The three companions stood in the center of the cramped inn room, the air still thick with the metallic scent of the hunter's blood.
Kaito looked at the splintered floor and the ruined walls, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He knew the peace of the night was shattered and that the city's silence would soon be replaced by the frantic ringing of alarm bells.
"Alright, let's go."
Kaito whispered, his voice trembling with a mixture of fear and urgency. They moved with practiced efficiency, gathering their meager belongings and the few remaining scraps of meat they had managed to salvage from the market. They slipped out of the inn, sticking to the darkest shadows of the alleyways as they navigated toward the massive iron gates that marked the exit of Oakhaven.
The dawn was just beginning to bleed a bruised purple light over the canyon walls when they reached the threshold of the city. The gates were guarded by a man who looked more like a mountain of meat than a human being. He was vast and muscular, his bare arms thick as tree trunks and mapped with scars from a thousand brawls. Resting against his shoulder was a colossal war hammer, its head carved from a single block of black obsidian.
The guard stepped into their path, a slow and predatory grin spreading across his face. "Hey you there," he rumbled, his voice like grinding stones. "Are you the Zero? Because the Lords sent me here to 'train' you. They told me if you're too weak to survive the lesson, I finally get to kill you." He chuckled, a deep and hollow sound that vibrated in the cold morning air.
Kenji stepped forward without a hint of hesitation. His gray eyes were flat and cold, reflecting nothing but the dim light of the rising sun. He did not look like a boy facing a giant; he looked like a predator assessing a meal. "Let's see who dies," Kenji said, his voice a chilling monotone.
The giant laughed, genuinely admiring the boy's misplaced confidence. He took a heavy step forward, the ground seemingly groaning under his weight. Kenji didn't wait for him to close the distance. He lunged, his body becoming a blur of motion as he executed a perfect, horizontal strike.
SWOOSH!
The blade hissed through the air, aimed directly at the man's throat. But the giant was deceptively fast. He didn't even draw his hammer. "You really thought it would be that easy?" the man sneered. With a hand as large as a dinner plate, he caught Kenji's wrist mid swing, halting the momentum of the blade instantly.
Before Kenji could react, the man slammed him into the stone ground with bone shattering force. The impact knocked the wind from Kenji's lungs, but the giant wasn't finished. He followed up with a brutal kick to Kenji's ribs, sending the boy flying backward. Kenji's body crashed through the wooden front of a nearby vacant building, disappearing into the darkness of the collapsing structure in a cloud of dust and splinters.
"Shit!" Kaito shouted, his eyes wide with panic as he looked at the hole in the building.
"What do we do now? He's going to pulp him!"
William stepped forward, his right arm already beginning to hiss as steam rose from his pores. The neon green light of his Overclock flared to life, brighter than it had ever been. "Send me over there!" William roared, his voice thick with adrenaline.
Kaito didn't hesitate. He grabbed William by the shoulder and focused his will on the space surrounding the giant. "Gravity Shift!" Kaito yelled, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, the horizontal plane became down for William. He was launched through the air like a projectile, his fist pulled toward the giant by an artificial gravitational well.
The large man looked up, his grin never wavering. As William's massive, glowing fist came barreling toward his face, the giant simply reached out and caught it. The shockwave of the impact cracked the cobblestones beneath the giant's feet, but he didn't budge an inch.
"You really expected that to work?" the giant mocked, his fingers tightening around William's hand. The sound of crushing metal and groaning bone filled the air as he began to crack William's fist within his grip.
William groaned in pain, but a bloody smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Well, no," he wheezed.
BOOM!
A secondary burst of bio energy exploded from William's gauntlet, a built up pressure wave he had been holding in reserve for this exact moment. The localized blast was enough to force the giant's fingers open, releasing William from the crushing grip. William tumbled back, gasping for air as he nursed his smoking arm.
Kaito saw the opening he had been waiting for. While the giant was momentarily distracted by the explosion and the smoke, Kaito shifted gravity once more. He didn't launch himself this time; he used the shift to accelerate a long hunting knife he had hidden in his belt. The blade flew with the speed of a crossbow bolt, its trajectory altered by Kaito's manipulation to aim directly for the giant's neck.
The man sensed the danger too late. The knife hit its mark, severing his head clean off his shoulders in a single, violent motion. The massive body stood still for a heartbeat, blood geysering into the air, before it collapsed forward like a felled oak.
Kaito and William rushed into the ruins of the building to find Kenji. They pulled him from the rubble, his clothes torn and his face covered in a mask of grey dust. He was alive, but as they helped him to his feet, a sickening sight met them. Kenji's left hand was shattered, the fingers bent at impossible angles and the skin already turning a dark, bruised purple.
Kenji looked at his ruined limb with a terrifying lack of concern. He didn't wince or cry out. He simply tucked the useless hand into his belt and looked toward the open gate.
"We have to move," Kenji said, his voice as steady as a heartbeat. "I don't think the adjons would make him die so easily."