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Pearl shaped raindrops would occasionally drip from the roofs of the buildings.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa!

A short cold wind was all it took for the rain over the town to intensify. It went from a slight drizzle to a powerful soaking shower. With the increasing rain, the darkness fully descended onto Milele town. However, Mwana’s next action did not match the weather as he proceeded to take off his heavy coat.

“I cannot have you getting damaged now, can I?” Mwana said as if he was speaking to the coat before continuing, “Come! Take it to the inn. I’ll be there in a minute.” It was as if he was talking to empty air but the next moment, something leaped out of the darkness, bit onto the coat, and raced away. Most of the thugs on the street did not even see what it was.

“Don’t panic guys, it is just my dog. Anyway where were we?” With a little reassurance to ease his opponents’ nerves, Mwana reached to his waist pulling out a yellowish white rope. Even as he wrapped this rope around his right arm, none of the gang members interfered. Whether it was respect for a fellow martial artist or plain fear, who could tell?

Mwana’s current garb was basically a short black skirt with three-quarter pants underneath that reached slightly below his knee. These pants had traditional Jemedari tribal patterns drawn in black and white lines. As for his upper body, he only had a strip of black and red wrapped multiple times around his stomach and chest like bandages. As a result, most of his upper chest and arms were exposed to the rain.

Further, Mwana was also carrying a white weapon-holding sack and a gold green half-spherical object that looked like a shield attached to his back. The half sphere-like object was obviously the tortoise Kobe Mweusi – his aunt Jumatatu’s spiritual pet.

Once he was done wrapping the rope cloth around his arm, Mwana took on his stance: left arm outstretched with an open palm, right arm pulled back for a punch, one foot forward and one back. It was time to end this.

“Whoooooooo! Whoooooo! Whooooooo!” Even in the heavy rain, sounds of heavy breathing filled the street. Then everything exploded!

Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

With loud powerful cries that shook the roofs of adjacent buildings, up to six men pounced on Mwana with a shocking momentum. In response, Mwana’s body was again in the air throwing his most powerful kick yet and sweeping across his opponents; an Iron Breaker 540 degree turning kick carrying with it all of the physical power accumulated in Mwana’s body! When his kick landed on one of the opponents, Mwana did not hesitate and launched a follow-up spear punch. In Dambe martial arts, the wrapped up arm was always the spear used to attack while the open palm left arm was the shield. The first opponent that received this combo attack naturally stood no chance. His ribs cracked and his skull was immediately fractured! Mwana’s feet had not even touched the ground and one man was down.

Not wasting that momentum, the moment Mwana landed back on the ground he transitioned into another kick. With one leg tucked, this time it was the Iron Breaker variant of a spinning hook kick. The key to chaining such attacks one after another was Mwana’s natural flexibility which was enhanced even further once a warrior reached the Bone Forging stage.

However, this time the opponent Mwana targeted was able to narrowly dodge the kick and the attacks that followed by rolling on the ground. Although his clothes were dirtied by the accumulating mud, he did not care one bit. ‘I cannot take his attacks head on but with my speed, I can rely on the others as shields and use hit and run tactics on the brat.’ With this thought, the man pulled out 4 knives from under his cloak. Holding two knives in each arm, he was throwing the knives and spinning them rapidly like some sort of carnival performance.

This man was Code S, the Skylark and he was naturally a knife-master as well as an expert in high speed combat. As he had already been injured in Mwana’s first clash against the gang members, he did not dare get close and only attacked from afar with his spinning flying knives – the Sky Blades. Each of these knives looked like a 4-bladed boomerang or a Goleyo. With the addition of these attacks, Mwana was pressured to the wall. Since he had to dodge and defend against the attacks of 5 men, he barely had any space to make his own attacks and counters. Apart from Code S who terrorized Mwana from a distance with his boomerang-like knives, Mwana was also facing 4 other members of the Codes (Alphabet Codes) Squad: Code E – the Egalitarian, Code P – the Phantom, Code F – the Forlorn Knight, and Code I – the Iron.

