Aric looked at his father's eyes, looking for a hint of jest, but all he saw was seriousness. He looked at the man crouching on the floor with no protection for himself.
Aric hated his father down to his very core. He had regretted ever asking for his help to improve his strength as it only gave him endless suffering.
Aric could not take it anymore and snapped. He never wanted to do anything with Maverick ever again, and he would surely never agree to his request.
"No."
He did not feel sorry for the ragged man, nor did he hesitate on killing him. He just did not want to obey his father's orders even if Maverick killed him. Enough was enough.
Aric's eyes had a fiery red glare that pierced towards Maverick. This was disrespect and disobedience on Aric's part, which drew his father's ire.
"What?"
Maverick's slight smile disappeared as he questioned Aric's answer. The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped below zero as tension was up in the air.
Maverick's eyes were wide open as he looked at Aric. He could not believe what Aric had just said. 'No' was not in his vocabulary; if he ordered something, it would happen no matter what.
"You dare disrespect me? ME?!"
Maverick's body disappeared and reappeared next to the ragged man. The scruffy man was in a fetal position as he recoiled from Maverick's oppressing aura. One could see a pool of yellow liquid forming in his pants.
"You have grown weak. You show mercy to the weak, and it has rubbed off on you."
Maverick picked up the ragged man and threw him towards Aric. The scruffy man's body collided with Aric and slid down the ground.
Maverick disappeared again and reappeared next to Aric and the rugged man. He picked up the rugged man's arm and spoke towards Aric.
"Choose, your arm or his?"
Aric did not answer. He wanted nothing to do with his father, and answering Maverick would mean that he was afraid. He looked at Maverick straight in the eye and spat on the ground.
Maverick did not hesitate as he grabbed Aric's arm and twisted it until it came off. Aric's face contorted in pain, but he did not let put a peep. He had suffered worse pain than this, and his resolve did not want to show weakness towards Maverick.
Aric's left arm was now gone, and his shoulder was now spurting out blood. Aric did not care as he activated his Desire and burned off the flesh to stop the bleeding.
He did not break his eye contact with Maverick as he showed his resolve to defy him. Maverick had a cold glint as he raised Aric's severed arm and swung it down towards the rugged man.
In an instant, the rugged man's left arm separated from his body and slid down the ground. The rugged man was in a state of shock as he saw blood spurting out of his body and staining his own face.
After a moment, the man realized what had happened, and the pain kicked in. The man held his bleeding stump and wailed with a high pitched scream.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
The man was flailing around the ground while swimming in a pool of his own blood underneath him. Underneath the high-pitched scream, Maverick looked towards Aric and spoke.
"Your head, or his?"
Aric could tell that his father was serious. He had done things that would signify that he had the courage to go through his words. He had never said something and took it back.
Even after knowing this, Aric did not falter. He looked at his father and spoke.
"Go to hell, bastard."
Aric blinked, and his father disappeared. He saw a hand coming for his neck with such speeds that would cleve it without any problem. His eyesight went dark as he saw the world tumble.
————————
Hugh was running away for his life in the dark night. His transformation had just ended, so he had no power at all. His muscles were deflated, and his body was only skin and bones.
He had killed Joub and crushed his heart. His hunger made his mind hazy and made his actions unpredictable.
He did not hesitate as he carved into Joub's chest, not even thinking about the consequences it could bring. He remembered the robotic voice that witnessed him in the act, and he ran even harder.
He put all of his thoughts aside as he focused on running towards the shifting room to go back to his house. His stomach was burning in hunger, and it seemed like it was eating itself.
As he ran, all he could think about was food. The pavement underneath him seemed even tastier as he ran across it. The nagging pain of his bones corroding did not help his urge to eat anything.
He had no physical power, so his speed was abysmal. The shifting room was still a few blocks away from where he was, but it seemed like he was not going to make it in time.
His strength was fading away from him and his knees buckled under the pressure. He was stumbling his way towards the shifting room, but he fell to the ground.
He had no energy even to crawl his way there. He was starting to feel sleepy as he closed his eyes. He did not know how dangerous it would be for him if he slept at this rate.
As his head was on the ground, he smelled the pavement of the road. It was rocky, and the powdery texture was felt on his cheeks. He suddenly felt the energy to taste the pavement below.
He opened his dry lips and licked the pavement below, tasing the powdery exterior. It gave him a whole new flavor that he craved.
He seemed to have regained enough strength to scoop some of the pavement off the ground and put it in his mouth. It was like a refreshing taste of ice cream on a hot summer day.
There were some pieces of pebbles on the ground that he ate without chewing. With this pavement as fuel, he finally regained his strength, but he still had a crazed look on his face.
Hugh's sanity still had not been regained as he looked for more food for his body. He had recovered a little bit of strength, but his body quickly used it up. He needed something more substantial.
*clink-clank*
Hugh suddenly heard metals banging on metals from a distance. He turned around and saw a woman that had stopped in her tracks and was looking in his direction.
If Hugh were conscious, he would have recognized her immediately; she was Serena, the queen bee of class A. Hugh's crazed state was not looking at Serena's face but the shiny jewelry that made the noise.
Serena still had her wavy blond hair down as she had just come from The Prestige club. She was not wearing the fancy dress she wore in the club but was wearing the school uniform.
Even with the plain uniform, she still looked beautiful under the moonlight. Her minimal makeup complimented her naturally attractive look.
She stood there, confused at what she had just witnessed. She saw Hugh licking the pavement like some madman, and she was disgusted by it.
"Who are you? What are you doing?"
She did not step back as she confronted Hugh. It seemed that she did not recognize Hugh because Hugh was not fat in this state; he was just skin and bones.
She had never even memorized Hugh's face and only recognized his obese body. She did not correlate the man in front of her to Hugh.
Without any warning, Serena saw Hugh pounce towards her. She frowned at the thought of the guy who licks the street, touching her. She gracefully dodged out of the way.
Hugh was like a crazed animal as he only had tunnel vision for the jewelry on her body. Her earrings were dangling in the air and shining under the moonlight, making him crave for it.
Hugh's moves were wild and untamed, so it was easy to dodge, but it held a tremendous amount of power. She could feel the shockwaves in the air as she eluded his attacks.
She was surprised that the man that licked the pavement was hiding this much power. She put on a serious look and carefully dodged out of the way.
Hugh's hunger was starting to burn his stomach yet again. His movements became more and more crazed while Hugh pounced on her.
Serena dodged out of the way, but Hugh changed his direction in the last second. As a last resort, Hugh put all of his energy into activating his armor on his leg to produce a burst of power.
At this rate, Serena would be hit.