THUD!
Enma Lee finally defeated all eight enemies besides the thug with the disgusting expression. He received a few more wounds and bruises as he still couldn't dodge all the attacks aiming for him, but that wouldn't be enough to stop him.
"That's faster than I thought." The thug said.
"I was really bothered by your face, it's quite disgusting." Enma Lee said after brushing the blood pouring down from his nose with his hands.
"If you think I would get pissed off by just that, you're mistaken."
"Just come at me," Enma said after he formed a stance.
"Hah. Alright, alright." The thug spoke nonchalantly before walking slowly towards his opponent.
A moment later, his eyes changed. The unsightly expression that he was holding since earlier had vanished.
Then In an instant, he dashed off to Enma.
THWACK!
Liam continuously blocked all the attacks that were coming for him. Although it looked like he was being overwhelmed, he was actually just testing his opponent's strength.
'Great stamina, a strength superior to Enma Lee, a speed not slower than mine.'
He continued to block but he began to push the attacks.
'I don't think I can continue blocking, if his movements weren't easy to read...'
The attack and block of the two continued until Liam step away to get away from his opponent's range.
"Hm? Is that all you can do?" The gang leader said and smirked.
"Not really."
Liam's glare change again.
"I'm just getting started."
Tak! Enma Lee hit his opponent after dodging and blocking a few attacks from him.
The thug stretched his head and spit blood on the floor.
"Hng. Really strong, huh."
He then made a new stance similar to Enma.
'Boxing?'
"Well, I'll just get serious."
He walked sidewards and continued.
"I'm into boxing you know."
Enma Lee furrowed his eyes after hearing it before he smiled and chuckled.
"That's what I said to myself before I lost to that guy." He said and pointed Liam with his chin.
"You're even bragging that you lose? Aren't you just weak?"
"No. I was saying your boss would be defeated in an instant."
The thug's face twitched.
"I'll be the only one to say that to my boss..."
"What? You have a weird fetish towards your ugly lover. Truly disgusting."
"Y-You...!"
'He's pissed.'
Enma Lee narrowed his eyes and immediately focused his attention on his closing opponent.
As a fist was about to reach his face, he simply tilted his head to avoid it, grabbed his enemy's wrist, and attacked him without hesitation.
'He lost his composure. I guess this is going to eas-'
Pak!
Enma Lee backed away after getting a blow to his chest.
'He's... Fast?'
His enemy smirked as he wiped off the blood trickling from his mouth before he spoke.
"You are strong but you're also stupid."
He fixed his stance and stared at Enma Lee with his chilly eyes.
"Like I said, I'm not easily angered."
On the other side. Liam had been continuously hitting his opponent several times but he seemed to be barely affected. Even if he was blocking most of the strikes, it was still remarkable to have that kind of endurance.
In that kind of situation, one would definitely be perplexed and lost his composure.
But Liam still kept attacking like a maniac without even letting his opponent to strike back. Somehow, he also looked like he was enjoying it.
After a few more hits, he stepped back and with a faint smile, he made an immersed expression.
'As I thought, he's not just a pushover thug...'
The gang leader also reverted his defensive stance and shook his arms before glancing at Liam.
"So is your round of attacks finally over?"
Although it was too sudden, Liam made a brief reply.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Then shall we start exchanging blows now?" He tilted his head to top his question with more tense.
Hearing that, Liam grinned.
'Interesting.'
Perhaps it was the fact that he could finally test the fruit of his training and the fact that his current opponent must have had a considerable strength greater than he would expect, he became too engrossed and didn't want to suppress his strength anymore.
Shortly after, he spoke.
"Let's do it."
The gang leader chuckled before he darted towards Liam with his fist aiming for his head.
But his target easily dodged it by moving his body backward.
He failed on the first try but he continued to attack until he landed a punch towards his opponent's face using the best chance he got.
Liam felt the heaviness of the struck fist as his head was pushed back and even almost lost his balance.
But that was all into it.
He immediately recovered his position and twisted his hips. He dodged the next attack by lowering his body and after that, he landed a powerful punch towards his enemy's abdomen.
"Keuk!"
With only a single attack, the gang leader already threw up a mouthful of blood greatly showing that Liam's strength far exceeded the ordinary. But even after receiving the hit, he moved his left leg backward and kicked it to Liam before retreating a few meters.
He frowned as he noticed something from his opponent's previous attack.
'Did... Did his attack just became more powerful?'
Liam made a confused expression after his opponent retreated.
"I thought we were exchanging blows?"
"Hah. So you were actually just hiding your strength." He began to sweat as he stroked his belly feeling an intense sensation of pain.
"Is there something wrong with holding back?"
"Tch. You're being too arrogant. Come at me."
Liam stared at him without much interest anymore, but just a moment later his eyes twitched when he sensed something. Not having to waste a single second, he fixed his posture and locked his attention to his opponent like he was hunting his prey.
"Huh?" The gang leader saw this and got slightly confused.
The guy, who did not put much effort into attacking him since earlier, was now appearing to be extremely serious and made an inconceivable stance.
Soon, the gang leader widened his eyes when a loud crashing sound occurred. In the blink of an eye, Liam was already in front of him, stretching his arm and aiming his fist towards his face.
Thwack!
With Liam's strength condensed into the attack, the thug's head was greatly pushed back followed by his body as he fell on the ground while blood left a trail in the air and downwards.
Liam actually put his strength to his legs and kicked the ground towards his target before shifting the strength to his arm. And it worked quite well.
"I thought you could withstand it somehow..."
