

SHLK

Another finger fell.

“NOOO! PLEASE! PLEASE STOP!”

Mirah’s screams intensified, her voice already going hoarse.

“WHY?! I TOLD YOU WHAT YOU WANTED!”

Davies was sobbing now, the sound coming from somewhere deep and broken.

“WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”

Damian’s expression didn’t change.

“Names… Every Shadow Council operative in this city, everyone you’ve worked with and everyone you suspect.”

He positioned the knife over another finger.

“And be thorough. Because every name you forget…”

He let the implication hang.

Brian looked away, one of his hands clenching so hard the leather of his glove creaked. No one knew what kind of thoughts he had regarding this situation.

Mirah was hyperventilating, her face pale from blood loss and shock.

“Please… please no more…”

Her voice came out in broken gasps between sobs.

Davies’s whole body shook.

“Romel… Romel Heiss.”

His voice was barely above a whisper.

“Industrial district warehouse, Fifth Street, C-rank.”

Brian pulled out his communication device, fingers moving rapidly.

“I need… I need more than that.”

Damian’s voice was patient and almost kind.

“Locations, physical descriptions, everything you can remember.”

“Sarah Rodriguez!”

Davies was talking faster now, desperation making the words tumble out.

“Elementary school teacher, Maple Avenue, number 247, D rank, some kind of perception skill! Brown hair, about thirty years old.”

SHLK

Damian took another finger anyway.

Mirah’s scream was weaker this time, her voice nearly gone, her body going into shock.

“STOP IT! I’M GIVING YOU NAMES! WHY ARE YOU–”

“To make sure you’re being thorough.”

Damian’s tone was conversational.

“People tend to remember better when they’re properly motivated… Continue.”

Davies’s hands clawed at the floor, nails breaking as he tried uselessly to drag himself toward his wife.

“Thomas Wright! City hall clerk! Apartment complex on Sterling Road, unit 304! C rank combat type!”

The names kept pouring out, each one punctuated by his wife’s diminishing sobs.

Brian sent each name and location through the Mafia channel.

Across Norrington City, masked figures moved.

Marcus Feng was already coordinating the members who hadn’t participated in the detention center raid. They’d been on standby, waiting for targets.

Now they had them.

****

[Across Norrington City]

The first target lived in a modest apartment on the east side.

Sarah Rodriguez, elementary school teacher, was sleeping when her bedroom window shattered.

CRASH

She jerked awake, her D rank perception skill activating instinctively.

But perception didn’t help when three masked men were already inside, blades drawn.

“Wait–”

SHLK

The knife opened her throat before the word finished forming.

Blood sprayed across her pillows as she clutched uselessly at the wound, drowning in her own blood.

The masked men moved efficiently, painting SC on her bedroom wall in her blood before disappearing back through the window.

****

Romel Heiss had better survival instincts.

The moment he heard his front door being breached, he was moving, Aura flooding his C rank enhancement as he grabbed the weapon he kept by his bed.

CRASH

Four Mafia members poured through the door.

Romel met them head-on, his enhanced fist catching the first one in the chest.

CRACK

Ribs shattered as the man was sent flying backward.

But there were three more, and Romel was still half-asleep, his Aura not fully activated.

The fight was brutal and short.

Romel killed two of them before a blade found his kidney.

SHLK

He roared, spinning to kill his attacker, but another knife opened his femoral artery.

Blood fountained with pressure dropping rapidly.

Romel fell to his knees, still trying to fight even as his vision darkened.

The last Mafia member ended him with a blade through the eye socket.

They left the SC mark on his living room wall, the letters stark and accusatory.

****

Thomas Wright woke to the sound of his window sliding open.

His C rank combat instincts kicked in immediately, his body rolling off the bed as Aura flooded his body.

He came up in a crouch, hands already reaching for the weapon he kept in his nightstand.

THUNK

The first arrow punched through his shoulder before his fingers touched the drawer.

The Aura-enhanced projectile tore through muscle and bone, pinning his arm to the wall behind him.

“Fuck!”

Thomas yanked himself free, blood spraying from the wound.

His other hand grabbed the weapon.

THUNK

THUNK

Two more arrows hit simultaneously.

One took him in the chest, punching clean through his ribcage. The other caught his thigh, shattering the femur.

He dropped to his knees, the weapon falling from nerveless fingers.

’How did they find–’

THUNK

The final arrow entered through his eye socket, the Aura-enhanced tip destroying his brain instantly.

Thomas Wright’s body toppled backward, four arrows jutting from his corpse.

The Mafia member with the bow stepped through the window, his mask showing no expression.

He didn’t bother retrieving the arrows.

Using Thomas’s blood, he painted SC on the bedroom wall in large, dripping letters.

Then he disappeared back into the night.

****

All across Norrington City, the pattern repeated.

Some went quietly, some fought back and some tried to run…

But all of them died.

And all of them had the same symbol painted on their walls.

SC

The Shadow Council’s own mark, turned against them.

****

Damian listened as Davies gave the last name, his voice raw from talking.

Brian sent the final message and nodded.

“Done.”

Damian wiped the bloody knife on a clean cloth, his movements precise.

“Good. Now one more question.”

He looked down at Davies.

“Who gives you orders directly? Your handler… Your go to contact. Where do I find them?”

Davies’s remaining strength seemed to drain away.

“I don’t know.”

His voice was hollow and defeated.

“I’m serious… I don’t know… I only know that–”

Damian started walking toward Mirah again.

“NO! WAIT! LISTEN TO ME!”

Davies’s voice cracked with renewed panic.

“I’m not lying! They don’t trust people at my level! My contact changes every time! It’s different people EVERYTIME at different meeting spots! I’ve never seen the same handler twice!”

His words came out in a rush, tripping over each other.

“PLEASE! I’ve told you everything! Everything I know! There’s nothing left! Just let her go, she’s bleeding out, she needs a hospital–”

BOOOOOOM

Before he could finish, the entire west wall of the house vaporized.