A/N: Hello everyone and welcome back to my novel!
Now, now, I am pretty sure there aren't many people that have been a fan of my novel yet. Of course, I would also like to apologize about the delay of my chapter. Two weeks! I uploaded the first three chapters, and then two weeks later, I upload another one? Outrageous, isn't it? And for it, I deeply apologize dear readers.
As a compensation, I wrote this 5,000+ word chapter. Take it as a token of apology!
Also, I would like to mention something. Obviously, I know many people feel uncomfortable about yuri and other stuff… (transgender or intersex), so I'd like to clarify things. To start off, in the series, there will be characters that include such aspects, and even some of them have r-18 scenes. Bout it, id like to mention that 1. such scenes will not be frequent, like uncommon or rare, and 2. lets see….i don't want to spoil it but...haaah never mind. Lets just say that they would be part of the harem (?). I think so. Maybe. Yeah proba...bly?
Anyway, I am a new writer. If any of you feel like my explanations are too complex, dialogues to less, or something like that, just tell me.
Sayonara, and ari gato!
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The black SUV rumbled forward through the snow-covered streets, the low hum of the engine blending with the sound of icy wind lashing against the windows.
Inside, Yuuta and Vladimir sat in the backseat without their seatbelts on, their chessboard replaced with a deck of well worn playing cards. The warm air and light inside the vehicle was a stark contrast to the frozen tundra outside, the soft shuffle of the deck, the flick of a card, there was no rush at all....
Yuuta flicked a card onto the seat between them, his expression calm and unreadable, maintaining a poker face.
"Move, Vladimir."
Vladimir studied his hand carefully that had an ace, a queen, a king, a joker, and a nine spade, before chuckling, placing his own cards down.
"Sir, I must admit, your poker face is terrifying." Vladimir stated, his voice dripping with hidden arrogance, as he expected to win a match against his unsuspecting boss.
Yuuta nodded slightly, holding the cigarette between his fingers but never lighting it. "It's just a game, Vladimir. However, even one game can change the life of an individual to the best or to the worst."
Yuuta became silent for a moment before slowly raising his eyes to Vladimir.
"Never gamble Vladimir, for there are three types of gamblers, I suppose. The first type is an ignorant and stupid man, for he knows not the value of money. The second is a filthy rich man, for he has the luxury to spend as much as he pleases without wasting much"
Yuuta held up two fingers as he stared at Vladimir who had put his thumb to his chin, deeply pondering the words of his boss before speaking up.
"And the third?" He inquired in profound curiosity.
Yuuta closed his eyes for a moment, before slowly opening them and showing Vladimir a third finger.
"The third is one where an individual such as you should never get mixed with; a crazy an individual."
He further went on explaining the deep meaning of his words.
"Because a crazy man will do anything to win; he has nothing to lose even if it costed him everything he has, I suppose" Yuuta said as he laid down his cards, which revealed a perfect royal flush.
"If you are force to gamble and have no choice" Yuuta continued as his words trailed off and his eyes widened staring into Vladimir's blue ocean eyes, darker than the depth of the Mariana trench as if he were conveying the depth of his words.
"Then hedge bet" He concluded.
The concept of a hedgebetting in general, when it is examined, taps into the deepest parts of human decision-making and risk management.
At its core, a hedgebet is created not just as a bet but as a psychological mechanism that eliminates the feeling of loss. And in that sense, it becomes a paradoxical, it is simply impossible to truly lose.
When a person places a regular bet, they engage in an emotional experience.
Whether it's the thrill of the gamble or the dread of potential loss, emotions drive the process of decision making.
The brain evaluates potential outcomes based on a combination of desire, fear, and probability.
Most of us, driven by cognitive biases, which technically tends to overweight the risk of loss, which makes losing feel like a catastrophic event.
A hedgebet, however, shifts this dynamic. It's not about a single wager but two interconnected bets with each one calculated to offset the other.
Psychologically, this alleviates the fear of loss because the individual knows that no matter the outcome, the hedging bet will make sure of a financial return or at least neutralizing the losses.