On the ground, the thug seemed to be roughly trying to move his body while his breath was slowly losing its stability with his eyes that were once so confident was now filled with resentment, confusion, and desperation.
"I guess I was wrong."
Liam walked in front of the body as his gaze met with the gang leader. He went past him and calmly strolled towards the fight between Enma Lee and the last thug.
Enma Lee's attention was locked on the thug and didn't even notice Liam who didn't try to interfere with them and proceeded forward in a certain direction.
Both himself and his opponent have blood pouring from their nose and mouth, thick beads of sweat dripping from every part of their body, and an incomprehensible smile carved in their faces.
"Are you still on, ugly-face?"
Enma spoke daringly just as he recovered his breath.
"Hah, me? Why would I not be?"
Having swept the blood from his mouth with his hands, the thug replied with a grin.
Both of them still have the will to fight even after getting themselves extremely hurt to the point that ordinary people would instantly falter by seeing their injured body.
Soon, they dashed towards each other and once again began exchanging massive blows.
*
Within the alleyway where Jacob, Enma Lee's friend, and the young woman who Liam saved earlier was trying to hide, a group of 4 guys sneaked in from the other end of the area.
Jacob tried to see what's happening on the outside before deciding to continue deeper inside the alley.
"Hey, lady. Let's go..." His words trailed off after turning around and noticing that there were 4 suspicious men walking towards.
While not knowing what to, suddenly the woman, spoke after being silent for a while.
"T-That's the guy who was trying to harm me earlier...!" She said it with a frightened tone, showing how scared she was in their current situation.
"Shit. Let's- Ah, Mister." Jacob was about to leave with the woman, but he halted when he saw someone slowly walking towards them from where they came from.
"Don't go outside yet. Wait for me to handle this." After having to say his short words, Liam stepped forwards without turning his attention away from the group on the other side.
"Yes."
Clank. A sound of a metal bar resounded as it hit the ground when one of the guys suddenly dropped.
"A-Ah, that guy... That monster...!"
The one who spoke first was the thug who Liam intentionally left to escape earlier while saving the woman.
"I... I should get out of here..."
With a trembling body, he tried to immediately get out but he was grabbed by one of the other thugs.
"Hey, what the fuck are you doing!"
"Get off me! Can't you see, he can't possibly be here, if he haven't defeated the boss!"
Clank. The rest of the guys slowly realized it as they started to step away from the so-called monster.
Soon. Three of them including the one who spoke first ran away.
"Y-You, guys...! Tch. Wait for me!"
Tap.
Liam smiled as he just saw what happened in front of him.
"Thugs..."
He breathed out a sigh as he turned around before walking towards the two behind him.
"Come on now, both of you. It's safe."
Jacob nodded as he followed Liam who already passed them.
The young woman, on the other hand, stayed as she looked at the guy who saved him multiple times in admiration. She actually spaced out until Liam turned his head around to see her, making her quite flustered.
"Hey, uh, miss? What are you still doing there?"
"A-Ah, yes. I will follow you."
Shortly after, when the three of them almost got out of the alleyway, Jacob couldn't help but to ask something.
"Mister Liam. Is Enma fine? Why did he not follow you earlier?"
Liam heard it and suddenly had himself scratching his head as he spoke.
"I'm still young, you know. You shouldn't call me mister."
Hearing that, Jacob and even the pretty woman got slightly embarrassed.
"And Enma Lee... His fight should be over right about now."
Thud!
As the sound of a body tumbling was heard, a sudden laugh came out.
"Hng. I actually beat this disgusting dude. He's nothing compared to you tho- Huh? Where's Liam?"
Tap.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to your body! It's a mess."
Three people walked out of the alleyway and what first saw was his friend's extremely worried face.
"Oh, hey, Jacob. I look cool, right? It seems badass to me."
"You crazy masochistic freak!"
Seeing how the two act when they're closed to each other, he recalled the moments he had with Ian. He chuckled without noticing.
"Oh, Liam, you're there. How are you even already there?"
"Oh, I defeated–"
Click.
"Don't think that I will let you off this easily."
In an instant, Liam's attention went into the direction of the hoarse voice. It was the gang leader.
'He has a gun.' Clenching his fist, he got serious and tried to step forward.
"No. Don't you move right there, pal. I'll pull the trigger and kill."
"..."
Liam stop as the gang leader pointed the gun at him, threatening to kill him if he moved.
He made himself calm as he tried to grasp the entirety of the situation, he just got furious another problem came in a second later.
"No, actually. I'll kill one of the three besides you!"
"You fucking coward." Liam could only cursed when the situation worsened.
"Call me everything you want. By the time, you moved one of them is gone. Even if you managed to get me, nothing will change if one's already dead but..."
The gang leader grinned.
"You still don't have any experience in killing a person, aren't you?"
Liam widened his eyes as soon as heard it.
'So this is how you will play.'
But suddenly out of nowhere, he also smiled.
"Well... Why don't you try me?"
"What?"
"Hey, Liam, what the hell are you doing!" Even Enma was surprised after listening to Liam.
But the man who tried to aggravate the other man who had a gun just ignored him and continued speaking.
"You said you can kill a person, right? So try me."
Ha... Haha... HAHAHAHAHA–
"How funny? Are you planning something? Do you actually think you can run faster than a bullet?"
"Hm? Well, do you think I can't?" Liam said indirectly and just smiled.
Everyone around the area became tense as the situation was becoming more and more dangerous every time a second pass.
After a moment of silence, the gang leader chuckled.
"Alright. You've done it."
Click.
Liam prepared himself in that single instance while still trying to stay calm.
BANG!
'Dull Time.'