Every family has their times of conflict. For some, those times could arise at the most unfortunate of times, but for others, the conflict is exactly what they need to truly create peace in their families. The current situation the Kiltons had found themselves in was pretty much the former of the two.
Scarlett was at a loss for what to do. On one hand, despite all her efforts geared towards ensuring a fight between the two doesn't brake out, all her tactics had been in vain. But on the other hand, she was mad at Alex for lying to her, but despite that, he still got her brother, and it pained her heart to see her only blood relative in pain, at the hands of a man she considers her father, at that.
'My gosh, what do I do! Uncle's beating the hell out of Alex. He's already bleeding… If this continues… no, I shouldn't think like that. I need to stop him!' Scarlett motioned for her legs to move, but they seemed stuck in pain. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to take even a single step from her current position. Whether it is out of fear for her own safety or not, she didn't know, but what she knew was that her brother couldn't take more of Uncle Jim's punches any longer.
Alex's entire face was entrenched in the crimson color of blood. His teeth resembled red candy as he struggled to break free from his adoptive father's grasp.
Holding his collar with his left hand, Uncle Jim continued beating up Alex with his right. Three minutes had passed already, and yet, Jim seemed not to show any signs of slowing down.
Gritting his teeth, Alex tried to break free once again, however, he was unsuccessful, as Jim's strength greatly surpassed his. The young Demon, now faced with no other choice, decided to try something else.
'I never wanted to try this out so soon, but judging from my current situation, it's either I use it, or die here and now. Besides, not even Johnny can help me once I'm a dead man.'
Steeling his resolve, Alex frantically navigated through his system, before finding some previous messages. Following the instruction to the letter, Alex concentrated, the best he could, while still receiving successive blows from Jim.
Eventually, the Demon could feel an energy building within him. It was faint, but still, it was enough for Alex to accomplish what he wanted.
As a fist came close to his face, it suddenly stopped midair, being held by Alex's right hand. All this time, Alex didn't fight back because he knew he would lose far more of his Physical Body percentage if he tried defending himself. Perhaps a pair of broken arms would make his light-headedness increase yet at a more rapid rate.
However, not having a better plan in mind, Alex had just let Jim beat the hell out of him without even landing a single blow on the latter, as well. Realizing his mistake, the young Demon decided to switch gears. And although he wished to keep his powers a secret, now was not the time to play superhero while his life was on the line.
"How dare you?! Let go of me before I seriously screw you up!" Jim shouted, shaking his fist. However, despite his efforts, they were futile. Alex seemed to have gotten a boost to his strength, but still, confident that he could handle him, Jim chose to deliver another punch with his left hand towards the latter's face. A mistake he had made.
Letting go of the latter's collar, Alex was now free to move, and move he did. Ducking his head, the fist connected with the wall, while before Jim could pull back, Alex had grabbed hold of his left hand.
Now gripping tightly onto both of Jim's hands, Alex twisted them against each other. Pulling on both arms simultaneously, Alex let out a scream as a popping sound was heard, followed by a pained shriek from Jim.
Delivering a punch to his forehead, the Demon didn't hold back in his strength as his fist connected, sending Jim falling back-first towards the floor. The latter didn't get back up, even after a whole minute had passed.
"Alex!!!" Scarlett shouted, rushing to her brother's side. Her eyes were Ted and puffy, her hair a mess, but that paled in comparison to the grief in her eyes. Although she loved her Uncle Jim, the love didn't surpass that which she had for her blood brother. Besides, he was the only true family she had left, and she didn't know how she could forgive Jim if he had…
"I'm okay. I'm okay," Alex reassured her, his breath uneasy. It was clear he was exhausted from the fight, but for more reasons than one.
As his gaze shifted towards the body lying on the floor, Alex sneered as he averted his gaze, now looking back at Scarlett.
"Go call a doctor. The old man's still alive but I don't know for how long," Although Alex wasn't sure whether or not that was true, he didn't wish for Scarlett to worry unnecessarily any longer.
"Okay, I'm going. But please, watch over him! God forbid he… he-"
"Just go!"
Scarlett sniffled loudly as she ran towards the door, slamming it behind her as she ran towards the town hospital, while Alex decided to check up on something else.
'This old coot ready did a number on me. Ahhh! I can still feel his punches. Man, my body kept on getting lighter the longer the fight progressed. I wonder…'
Alex summoned him [System Bar] as he wished to check up on something. During the fight, Alex had received multiple system notifications, however, now that it was over, he wished to check up on his physical condition, before anything else.
[Physical Body: 50%]
[Spiritual Body: 50%]
"Umm, system, could you please explain?" Alex thought out loud. This was an issue Alex couldn't help but dread. Although he didn't know why something in his gut was telling him that evened percentage was bad news. But still, he wished to find out for himself, instead of just overthinking something which may not be true.
After a few moments of silence, Alex concluded the system would not be answering his question. Gritting his teeth, Alex walked towards the table, picking up a napkin to wipe the blood off his face. Once he was done, the black napkin now looked somewhat crimson due to it being stained in Alex's blood.
'I better head upstairs and take a shower,' Alex thought, giving the unconscious body on the floor a glance before walking back upstairs.
Once Alex was done washing off the blood from his body, the young man went on to apply first aid to himself, after which he walked back downstairs to enjoy the rest of his dinner. Although knowing his plate would be ice-cold by now, he still decided to take his chances with the cold spaghetti.
Slurping up a nice fork covered in spaghetti, Alex struggled to enjoy the cold noodles moving in his mouth. Although this was when the true flavor of a dish could be tasted, Alex was still someone who preferred his food steaming hot.
Not long after, a loud bang was heard, followed by a set of rapidly-approaching footsteps. Scarlett was back, and she wasn't alone.
Making her way into the dining room, she gestured for the paramedics to quickly take away her Uncle Jim while Alex, seeing how worked-up she was being, decided to help cheer her up.
"Scarlett, look on the bright side. At least now you don't have to worry about Jik finding out about your boyfriend for a while."
"..."
Alex only intended for it to be a joke, however, from the look on the latter's face, and her nonresponse, he decided to keep to himself while enjoying the rest of his cold spaghetti. At least, he wished he could say he was enjoying it.
The paramedics quickly went to work, placing Jim's unconscious body atop the medical bed. The group of four men lifted his body in the air, carrying him out of the house. Once they were out, Alex had finished his meal and was now on his way back up to his room.
Scarlett remained silent through it all. She didn't even reprimand Alex for his insensitivity. As a matter of fact, to her, it seemed like Alex was taking the whole situation quite well because Jim was out for nothing but his blood not too long ago.
The teenage girl felt conflicted. On one hand, she wished for the man who had taken care of her for so many years to get better, but on the other hand, he desired for her brother's safety. She knew Jim quite well, his temperament, what he was capable of, and so on.
She knew, from observing some of his interactions with people, that he wasn't someone to let something like this slide easily.