The rooftop chase

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Black Coat: Episode 1 – The Rooftop Chase

The wind howled across the towering skyscrapers as the night sky loomed heavy with dark clouds. Rain threatened to pour at any moment, and the city’s glowing lights flickered like restless spirits. On top of one such towering building, a man clad entirely in black sprinted across the rooftop. His long coat billowed behind him like the wings of a raven, his face half-hidden beneath a black hood.

In his grasp, he held the trembling hand of an 18-year-old girl and a small boy of about six years old. Both their faces were etched with fear, their steps unsteady as they were dragged along the slick rooftop.

“Stop right there, Black Coat!” a sharp voice echoed behind them.

The pursuers were close. Two figures leapt from rooftop to rooftop in relentless pursuit. The first was a young man—our Main Character (MC)—his sharp red eyes burning with determination. Beside him was his elder sister, a woman with fierce grace and eyes as cold as steel. She moved with precision, her every step calculated yet lightning-fast.

The gap between the pursuers and the black-coated man closed rapidly.

“Let them go!” MC shouted, his voice filled with fury.

Black Coat didn’t look back. “You don’t understand. This isn’t about you. I have a mission, and I won’t fail.”

Suddenly, from the shadows, two masked figures—Black Coat’s loyal servants—emerged, cutting off MC and his sister’s path. The servants wielded daggers gleaming under the moonlight, their movements sharp and lethal.

“Get out of our way!” the sister commanded, drawing her twin daggers with swift precision.

MC clenched his fists. A faint holographic screen appeared before his eyes—his system activating automatically.

[Mission 8 in progress… Target: Black Coat… Condition: Capture alive if possible…]

Without wasting a second, MC lunged forward, engaging the two servants while his sister took the flank. The rooftop echoed with the sound of clashing blades and swift footsteps. Sparks flew as metal met metal. The servants fought with deadly skill, but MC’s enhanced reflexes and his sister’s combat mastery held them at bay.

Black Coat, meanwhile, didn’t pause. He reached the edge of the rooftop, looked down at the dizzying height, and hesitated only for a second. The girl sobbed. The boy clung to his hand tightly.

“Please… don’t hurt us…” the girl whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind.

For a moment, something flickered in Black Coat’s cold eyes—an old, buried emotion. But the mission was everything. He steeled himself.

“Forgive me,” he murmured, preparing to leap across to the next building.

But MC wasn’t about to let him escape. With a burst of speed, he broke through the final servant’s defense, his body glowing faintly with energy from the system boost. He sprinted, and in a heart-stopping move, leapt toward Black Coat mid-air.

The two collided on the ledge, grappling fiercely. The girl and boy stumbled back, too frightened to move.

“You’re not taking them!” MC growled, landing a punch to Black Coat’s ribs.

Black Coat grunted but retaliated swiftly, elbowing MC in the jaw and flipping backwards. He pulled a hidden blade from beneath his coat, but MC's sister intervened, throwing one of her daggers directly at his hand, forcing him to drop the weapon.

“Enough!” the sister shouted. “Who are you? Why are you after these innocent lives?”

Black Coat’s chest heaved. His eyes, cold and distant, flickered once more with something… human. He didn’t answer immediately. He simply stared at the girl and boy—then at the two siblings before him.

“The mission…” he rasped. “I… have no choice.”

Suddenly, one of his servants—badly injured—whispered something into his ear through a communicator. Black Coat’s eyes widened.

“It’s too late…” he muttered. “They’re watching. I can’t fail.”

Before any of them could react, he clicked something on his wrist—an emergency teleportation device. A strange circle of light formed beneath his feet.

“No!” MC roared, lunging forward. His sister did the same.

The teleportation glitched momentarily, and MC managed to grab hold of Black Coat’s arm. The girl and boy were left behind on the rooftop, but MC and Black Coat both vanished into thin air—engulfed by the teleportation light.

The sister gasped. “No…!”

The scene faded into darkness.

Meanwhile… Somewhere Unknown

MC groaned as he came to. He was no longer on the rooftop. The air smelled of metal, oil, and blood. The walls were dark, lit only by flickering red lights. Chains hung from the ceilings. He was in some underground facility—deep beneath the city.

Black Coat stood over him, his expression unreadable.

“You shouldn’t have followed me,” Black Coat murmured.

“Where… where are we?” MC demanded, staggering to his feet.

Black Coat hesitated. “This is one of the gates… one of the entrances to the Underground World.”

“Underground World?” MC echoed, his mind racing. He remembered something—fragments of history he’d learned when he first arrived in this strange universe three years ago.

Black Coat’s gaze darkened. “I didn’t want to bring you here. But now that you’ve seen it… you’ll understand. Or you’ll die.”

Before more could be said, the floor trembled violently. Sirens blared. The walls shook.

“They found us,” Black Coat whispered. “I failed the mission. And now… we’re both targets.”

A cold, mechanical voice echoed through the chamber:

“Black Coat—Mission Failed. Prepare for Punishment. Authority: Darkness World.”

MC’s eyes widened. “What is this place? Who are ‘they’?”

Black Coat closed his eyes. “I’ll tell you everything. But not here. If you want to survive… follow me.”

Without another word, Black Coat turned and ran into the shadows. MC, torn between distrust and survival, hesitated only briefly—then followed.

The scene faded to black.

To be continued in Episode 2…

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