"Let's go get him..." Zachary said. Immediately, he, Slice, Laser, and Greg rushed in. Death waited, as he wanted to see if the young man had any tricks up his sleeves, and besides, there wasn't a need for him to intervene; he was there only as a form of insurance for the mission to succeed.
Anderson and Mikey went toward Greg, while Martha and Benedict confronted Laser. Erik and Floyd fought against Slice, and Gwen and Aaron dashed toward Zachary. In the meantime, Amber remained behind to catch her breath. She was exhausted and barely able to move.
The disparity in strength between the students and the five members of the Crystal Cross gang was abysmal. They had at least 40 points of strength more than the students, meaning they could kill them quickly if the students didn't find a way to take advantage of their superior numbers.
Greg rushed toward Anderson and Mikey. The first had the ability to erase all sound around him, which was useful for a thief but completely useless in a direct confrontation like this. Anderson used half his mana before trying to erase the others' tracks but was otherwise fine, while Mikey used his power to conjure a giant swarm of flesh-eating bugs.
The swarm flew over Greg; he knew the bugs were trouble and immediately retreated as soon as he saw them. At the same time, Anderson and Mikey charged at him while the bugs chased after him.
They knew they had to try and incapacitate the man before Mikey depleted his mana reserves, so they attacked with vigor, trying to quickly take him down before he had a chance to retaliate. This was wishful thinking since their attacks were bound to be too slow for Greg, a seasoned warrior who knew how to take advantage of his opponent's weaknesses. Anderson and Mikey's attacks would not affect him in any way whatsoever.
Greg jumped left and right to avoid the insect; Anderson and Mikey tried to circle him. The man noticed the two students' intentions and kept his distance from them, as the bugs were troublesome to avoid due to their large numbers.
The bugs lashed at Greg, who jumped several meters back and avoided the strike. Doing so, he gave a couple of seconds to Mikey and Anderson to reach him, and he found himself needing to avoid two attacks, one made by Anderson's claymore and the other by Mikey's kukri.
Greg defended himself with his sword from Anderson's attack; he had no trouble doing so since his strength was much higher than Anderson's, but he had to tilt to the side to avoid Mikey's attack, all while constantly moving to avoid Mikey's bugs.
"Stop this nonsense! I do not want to kill two kids!" Greg said. Despite having killed many people, he never took pleasure in it. Simply put, he did what he was told to do, but if he could, the man wanted to avoid unnecessary deaths. He was a thief, not an assassin, so even if it was part of his job, Greg had difficulty reconciling taking lives with his personal ethics. He got no pleasure in taking another person's life, especially when such a person was so young and had a bright future ahead of him.
"You should stop going after Erik if you want us not to resist!" Mikey shouted. He was clearly enraged by the attack. Definitely, the Cristal Cross gang wanted something from Erik, but going to these lengths and sending assassins to him was overkill, in his opinion.
However, he knew that these people had no scruples. They tortured, killed, robbed, sold drugs, and dealt with prostitution, kidnapping, and organ selling. They didn't even spare children; on the contrary, they were their favorite targets since they were easy to capture.
Greg avoided the last slash; however, the flesh-eating bugs were still on his tail. He jumped back a couple of times, avoiding two other attacks. Though he understood that there was nothing to do here and that fighting the kids was inevitable, the man sighed and then said, "Then you leave me no choice..."
The thief then started zigzagging through the bugs, avoiding multiple attacks that appeared in slow motion for him, until he eventually made his way to the kids. He quickly approached Mikey, who was the most annoying one because of the bugs.
Greg didn't even need to do anything in particular; he simply went behind Mikey and hit him with force on the back of the head. The young man immediately lost consciousness and fell to the floor; the mana bugs started evaporating like water until the wave of flesh-eating creatures disappeared like a lie, and all that was left was the thief and Mikey, unconscious on the ground.
"MIKEY!" Anderson shouted. He didn't know what had happened to him since he had trouble seeing the man move and thought his friend was dead.
"I told you to surrender!" Greg said.
He then went in front of Anderson and punched him; however, the young man was able to react just in time, avoiding the move and greatly surprising the older man.
"You are not half bad," Greg said, but then he went on Anderson's back and hit him in the head. Exactly as he did with Mikey, making him lose consciousness.
***
As the fight between Greg, Anderson, and Mikey started, Laser dashed toward Benedict and Martha. While Martha tried to restrain the assassin with her thorned vines, the young man summoned his halberd. These looked like snakes chasing their prey, dancing in a way that could only end in death.
"Martha, get him!" Benedict yelled.
As the assassin avoided the vines with incredible agility and choreographic moves, he laughed like a maniac. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" The assassin was having fun.
"MORE! MORE! MORE! LET ME SEE MORE! LET ME SEE YOU STRUGGLE!" Laser said. He was a sadistic man who loved to torture his prey and see them struggle during their last moments.
Benedict rushed toward the assassin and, using his halberd, tried to attack him before he could land. His weapon was glowing and emitting a bright light that irritated the assassin's eyes. But the man was skilled and trained and didn't leave any room for the inexperienced kid.
As Laser avoided Benedict's last attack and landed on the ground, the assassin regained his balance and attacked the kid with his dagger. However, Benedict parried at the last moment with his halberd, which was big enough to shield much of his body. However, due to Laser's immense power, the attack sent Benedict flying several meters.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, CAN YOU FEEL THE PAIN?!" Laser shouted. He then ran toward Benedict with the knife in his hand.
However, Martha created some vines and stopped the man from injuring her friend. It was at that moment that the assassin remembered the young woman.
As he did, he turned to look at her and glared with a murderous glint. He started running toward her while she called up vine after vine to stop him. However, she had too few neural links compared to her opponent, so her ability to channel mana through her brain crystal was slower than what Laser could do, and she couldn't keep up with his speed.
The young woman started retreating and channeling more mana, but she could do nothing to escape the assassin, who, after a couple of seconds, was already in front of her and ready to deal the killing blow.
The woman created a wall made of thorny vines, hoping to stop the assassin's attack, but when he slashed, he cut the thick vines as if they were made of butter and even created a big gash on Martha's chest. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Laser stepped back and looked at the young woman with a cold gaze, but then the corners of his mouth slightly curved.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"MARTHA!" Benedict shouted. He then dashed toward Laser, but as soon as he was a couple of meters in front of him, the assassin used his power and started inflicting pain on the young man. Benedict fell to the ground and started screaming; his pain was unbearable. Martha could see the anguish Benedict was experiencing but could do nothing to help him.
"BENEDICT!" The woman shouted. Tears went down her cheeks like a fountain.
"THAT'S IT! THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO HEAR. LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM AND DESPAIR!" Laser said. At that moment, Laser walked toward the girl, who was trying to run away from the assassin while she tried to stop her blood from oozing out of the wound the assassin had just inflicted.
The assassin smiled wickedly as she saw that, but then he noticed that the young woman was glancing at Benedict, who was still on the ground under the effects of Laser's power. Benedict tried circling mana through his body, but the amount of mana that the assassin injected into his body was too large for the young man, and he couldn't stop the pain and exhaustion that it was causing him.
"Ah, you care about him, right?" Laser said to Martha. "Then I guess you will entertain me a little bit while watching him suffer..." With a crazy smile, Laser said.
"NO, PLEASE!"
Laser went toward Martha, firmly placed his foot on her chest, and started applying force to her wound and body, causing her to be immobile and in pain. However, he didn't end things there, as he started sending more mana into Benedict, who started screaming in pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! STOP IT! AAAAAAAH!"
"BENEDICT!"
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