It was a beautiful night, the full moon was out, shining down on all those who stood under the moon. In the quiet streets of Kennington, there were men silently walking, they all shared the solemn mood that hung in the atmosphere around them. The silent, dead atmosphere seemed to be foretelling something tragic or horrific, but nobody could quite figure out what it was.
Among them walking, at the very front of the group was a young man, no older than 19. But despite his young age, he seemed to be the general leading these groups of warriors into war, and they were all willing to entrust their life in his hand. These men were like a pack of wolves following their leader, and these packs of wolves were heading into a fight, a fight to defend their territory.
The group walked on, their heads held high and their chest puffed out and no matter how one searched for it, there was no evident sign of weakness within the group. They were not intimidated or afraid but instead, the soldiers seemed to embrace the war that was closing into them like a cataclysmic tsunami.
Very soon they reached their destination. The tigers focused as their eyes set upon the prey. Now, it was you kill or be killed. It was here that the brutal law of the jungle would take effect and every person present knew it.
The leader of the pack and the strongest tiger came out, Neale Blake, the son of tycoon Lucas Blake and the current leader of stray tigers. A master fighter and an aspiring boxer, he was at the top of the food chain and he intended to show that here today.
Two crowds were standing in the middle of an empty field. The two groups were no other than Stray Tigers and Kennington Club. Both of their leaders, stood there facing each other. Kennington Clubs' leader was a man named Ryder who was about the same height as Neale and he had stylish hair which was dyed blonde. He wore a smirk on his face as he stared into Neale's eyes.
Neale however, had a stone-cold expression. The face was just a mask, a wall to hide what was in the interior but as the saying goes, "the eyes are a window to the soul". If one were to look into Neale's at that moment in time, one would see disgust, hate, anger, and most of all a desire for destruction. Neale was thinking to himself, "They are monsters, and I have to become a monster to kill the monster.
The odds were against Stray Tigers, Stray Tigers had over 70 members while Kennington Club had over 100. Yet, no Stray Tigers member felt like backing down because someone else had built an empire on their land, how could they do nothing about it? They would crush Kennington Club.
"He's here, but you won't see him," Ryder said when he saw Neale's eyes searching for some person in the crowd.
"Then I'll find him," Neale said coldly, his eyes coming back to meet Ryder's.
"Well, you'll have to go through us," Ryder said with a smirk and he had barely finished his sentence when Neale threw a punch in the direction of Ryder. Ryder raised his hands to block the blow but he barely made it in time. He nearly stumbled at the force of the punch.
This punch, however, signaled the beginning of the fight. Shouts, screams, and curses were heard as the street brawl began.
Ryder swore as he woke up and went in to try and get a hit on Neale but Neale easily dodged it. Neale was known as the 2nd best fighter in all of Kennington but Ryder was not the one fighter better than him. Neale knew it too and decided he didn't want to waste too much time fighting him. Neale threw several punches and Ryder was on the defensive, blocking and avoiding punches as Neale attacked. He had to be careful not to get a direct hit from Neale if he wanted to stay conscious. Neale managed to land a body hit on Ryder making him lower his defenses for a few seconds but those few seconds were much too long. Before Ryder could properly guard against the next shot, Neale had struck him in the head with such force that he stumbled a few meters back before falling, out cold. Neale began to wreak havoc among the Kennington Club members as he plowed through them, looking for someone. Then he saw him.
Sitting on a bunch of unconscious Stray Tigers members, busy smoking a cigarette and relaxing like he was on vacation on a beachfront was Liam Odegaard. He was waiting for an opponent to come fight him but after seeing him effortlessly floor 6 or 7 people, nobody was approaching.
"Odegaard! You bastard! Get off their bodies!" Neale shouted as he walked towards Liam.
Liam looked up at Neale with dreamy eyes when he heard the shouts. On seeing Neale he sighed and stood up stretching his body, "Oh it's you, the tough guy from last time. You're annoying, why'd you come here? I thought you left."
"I'm back here to crush you, once and for all," Neale said, his eyes fixed on Liam like a panther's eyes on prey. Neale pulled out something from his pocket: It was black gloves. At some point in time, those had been Artem's gloves. Neale removed his coat and threw it to one side.