Now, now, how does this affect the mind?
The mind no longer experiences the emotional rush of pure risk. Instead, it is simply comforted by the certainty that, regardless of the result, the system is designed to prevent any true loss.
This approach feeds into cognitive dissonance, where a person experiences mental discomfort when faced with conflicting beliefs.
A gambler who bets recklessly might feel the tension between the desire to win and the fear of losing. A hedgebet resolves that tension by balancing the competing emotional forces, ensuring the person never feels as if they're at a total loss.
There's no conflict between the two bets because, by design, they counteract each other; they remove the vulnerabilities of each other.
Additionally, the concept of control plays a huge role.
In traditional gambling, the outcomes are left to chance, something outside the bettor's influence. This can create feelings of helplessness, which contribute to the anxiety surrounding the gamble. A hedgebet, on the other hand, is a controlled environment.
The bettor has structured the situation in such a way that their financial position will never deteriorate significantly, no matter how the events unfold.
This illusion of control reduces the individual's sense of anxiety which allows the individual to approach the situation with an almost detached sense of calm.
Vladimir's brain was unable to process what he was seeing for a moment before his eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets. He was on a whole different plane of existence, not paying attention to Yuuta's valuable words of advice as he internally struggled with what he was seeing.
'How is this possible?! By the sun and the moon, how did sir Yuuta get a royal flush?? I kept watch of all the cards from the start of what he was supposed to have, and he was expected to have 8s and 5s of the heart and the spade! I even took that one course how to cheat in poker 101 by El Patron! I want my money back!'
Vladimir's mind was in deep turmoil as he struggled with the idea that this was Yuuta's 345th win against him; it was simply ridiculous!
The SUV cut through the chilly night. Outside, the grand, icy city of St. Petersburg stretched before them. Snow blanketed the rooftops of the intricate, towering buildings adorned with golden domes and baroque facades. The streetlights reflected off the frozen canals, creating an ethereal glow in the misty air. The Neva River lay frozen solid, stretching into the horizon, interrupted only by the skeletal remains of docks and frozen ships trapped within the ice.
The streets, though beautiful, carried an air of hostility, as if the city itself knew of the darkness lurking in its underbelly. Pedestrians, wrapped in thick coats, hurried along the sidewalks, their breaths visible in the frigid air. Russia in winter was both a masterpiece and a death sentence for the unprepared.
As the car continued moving on to the direction of the airport, the SUV slowly approached a security checkpoint near a bridge leading towards the airport, which elicited in turn the driver to slow down.
The car's speed decreased from 60 km/h to 45… 37… 23… 11, until it finally came to a complete stop as the driver pressed the brakes to their limit. He was an experienced driver for over 30+ years, and opposite to those that felt shame from their job as taxi drivers, he felt immense pride in himself in perfecting his job flawlessly.
As they approached what seemed like a checkpoint, judging by the soldiers that were stationed holding their rifles and other military based jeeps with m2 machine guns stationed atop of them and several vehicles, with a few grey - dark greenish tents pitched here and there, a group of men in military uniforms and thick fur coats waved them down. Their faces were obscured by thick scarves, their gloved hands gripping their rifles tightly.
Vladimir, muscles stiffened, as he sensed something amiss from the unexpected company, narrowing his eyes in suspicion as he became tense.
"Sir, something's off." He warned, his voice laced with undisguised disdain. His eyes flicked toward Yuuta, awaiting his reaction.
Yuuta didn't reply, adjusting the cuff of his jacket as the driver rolled down the window of the SUV, questioningly.
"How may I help you sir?" The driver inquired, as he was quite curious about the men that tried to stop them. It seemed they had a death wish their parents had left them before passing on to the underworld! Did they not realize they were stepping a territory filled with landmines?
…...Is what the driver was probably thinking at that moment, as he subconsciously shivered at the cold air that had invaded the now heated vehicle.
One of the men approached, as he appeared different from the rest, as he did not have a scarf covering his face which clearly showed it.
