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Jack was baffled listening to Cast's announcment.

Was this their work? Fighting seven people to collect money?!

The man in front was visibly intimidated, but soon grit his teeth and got into a fighting stance. After a few short glances at the other guys around him, they also readied themselves.

"Y- you're only two people, we won't back down."

Cast looked at them with a sneer, threw his cap aside and rushed at the men.

Petrified, Jack watched as he entered the hideout and started beating the men inside.

But the men seemed to realize that fighting in such a narrow space was a bad idea. So, they desperatedly tried to escape Cast's onslaughter, five of them actually succeeded and ran out of the small door, aiming for the Jack instead.

He was barely able to dodge the first attacks coming his way. Fortunately, he soon regained his senses and started evading the attacks.

Thanks to his enhanced speed, he was able to hold his ground. But their relentless beating didn't leave any opportunity for Jack to break through or retaliate. He wanted to replicate the move he used on Leopold but none of the men struck with enough force to take advantage of it.

Instead they closed in on Jack after discovering that he didn't fight back. 

Amidst the punches and kicks were also a few 'grab attacks' aiming for his arms and clothes. 

Alarmed by this, Jack's attention focused on these underhanded attacks. He'd rather take a punch or two than being immobilized.

Dull sounds echoed as punches finally connected with Jack's body. Although they weren't too painful on their own, the rate of successful hits kept rising.

At this point, Jack was pretty much cornered. Even if he tried to fight back now, the men didn't give him a chance to raise his fists.

He regretted not acting bolder and more agressive from the get go. Now he had no choice but to continue dodging the best he could.

Unfortunately, not even that was going well, because there was already a fist flying towards his face, Jack closed his eyes.

But the expected impact never came. 

Jack snapped his eyes open, two of the men had been taken away. Now there were only three left.

The remaining men were startled and had also slowed down their movements.

Jack took this chance.

"Umpf!"

He struck the most distracted of the three with his fist. Because of the force of the punch to his face, the man directly passed out.

But there was no time to celebrate. Taking advantage of this moment of shock, Jack's fist sunk into belly of one of the remaining two. 

Only one was left now. Jack was about to thow his fist once more but the last person had already turned tail, quickly fleeing deeper into the alley.

Stunned and slightly panting, Jack watched as the man disappeared. It took some time for the realization to set in.

He did it! The fight was over and it wasn't him lying on the floor!

Still a bit giddy, Jack looked over at Cast, who had long since finished his fight and was leaning against the wall of a building. His cap had also returned to its original position, with the addition of a leather bag in his hand that looked like it was about to burst.

Right on cue, Cast also glanced over.

"Come here,"Cast said and Jack jogged towards him. 

As soon as Jack was close enough, Cast threw the bulging leather bag at him.

"You look after the bag, I'll get the leader."

Saying this, he walked into the hideout again and dragged out the man who had opposed them at first.

The other was unconscious with blood dripping down his nose, that was already starting to swell.

"Seems like we will have to take a detour."

Cast didn't pay attention whether Jack followed him or not, he just walked deeper into the back alley with the unconscious man in tow. Jack alked after him in silence.

The young man in front of him actually picked a fight with a group of seven without batting an eye and defeated four of them. He was also unharmed.

Even for the standards of his world, that was pretty good.

Although he wasn't able to see it, Cast's technique must be great. This sparked Jack's curiousity.

He hoped to pick up a thing or two from the other if he could. As it stood, Professor Bellator probably wouldn't demonstrate any moves for him in the near future.

Sophie was one of his favorite students and her tying with him because of a fluke... wasn't the best way to score goodwill with his teacher, Jack was aware of this fact.

At first, it didn't bother him, he had gone without for a long time and he wasn't afraid of any unexpected situations, because of...

Constantine.

He didn't want to admit it, but he had realized that Constantine, or at least his abilities, had become Jack's hidden ace.

Still, he didn't want to rely on him.

So he had to gain more strength himself, that way no matter what happened he wouldn't be as reliant on Constantine.

"Watch your step."

Jack looked up, stumbling over a small step leading to an even more concealed door. Thankfully, he didn't fall, barely able to regain his balance and prevent a crash with another man.

Jack wanted to apologize but the man only shot him a cold glance and wordlessly closed the door, causing the words to remain stuck in Jack's throat.

"Get over here," an annoyed Cast commanded.

Jack hurried after him, he would rather stay with Cast than with the man at the hidden entrance.

Cast was standing in front of a door, still dragging the guy from earlier behind him. The legs of his pants and boots were already badly mangled.

After Cast had entered, Jack also hastily stepped into the room.

The door closed with an audible 'clack'.

An oppressive atmosphere filled the room. Two men placed on either side of the entrance and in the middle stood a large wooden desk. Behind the desk sat a slightly overweight man, he had some kind of glowing stick pinched between his lips.

The smoke originating from that glowing stick wafted throughout the entire room.

Jack's eyes watered and he had to cough involuntarily.

He had never smelt such an irritating smell before.

The overweighed man with glowing stick, grinned at his miserable appearance. Removing the stick from his lips, he spit out an other wave of smoke while flicking the ashes into a bowl.

"So, we finally meet, Jack," the man paused, before smiling sinisterly, "Your father told me a lot about you, I really enjoyed working with him..."

A shudder ran down Jack's spine.

The man bit down on his stick again, beckoning Jack to step forward.

Jack hesitated for a moment, but it only took one glance from Cast for him to start walking.

After Jack arrived in front of the desk, the man pointed at an empty space between paper work and folders on the wooden surface. Jack could only assume that the other wanted him to put the leather bag there, but it was too far for Jack to reach without leaning partially over the desk.

Hesitating for another second, Jack steeled his nerves. His knees were shaking slightly while he leaned over the wooden surface.

Suddenly the man opened his mouth and blew a thick cloud of smoke directly onto Jack's face.

Jack dropped the bag immediately, coughing harshly, his eyes burning.

The man roared with laughter, but except for his laugh and Jack's cough, there was no other sound.

Still laughing, the man ordered Cast:

"Leave that guy here and take poor Jack with you, I think he needs some fresh air."

Cast directly dropped the man to the floor, grabbed Jack's arm and left.

Even after the door had closed behind them, Jack could still hear a faint chuckle.

 

Thank you for reading!!

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