The Innkeeper

Once the tournament was over and he collected all his winnings, Tetsuya did not forget to go collect his winnings from the bet. Although he did not get first which, even without his ‘bad luck’ he probably would not have gotten, the bets were on his being in the top three. Unlike Brent, who had multiple sources of income to support him, Tetsuya did not so every spirit coin mattered. Naturally, since he was stepping into the public, he was wearing a facemask to hide his identity. He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t well liked, but couldn’t find it in himself to care. The only reason he even wore a mask was because his time was valuable and better spent elsewhere than arguing with an idiotic mob.

When he went up to the counter to collect his winnings, he did not bother with any small tack and just handed the man his slip. The man, on the other hand, could not prevent himself from chatting a little.

“Must be to catch a break like this huh? You know, you’re the second person to collect winnings from betting on that Tetsuya kid. Though, your winnings are a lot more than his, I can tell you that.”

“Someone else bet on Tetsuya?” he couldn’t help but ask, surprised. “Isn’t he afraid of Darius?”

“Aren’t you?” the man asked, finally handing over Tetsuya’s winnings. “He looked like a foreigner, and didn’t bet much. It doesn’t look like he knew what he was doing, maybe he just saw the stakes and couldn’t help himself. Stuff like this happens.”

Tetsuya nodded to the man, and left with his winnings. He could not help but find himself musing. On the off chance that this wasn’t a foreigner being ignorant, he better go check things out. It was not like he wanted to go and help Darius out, but in the event that this was a trap and something happened to him, Tetsuya would shoulder the blame. As for the possibility that Darius wouldn’t pursue this matter? It was impossible, that brat was too small minded and egotistical to leave things like this alone.

On the bright side, because of that, tracking Darius would be extremely easy. He just hoped he made it in time.

*****

Lex was casually looking for a restaurant to eat nearby. He wanted to treat himself a little before he went looking for Tetsuya. At first he was concerned that he wouldn’t have a way to reach him, but it turned out that he was extremely notorious and many people knew the location of his apartment, as the place always attracted a lot of trouble. In a situation like this, finding him wouldn’t be the issue. It was convincing him to use the key when he was in trouble that was difficult.

During this time, he was woefully ignorant of the few people following him from a distance. They were waiting for the moment Darius would catch up with them. If not for that, they would have taken care of the target already. They followed him to a restaurant, and then decided to clear the street outside while they waited. Soon, the crowds disbursed, and the unusually quiet street stood out drastically in such a busy city. They didn’t care though, as that had nothing to do with them.

When Darius finally arrived, it was obvious that he was in a bad mood. Not only had that insufferable Tetsuya come in second, more importantly, Brent had come first. The more they displayed their talents, the worse off Darius would look. After all, while they were busy harvesting the fruit, Darius had not even broken into the Foundation realm yet. He was at the peak of Qi training, but because he had relied heavily on medication to reach this realm, he couldn’t breakthrough so easily. It would require sufficient preparation.

“Where is he?” Darius roared as soon as he entered the street.

“He’s in the restaurant, boss,” one of his faithful goons answered. “Should we go drag him out?”

“No, I have a better idea,” he said with an ugly, evil grin.

A short while later, Lex exited the restaurant feeling extremely satisfied. He had no idea what he had eaten, and as far as he could tell the dish consisted mostly of some kind of vegetables he’d never seen. But not only was it spirit food, the flavor was beyond anything he had ever tried. Lex had already decided to gather as many seeds from this planet as he could.

While he was lost in his thoughts, something distracted him the moment he stepped out of the shop. Why was the street empty? But, before he could think more on the matter, something smacked him straight on the forehead!

Lex’s body was hurled off to the side and smashed into a nearby pole. The attack was so sudden and so heavy, even after he had fallen to the ground, he did not completely understand what was happening. His head was spinning and his ears were ringing. He tried to gather his thoughts, but it seemed he was concussed. He saw dirt and blood. He tried moving his arms, but suddenly felt like he couldn’t find them.

After a couple of moments, he started to recover, and could hear the sound of laughter. He picked up his head to look around, as he brought his hand to his head, and felt the blood dripping down his face.

“Boss, I think he’s still alive,” one of the goons said, noticing Lex move.

“Well I’ll be damned, he survived a hit of my full strength. I guess he needs a little bit more of my love,” Darius said with a malevolent grin as he walked towards Lex, holding something similar to a baseball bat in his hand. The end of the bat was covered in sharp spikes, one of which was covered in blood.

The next moment, Lex finally recovered, his thoughts started to flow once again. At first he was confused. He was being attacked? Why? Then came the anger. In his entire life, Lex had never been assaulted by another human.

The training with Marlo hardly counted, as that was training. Neither the zombies nor the wolves that once nearly killed him either affected him in the same way as he was being affected now. In Lex’s mind, they were beings of a different species, and so it made sense that they would fight. But while he had been in difficult situations with humans, he had never been successfully attacked like this. Not to mention, since he was homeschooled, Lex had no experience with bullies either.

So now that he was attacked by humans, for seemingly no reason, he was filled with a rage the likes of which he had never known! The Qi in his body flowed like burning lava and he used Auxiliary Burst flawlessly, one of the two offensive spirit techniques he knew, and fired the Heavy Harley directly at his attacker’s face!

Auxiliary burst increased the damage of any attack it supplemented, which, combined with the close range and power of the gun, all smashed into his attack like a cannon! Lex was attacking to kill, and currently he had no thoughts of morality or right and wrong in his mind, he only wanted them to die!

His rage affected him in a way Lex had never experienced before, and he had already entered the state of ‘flow’ he was so familiar with, but this time it was stronger than ever before. Lex’s accuracy was on target to the millimeter, and even as the man with the bat fell backwards, each bullet continued to hit him directly in the center of his forehead – though they couldn’t seem to pierce his skin.

The goons who had been laughing and enjoying themselves so far were shocked by the sudden change, and by the time any of them reacted, Lex had already fired ten shots! Shouts of anger and panic filled the street as some sprinter towards Lex while others towards Darius.

But even outnumbered, they held no advantage over the enraged Lex, who had by now gotten on his feet. After ten shots, he was fairly certain that the man with the bat was wearing some kind of treasure that Lex could not break, so he turned his target to the others. Drawing his short sword and holding it in his left hand and the gun in his right, Lex released a vicious battle cry as he met his foes in battle.

Lex did not even realize that he was using Falcon relief, Qi repulsor and Qi blade and Auxiliary Burst all at once, as his focus was on his foes.

Balancing on the heel of his foot, he twisted as he dodged an attack and swung his blade towards the nearest goon, and shot his gun at one farther away without looking. It was not a fight but a slaughter, as even once none of the goons were able to exchange a single attack with Lex.

In the distance, Tetsuya munched on a snack as he watched the fight. The kid was young, but he wasn’t bad. Yet despite his amazing display, his inexperience was evident in Tetsuya’s eyes. Still, for now, he only watched.

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