Return of the Fallen Volume 4 Chapter 40
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch40
Degra held the dealer by the neck and her feet kicked desperately. She looked at Degra with both confusion and fear as she struggled out with a.
“B…Boss, why?”
Degra squeezed her neck cutting her words short. The woman tried scratching at Degra’s arms and face as she could no longer breathe.
Kazuki took a step forward and at the same time, the guard next to Degra pulled his sword from his waist.
Kazuki stopped.
“What are you doing? What punishment? She was following your orders was she not?”
Degra shook his head.
“When I said I cheated you, that wasn’t an admission of guilt but rather an acceptance of responsibility on my end. I didn’t order this woman to cheat you but she took it upon herself to do so. So now, I am forced into this position by her. Therefore, I have no choice. Since you truly didn’t cheat, it means she was doing things on her own and became greedy. I don’t need people like her working for me. If you didn’t cheat then this woman allowed you to win on purpose. I don’t know how but since you didn’t do anything, then it was definitely her.”
Tears began to fall from the woman and her eyes started rolling up into her head.
“Ok, that’s enough. Even if she did cheat without your say so, this doesn’t give you the right to take her life.”
Degra laughed.
“Hah, It seems I didn’t introduce myself properly but you are no fool. Look around you. I am Degra, one of the biggest crime bosses in all of Gentis city. This woman will be made a lesson of and everyone will know that my customers will not be cheated unless they cheat. After all, I have a reputation to uphold and I can’t allow this bitch to steal right from under my nose.”
Degra increased the pressure around the woman’s neck and was on the verge of breaking it.
“STOP!”
Kazuki yelled out but Degra just ignored him. Tsura and Mei saw this and couldn’t sit still and made a move but before they even made it a single step, Degra’s eyes flashed at them and the two’s steps stopped as though they were frozen. An invisible aura seeped out from Kazuki and he was unaffected. Kazuki took a step forward and the guard was already in front of him but Kazuki was in no mood.
The guard with his quickest speed began to raise his blade for a slash but Kazuki was far faster. To him, it seemed as if the guard was moving in slow motion. Kazuki simply raised a palm and landed an upward strike to the man’s chin. The man’s bottom jaw slammed into his top and several teeth shattered as he was lifted from the ground. As the guard’s body began to fly into the air, Kazuki had already appeared in front of Degra and his hand was reaching for the woman.
His speed had already surpassed that of someone who had refined their body and was a 3rd stage Mage. Kazuki’s hand was just about to grab the woman and free her from Degra’s grip when she was suddenly pulled away just as fast as Kazuki reached forward. Kazuki’s eyes widened as he saw Degra’s wicked smile. Kazuki didn’t stop moving though. His other hand came out from beside his waist, a fist had already formed and was arcing toward Degra’s confident smug expression.
Kazuki’s fist was tearing through the air and a small resounding whistle spread outward. His fist was only a few inches away from Degra’s face when a sense of danger crawled up his back. He instinctively tried to withdraw his fist but it was too late. A sword made from dark energy appeared in Degra’s free hand and he was already swinging it towards Kazuki’s fist.
Kazuki pushed his ki to the limit and circulated it at his fastest speed. His abs contracted and he changed his center of gravity. His fist changed direction as the blade swept dangerously close to it. Kazuki’s leaned forward and tucked his head. As the blade finished its swing, Kazuki flipped forward at the same time. Degra was taken aback and tried to step back but the space in this office was limited. Kazuki’s brought his foot down with an ax kick towards Degra’s head.
Degra felt a sense of crisis but he couldn’t move out of the way and became desperate. Degra pulled his arm back and the woman in his grasp blocked Kazuki’s path of attack. Kazuki had to again change direction at the last moment and his heel landed upon Degra’s left shoulder.
*Crack*
Something clearly broke and Degra collapsed to the floor. As soon as he did, the guard as well just now crashed into a row of bookshelves at the side of the office. Kazuki grabbed the woman and jumped backward. Kazuki’s aura spread outward without his control and Mei and the other two could move again. Kazuki handed the unconscious woman to Nunully and she checked on her.
“She’s still breathing.”
Kazuki heard this but he didn’t react to it. He felt no relief currently. Looking down at his fist. There was a cit of flesh over two of his fingers that had melted a bit away. Not only that but there was a thin cut on his leg as well. Kazuki thought he had dodged Degra’s dark blade perfectly but it seems its range is more than its appearance presents itself to be.
