"Don't worry Alia, I'm going to smash him to a point where even his own mother won't recognize him."
"Then you, I swear you won't get out alive!!!" Doz shouted before throwing himself at me with his point forward.
It's incredible to notice how effective this technique is, a little insult and he goes off at the quarter turn.
I was expecting him to come at me in return. And to ward off this attack, I had already put my hand in my pocket and held the knife firmly so that I could pull it out at the right moment.
So when I saw her coming at me, my first instinct was to step aside, grab my knife and reach for Doz's hand.
Unfortunately, I don't know if he had anticipated that I would do this, but he withdrew his hand almost at the same time, swung his body to the left and with his left fist put a big hook in my ribs.
There was a real noise and a crazy pain accompanied it.
I couldn't say for sure, but I think that at least two of my ribs were broken by the impact.
But my ordeal didn't end there, Doz had seen that I had lost my balance, so he followed up directly with a sweep with his foot, which resulted in me being slammed to the ground with an unbearable pain in my chest.
"So you're giving up already? Doz grumbled as he began to celebrate his victory.
Despite the pain, I managed to get up without too much difficulty.
"Don't worry, I was just warming up.
Not a very convincing answer.
It was enough to look at my face to understand that it was only a bluff.
My little respite didn't last much longer, unfortunately, because he came right back at me.
This time, I had decided to opt for a completely different option, not to avoid his blow.
I'm going to take his blow with full force, or almost.
At the last moment, I will have to guess where his fist will hit me and I will place my knife there.
It's a very risky strategy because if I miss, I'll just have taken a full power blow without protecting myself, which will only make my condition worse. But even in the best case, I would still take the blow, but at least he will be unable to use his hand for the rest of the fight.
This time, he attacked me with a swing of his right arm.
His target?
My chin, it seems.
So I waited for the decisive moment.
Boom
In less than a second I was on the floor again, face down on the floor.
This blow hurt less than the previous one, but it had the effect of making me totally dizzy.
My vision was blurred, my head was spinning, and even the sounds I heard were not fully perceptible.
I could still see that blood had been spilled on the floor.
Apparently, I had succeeded in my gamble.
I managed to get up again, this time with much more difficulty.
And indeed my poker move had worked more successfully than I had hoped.
I had indeed planted his hand, but thanks to the force of his blow, his hand was sliced in two.
His cut started between the index and middle fingers and extended to the wrist.
To put it simply, his right hand was sliced in half and completely useless.
Screams could be heard from across the bar.
I had almost won, all I had to do was drive the nail in and wound him again and he would be unable to fight.
"Come on, get up instead of screaming. You look like a pig being slaughtered. If you don't get up you'll end up like a pig with your head cut off and an apple in your mouth.
To provoke him even more I knelt down beside him and placed my knife under his throat and pressed against it so that it cut him slightly.
"I beg you, I give up, spare me! He said as he cried.
"Oh, you want to pity me ?
It's a shame, with all those tears, I could almost believe it. Unfortunately, I'm not the one this trick will work on.
"I beg you, I'll do anything you want. But please don't kill me."
"Hmm... On second thought, I can let you live, but on one condition."
"Yes, I accept."
"Oh, what a generous man. All right, then just cut your tongue out and then you can beg for your life.
"Nah, nah I can't. I'm in too much pain already. So leave my body alone, please."
"Oh, but you're refusing too.
Well, since I'm in a good mood, I'll cut your tongue out. Come on, open your mouth."
His only response was to stick his lips together.
"Well, you leave me no choice."
"Plop!
And suddenly both her lips were on the ground, surrounded by blood.
On top of this horror show, a scream came out of her mouth, like very few people hear in their life.
It almost sounded like a satanic invocation.
"Come on, pass your tongue. And I promise to cut it out at once.
He still did not answer.
But instead, he decided to clench his teeth together so as to block it.
"Come on, open it up, you don't want to lose your teeth either? If I took them out how would I put an apple in your mouth if you had no lips, teeth and tongue left?
Seeing that he didn't loosen his jaw, I decided to start.
"Well, let's go for the first incisor.
So I took the knife and passed it between his two teeth.
Vile noises could be heard.
Then a very distinct sound
Knock'.
"Oh, two for one, it's your lucky day.
However, you'd better hurry up and loosen your jaw or you'll bleed to death in less than ten minutes if I keep this up."
No response other than incessant crying.
"Nope, still no? Well, never mind, on to the next teeth.
I took the knife and placed it between the left incisor and the left canine.
"Yùichi! Stop!!!" Alia shouted while hugging me.
All of a sudden, without really knowing why, I realized what I was doing, as well as the horror scene I had created.
"I... I did this?"
I may have asked this question, but I didn't expect any answer in return, since I knew the answer myself.
"I don't know what came over me. It was like I was absent. I saw everything, felt everything, but yet I was unable to stop my body. But yet I feel no pity towards it."
"Wow. So if I expected a scenario like that."
"Shanlen? Did you do this?"
"Absolutely not. For once, I was just a spectator. The only person responsible for all this. It's you and nobody else.
But to tell you the truth, I wouldn't have really minded if he had died. He was really starting to piss me off. You can kill him if you want."
"Nah, I think he got what he deserved, then he'll bleed to death anyway so there's no point in shooting him."
"You're much wiser than before. I'm glad I didn't kill you before, you're a special guy.
"I already said that my body moves by itself."
"Yes, that's right, make excuses." He replied without any conviction.
"Well, you're going to clean this mess up, immediately if you don't want to end up like him!" He continued, addressing the many men in the bar.
No one contradicted his orders and they all began to tidy up and clean the floor.
Each person had his role, as if he was used to doing it.
"Well, you two can leave before you mess up my bar again. Come back tomorrow at about the same time, I'll have a couple of things to tell you. He replied, addressing us.
So Alia and I went out.
And at the same time, all eyes were on us again. I didn't really understand why, until I noticed the state of my body. I was soaked with blood from my shoes to my neck.
"Well, you'll have to wash up if you want to meet your family." Alia said with a smile.