Universal Power System

While Mako was enjoying the multiple brand-new skills and Fire Ability that he had just learned; somewhere else in Emerald City, the exact opposite was happening.

Inside what looked to be an abandoned factory warehouse, the sounds of beating and screaming could be heard loudly.

Inside the warehouse, multiple people were working while there was a guard behind each one that was hitting them with a whip that looked like it was entirely made of lightning every time the workers slowed down or took a break.

One of the workers that were working there had short ginger hair and a buffer body as compared to all the other workers.

This was of course bill Johnson, he was the one who had been declared the strongest kid in school while he was also begging for his life to the shadowy figure who ordered his henchmen to take him to the warehouse.

This was one of the many warehouses that was under one of the mafia bosses in Emerald City only known by his code name, El Diablo.

Bill had encountered El Diablo for his thrust for power because Bill didn't actually get the Earth ability from his father as everyone had assumed up to this point rather it was through him instead.

This was the memory that kept repeating in Bill's mind as he was once again electrocuted by the guards.

Bill's father had not provided him with an ability book as a punishment because he was already using his basic fighting skills to an extent that even though his father was a military veteran, a mother came and slapped his father due to the state Bill had put her son in.

Bill's father gave a punishment to Bill in order to teach him a lesson but in bill's mind, his father just didn't love him enough to give him an ability. So Bill being a determined young boy started searching for ways to get an ability.

He searched for months, going to any website and clicking on any link that looked promising. In the end, Bill ended up finding just what he was looking for as there was a pie-eating contest in the industrial district of Emerald City, and whoever won would be given a free level 3 ability.

The term 'Too good to be true!' wasn't even Bill's dictionary as he was genuinely desperate to get his very own ability.

Looking back now, Bill could only facepalm himself on one of the stupidest mistakes that his younger self made.

Bill made his way to the location that was given on the website, but *surprise* *surprise* it turned out to be a scam. Several goons were waiting at that location searching for their next victim. The goons were just looking to enslave and turn anyone they caught into free workers.

They managed to kidnap Bill and take him away to the warehouse, but after noticing that he fought him, The goon's leader decided to present him to the Mafia boss, El Diablo.

Bill kept on struggling as he was presenting in front of the mafia boss who wasn't impressed in any way from the get-go. He signaled one of his henchmen to untie Bill, and as soon as the henchmen did as he was told; Bill immediately sprung into action and started using the basic skills that he had learned to protect himself somehow.

[Three-punch Combo]

[High Kick]

[Falcon Fist]

Bill used all of the basic fighting skills that he learned alongside his elder brothers, The henchmen were caught off guard and took a direct hit from Bill before he realized what was going on.

"You little piece of S***! I'll kill you!" The henchmen shouted as that single hit hurt his pride a lot, but before he could even move; El Diablo was somehow standing in front of Bill and blocking the henchmen from doing anything.

"Oh, so we have a fighter over here," The Mafia boss said as he took a cigar out of his coat's pocket and proceeded to light it.

Taking a few puffs of the cigar, The Mafia Boss finally continued.

"So you came here in the hopes of getting an ability, didn't you" The boss spoke in a very calm manner.

"Ah... Yeah." Bill responded carefully as he could sense the aura that was being emitted by the boss in front of him as it was definitely no ordinary aura. This aura indicated that the boss might have more than one ability or a very high-level single ability. The aura was similar to his father's aura who had a level 6 Earth Ability and a Level 4 Wind Ability.

"So why don't we make a deal, What was your name..., Mr. Bill?" The boss spoke as he took another puff of his cigar.

El Diablo ended up making an offer that at the time was perfect for Bill. The Mafia Boss provided him a level 3 Earth ability and a few skill books, and in exchange, Bill had to swear his loyalty to him.

Bill would go to do El Diablo's bidding in many ways which also included several kidnappings as well. Bill even got the chance to be one of the guards who electrocuted the workers while they worked to the bone.

He kept his ability a secret at home by never revealing his aura while also providing the school with fake contact information of his father so that even if he did something that the teachers won't be able to overlook, the complaint would never reach his home.

All of this kept growing his sadistic nature which he started showing more and more in school towards kids like Mako.

One day, Bill was narrating what Mako had done to him during their previous match when Mako stood up and talked back to him.

El Diablo being a smart businessman suggested to Bill why not have a rematch with Mako and do it in a way that the instructor won't interfere at all, and he could also record the entire thing live and stream it online where people could make anonymous bets.

Bill thought it was an amazing idea and immediately set the plan in motion, he threatened Mako, paid the instructor, told a few of his school goons to record the whole thing, and even made a betting pole on an online social website that was run by El Diablo himself.

Everything was set up and the big day had arrived, Bill was prepared to humiliate Mako as he had never done before, and grow his sadistic nature to the next level which might also be able to impress El Diablo even more.

The only flaw in Bill's plan was that he had never even given a thought to Mako could become stronger than him so when Mako started dodging all of his attacks and even taunting him midway, Bill started to have cold feet. If Bill could not defeat Mako, then El Diablo would all the money he had used to bet on him which was a major problem.

El Diablo only had one rule and that was to never do something that would result in him losing money. Bill changed his tac-tic midway and decided to launch powerful attacks with the hope of killing Mako once and for all but he was defeated in the end.

Later that evening, Bill stood in front of El Diablo who wasn't in a calm and collected look anymore as he sentenced Bill to be a worker in one of the warehouses till he had earned enough money to pay him back.

Hammering away at a piece of metal, Bill was now regretting his actions as for the first time he was given a taste of what it felt like to be tortured again and again.

It was too late for him to make things right as he would be stuck in the warehouse, working 16 to 18 hours a day while surviving off small meals that didn't even meet the minimum requirement of calories to be healthy.

In Bill's mind, this was God's way of punishing him so that he could atone for his sins, and Bill had accepted that but the treatment he was getting was on such extreme scales that he wished that he could just go to sleep and never wake up again.

After another long day of work, Bill was beyond exhausted but he still somehow made his way back to the common room where there were too many bunk beds to count as this was the place where most of the workers slept.

Bill was about to go to bed when a certain head popped up from the lower bunk.

"Hey Billy boy, you good my guy?" The person asked, he was a middle-aged man close to his forties and had almost no facial hair, but physically looked like he was around 60 to 70 years old.

"Yeah, I am alright Andy, just tired that's all, goodnight" Bill shoved him off as he turned to his side while laying in his bed.

Andy's head popped back up again from the other side.

"Hey, just a heads up, a couple of guys were discussing earlier about some sort of break out or something, and that they needed more powerful ability users, so you should probably take a look into it," Andy whispered in a more serious tone before popping back down on his bed and going to sleep in less than thirty seconds.

"Hmm... A break-out, huh?" Bill said to himself as he noticed a couple of workers all huddled around a single bed at the far east corner of the room.

"Worth a shot, I guess," Bill told himself as he got up from his bed and dragged himself to join the crowd of people.