"Just one punch. I just need one direct punch," Neale thought to himself.
As if reading his mind, Liam said, "You may hit hard, but it doesn't matter if you're going to be punching nothing."
"What makes you think that?" Neale said as he walked towards Liam.
"Because," Liam said, a sadistic smile appearing on his face. A strange light shone in his dirt brown eyes, and his brown hair flew with the breeze. "If you know it, you can't catch me. That is because you're weak."
In the last line, his smile grew and soon he was smiling like a maniac, his eyes also were seemingly filled with insanity.
"He's just trying to intimidate me," Neale said trying to calm down but before he could compose himself he felt wind near his face and before he could react he was stepping backward, his nose stinging from the brunt of the attack. Neale raised his hands to guard his face but in doing so, exposed his body so that Liam landed a body shot. For the next dozen seconds, Neale was just getting hit, face, body.
Neale managed to escape from the vicious attacks somehow and now he had his arms raised as he prepared to block any incoming attacks. Neale was in bad shape already, his nose was bleeding and he felt pain all over his body.
"Not coming? Then I'll come to you." Liam said as he approached Neale, he threw a feint in the form of a right hook, before throwing a hook to the body. Neale bent down and used his right to stop the punch before throwing a punch straight into Liam's body, Neale landed the hit but then he felt pain as Liam sent a knee into his stomach. Liam threw a hook to Neale's face and then an uppercut before continuing his assault.
Neale fell to the ground, coughing before he managed to get up, his hands were soon raised again, and he was ready to fight.
Neale didn't land a single punch throughout the fight, he was just being hit, again and again, but every time he fell, he got up.
"Not giving up, huh?" Liam questioned. He was a fast fighter, his fighting style came from kickboxing and his speed made him a terrifying opponent.
The fight seemed to end when after Neale missed a punch of his, Liam smashed a right hook into the side of his head. Neale stumbled backward and fell, his head feeling fuzzy.
He could feel himself slipping out of consciousness but he tried to hold on and stand up again, but he couldn't.
The entire battlefield had gone silent as everyone watched the fight. That was the deciding fight because the winner of that fight would be the deciding factor in the fight between the gangs. All members of Stray Tigers could feel their hearts squeezing with insurmountable pain as they watched their leader be beaten down.
"Mom," Neale muttered, he had almost forgotten about her. So many things were happening in his life that he forgot that the most beloved person in his life had passed away just more than a week ago. How could he forget her? He began to recall, her last words to him...
"Neale, please I'm asking you one last thing. Live your life to the fullest. Don't ever beat yourself up too much, whether you're rich, poor, strong, or weak. Just accept yourself how you are. Be who you should be and remember, I'll always be proud of you." Was what she said, it all came out as a low painful whisper but he heard it all.
He had forgotten.
He wanted to forget it originally but now, that was his light.
Neale decided he would fulfill the wishes of his mother. He would live his life to the fullest, he would not beat himself up too much, he would accept how he was and he would be who he should be but most of all.
"She was always proud of me," Neale mumbled as he slowly got up, forcing his sore body to move.
"What?" Liam asked narrowing his eyes.
"She wanted me to be proud of myself, of who I am," Neale said as he adjusted his gloves.
"What are you blabbering on about?" Liam said as he approached, he didn't know how Neale could stand after all that beating but he would soon make Neale go to sleep.
"I am Neale Blake, The leader of Stray Tigers, I cannot lose!" Neale said stepping towards Liam, his hands raised.
"Just one punch, one," Neale thought to himself. "First a hook."
Neale leaned back, avoiding a right hook.
"One or two body shots."
Neale blocked the two jabs coming his way.
"An overhand hook."
Neale Ducked down to avoid Liam's right hand.
"An uppercut."
Neale stepped back, narrowly avoiding an uppercut.
"Now."
Neale went forward and threw a feint, making Liam try to block a left hook but then he threw an uppercut, smacking Neale on the chin but he didn't stop there. He threw a straight with his left just for safety purposes.
Liam fell to the ground, and everybody waited with bated breath to see if he'd gotten up but...
Neale had done it, he had dethroned Kennington Club