"I won’t kill you easily. I will torture you, torment you, injure you, and skin you so you would know and feel pain. I want you to feel pain, endure it, and then beg for death. Only then will death come knocking at your door," the man said as he grinned from ear to ear and blitzed forward again.
Shockwaves, explosions, and loud bangs echoed out in the town as the leader of the Gray Bulls clashed with Damian.
The leader was fast, strong, and deadly. He moved quicker than Max could react. Each punch he threw created a loud bang, while Damian on the other hand was avoiding and dodging these hits by the skin of his teeth.
An uppercut shot towards Max’s jaw, but he immediately brought his palms into the path of the punch before leaping off the ground with all his strength. His feet smashed into the man, sending him skidding an inch across the dirt.
’Crap! I need something to defeat this man with. Why don’t I have a single useful combat skill?’ Max thought in anger as he saw the man dash at him again.
Relying on his forty stat of agility, he quickly leapt back to avoid a jab to his face, then whipped his leg in a flying kick aimed to send the man flying.
But his leg was grabbed, and in the next second, he was yanked into the ground so hard that cracks spiderwebbed across the earth beneath his body.
Specks of blood shot out of his mouth as his system screen flashed in front of his eyes.
’Shit!’ Max groaned inwardly as the man lifted his foot and swung it down at him.
"Nope." Max muttered as he quickly grabbed the foot with all the strength he could muster.
No matter how hard the man tried to press down, Max held on tight. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, he swung the man back, forcing him to lose his footing.
Max exploded from the ground and smashed his feet straight into the man’s mouth. A mouthful of blood burst out as the bulky figure went bouncing across the ground like a broken doll.
"Don’t you get it?" Max growled in frustration. He quickly scanned the area and spotted a slab from a shattered stall. Snatching it up, he hurled it at the man, who rolled away just in time as the slab slammed into the earth and shattered beside him.
"I’m in a hurry, damn it!"
"Screw you!" the man snarled calmly as he bolted toward Max again.
’No, you won’t get me again.’ Max’s eyes flared yellow, his dragon sight igniting. His vision shifted, allowing him to read the man’s aura.
Even before the man moved, his aura flickered with intent. Max already knew what he was about to do.
The leader appeared beside him with a punch aimed at his head, but Max was ready. He tilted his head away, the fist missing by inches.
Without hesitation, Max tensed his muscles and unleashed a brutal punch straight into the man’s gut.
The boss’ eyes widened in shock as blood and saliva erupted from his mouth. A loud, delayed bang cracked through the air, and the man’s body was hurled several metres away, crashing through a shop and bringing it down in a heap of debris.
The townsfolk could not believe what they were seeing. They gawked at Damian, stunned into silence.
"The hell? How strong is he?"
"I don’t care who he is or how strong he is. If he can defeat these heartless men, then he has my full support."
"Oh heavens." A woman clutched her hands together tightly and glanced skyward, tears brimming in her eyes. "Please, let this stranger succeed. If he wins, maybe we will finally have a chance to live, and I would be able to feed my children again."
’No! Something is wrong,’ the man who had earlier educated the others about gangs thought. He shook his head as he watched the fight unfold. ’That speed, that strength the blue-haired one is showing, it is exactly what they exhibit.
I also feel like the gang leader is one of them too. They aren’t human. They are them. Crap! But hold on... if they are them, why aren’t they going all out yet?’
His thoughts trailed off as he noticed the blue-haired stranger turning away, walking with a calmness that made the scene feel even more unreal.
He didn’t bother to give chase to finish the job. Instead, he turned his back and began heading out of town.
"I’m not done with you!" the gang leader shouted, his voice echoing with fury. He immediately pulled out a dagger and hurled it with all his strength.
The blade cut through the air like lightning. Damian spun around just in time, ducking low. The dagger hissed past his head, embedding itself deep into the earth behind him with a sharp thud.
Before he could even twitch, the gang leader was already in front of him. Blood dripped down his mouth as he drove his knee into Max’s face with brutal force. Max’s head flung back violently, his vision blurring.
Before he could recover, the man yanked his blue hair forward and smashed his knee into his face again. Blood sprayed from Max’s nose and lips with a sickening crunch that made the townsfolk flinch in horror.
"That does it!" Max roared through clenched teeth. His rage exploded as he lunged forward, clamping his arms tightly around the man’s waist.
With a surge of raw strength, he lifted him high, his muscles burning with effort, and then...
Damian fell backward, driving the gang leader into the ground like a professional wrestler. The impact shook the earth. Dust and debris exploded upward, blanketing the battlefield as the ground trembled like a minor earthquake had struck.
"Tch." Max spat out blood, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he pushed himself up. His chest rose and fell heavily. "I don’t have time for this."
He took three steps forward before halting. His eyes widened in sudden horror, his breath catching in his throat. Every hair on his body stood on end. His blood turned cold.
"Kek, kek, kek, kek!"
The chuckle slithered from behind him. Slowly, a figure rose from the rubble. The gang leader. His head was badly injured, bleeding freely. His nose was bent at an unnatural angle, his mouth still pouring red.
The gray band around his head was soaked crimson, the fabric clinging to his skull. Yet, against all reason, he was standing. Not only standing, he was laughing.
"Buhahahaha!" The laughter grew louder, darker, reverberating with madness. With trembling fingers, he reached into his pocket, fumbling before pulling something free.
Max’s eyes narrowed. "What... is that?"
A syringe gleamed in his hand, strangely unscathed despite the chaos. The liquid inside swirled ominously, thick and dark as tar.
"I really didn’t want to go this far," the man muttered almost regretfully, though his grin betrayed otherwise. "Honestly, I thought I was just dealing with another human.
But you... you are stronger than that. So I’m sorry, but I’ll have to take things to the next level. Only then can I kill you." He raised the syringe high.
’Something’s wrong. I... I feel like something bad is going to—’ Max’s thought was cut short as the man stabbed the syringe into his arm without hesitation.
The liquid drained into his veins. For a few seconds, nothing happened. He stood upright, grinning eerily at Max. Then...
A scream tore through the air. The sound was so bloodcurdling that even the ground seemed to tremble. The man dropped to his knees, his muscles spasming, his veins bulging. His clothes ripped apart as his body grew, shifting and convulsing violently.
"Shit! Wh... what’s going on with him now?" Max whispered, slowly backing away step by step, fear tugging at the edges of his resolve.
"Don’t run away now," the man growled. His voice was no longer his own. It twisted unnaturally, layered with a tone that felt like it belonged to something outside this world.
A long, jagged horn burst from his skull, tearing through the blood-soaked band. Even his own men staggered back, their hearts pounding as they stared in disbelief. None of them had ever seen this before.
The townsman who often educated others about gangs stood frozen, his arms uncrossed, his eyes bulging.
’He... he is becoming one of them... a hybrid?!’
No. He was wrong. This was something else. Something worse.
(Warning! Warning! Warning!)
{Host is about to encounter something he has never encountered before.}
{Host must escape immediately. Opponent is changing.}
"Changing? Changing into what?" Max muttered as his dragon eyes ignited. What he saw made his heart skip a dozen beats.
The man’s bright yellow aura darkened, twisting and shrinking until it was nothing but black. Pitch black.
{Host has encountered a demon vessel! Run now!}
’A demon vessel?!’ Max screamed inwardly, panic gnawing at his chest.
"ARGHHHHHHH!" the man roared once more. His eyes turned pitch black as he stared straight at Max, a sinister smile stretching across his bloodied face.