“Guh.” Cries of pain echoed throughout the park as dusk slowly turned to night.

The familiar scene happened once more, right in front of me. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that I would be the center of all the commotion.

“Bastard! We’ll kill you!” I hear the same words, every single time as if they were unable to think of anything else to say. Their mild insults in an attempt to break my composure, or to cause some kind of pain in me.

As for the ones that were downed by me…

“H-hii. Monster!”

They were crawling as they denied the occurrence that was happening right before their very eyes. 

It was only a few minutes ago when I was minding my own business. 

The sun was beginning to set, illuminating the town with a serene light. It was an easygoing sight, probably not one able to be seen in a large city.

After-school clubs had finished and students were sent on their way home. No detours were allowed. In Minamoto, there were superstitions of being spirited away during the night so the townspeople erred in staying in their houses once the sun sets.

But regardless of where you go, there will always be people who ignore such things. Which led me to my situation.

I, being part of the student disciplinary committee, was doing my job of patrolling the town to find students who have yet to go home until…

“Glenn Lionheart,” a man… no. I couldn’t really call him a man. He was more like a child since it seemed like he truly thought he was intimidating. Anyways, the child called me out, “Heard you took care of my boys.”

“Kukuku.” At the big man's words, a crowd of people came out from the trees and parked with their unkempt hair and weapons of choice while laughing.

I was surrounded and I wasn’t impressed. A small headache was coming, even.

“Don’t you guys ever give up?” I sighed, clearly showing my annoyance.

“I think I expected too much from people trying too hard to look big,” I muttered to myself but it seems like he heard it.

My nonchalance had clearly made the man angry as his face contorted enough to look like a deformed small-time devil. There seemed to be no more room for words.

“Charge him, boys! Hit him till he dies!”

The moment the leader of the group ordered his men, I immediately went for the first strike. Since I’m a single man against many, it’s painfully obvious that I would need to break out of the encirclement.

This can be easily done by targeting the weak link of the circle. The moment they came out from the trees, I observed their postures as they approached… They were all weak though, so I decided to target the most spacious gap in the circle.

It happened in only an instant as I stepped into mob A’s defenses and thrust a palm onto his chin, knocking him unconscious in a single blow without any severe injuries.

“W-what?!”

Gasps came from all around as they had no idea what had just happened. It didn't help that they weren't trained in any shape or form from what I could see.

Taking this chance, I break out of the encirclement while they were still confused about what just transpired. Eventually breaking out of his trance, the leader brought everyone’s attention back to me, but with what just happened a few seconds ago, there’s no way they wouldn’t hesitate.

“What are you waiting for?! Don’t hold back just because he got one of us. He’s only a single man. Get him!”

He barked his orders. It’s only right for me to reply in kind.

“That’s right. No need to hold back.” I prepared myself for an endurance fight and held up a fighting stance. Releasing my bloodthirst, going in with the full intent of leaving no man standing.

“Step forward if you want to die!”

Those closer to the front clearly felt the pressure but decided to start the charge out of fear anyways.

And so the "bloodbath" began. The remaining army of men all came at me like mindless pawns, rushing in without some sort of plan.

takeruu

There'll be a part 2 for this then return to part 2 of the previous chapter afterward. I think. Also, kudos if you noticed two references.

I'm slacking. But I'm not really sorry, probably. If I'm being honest, I'm more of a reader than a writer. I also like sharing scenarios but they don't mean anything if I don't back them up with character development and story progression. Hence, I'm trying my hand at writing.

Thanks for reading as always.