The middle aged man seemed to be in his late 40's, with a deep scar running from his ear to his eye that was covered by a black cloth of an eyepatch, to his left cheek that seemed to be have been cut open by a zigzagged knife, the man stood at the astounding height of 8 feet, as if he was an Alaskan Polar bear, which intimidated the driver shitless, especially with a Remington 870 in his hands.
He wore a few badges on his chest, which highlighted his achievements of being the captain of the security checkpoint. Hearing the man speak in English, the man turned his head to his comrades before speaking in Russian, as his fellow comrades shook their head in denial. The man squinted his eyes towards them for a moment as the averted their eyes from him, before he shook his head in irritation.
With his rifle slung across his chest, the man spoke his Russian. "Ты не говоришь по-русски?" (Do you not speak Russian?)
The burly man became suspicious at the odd visitors that stayed in Russia, came upon a security checkpoint, didn't have a translator, and dint know how to speak Russian.
The driver, who had started sweating profusely, looked at the man with an awkward smile on his face.
"S-sorry, I only speak english" He chuckled nervously as he started seating buckets, fidgeting. It was the first time he had found himself in a pickle since he started his career. Although he had many driving services in other countries, 1. He spoke to normal citizens and 2. He mainly depended on communicating with gestures, as learning every single language was as tiresome as it could get.
The man frowned, as he recalled a few words of English he had learned from one of the prisoners he had held captive a few years ago, trying to form a sentence in his head.
The burly man pointed to himself as he spoke in a harsh-like, deep, hoarse voice, giving the influence that he was a heavy drinker and smoker.
"Me. Nikola Zakhzburgh." The man said as he analyzed the driver that nodded his head slowly.
He spoke once more, which made the driver freeze on the spot.
"Papar, show" (A/N: He's asking for the ownership proof lmao )
He demanded, as he held the shotgun with one arm, with his other hand leaning on the window of the driver.
The driver who for the first time was asked for his vehicle proof and insurance in years, and by a soldier at that, fell into a panic as he nervously with trembling hands opening the small cabinet of the seat besides him. It seemed today was filled with 'firsts' for him. Unfortunately, he did not know it would also be his 'lasts'.
He tightly gripped what was in his hand as if his life depended on it, and handed over a thick, leather-bound document with forged credentials. The soldier barely looked at it before nodding to his men who all gripped their weapons as they advanced forward.
"Step out, car. All of you." The man demanded in a booming voice, with his comrades aiming at the vehicles and looking through their scopes.
Yuuta's eyes squinted slightly for a moment, as the atmosphere thickened with tension. However, before anyone could react, a sharp and loud bang echoed through the air. The driver's head popped like a watermelon from the 410 bore shells, blood and brainmatter sprayed across the windshield alike.
Vladimir cursed under his breath, throwing his rifle quickly to the ground of the SUV, as he pulled his secondary weapon, a Colt 1911, as he found it impractical to use and aim a rifle in a closed space, especially when he considered the damage that could occur to the vehicle if they decided to use it for escape.
Quickly, he ducked his head and leaned towards the small bottom floor of the vehicle as he pulled on Yuuta's arm to protect him.
However, and to his surprise Yuuta, staring ahead at the soldiers that had now surrounded the vehicle with their weapons up, raised his hand before closing it to a fist.
Vladimir wanted to retort and tell Yuuta to stop his foolish actions but held himself as he knew the consequences would be dire, sighing melancholy.
Yuuta on the other hand, was analyzing his opponents, calculating the degree their weapons were faced, finding all escape routes, and potential future moves and variables before he pulled out his case of knives, and took out the Microtech Judhakammonda knife. He, however did not have time to deeply gaze at its mesmerizing beauty as reality forced him otherwise.
"Everyone. Out car. 5...4…3...2..." The man shouted. He held his his right hand as he slowly closed each finger, representing that time was running out.
Yuuta, however, did not waste those precious moments as he quickly brought the edge of the knife by his wide right eye. Vladimir who saw what he was doing, fell into silence for a moment of confusion before he realized what he was planning on doing.
