LIGHTNOVELONLINE XXIX. By Blood and Fear
A couple of homes down the street, a group of men armed with knives and bats spot the four of them. They begin running toward their position.
Virno: What do we do?!
Rel: There's way too many of them! We gotta run!
Jargen holds down one of the corpses with his feet and grabs its head with both hands, pulling it as hard as he can. The flesh begins to rip apart, and with a couple of kicks, he cracks the neck bones, completely separating the skull from the rest of the body.
Jargen: YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU'VE FUCKED WITH...!
He screams at the top of his lungs in a terrifying, guttural voice that would make anyone question whether it was man or beast uttering those words. He then grabs the disembodied head in the palm of his hand and throws it as far as he can. It lands just a few feet away from the approaching looters.
Goon in the distance: Is that...?
Some of them scream after they recognize the lifeless face of what used to be one of their friends.
Scared looter: Fuck this! Cabdan said we could crash and burn the place for all he cared, not that they'd be fucking tearing our heads off for it!
The terrified man flees in the opposite direction, taking with him a large number of other bandits. It seemed like Jargen and Punjo's plan worked to some degree, albeit not to the extent they would have hoped. There were still more men coming in their direction than they would be able to handle by themselves.
Punjo: Jargen-
Jargen: We stand our ground. If we run, they win. We have to fight.
Punjo looks at Virno and Rel.
Punjo: This is going ta get ugly, ya two. Go to your homes. We'll take care of it.
Rel and Virno look at each other, as they grip their weapons tight. They then pierce Punjo with their determined gaze.
Virno: We're not leaving you behind. If you're staying... Then we are too.
Rel: Yeah. Either we all go, or we all fight. Don't worry about us, we can handle ourselves.
Punjo beams. He turns around to face the approaching enemies. He appeared to transform into a different person as soon as he locked eyes with them.
Punjo: WE'RE GONNA DECORATE THESE FUCKIN' STREETS WITH YER GUTS, YE FUCKIN' VERMIN!
He grabs his mallet with both hands, ready to strike.
Jargen: Don't just stand there, have at 'em!
Jargen dashes towards the oncoming group of looters. With a menacing shout, he swings his mallet wide, knocking two of them down in one swing. Another one manages to dodge the strike, and stabs his knife deep into Jargen's side, beneath his left lung.
Jargen: HAHAHAH...!
The man struggled to remove the blade, it was as if it had been embedded in concrete. Jargen drops his mallet and grabs the man's head with both hands, squashing it as hard as he can. As blood spurts from the man's eyes, nose, and ears, the skull begins to crack in several places.
Jargen: I'LL DIE IF I HAVE TO... BUT I'M NOT LETTING ANYONE DESTROY WHAT WE'VE BUILT AGAIN...!
He continues to crush the skull until the bones completely give way and the man's head pops like a balloon. Jargen's face is covered in blood, painting his maniacal grin red. The knife on his side didn't seem to bother him at all.
Ruffian: Fucking kill him! He's a goddamn animal!
Two more men approach him, as Punjo, Rel and Virno rush to his aid. Punjo manages to defend him from one of the attackers, catching him by surprise with amazing reflexes for his size, and grabbing the man's wrist as he slashed with his knife. Punjo's entire arm shook as he gripped his opponent with bone-crushing force. Snap.
Bandit: AGHHH!
The attacker's hand dangled freely with the wrist snapped. The strength to grasp the knife escapes him, as it falls to the ground. Instinctively, his other hand moves to try and alleviate his injury, yet Punjo shows no mercy. With an expertly-delivered blow to the chin, the man is instantly knocked out, falling backward onto his head. A crack is heard as it hits the ground, and a pool of blood begins forming beneath his skull. Two more men rapidly rush up to Punjo.
Goon: Gut that fat one, gut him like a fucking pig!
On the other side, Rel and Virno went up against the other enemy. They hadn't much time to take him down, as more opponents would reach them in mere seconds.
Looter: You kids are out of your fuckin' depth here!
The man was almost twice their size.
Rel: Yeah? Let's all be at the same depth, then...
The man had no weapons, yet his hands were large enough to snap either of Rel or Virno's bones with ease. He adopts a wide-legged, bent-knee stance, with his arms raised and hands poised like claws, resembling a bear readying to maul the both of them down. Rel dashes towards him and delivers a wide swing with his bat, but surprisingly he manages to catch the bat mid-swing. The nails on the weapon fail to pierce the thick skin on the man's massive palms.
Looter: Hah...
He begins to close his grip, bending the nails as he does. Some of them pierce the skin, but not deeply enough to make him stop. Before long, the bat snaps in half, causing Rel to instinctively step back, away from the enemy. His opponent throws the broken weapon away, as his hand drips blood.
Looter: Your turn, scrawny one!
He says, as he turns towards Virno. They were running out of time. Virno runs toward the man, ready to swing his weapon.
Rel: He's faster than he looks, watch out!
Virno smiles. He swings his weapon with the intent of slicing the man's leg, prompting him to grab it as well. However, Virno anticipated this.
Virno: Should've kept your legs closed, you dumb fuck...
As the man grabs his weapon, Virno immediately lets go of it and directs his full attention to the man's groin, dashing towards it and delivering a powerful punch with his other hand, straight in the man's testicles. The man bends his torso, flinching in pain.
Looter: FUCK...!
Virno steps back, making room for Rel. As soon as he saw him flinching, Rel sprinted towards the enemy. Seizing the moment, he delivers a painful kick to the side of the man's head, making him lose his balance and drop to his knees. He then mechanically spins with astonishing speed, delivering a deadly spinning hook kick to the man's jaw. He falls flat on the ground, unconscious. They had managed to take him down, though there was no time to celebrate.
Virno: More of them...!
The rest of the group had finally caught up to them. A total of six men surrounded Punjo and Jargen, as another four prepared to attack Rel and Virno.
Goon: Fuck them up, boys... They've done enough damage as it is!
Their enemies outnumbered them far too greatly. The four of them tried their best to fight back, managing to take two of the ten men down, but that was all they could do. A trail of blood ran from where their fight began all the way into a nearby alleyway, where their opponents had cornered them. Virno's lungs hurt because his ribs had taken another blow. Rel's face was battered and bruised, making him unrecognizable, and his body was covered in hematomas. But, by far, Jargen and Punjo were in the worst shape. Jargen bled like a pig, his torso slashed and punctured with knives. Punjo, on the other hand, had one of his hands broken and was bleeding profusely from the side of his head. Virno would be the only one still capable of fighting, but without a weapon he was all but useless. They had been defeated.