Octagram, a small island country near Singapore, may be small at around 450 square kilometers, but it has made impressive advancements in technology and magic.

As the world's central power, Octagram is home to esteemed organizations and institutions like the Hero Association Omega, Wizard Tower Lunaria, Octagram Academy, and various guild facilities.

The island is divided into six distinct regions: Central, North, East, South, West, and Southwest. Each region has its own unique array of districts spread throughout Octagram.

Academy Island is located in the central region.

The Central Business District occupies the northern region, comprising 2/8 of the island's area. This district houses many guild facilities and buildings, with the northernmost area serving as the location of the academy's Artificial Forest.

The eastern and southern regions combined make up 3/8 of the island's territory, primarily consisting of residential districts across Octagram Island. Alongside the residential areas, there are also diverse district types in the east and south.

The western region occupies 2/8 of the island and is home to the Omega HQ and Lunar Tower. Half of this region serves as the administrative district, housing these notable organizational landmarks, while the other half is the Enhanced district, a popular gathering place for the Enhanced individuals.

The four regions mentioned above cover 7/8 of the entire island, leaving the remaining portion for the academy island in the central region and the industrial district in the southwest region.

"The Central Business District is bustling with people even at night but, I might be able to kill him if he goes this route."

Sitting on the parapet along the edge of a three-story building rooftop was a man with striking white hair in the night. His face was hidden under a visually striking white mask with a unique mechanism of eyesockets where he could open or close them as he wish.

The mask featured the fearsome shape of a demon's face — Oni, with two curved horns on either side of the forehead, resembling those of a bull, and protruding fangs.

Because of that mask and his all-white attire, people called him Shiro Oni or White Demon.

Though one could argue it was dumb to pick the white color for the night's ambush, Shiro Oni had his own reason.

In the first place, he never had any intention to be someone who lurked in the shadow.

If he was to do that, it would take a long time before people began to recognize him as a villain because they needed to investigate the case first.

Shino Oni also constantly left a trace around the crime scene to let people know that it was he who did that.

It had been a month since Shiro Oni announced himself to the world. At first, no one paid him any attention, they were thinking that he was just your ordinary villain who would disappear soon.

As he did numerous criminal acts, which mostly was killing heroes all over the world, Omega finally had their attention on him.

But, even after killing dozen of heroes and leaving his trace, no one could track him.

Hero Association and guilds that had their members killed by him attempted an investigation but they didn't find a single clue about Shiro Oni's whereabouts or even his real identity and which organizations he affiliated himself to.

The heroes most likely suspected him as one of Dystopia's members, taking his appearance as a sign that Dystopia would be active again.

Shiro Oni did not only target heroes, but he also targeted villains.

His goal was to make those opposing sides aware of his existence.

Though, unlike heroes who put a bounty on him. The villains were seeking him either to recruit him or fight him.

Shiro Oni rolled up the map he spread on the parapet and then closed his eyes for some time before opening it again.

"Found him."

..

"Ahahahaha~"

A drunk man was walking alone through the dimly lit alley after coming out of the 'night bar', a hidden place in the Central Business District.

Not many people were crossing the alley the man was currently walking on in the night because of various bad rumors.

As the man realized that the alley became darker and narrower, he stopped on his track, looking around in his unstable state of mind because he was drunk.

"Umm~"

Shrugging, the man continued on his way through the dark alley. After taking a few steps, he stopped again.

He was drunk, but it didn't mean he couldn't feel that something strange was currently happening around him. He had noticed that when he walked through, he occasionally caught a glimpse of something white moving at a high speed on the rooftop.

At first, he thought that was just a light but, how could there be a light while this alley didn't have any lamp or light source?

He was too late to realize that, eventually finding himself as prey to whatever was going to appear.

Staring at the darkness of the alley in front of him, he caught a glittering red dot.

He rubbed his eyes, hoping that he was just seeing things. Unfortunately, the glittering red light wasn't his hallucination but a real deal.

As the man's sober dispersed, Shiro Oni emerged from the darkness of the alley.

The glittering red light the man saw was actually Shiro Oni's red eye, he had just added a layer of mana to make his eye glow in the dark.

As soon as his full form was visible to the man, Shiro Oni dashed forward, his sword at ready.

"W-White—!"

A flash of light suddenly appeared, motioning a slashing movement at the man's neck. Blood slowly gushed out from the fresh wound cut.

"???"

A moment later, Shiro Oni finally appeared before him, slashing his sword in the same motion as the flash of light earlier. At that moment, the blood that slowly gushed was now spurting like a fountain.

The man wasn't dead yet even with that wound, so Shiro Oni slashed him again at the exact same place where he attacked earlier, sending the man dropped dead on the cold, dirty floor.

A disturbed look was visible in his eyes as Shiro Oni looked at the corpse. Shaking his head, he walked away as he sheathed the sword and pulled a book out of thin air.historical

Flipping through the pages, he stopped at the page with a list of names that only he and God knows whose names were listed on it.

"Number 28, check."