Each of Mwana’s attackers was a formidable opponent that could challenge Mwana in a one on one fight let alone as a group.

‘On top of that, I have to deal with the attacks of that flying knife guy that always come from my blind spot! It is only because of my Awareness ability that I can even react and even then, it is only at the last minute. I need an opening!’

However, as Mwana was internally strategizing while trying to parry and circle around his opponents, a terrifying aura approached him from his side. It was an open palm attack followed by a punch that Mwana almost could not dodge.

“Close! Too close!” While jumping back, Mwana was surprised to see that the attacker was one of the men he had been manhandling.

“It seems like you finally decided to get serious, huh?” As Mwana guessed, this man had been holding back his true strength the entire time. ‘It seems not only protagonists can do that.’ It was completely out of Mwana’s expectations. This man was Code P, the Phantom. While the man was still dressed in the black gang uniform, the fight had torn off the upper part of the cloak and taken off his hood revealing his head and part of his torso underneath. ‘Bandages? Like a mummy?’From what Mwana could tell, this man’s entire body was wrapped in white bandages like a mummy.  

“My fists only bring death. Prepare yourself!” The Phantom’s voice was low and hoarse to the point that it merged with the sound of the rain.

The next moment, he launched himself towards Mwana timing his attack with Skylark’s sky blade. It was a two-pronged attack.

“Death Strike!”

Mwana instantly recognized the move. It was a deadly martial arts punch that created air pockets in the opponent's blood sometimes leading to heart attacks. Along with the Internal Destruction Punch, One Touch Kill, and the Vacuum Palm, the Death Strike was one of the most fatal basic martial arts techniques. Like the rest, it was a fist art that did not require any special energy in order to use, it was pure skill. As a result, the Phantom could use it even under the effects of the town’s Normalization Magic Formation.

4 punches! Although Mwana only saw 2 blows approach him, the Phantom had actually thrown 4 punches all at virtually the same time. If not for his special awareness, Mwana would not have been able to dodge the 2nd set of punches at all.

‘Fighting this man is like fighting an opponent with multiple arms!’

It was only thanks to his heightened senses that Mwana managed to dodge the invisible punches: Phantom Hands. All 4 attacks as well as the knife passed above Mwana's head as he ducked low to dodge before responding with a strong uppercut to the charging Phantom who had entered Mwana’s range. While this punch was not strong enough to break bones, it still managed to rock his opponent’s head.

“Let's see who will be the last man standing.” Mwana did not give the opponent a moment’s rest as he dived under the Forlorn Knight’s blade and skipped over the Iron’s charge to pursue the disoriented Phantom who was retreating. When he caught up to him, Mwana immediately unleashed 5 swift and deadly butterfly punches that pinned the Phantom to the wall behind him. He was done!

Before Mwana could turn his back, two swift sky blades approached him from behind.

“Got you brat! Your sacrifice will not be in vain Phantom Ha…” Skylark was just celebrating hitting the mark when he saw Mwana spin and grab one knife while kicking the other so far into the sky that it disappeared into the night.

However, while he defended against the knife attack, Mwana did not have time to rest as another opponent was already on his neck. With a swift defensive check kick, Mwana was able to keep this opponent away.

“Why am I getting further away from him?” Code E, the Egalitarian wondered when he noticed the distance between him and Mwana widen in an almost slow motion view.

Mwana’s kick had been so fast that the charging Egalitarian only noticed the distance increasing between him and Mwana before coming to a realization that it was a kick that had caused him to slide back. However, unlike the other men who had received kicks from Mwana, this man was not injured in the slightest. It was not because he had bones of steel or iron like skin, rather, this man’s core martial arts was the [Law of Equals] which was more like a school of thought rather than a pure martial art. The [Law of Equals] was a way for a fighter to exercise maximum freedom in combat without interfering with others, an ultimate defensive form that scratched the boundary of law!

Author Note: Been busy with work, hopefully I have more time to write this weekend.