He reached out his arm in haste as he attempted to stealthily pull the knife out of the boy's hand but he was a tad too late.
Splurt!
No hesitation, without waiting for himself to react to the pain of his eye being pierced, the boy started scratching himself with the knife at an inhuman speed as he grazed his cheeks, thighs, and other parts of his body. Vladimir held his breath, as he incredulously and worryingly looked at his bosses actions that made him fall into more and more confusion.
What surprised him even more were the tears that welled in the boys eyes as he cut himself.
The boy hastingly pulled off his jacket as he tore his shirt in multiple spots with scratches here and there, the blood staining the white t-shirt he was wearing, all this in the mere 5 seconds the captain was counting.
He heard the man's shouting coming to an end with one finger up.
CLICK!
"...0, sho—" Before the man was able to give out the order of shooting, Yuuta suddenly opened the cars passenger door slowly as he limped outside with his hands up and him visibly shaking.
In an instant, he shoved open the door, stepping into the bone-chilling wind, his flip-flops crunching against the snow. The soldiers turned their rifles toward him as they prepared for the eminent threat that threatened to finish them off.
The boy limped slowly towards the man named Nikola with his hands raised in air, quivering from the pain and the cold that numbed his senses. He walked slowly as a trail of blood followed him, painting the white snow crimson red, blooming like beautiful red lilies, becoming one with nature.
He stammered like a child that was on the brink of despair, asking for help.
"P-please don't shoot me! I-i was kidnapped by those bad people and they tried to kill me! P-please help me!" He stammered as genuine tears fell from his eyes. His shaking fingers pointed to the SUV that had Vladimir hiding inside.
Upon hearing his boss selling him out, Vladimir's expression changed into one of shock the anger as he gritted his teeth, understanding that Yuuta would do anything to survive, even if it meant betrayal.
He prepared his colt as he said his prayers in whatever god he believed in, readying his magazine.
The giant Arctic bear of a man looked at the boy suspiciously as he slowly lowered his rifle, before talking to his subordinates in Russian and pointing towards the car, in which two of his lackeys slowly approached it. The man took one last look at Yuuta as he turned his back to him, after giving Yuuta a look of pity.
A thin man approached the boy as he pointed his rifle towards Yuuta's head.
"Вините свою удачу за то, что встретили нас сегодня, брат. Да смилуется Бог над тобой." (Blame your luck for meeting us today, brat. May god have mercy on you.)
He spoke, a cold indifference vibrating in his voice, aiming the nuzzle at his head, as he pulled his trigger.
TA-TA-TAK! The man shot three times in succession as he lowered his gun.
The boy, now with a hole in his head, collapsed to the ground…
Or so was supposed to happen.
The boy in the last moment pushed the rifle with his right forearm towards the ground, as the man's jugular vein split open, gushing. The man's eyes widened as he struggled to come in terms that his life was slowly draining away as he collapsed.
With inhuman speed, the boy closed the distance between himself and the nearest man, grabbing the barrel of his rifle and twisting it with brutal force.
CRUNCH!
A sickening crunch followed as the soldier's wrist snapped, his scream barely leaving his throat before Yuuta rammed his knee into his ribs and sticking his fingers into the mans eye sockets.
The man's screams howled along with the wind as he held his bleeding face, scratching it before the boy sinked his teeth into the mans neck, ripping off a good portion of it in the process. The man crumpled to the ground, lifelessly.
The others who had snapped out of their stupor opened fire, bullets tearing through the cold night, but Yuuta weaved through the chaos like a specter. He grabbed another man by the hair, before he put him in a head lock.
The man who underestimated the power of the child, attempted to peel the childs small hands of his neck, only to be met with the tensing of his muscles with a brutal crunch, with the mans head rotating 180 degrees sideways; the top of his head at the top and his chin upwards.
As bullets rushed towards him, he used the now limp body as a shield as more bullets rang out.
Vladimir, who understood Yuuta's intentions couldn't help but smile, as he aimed his pistol towards a man head.
He however stopped when he felt a chill run up his spine from a certain direction.
