The surprise hit them like a physical thing. It was as if they didn’t hear him properly. Even Derrick stared at him in surprise. "What?"
"Three fingers on his left. Be quick. We still have a lot to do tonight."
Derrick paused and then shrugged. He began to walk towards the rchant, who turned and made to run. But he didn’t go far at all. He was caught easily and dragged back.
"No! No! Please, no! I can still give you anything. You don’t have to do...!!"
Derrick wrenched his left hand back, and his hand gripped three fingers at once. Without hesitation, he snapped them. The sound was like a twig breaking but muted.
There was a slight pause from the rchant as he stared at his twisted fingers, and then the pain hit. He began to scream, shaking his hand in horror and dragging himself on the dirt-covered floor as he shouted.
Ace walked closer, and the man scread even more.
"Don’t co closer! Don’t co here!"
Ace tilted his head as he stared down at him. "Now, we have the past behind us. We can do future cooperation without any bad blood."
He turned to go, putting his mask on as he waved. "You’re a rchant. I’m sure you have so healing herbs for yourself. I’ll be disappointed if you die from sothing as small as that."
And then he was back on the street, walking down the different blocks. Derrick stayed silent until he couldn’t keep it in anymore. "You are even a bigger bully than I am!"
He didn’t sound impressed, more like surprised that the person he had been slapping all the while was actually worse than him.
Ace slowed down. "Bully? I am not a bully, Derrick. I only pay back what was done to ."
"You broke his fingers, but I’m sure he did more than that to you. Why not just kill him and be done with it?"
"You see, Derrick, this is the reason you are still where you are. You don’t destroy the tool you have plans for. It’s a careful line between usefulness and trash. A very thin line, Derrick."
Derrick swallowed. He was far stronger than Ace, and yet at that mont he felt as if soone was holding him in their palm and looking down at him with eyes of cold blue.
They continued to walk, and the more streets they passed, the more silent and darker it beca. They saw fewer and fewer rchants selling their goods.
And here, so deep in the shelter, the small blocks of rooms had been destroyed and new buildings erected.
Derrick shuddered. He felt as if eyes were staring at him since they entered the darker parts.
Ace knew better. Since they set foot on the block, he knew that eyes and weapons had been locked on their backs. And right here, Derrick was as useless as a doll. He could lose his life in an instant.
He was in the block of the informant gang, WireRats.
But they only claid to be an informant gang. Ace knew that they did other jobs on the side, cris that were heavily frowned upon.
And although his heart sped up, Ace couldn’t help the excitent that he was feeling. His blood pumped as if it were mixed with electricity. It made his eyes glow softly, like a wolf looking at pointed light.
’...This will be a challenge, and I’m looking forward to it... a single wrong step and I will be dead. Just like that. Gangs are notorious for crushing any budding troubles...’
Ace suddenly stopped walking and paused by a building. The building was shabby, but light ca from inside, and the faint music coming out from it, combined with the cup drawn at the door, marked it as an inn of sorts.
"I strongly advise you to keep your mouth to yourself. It’ll be annoying if you die just now," Ace said and walked towards the door. He removed his mask and pushed the door open.
Derrick hurried along, feeling as if he was following a wolf into a den. It wasn’t the wisest thing to do, but he had no choice.
It was indeed an inn, but it was strangely silent. The people here, all Etherion users, exuded pressure that put them far above the two students. They gave off the air of veteran warriors spending the slow night drinking.
The curious thing about the way the inn was set up was that all the chairs were made to face the door. Even the bar was facing the door.
And then the door opened.
Hardened eyes swung towards the door. Maybe they were expecting one of them, but what they saw made the air tense. The temperature dropped.
Who are these two? Enemies? Their perception swept over them, and they got even more confused. Two weaklings? That only made the WireRats gang mbers’ guard go up even more.
Even Ace paused when he saw the eyes on him, and the tense air hit him like naked weapons. His heart tightened, but his fear didn’t show on his face, and he used the mont where his limbs seed to freeze to his advantage.
His eyes swept over the Etherion user gang mbers coolly, then he let them rest on the innkeeper. Ace nodded at the dumbfounded man, and by this ti his body had overco the pressure, and he was on the move again.
Derrick did far worse. Unlike Ace, he wasn’t expecting this, and he choked on his saliva as he swallowed. His cough was the only sound in the room. His body trembled as he hurried after Ace.
Ace walked towards the far corner to the left and then turned his back on the WireRats gang mbers.
His movent was calm and precise, not fast or too slow. He walked as if he had been doing what he was about to do for a long ti.
In front of him was a door, and when the gang mbers saw that it was his target, they stood up.
Ace heard the sound of tal being drawn, and the pressure increased.
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