SPIT
Zaturn spat out blood and loose teeth from his mouth. His whole face still hurt, but his mood got better as soon as he saw Ybarra laying down in a pool of his own blood.
"HAHAHA Good work, men. Arrest them!"
Zaturn ordered the men to surround Rola and her group. The men took their arms and shoved them to the ground on their chests using their knees. They couldn't do anything. Especially since they were all still dumbfounded on what happened.
One second ago, they were winning. Ybarra was moments away from stealing the last breath of a Miracled with just his fists. And most of all, he was standing without a hole in his shoulders.
What happened? But they didn't even have the luxury to think about that as the Capo gang members took their arms one by one. The gun in their hands was enough to douse any hope in their body.
This was the end, Rola thought. They got extremely close, but the twists of fate were something she did not expect. Fuck! Fuck this luck. If only the heavens let them have a few more seconds, then they could have at least killed that fucker Zaturn.
What she didn't know was the culprit to this disaster was only a few feet away from her. Caesar was the one who had opened the door and let the men inside, letting them shoot Ybarra before he defeated Zaturn.
Caesar was already kneeling on the floor, offering his hands to be tied up. The men didn't have to rough him up seeing his obedience. But the others were not so lucky.
Some of them were trying to get to Ybarra to try and save him, while the others resisted, all leading to a punch in their guts.
Zaturn stood up, albeit barely. He almost died. If it weren't for fortunate circumstances that led the Capo gang members to come here, then his last sight would have been Ybarra's large hands pummeling his sharp nose. If he knew who did that, he would be so grateful to them.
His adrenaline was pumping so hard after that near-death experience. He walked over to Rola, wanting to see the despair form in her eyes up close.
Zaturn took Rola's hair and pulled her up to his eyes. "You thought you could win against me? You thought you could get away with offending the Capo gang?"
Rola glared at him. Her eyes were red, and tears were starting to form in her eyes. Zaturn smiled seeing her expression. She still held on to her pride, which would make breaking it even more rewarding.
"This is your fault," Zaturn said as he signaled over to his men.
The Capo gang members kicked the helpless group, abusing them with violence that would break the resolve of anyone who saw it. They used every means necessary to exert force, even if their victim did not do anything to provoke them.
Mitre tried to struggle away, but his captor only crushed his fingers using his feet. A resounding crack filled the room, then a painful shout. But crippling Mitre's hands was not enough, the men bent his legs to an unnatural angle.
It was agony for Mitre as his legs were forcefully broken. But he was not the only one suffering. Everyone was treated to unjust and cruel torture.
Then, someone came over to Ybarra and pushed down on his gunshot wound with their feet. Ybarra was already passed out, but this pain brought him back to consciousness, only to be greeted by an intense pain.
"AAHH!"
Rola was forced to witness the torturing of her group, her longtime friends, and her family. She tried her hardest to look away, but Zaturn would pull her face to the front.
"This was all your fault, remember that. But don't worry, I won't do anything to you just yet. I want you to be completely broken first before I even lay a hand on you."
Rola couldn't focus on what Zaturn was saying as the sounds of her friends' screaming in pain was too much for her.
Zaturn, seeing Rola still keeping her composure, threw her aside and walked over to the group. "You guys are being too soft! This is how you break a leg!" he said as he stepped on Ybarra's elbows, crushing his ligaments.
Rola felt helpless once again. She regretted every single decision she ever made. I shouldn't have involved them in this, she thought. She was the one who should suffer the pain, but she was the only one still without a scratch on her body.
"Do you still want to fight?" Caesar asked from the side.
Rola shook her head. "No. I want this to be over. Even if I get power, I can't defeat him. I can't defeat them even if I tried." She was already on the road to despair.
"If you still want to fight, I can help you," Caesar whispered. "Do you see that brick on Ybarra's body?"
Rola looked at Ybarra and all she could see was his wincing expression with his eyes closed. His blood was pooling all around him, leaking like a faucet. He had already lost too much blood, but his torturers still continued to beat him.
Despite that, somewhere in her heart, she still believed that Caesar could get them out of this situation. So, she looked on and saw the brown brick.
"That's a bomb."