Yuuta who was painted red from the blood, stared at him, conveying that the prey were his, and Vladimir had no right to interfere.
Yuuta was a storm of violence. He moved with an eerie grace, pushing the dead mans body as a shield as he tackled two men who were standing besides each other his small frame a blur of motion. With a swift flick of his wrist, his scalpel glinted in the dim light before slicing open a man's throat in one clean movement.
The other soldier turned to run, but Yuuta was on him in a heartbeat. He grabbed the fleeing man's jaw, forcing his head back as he whispered, a smile creeping on his face:
"Sing for me"
Then, with vicious cracks he held the mans lower and upper jaws as he pulled them opposite of each other.
The mans mouth opened to its maximum, and then the tearing of his flesh began as the boy tensed his biceps and triceps, using even more power to completely break the mans jaw in such a horrid method.
CRACK!
The mans jaws broke as his muffled screams eerily through the empty plains. Yuuta gave him no heed as he looked around him until he found a lonely large rock near him.
The boy walked towards the stone, and as the rock was too heavy, slowly pulled it towards the weeping man, as it formed white trails in the deep snow.
The boy looked at the mans face and blinked a few times, before carrying the heavy rock and dropping it on the mans face.
SPRACK!!
Below the rock, skin was impaled, skull was crushed, and brain matter exploded from underneath.
The boy, Yuuta, who was squatting, slowly rose up to his feet as he planted his palms on his thighs.
Even after displaying such a level of brutality, the most horrifying thing about it was not the violence, but his smile that reached from ear to ear that sent a shiver down anyone's spine.
His gaze slowly went to the last survivor who was looking at the situation in a calm matter as he weighed his pros and cons.
Nikola who had held his shotgun, threw it to the side of the snow as he took slow deliberate steps towards the boy, clapping, as a smirk made its was across his face, with the crunching effect snow of his footsteps echoing.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
The mans claps dimmed as he approached the boy. The man silently slipped his burly hands into his pocket, pulling out a cigarette box. He opened it, took a cigarette out before offering the boy one who was curiously eyeing him.
"Ты хочешь присоединиться ко мне?" (Care to join me for a smoke?) He offered, the cold breeze slowly pushing the lid of the cigarette box.
The boy closed his eyes for a moment, as he contemplated the mans words. His eerie smile enough to make the devil beg for forgiveness started to disappear, as he gently opened his eyes in the cold weather, inhaling the freezing air.
He skipped over to the man before speaking, as if he had changed personalities, different from his ASD and sadistic personality.
"конечно" (Certainly) he answered with a small smile.
Nikola, who heard Yuuta answer in Russian was shocked for a moment, before chuckling to no one in particular.
He blew a puff of some besides Yuuta as they both stared in the distance, looking beautifully at the endless dark horizon. The man then holstered up his black pistol, which Yuuta eyed curiously. He aimed at the SUV that Vladimir hid behind before shooting the engine and tank with his 15 rounds.
*BANG**BANG**BANG*
He continued to shoot the tank even after his pistol ran out of ammunition.
TIK! TIK! TIK!
Upon hearing his magazine being emptied, he clicked his tongue is disdain as he tossed it a distance away.
BOOM!
The SUV blew up and set in flames as Vladimir narrowly dived from the explostion as bits and shards scratched his face.
Nikola cracked his neck and knuckles as he drew his brass knuckles from his pocket and a butterfly knife as he assumed a stance.
"Well then, lets get started" he smirked as he launched himself towards Yuuta using his full power.
Nikola reverse gripped his knife as ducked towards Yuuta's heart, planning to impale him and stop his carotid system. Yuuta however had different plans, as he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and pushing the mans arms to the ground swiftly, before he tilted his body and formed his hand into a knife form as he attempted to strike the mans cervical artery.
The man expecting this however brased himself as he swiftly blocked the attack using the brass knuckles, before assuming a stance that was between boxing and systema, as he leaped back analyzing yuuta.
Yuuta, however did not leave him a chance as his figure blurred. Nikolas eyes hovered alertly everywhere around him, as he protected his head. He however struck the ground which made it tremble due to his massive size, as a small body narrowly missed being turned into toothpaste.