(It clearly missed my fist yet I was still injured and when did he cut my leg? It must have happened when I landed my kick upon his shoulder. I was slightly thrown off when he used the woman as a meat shield and it distracted me.)
Kazuki circulated his ki and destroyed the dark energy that had carved out flesh from his hand and leg before he began healing himself then and there. Degra’s eyes shined seeing this.
(So he was hiding even more abilities. I must make this man mine. For someone this strong to resort to cheating a casino, he obviously has on backing and has his own troubles. If I take him under me, I will have yet another powerful piece. This city will be underfoot in no time.)
Degra completely ignored his slumped and broken shoulder as his thoughts about the future filled him with greed.
While Nunully was checking on the woman, Mei and Tsura shared a dumbfounded look. They knew Kazuki had reforged his Mage core but they didn’t know just how powerful he had become. With his body now constantly strengthening while absorbing the elements all of his attributes constantly rose. At first when he fought Abura he got a great spike in power but afterward his strength was still growing but at a much slower rate. They hadn’t seen him really use his body though.
Just now though, they saw him move faster then they had ever seen from before. His speed was comparable to that Reya woman who had tried to capture them.
This though wasn’t the biggest shock for them. Not only was Kazuki unbelievably fast but Degra as well seemed almost as fast. The two’s speed gave both Tsura and Mei trouble as they tried to follow along with their eyes. Tsura could barely keep up but Mei was a little better and saw the exchanges between the two. All of this had happened in the blink of an eye and the guard Kazuki had sent flying only crashed when everything was over. This along with that strange feeling at the start that caused them to both freeze in place, they didn’t know what to say or do at the moment. The exchange seemed to be over and Kazuki was no longer attacking.
As they were confused as to what to do, Nunully was the only one who was left out. As soon as Kazuki moved without a magic tool to help her see these two people’s movements was basically impossible. The only thing she saw were shadows flitting across the room and then everything was over. She had no clue who did what and how and only realized Kazuki came out on top when he passed the woman to her and Degra was already kneeling on the floor awkwardly.
Kazuki saw that his wound was healing just fine and looked back at the unconscious woman.
“Fine, you want me to admit it, I did cheat. So leave the woman out of this. Your a crime boss I get it and you want to set an example but how will you set an example if your dead?”
Kazuki felt it would be more trouble then it was worth to try and fight this man over one woman but he did feel a sense of guilt for putting her in that position. Besides who cares if some underground boss dies. People would cheer before they cried for such a person. The only thing Kazuki didn’t like were all the people outside. If they flood in like locust, it will be difficult even for Kazuki to escape by himself, let alone with all these people at his side.
(Speaking of which, with such a commotion, why has no one come rushing in?)
“Hahaha. You are quite the catch I must say.”
A creepy laugh escaped from Degra and he slowly stood up.
*Crack Snap*
The bones in Degra’s shoulder popped and he stood up straight with no difficulty. Kazuki extended a sliver of ki and saw that Degra’s bones were completely fine.
(Didn’t I break his shoulder just now? I clearly felt it. Can he as fast as me. No, that speed is far faster than my own.)
Degra could see Kazuki’s energy touching upon him but he felt no ill will from it and didn’t even try to stop it and even guessed.
“It seems you can see things as well with that energy of yours.”
Degra snapped his fingers and the door opened behind Kazuki and the others. Kazuki and the rest became defensive but to their surprise, the men and women who came in ignored their presence. They proceeded to walk past Kazuki and the others and clean up the mess and even dragged the unconscious guard out. One of the women held her hand over the ground and a new desk appeared there. She then took the papers and other things that had been gathered up from the floor and set them down neatly on the new desk before offering Degra a seat and standing behind him to guard him. Everyone else left the room and the office became quiet and awkward.
Degra snapped his fingers again and the woman guarding his back walked over and got him a fresh cup of tea with more little cookies. After serving him, she then poured Kazuki and the others more tea and got them more treats. Mei happily scarfed the cookies down and even stole Nunully’s when she wasn’t looking.
Degra sipped at his tea before setting it down with a.
*Clink*
“Let’s start over. As you can see it will be very difficult for you to kill me and my guards are already waiting just outside. With a snap from me, they will rush in and do what they do best. So, now that you’ve admitted to cheating as I said, let’s start over and discuss how you’re going to pay me back.”
Degra crossed his hands together and smiled fiendishly.
(You will be mine.)
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