"Hey, Rego. I thought you and Bunt got trounced by the newbie. What is he doing here with you instead of Bunt?"
As soon as Micah and Rego got close to the terraced house, a person with a friendly face called out to Rego.
"Dennis."
Rego didn't say anything other than the person's name before stepping back and letting Micah step forward.
"Great. I won't have to go looking for you."
Dennis was understandably surprised. Rego had gone through a drastic personality change and even brought back the newbie he was supposed to, but failed, to rob.
"What do you mean?"
Dennis' surprise and confusion were apparent on his face, but he still had a mostly friendly smile as he asked what Micah meant with his words.
"Well, before I make you guys my friends, I'll have to show you who calls the shots."
Micah took off his jacket and handed it to Rego before he started rolling up his sleeves. His shirt was a little tight-fitting, and his suit pants didn't allow for the greatest range of motion. But fighting in a suit had never prevented Micah from winning a fight, and he began walking toward Dennis with confident strides.
Dennis had been a little surprised at first. But he wouldn't have become the group's third-ranking thug if he wasn't good at fighting and reading people.
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get."
While he spoke, Dennis put up his guard and began walking toward Micah with cautious steps.
Since their fight broke out on the lawn outside the terraced house, they naturally got several spectators before they even began fighting. If there was anything thugs were good at, it was sniffing themselves to a fight between other people.
And since Rego even heard a few people talk about betting on how long it would take until Micah hit the ground, he took the initiative to begin taking bets. Rego knew how well Dennis fought and could estimate how good Micah was. In Rego's mind, Micah was guaranteed to win. It was too good an opportunity to earn some pol to pass up. And he might even earn some friendliness points from Micah if he gave him a share of the profits.
Rego was so confident that Micah would win that he almost dropped his jaw when Dennis landed the first blow straight to Micah's face, even when Micah had his hands up and guarded his head.
Sure, Dennis might have gathered enough pol to become stronger than an average man. But he wasn't that much stronger, and he certainly wasn't fast enough to overwhelm Micah like that.
"Hmm. How much pol did it take for you to get this strong?"
Rego breathed a sigh of relief. Micah's confident attitude assured him that Micah had let Dennis hit him. In that case, there would be nothing to worry about. Micah was probably just curious about how strong Dennis and the others were.
"I guess I don't mind telling you. It's not like you'll ever get enough as long as you stay in this town. And after challenging me like this, I won't let you escape-"
"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me."
"Two silver."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You won't even get that much in-"
"And you're this weak?"
Micah interrupted Dennis with a surprising insult that stunned Dennis into silence. However, Dennis quickly snapped out of it and fastened an angry gaze on Micah.
"What did you just say?"
"And you're deaf as well? Maybe you should give your pol to someone who can use it better. Me, perhaps."
Micah smiled, revealing slightly bloodied teeth. The blood-stained teeth were ominous, and Dennis couldn't help but furrow his brow.
His punch hadn't even been his full strength, and it had still been enough to make Micah's mouth bleed. But Micah called him weak?
Instead of entertaining Micah's provocation any longer, Dennis just decided to pummel him to the ground and spit up any pol if he had it.
However, Dennis wasn't successful in his endeavor. After landing his first punch, it turned out to be his last one as well. Micah bobbed and weaved like a professional boxer as he dodged each and every one of Dennis' punches.
And before long, Dennis was getting quite winded. Using his full strength in every strike was bound to tire him, especially when the punches missed and he had to deal with the force of stopping his fist. Usually, he would have a target that would stop his fist. But now, his own body had to endure.
And then, there was also the fact that Micah intentionally baited Dennis into taking larger swings and steps, which served to exhaust him even faster.
When Dennis's breath grew labored, his guard also started dropping and revealing openings. And during one such opening, right when Dennis breathed out, Micah struck forward with a tightly wound fist right toward Dennis' stomach.
Micah's fist struck Dennis right below his ribcage at his solar plexus and knocked the wind right out of him.
Dennis was already breathing quite heavily, and he had just breathed out when Micah struck him. So, when Micah knocked the wind out of him with a heavy fist, Dennis began panicking immediately. He gasped for air in a panic, instantly forgetting about his fight with Micah since an instinctive fear of death by suffocation took over his mind.
A merciful opponent would have let Dennis recover before making him admit defeat.
But a merciful opponent probably wouldn't have used such a daunting method to defeat Dennis.
And Micah was not merciful when it came to his opponents.
He watched on coldly as Dennis collapsed on the ground, gasping for air like a stranded fish.
Since Dennis was on all fours, Micah only had to bend down a little to reach and grasp Dennis' head.
The feeling of Micah's hands on his head instantly made Dennis, who suffered from oxygen deprivation, what was going on. The way Micah held his hand could only mean one thing, after all.
But before Dennis could pry off Micah's hands, Micah snapped his neck, and Dennis flopped down on the ground like a fish. A dead fish this time.