The young boy's left hand touched the ground and his right was in a claw stance, with his Jagdkommando knife stuck between his gritted teeth, as he twisted his body, his kick landing on the mans liver; a mix of capoeira and taijutsu.
To a normal human being, such a kick was enough to turn one's liver into corned beef in a container, however, because of the mans bulletproof vest and bulging muscles, all this led to was a mere grunt that came out of the man.
The boy however was not satisfied with this, as he once again preformed a hand stand as his legs wrapped around the mans head, before he performed a summertime assault, carrying a man worth of 180 kg, and slamming his head into the solid ice below.
BAM!
The man, even with a concussion and his head was severely wounded, grabbed a hold of the boy who had yet to back handspring back to his position as he gripped the boy's arms tightly, and violently twisted it in an unnatural method, which broke his arm in the process.
The boy, with his arm now broken, retreated slowly, looking at his enemy with his intense eyes, not disturbed by his arm that was loosely dangling by his side, especially with his elbow bone having stabbed right through his skin. Instead, he dislocated his two shoulders completely.
With his unbroken arm, he held the knife in his arm as he threw it. The man who had not expected this action, swiftly dodged the knife as he looked back to the boy's position, bu was surprised with finding the boy had disappeared.
He warily looked around him, before he felt a small hand that was wrapped around his face and was immediately slammed to the ground, as cracks started to form in the ground and started spreading to even as far as the SUV.
The man immediately coughed blood violently mixed with his dry laughter before speaking to his soon-to-become killer.
"Haaaah haaaaaah..... I hope you die a horrible deat-" Before he was able to continue his sentence however, his face was crushed by the boys foot, who held no morals, nor his 'enemies last words'.
To him, they were simply unnecessary.
Death was decided based on 'natural selection', so last words had no meaning to them.
Words that were merely speculations, wishes, or regrets.
From a nihilistic or existential perspective, death renders all speech meaningless, as the person will no longer be around to witness any consequences of their final statement.
Last words are a romanticized concept that in reality, most people don't get a dramatic farewell and that whatever is said in one's final moments is often lost, forgotten, or misunderstood.
The idea of legacy or leaving behind profound words is futile as nothing truly lasts, and once consciousness ceases, so does the significance of anything said.
Yuuta thought as he kneeled and punched the man who was on brink of death.
BAM!
The boy, with his ever stoic face, kept punching the mans face at the same place.
.
.
.
*Punch**Punch*
For around an hour, the boy kept punching the man's face despite the man being lifeless.
Blood and other matter sprayed on the ground, as the boy's bloodied and torn fists kept punching the ground where the mans head once used to be, now no more than matter here and there.
Despite the pain and numbness that slowly creeped in and made its way into his bones because of the cold, the boy, without a ripple of emotion in his eye other than his indifference, kept punching the man's face.
He punched once more before confirming that the man's irritating face was no more.
Slowly, standing up on his wobbly legs that had turned numb due to the cold, he silently observed the result of his actions, wiping his bloody hands on the pure, white snow.
To any bystander, he would look like a monster that came straight out of a horror movie.
Silence.
The checkpoint was silent.
Vladimir exhaled sharply a breath of white mist, his weapon still raised as he slowly approached his boss despite his bleeding forehead that obscured his right eye with red vision.
"Sir, are you ok?" he exclaimed as he looked sideways to confirm no more enemies were present. Yuuta, who had two dislocated arms, scratches all around his body, and an impaled eyed that slowly healed, marking his identity as a partially successful experimental subject.
Yuuta wiped a speck of blood from his cheek using the backside of his hand before nodding slowly, still gazing at Nikola's now-deceased corpse.
"We have a plane to catch." He answered stoically, as if he was taking a walk in a garden and happened to stumble upon such an unfortunate guest.
Although Vladimir was quite worried about his boss's injuries, he sighed in surrender as he walked towards the SUV to start it, only to realize that the SUV had turned into nothing more than a pile of ashes and scrap metal by now, with the flames that were once ablaze and as alive as he was, starting to diminish because of the snow and wind of the snowstorm.
