"Hah… Hah… Hah…" Redd inhaled and exhaled audibly as he stared at his opponent with a tired expression.
The fight had been going on for almost 15 minutes now and he was very battered up. Blood was trickling down from his left arm and he had multiple broken ribs. He also had a huge injury on his head that definitely concussed him. But, because of his strong skull and bones, it didn't affect him…. Well, too much.
On the other hand, his opponent was also in a horrible state, probably worse if you take into consideration the difference in size between the two.
He had horrible black spots all over his body from punches. His teeth were almost all broken after the numerous kicks he sustained to his face and his left arm was now useless.
'I need to finish this before the Blood Accelerator aspect kicks in. I don't think I will be able to handle the pain while maneuvring through this guy's attacks.' Redd clenched his teeth as he spat out a mouthful of saliva.
He could still vividly remember the hellish pain from that aspect automatically activating to save his life. If he was to lose his focus even for one second, he was going to die.
"You bastard… Hah… You're dead meat!" The man tried to shout only for his voice to come out hoarse and weak from exhaustion.
"Let's finish this," Redd said as he quickly dashed toward the man with a loud yell.
The latter shook his head before he also rushed towards Redd fearlessly. A brutal fight is a brutal fight, if one of these two were to hesitate for even a second, they would die. It was as simple and as savage as that.
The moment Redd closed the distance between them, he quickly jumped in the air before he punched forward. The man quickly launched an attack too and the two clashed violently. A small surge of Aether hit the kitchen, sending things flying away.
"Hnnnng!!" Trying to push the kid, the man's wrecked mouth clenched tightly. "You're nothing, boy! Even if you kill me! Maleck will kill you with ease! You have nowhere to go!"
However, the boy ignored him and channeled every ounce of Aether left in his body. He never expected that using Aether in a fight would actually drain him way faster than using Aether for training but here he is, on the verge of falling down unconscious. Every part of his body screaming with hellish pain and exhaustion.
"Just… Shut… Up!!" Gritting his teeth, he exhausted every ounce of power he had.
'I need more power! More!!'
[Ding!]
[You have activated Blood Accelerator!]
Instantly, Redd felt an overwhelming pain hit his chest, almost knocking him down in one single sweep. However, the latter had already anticipated this. That didn't mean that it didn't affect him at all.
"HAAHHH!!"
In a split second, Redd overwhelmed the man and pushed him away. The punch was so strong that it sent him flying before smashing through the wall of the kitchen, and falling outside on the main deck.
Then, without waiting a moment, Redd quickly rushed forward and picked up his cloth-covered spear before he jumped on the man. Getting rid of the white cloth, a sword appeared in his hand. Without much thought, he changed the spear to a sword before revealing it, and then with a loud yell, he pushed the sword down, stabbing the man right in the throat.
A huge mouthful of blood leaked out of his mouth as he stared at Redd, wide-eyed in complete disbelief. His fiery gaze as he slowly died stared directly at Redd who was still under the effect of the Blood Accelerator, wrecking his body.
"You… C-Curse… You…" Murmuring those last words, the man's eyes lost all light as his limbs stopped moving. He died.
"Hah… Hah… Hah…" Seeing that his enemy had died, Redd's eyes widened slightly.
'I killed him. Huh?' He thought to himself when he realized that this was his first kill ever. Never before did he kill a human and never before did he ever think he would have to kill one in his life.
However, weirdly enough, he didn't feel a single thing. In fact, the moment he saw the blood escaping the man's body, he felt a rather sense of… relief? He could only describe it that way. He was certain that even if he went back in time, he would've killed him without hesitation.
For a first kill, the reaction was unusual and Redd knew that. But, what can he do? Feel bad forcefully? No, he killed a piece of shit. He will rejoice about it if that's how he truly feels.
"R-Redd…" Finally, the boy realized that there was someone watching him. Looking up weakly with dazed eyes, he saw a hazy image of Limmy looking at him in pure terror.
"I… won," Redd replied as he smiled slightly before he fell to the side unconscious.
***
An unknown amount of time passed before Redd's eyes finally started to open. Looking around him, he found himself in what seemed to be a bedroom. He was lying on the single bed inside that room.
The sky outside was nearing the edge of the world, announcing the end of what was most likely the most hectic day of Redd's life. If he ever told someone that in a matter of few hours, he would meet an impossibly tall man who invites him on a ship that sails the seas for months, then he would meet a silver-haired girl, fight her, then instantly see a dead woman, go down to a floor filled with wretched people, fish a gigantic fish creature with an insect for legs, fight a gigantic man and kill him before the sun even set down, they would probably think that he had drunk a little bit too much alcohol.
'It almost feels like a whifty dream.' He thought to himself as he stood up, only to wince in pain and sit down again.
Looking down, he saw bandages covering his body. The person who wrapped him in it wasn't good at it, clearly. That rough job made him chuckle before he looked up again.
A few seconds later, someone entered the room sneakily before he looked outside and closed the door with a long sigh.
"Oh? You're finally awake!" Seeing Redd staring back at him, Limmy's face lightened up. "Thank the heavens! I thought you would die from blood loss or something!"
"Meh, that wouldn't kill me that easily. I'm tough, hahaha!"
"Tough my ass! Have you seen yourself?! You looked like a blood wretch! What the hell happened?!"
"Hmm? That man, he attacked me so I killed him." Redd said with a shrug.
"..." Limmy opened and closed his mouth like a fish, trying to find the right words to say. "No! To hell with that! Do you even know who you killed?! That guy is Karnos! One of Maleck's closest goons!"
"So?"
"So?! You killed the friend of the only person you shouldn't offend on this ship!"
"I see. Well, it is what it is." Shrugging it away. Redd stood up and stretched his arm a little. The pain was still intense but he could deal with it somehow. Blood Accelerator had stopped working long ago, so only his healing was now working and it was doing a good job.
"Thanks for helping me, Limmy. You're a great person." Redd smiled before he tapped Limmy on the shoulder.
"U-Uh, yeah. Don't mention it. Hey! Wait! Don't change the topic!"
"Hahahaha, come on, help me out to carry the cooked fish down to the people on that floor."
Hearing that, Limmy's eyes widened slightly. "Wait, so you cooked that fish to…"
"Of course, to feed those people. They need it."