Giving Soe absolutely no time to hesitate, Dusan swung a strong right at the leader. Soe was quick to react, blocking the punch with his left arm and using his right to uppercut Dusan. Dusan staggered back as Soe followed up with a kick to the gut, knocking the wind out of Dusan.
Soe: "You are admirable for coming to fight me, Dusan Kauko, but you are unfortunately not on my level." He said before slipping a dagger out of his belt.
Dusan noticed the dagger as soon as Soe brushed his shirt aside. He chose not to let Soe's taunt trouble his mind, instead, he leapt forward in an attempt to knock the dagger out of his hand.
This motion caught Soe a little off-guard, as he did not expect Dusan to recover from his kick that fast.
Soe: "I will give it to you.." he said, moving out of Dusan's way, "you appear to be quite durable." He said with a smirk as he thrusted his dagger in Dusan's direction.
Dusan reacted with haste, jolting off to the side just in time. He took this opportunity to reach and grab Soe's arm, but as Soe said, he outclasses Dusan.
Soe noticed what Dusan was attempting to do, so he redirected his arm and drove the dagger into Dusan's hand.
The wound inflicted into Dusan registered immediately, quickly overstimulating him as he had never endured this type of physical pain before. He would grit his teeth in reaction to it all, holding back any sort of noise beside his wincing.
Soe glared at Dusan's face, watching him react to the dagger that was now going through his hand. After a moment, he released his hand from the dagger, drawing another from his belt.
Dusan noticed the second dagger while dealing with the pain from the first. He knew he had to do something quickly to keep up with Soe, thus removing the dagger that was in his hand which caused him to scream in agony. As blood from his hand fell onto his clothes and the ground below him, his vision started to blur. Maybe he wasn't as durable as Soe thought.
Soe: "You remind me of your father.." Soe scoffed as he watched Dusan. "He never knew when to give up either."
Dusan tried not to let these words mean anything to him, he knew that Soe would use methods to get him to lose his focus.
Soe: "Your mother on the other hand, she gave up as soon as she was met with any inconvenience." He laughed, his eyes closing as he did, but as soon as they reopened Dusan was in front of him.
Upon examination of his face, Dusan was clearly enraged. Soe also noticed that Dusan was now using his own dagger against him.
Soe: "That's more like it, Dusan!" He said with a raised voice, before intercepting Dusan.
Rhys and Galindo
While Dusan was fighting with Soe, Rhys and Galindo had been fighting a good distance away from them. Although this fight seemed to be a bit more evenly matched. Both Rhys and Galindo had landed a few good blows on each other, but Galindo had the better stamina it seemed. Rhys knew that he had no choice but to try and match Galindo's output of energy, and even though Galindo was a bigger guy, he was faster than Rhys.
Galindo was going in for a closer shot on Rhys, but Rhys was able to jump back in time before Galindo was able to connect. Rhys then dashed to the side of Galindo, aiming to jab his fist into Galindo's ribcage. Upon connecting, Galindo took a step back, dropping to a knee. Rhys took this opportunity to drive a powerful kick into his head. Galindo then fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
As the shock from winning sunk in to Rhys, he started looking around frantically trying to assess what was going on around him. He was exhausted from his fight with Galindo, but he knew he might need to help out his friends.
Off to the side where he had left his sister, Rhys was able to see that Warin and Elias were fighting some of the weaker Kowai members. To the opposite side of him, he saw Dawn was engaged in battle with the man called Gento..
Dawn and Gento
Just as Rhys had seen, Dawn and Gento were deep into combat. Dawn seemed to have the upper-hand on Gento, as the Kowai brute did not seem to have as much stamina as Galindo.
Gento: "You are more formidable than I expected, Carter." He said as he tried to catch his breath.
Dawn stood a few paces away from him, glaring at the man. He was still well off when it came to stamina, although he felt his legs starting to ache.
Gento: "What did you hope to achieve by coming here anyway?"
Dawn did not say anything as he continued to glare at Gento. He knew what he wanted to say, but he also knew that if he said it he might end up wishing he didn't.
Gento: "Come on Carter, give me something." He chuckled, his words sounding a little winded.
Dawn: "What happened to my sister.." He gave in to his temptation to ask, his voice shaking. Even with the possibility he would regret asking, he would not be able to forgive himself if he didn't. He remembered his father's words 'Second thing. Go find your sister. I don't know where she is, but there are a few possibilities. She either went to the city looking for you, she is hiding, or she was kidnapped.' In the past ten years, Dawn had narrowed it down to at least two answers, but he was still uncertain.
Gento started to chuckle a little more before it turned into complete laughter.
Dawn: "What the hell are you laughing about?" He said, not knowing whether to feel offended or disrespected.
Gento: "That white hair of yours," his laughter slowed, "it sells for good good money you know." His smile turned into a grimace. "Do you know how many of your kind are out there?" His voice was filled with a sudden disgust.
Dawn: "My kind?" This statement had confused Dawn.
Gento: "You white haired freaks, and the freak of a man who stands as your symbol, you all are a curse to this damn universe. Your sister was sold off to some rich bastard who probably wanted to use her as a slave. Your kind-"
Dawn: "A slave? What rich bastard?" He started to step closer to Gento, his eyes shooting daggers at the brute.
Gento: "Don't know his name, but he's a Sentinel. You're crazy if you think you can find her-" He had been watching Dawn move closer, but he did not expect for Dawn to start choking him out. In his exhausted state, there was nothing Gento could do.
Dawn: "My kind? A symbol? None of your words are making sense, but it is clear to me that you despise people with white hair." He said as he choked the man out with both of his hands wrapped around his neck. "And you laughed at my sister being kidnapped. As far as I'm concerned, you have no place left in this universe that you claim to despise." He continued to choke the man, his grip tightening. The look in Dawn's eyes resembled that of something a kid would see in their nightmares, causing a sudden uneasiness in Gento.
Rhys: "Dawn! Stop it!" He exclaimed as he rushed over to Dawn. "I don't know what happened, but you don't have to kill anyone." He said in a pleading manner.
Dawn hesitated for a moment before releasing Gento, the man falling to the ground.
Rhys: "You're okay." He said to try and calm his friend down. "You got him."
Dawn turned to look at Rhys, his face started to relax from its previous state of anger.
Dawn: "I take it you won?" He questioned.
Rhys: "I did. Dusan is fighting that Soe guy, let's go help Warin and Elias."
As Rhys finished up his sentence, Dawn's eyes widened as his gaze had not been directed at Rhys, but behind him. Rhys caught notice of Dawn's sudden change in expression, so he turned around to see what had happened. As he looked where Dawn had been looking, he noticed Soe walking towards the both of them, and on the ground behind Soe was Dusan's lifeless body.
One of Soe's daggers was planted into the back of Dusan's skull. In Dusan's final moments before death he realized what had happened. He did not want to end up like Elsie, but the moment he started defying his father, he shared the exact same fate that she had. Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe it was fate, but one thing was for sure, Dusan had now joined both his mother and her late lover in the afterlife along with the father he had despised more than anyone.