He felt a bad premonition as a chill ran up his spine, slowly turning towards Yuuta who gestured him to approach him.
Vladimir panicked, but was forced to approach, as he slightly trembled from what awaited him. He arrived in front of Yuuta and gulped, observing Yuuta's doll-like face and murky, black pools inside his eyes.
They silently stared at each other for a while, before Yuuta took the initiative and approached him.
Vladimir closed his eyes in fear, expecting to get beaten up due to his incompetence of taking care of the SUV, until he felt a cold yet warm hand slowly caressing his scratched cheek.
He opened his eyes in evident surprise, overcome with emotion, he softly smiled, not expecting his boss to have cared about his well being.
SLAM!
Vladimir fell to the ground holding his stomach as he wheezed in pain, as Yuuta's knee had knocked the air out of his lungs. Under his breath, he cursed his idiocity for actually believing that his boss cared about him.
Now we might ask, what happened exactly.
To start off, Yuuta at first did not speak to Vladimir for a while to create a tension that would later come into play. When Vladimir expected the worse, he was met with something he did not expect; Yuuta had cared for him.
In that moment, the previous tension that Yuuta had created made Vladimir put down his guard, which would multiply the pain he felt if Yuuta decided to beat him in his most unexpected moments.
He applied temporal summation of pain and central sensitization to multiply Vladimir's pain.
The human nervous system isn't made to handle consecutive waves of extreme pain without consequence; when nociceptors, also known as pain receptors are overstimulated, the brain amplifies rather than regulates the signals.
This is known as temporal summation, causes repeated or continuous pain to feel exponentially worse, with each new signal stacks onto the last one before the previous one fades.
But Yuuta's timing made it even worse.
By letting Vladimir's brain falsely believe the worst was over, his nervous system tried to recover, only to be ripped back into agony at the exact moment his body was most vulnerable.
This, combined with central sensitization, a state where the brain itself amplifies pain signals rather than dampening them, meant that the knee strike didn't just feel like a blunt impact, it felt like a catastrophic explosion inside Vladimir's body, which sent his nervous system into total overload.
(A/N: Tell me in the future if you would like more psychological explanations or not :3)
In our case here, Yuuta grabbed Vladimirs hair before he kneed him in stomach, resulting in the latters state of devastation.
Vladimir spat saliva mixed with bits of blood and coughed violently.
"How tiresome." Yuuta spoke with a sigh, looking far ahead at the distance they would have to walk before they were able to get a cab to the airport.
Originally, the state of the weapons, equipment, vehicles, machinery, and tents were excellent, which made Yuuta speculate about the prices he would sell them for after getting exterminate the 'rats' that held such expensive material, as he quickly calculated the interest rates, taxes he evaded, tariffs, and other fees he would pay and get.
However, his plan went in flames as Vladimir wasn't even able to protect the SUV!
This simply pissed off Yuuta as he thought for a moment about trying to drive one of the vehicles to the airport, but it was futile.
Every few hours, contact would be initiated inside the vehicle via a radio to confirm the state of the platoon. If after a few hours there was no response, a certain code would be said three times. If no response comes back, the tracker on the vehicle would be activated in case anyone considers stealing them, and the unfortunate drivers would be immediately targeted by the 'merciful' missiles of a f-25 or a military helicopter, which would technically give anyone a free pass to the underworld.
With this in mind, Yuuta had hoped to at least sell the weapons and equipment, but because of Vladimir's idiocity, his plan was crushed by the weight of a fools mind.
He stared at the snowy distance, before he grabbed the bloody Jagdkommando knife he had thrown earlier to the ground and took his two suitcases that Vladimir had successfully saved before the utter explosion.
"A way…. a way.." He pondered with his index and thumb rubbing his small chin.
He contemplated leaving Vladimir behind who had passed out from the pain who was twitching here and there, before a quite peculiar and interesting plan came up his mind.
(A/N: Lol, look forward to it)