He couldn't believe how Ray was able to do this. Fighting off six men of such caliber wasn't an easy task and the only explanation he could come up with was that Ray had received a very high training in martial arts and even that didn't explain how he was able to tank a powerful blow so easily.
Unless.....
His eyes widened when this thought came to his mind.
Ray looked towards the main offenders who were the people who held him down earlier, especially the first one to attack.
They both had hesitation in their eyes when they met his gaze.
Sensing this, Ray ran forward towards them before they made their minds up to escape.
"Let's take him down together." The first man to attack voiced out.
"S-s-sure," the other man said halfheartedly.
Ray who was quite enjoying this was now only inches away from them.
The closest to him punched out but Ray tilted his head slightly, dodging the punch by a hair's breadth before grabbing his wrist and twisting it backwards, he spun with a kick to the other man who crossed his arms to block the attack.
He moved several steps backwards still confused how the attacks of the boy in front of him had so much force.
It was as though he was an.....
His jaws dropped when this possibility came in mind.
The other man quickly spun around releasing untwisting his arm while throwing out a kick.
Ray ducked while delivering to his gut which made him bend forward as blood trickled down from his mouth.
Ray grabbed his hand while rolling on his bent back and as his legs made contact with the ground he hurled the man into a small shop through the window.
"Oops! I used too much," he smiled before focusing his attention on the man who was the first to attack him. "Apologies, I almost forgot you."
'Please do!' He screamed internally. With that last action he was now sure that Ray was an aberrant and realised what kind situation he was into.
"B-boss." He looked towards the direction of the man who had put them in this mess but his eyes widened in shock.
Ray also brought his gaze there.
"Tsk tsk tsk. That sneaky little pig 🐷."
It turned out that their boss had fled long ago
Ray wasn't surprised by this. Why wouldn't he flee.
The man felt betrayed and sore to somehow get his revenge, but that was only if he could somehow survive this. He stared at Ray who slowly approached him.
"W-wait!" He said to Ray who acted as though he couldn't hear him, still strolling forward which made him to unconsciously continuously walk backwards. "Y- you won't like what would happen if you take one more step forward."
"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Ray said in amusement.
He knew running away was a stupid option as he was sure he couldn't outrun the boy in front of him so he went for the best option he had.
When Ray got 5 meters away from him, he suddenly pulled out something from behind his waist and quickly pointed it at Ray.
"BANG!!"
A loud sound echoed causing some of the onlookers to gasp.
The man had a pistol which he had just fired held out but contrary to the expression he was expected to have, it was one of disbelief.
Ray had his head tilted with a thin line of blood on his cheek which began to slowly trickle.
The man had shot the gun towards Ray's head but to his utmost shock, Ray who was taken by surprise was still able to dodge the bullet at such a close range. Although he was grazed, this was not something that just any aberrant could do and the graze on his face would've been much deeper if he was a normal human.
Ray used his index finger to touch the injury before staring at the blood.
The man kept shaking in fear and he didn't know if it was really happening or not but he was doing something that he never imagined he could.
Pissing his pants.
For the boy in front of him to dodge a bullet up close, he had to be a very powerful aberrant.
The thing that scared him the most was the neutral expression Ray had on his face. He couldn't tell what the sadist in front of him was thinking.
He thought of Ray as a sadist because he had been playing with them all along, just beating them up for fun. He was sure that if the boy in front of him could've wiped them all in a second.
Gathering all the courage he could muster, he pulled the trigger once more releasing another bullet.
Ray shifted slightly with a speed he didn't demonstrate earlier, dodging the bullet while still walking closer to him.
"Arghhhhhhhhhh!!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!"
"BANG!...."
Frustrated, he kept releasing shots after shots at Ray who dodged them all with the same neutral expression.
"Click. Click. Click."
Finally the gun got empty as he tripped falling to the ground and Ray who arrived right in front of him grabbed his hand as cracking sounds were made.
The man screamed while dropping the gun. Ray grabbed him by the neck and raised him up.
"P-please," he wheezed.
"I didn't have it in mind to kill you, but congratulations on changing my mind. Rejoice, only few are privileged." He tightened the grip on the man's neck when he heard a sobbing sound.
He turned his head to see a 9-year old girl staring at him holding a doll with tears in her eyes. He also noticed that they had attracted a lot of attention.
The man who saw his change of expression looked at the girl from the side of his eyes and swore to reward her for saving his life.
'Come on girl, make your face cuter and sadder. That's it, sob harder.' He begged internally.
Ray closed his eyes for some seconds in thought before a sigh escaped his lips causing the man to also sigh internally in relief.
Ray looked back at him. "You want to live, right?"
Of course he wanted to live, but he found it hard to speak with Ray's hand wrapped around his neck.
"I guess I was wrong." Ray shook his head in disappointment.
The man's eyes widened as he tried his best to nod.
"Good. I also don't want to kill someone right in front of a little girl. So if you want to survive you'll have to survive this," Ray smirked causing him to fall into despair.
"W-w-wai…"
Before he could complete his plea, Ray arched his arm backwards and punched him in the chest.
The force behind the punch sent him flying backwards by 30 meters with a spurt of blood before crashing into a building.
Ray picked up his cap and wore it before walking away as though not knowing what had happened.
Ray didn't believe that the man could come out alive from that unless he has a very strong will to live.
He wasn't interested in going after their boss who led them like lambs to slaughter, well, for now. Like he said earlier, he won't be killing him immediately. If he wanted to catch him, he would achieve that, even at this time.
The crowd watched the man who had caused this all, walk away as free as a bird. It seemed that almost everyone present didn't recognise him.
The moment Ray was out of sight, some people ran towards the building where the man crashed into.
They were greeted by his bloody sight laying lifelessly on the ground.
He had blood all over his mouth with pieces of wood stabbed through his thigh and shoulder, with a broken arm and several cuts.
A woman walked towards him and placed two fingers on his neck. After four seconds, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Quick! He's still alive!" She screamed, which caused some people to gasp as they quickly began rushing him to the hospital.
It seemed that truly the man had a strong will to live, and as for what that was, we'll be finding out later.
****************************
Ray who didn't know the man had survived was seated at the top of a fairly high building, watching some secondary school students preparing to go to school.
The truth was that about half of them didn't have a family they were going back to.
Many people ended up dead and displaced during the meteor apocalypse, so majority of children were orphans or didn't even know if they actually were.
Most husbands became widowers while most wives became widows. And some parents had also lost their children.
It was a true catastrophe and it took a lot of time for the people to get used to their fates and new lives, although they weren't still able to get over it.
Everyone under the age of nineteen who didn't have anyone to take care of them were under the care if the monarchy and were provided with all their basic needs, from housing to clothes to food and education.
If they also wanted some leisure time there were offline gaming centers, fields, swimming pools and many others.
The term 'adopted' had become a very common thing, as parents who had lost their children took in children that had also lost their parents and some people had also remarried, while some chose not to.
Intact families like that of the woman with four children who Sylph had saved were very rare and even her had lost her husband.
Ray sighted a girl hugging a woman who he believed to be her mother or something like that before running off to the group who were waiting for her.
It looked like they were on their way to afternoon class.
Ray had a down casted expression when he saw this as some memories resurfaced.