Rola looked at Caesar and immediately knew what he was saying. All was not lost. As long as she could get that bomb and throw it to Zaturn, they could still win.
She steeled herself. Zaturn was busy relieving his anger on his Capo gang allies for being soft. He was lecturing them to be more ruthless, teaching them by performing torturing techniques first-hand.
This was her one and only chance. She had to be fast. With her legs bent and ready, she sprinted as fast as she could towards Zaturn. In her eyes was hatred and an obvious anger for Zaturn as if she was trying to kill him.
Zaturn smiled. She still had the energy to try and beat me, he thought. He simply opened up his arms and welcomed whatever she tried to do to him. It would only end up useless anyway.
But just as she was about to reach him, Rola quickly turned to the side and dived towards Ybarra's body. With her quick hands, she snatched the bomb out of Ybarra's pocket and got ready to throw it at Zaturn.
She turned and aimed it at him, but he was gone. Suddenly, she felt a strong restrictive force on her hands, and when she looked, she saw Zaturn holding her arm and prevented her from throwing the bomb.
"What is this? Is this a bomb?"
As soon as Zaturn realized what she tried to do, anger colored his face red. "You tried to kill me?!"
Zaturn threw Rola to the pillar, with the impact accompanying a resounding crack from her back. A few of her ribs were broken.
Even Zaturn would not survive a full-on explosion from a bomb. This was a dangerous device, Zaturn thought. It would be best to throw this out before they could use this.
But then, he suddenly saw a hand grip the brick. When he turned to look, he saw Ybarra clinging on the bomb for dear life. His monstrous grip prevented Zaturn from taking it off from him.
Rola regained her consciousness and saw Ybarra smiling towards her. "Thank you for taking care of me," he uttered. She couldn't hear what he said, but she knew his words.
NO, she thought. Don't do it!
But the words did not come out of her mouth. She saw Ybarra slam his hands on the bomb causing it to explode. Zaturn was too late and couldn't do anything.
BOOM
An explosion occurred inside the room. But it was not the kind they were expecting. The explosion was not as big as anyone was expecting.
It was an explosion of liquid. A liquid that had a putrid smell, and everyone recognized it as soon as they smelled it. It was vinegar.
Zaturn smelled the vinegar all over his body. He thought they were trying to kill him, but it turned out it was something worse. They were only trying to humiliate him.
"YOU BASTARDS!" Zaturn shouted.
Rola felt even more helpless. She thought that it would finally be over, but the explosion barely did anything but soak Zaturn with vinegar.
"KILL THEM NOW. You should have surrendered, Rola. or else I wouldn't be forced to kill everyone here!" Zaturn took the gun and pointed it at Ybarra.
The gun was cocked, just one trigger away from blowing his brains out.
"NO!" yelled Rola. If only I was strong enough, she thought. Then she could have killed Zaturn earlier and didn't have to go through this.
Caesar smiled as he saw this. Everything was going according to plan. Rola was now vulnerable enough that she would agree to anything that would save this situation.
"Become a Miracled and kill him with your own hands."
Rola didn't even hesitate as she put the drug in her mouth and swallowed it. Immediately, she felt a strong magical sensation in her body, as if something was changing her whole DNA structure.
Zaturn saw a glimpse of the drug Rola consumed. He was immediately alarmed as he recognized it. That was a miracle drug! How could she have that?!
Suddenly, the air in the room changed. Zaturn felt a prickly sensation all over his body. He looked at his arm hair and saw sparks spontaneously appearing.
Then, a sudden idea came into his mind. Electricity. Lightning. This was a power of a Unique-class Miracle drug that would put the fear of God into anyone who encountered it. And now, Rola was the one who consumed it.
Fear filled his heart.
Power was surging all over Rola's body, with buzzing all around her creating sparks of light. The sparks continued to grow and become faster and faster.
But suddenly, it stopped. Rola's body stopped producing sparks and she laid back down into the ground with her eyes closed.
"HA…HAHAHAHA! You had me worried there. It's too bad for you that you're the only one who could have won against me."
Then, someone from behind him spoke.
"Who said she's the only one?" Caesar said with his eyes filled with lightning.