The leader ran toward Olive with great speed, which surprised him slightly.
Olive was caught off guard by the conversation they had earlier, and as a result, he had to pay the consequences. It was certainly frustrating to be in this kind of situation, but Olive kept himself calm...
After all, being nervous would mostly do him more harm than good, so Olive kept himself calm.
His heart started to beat calmer, his gaze, focused on his opponent.
When the leader arrived steps in front of him, he swung his fist toward Olive's head with a tyrannical strength. Compared to an average human, the leader's strength was astounding.
Giving Olive more reason to remain calm.
However, before it could strike Olive, he blocked it with his forearm, making him slide inches from where he was.
Olive hissed, enduring the aching pain...
He had managed to prevent the swing from hitting his head, but the aching sensation on his forearm was nevertheless, painful... although not as lethal as getting hit on the head, the punch still gave Olive a painful blow.
The leader was strong, and Olive needed to be careful, or else he would pay the price for being careless once again. So, he focused his gaze on the leader's movement, separating his thoughts from the world for a moment.
With that, Olive's mind grew sharper.
The leader then swung his fist toward Olive again and again, and each of his swings failed to meet Olive's body.
Clearly, the leader didn't want to give Olive any chance to make his assault. But he was not planning to anyway, instead, he dodged and jumped away from the leader, keeping himself away from getting struck.
...His movement was swift, it was instant, it was wary, but more importantly, it was observing.
Olive's eyes would follow the direction of the leader's fist attacking the air where he once was, observing the leader's every move.
He would also pay attention to a very small detail.
For example, Olive occasionally saw the leader's face turning red each time he failed to punch Olive. It was a bit amusing, really. When else would he find a person's face turning bright red when they are mad, after all?
And to be fair, he could use a little entertainment.
"Damn you! Stop dodging and just stay where you are!"
Olive amused himself with the sight of the leader's comical red face along with his frustration for a short while... then strangled it instantly afterward.
'I see it now.'
A sense of satisfaction washed over Olive each time the leader failed to deliver a strike toward him. It was not due to seeing failures in others that he was feeling the way he was; rather, it was because he was starting to understand his opponent's movements and intentions.
A shameless grin crept up on Olive's gorgeous face, making the leader frown as a result.
"What are you smiling for, brat?"
Deflecting another blow, Olive answered:
"Oh, nothing, I'm just starting to understand your fighting style."
The leader blinked, with a surprised expression on his face. But even that didn't stop him from trying to deliver a countless punch to Olive.
But there was a subtle difference. The leader's punch grew faster, it grew more tyrannical, and it grew more desperate as if it was trying to knock Olive out faster. The leader's face was also turning grim.
But to his avail, Olive dodged each of those strikes.
Olive felt puzzled...
Not because of the leader's sudden change of demeanour, but something entirely else.
'What the hell?! How is he the leader?!'
There was some flaw in the leader's fighting style... no, 'some' would be an understatement, rather, all of his style was full of flaws.
Because it was not a fighting style at all!
...None of it was!
The leader was just swinging his fist toward Olive without a proper stance. His punch was merely based on instinct and survival — not even a hint of martial arts was seen.
So why the hell were those other three strangers followed a guy like him?!
Olive found the two former strangers whom he had just fought, more challenging than the leader. Sure, they didn't possess any martial arts — but at least their coordination was exceptional.
The leader, however, didn't possess any martial arts and his coordination was simply flawed. His strength was tyrannical, true.
... But even that still didn't make up for his combat mastery!
"How did a guy like you manage to make those three follow you?! You're too weak!"
"Shut up!"
The leader swung his fist toward Olive furiously. And just like before, Olive dodged it once more...
The fist was closed to his face, too close. Olive felt the gust of wind that the fist brought, he could see the sweat on it from the exhaustion.
Soon, Olive abandoned all of his evade.
Leaning forward, Olive formed a fist, and without a second thought, he brought it straight toward the leader's abdomen.
Olive had bought all the time he needed to study his opponent's move. Now there was nothing to do but attack.
The leader yelped in pain and tried to grab Olive's arm, but Olive was faster and quickly pulled his arm away from the leader while taking a few steps behind, distancing himself from the leader.
The leader doesn't have a martial art, but his strength was nonetheless tyrannical compared to an average human. So if Olive finds himself in the grasp of the leader's hand, then he might be leaving the alleyway with a few bruises on his face.
Victory was on his side; he could feel it, but Olive was still calculating about his next movement and planned it carefully, or else he would find himself in the opposite situation instead...
Plus, he didn't want to leave bruises on his face.
How would he explain to Eddie and his father after all? Tell him that he fell on the sidewalk?
... And more importantly, how would he explain himself to Sarah?
Olive had once found himself in those kinds of situations. And one thing was certain, he did not want to experience it again.
Especially the latter.
"Why you?!"
The leader furiously leaped toward Olive, trying to tackle him down.
'What is he?'
Taking a step to the side, the leader flew next to Olive and fell on his face first.
Olive turned his gaze to the leader. His face was perplexed, and he was in disbelief.
"Wh–What the hell was that?! Are you an idiot?! What kind of idiot would try to tackle somebody with that kind of distance?! Wait don't answer that, I think I already know the answer."
In order for a person to perform a tackle, they would need to leap toward their enemy at a suitable distance.
Clearly, there was a considerable amount of distance between him and the leader, although not much, it was still not enough to reach him for a tackle. Even a newbie would know that fact.
"And here I thought you couldn't get any worse."
Immediately after saying that, the leader jumped upward and went for Olive. His brows were frowning, his eyes were wide open with a shrunken pupil, glaring at Olive with unexplainable fury.
If looked could kill, Olive would have dropped dead by now.
'What a hot–headed guy.'
What was it with Olive? Always finding himself surrounded by a hot–tempered guy? There was already the bully jock, he doesn't need another guy whose patience was as thin as a paper!
'Hopefully this guy doesn't stick around.'
Suddenly, Olive felt a chill run down his spine. His heart gripped with horror. Because he had just realized...
He had just jinxed himself!
'Damn it all!'
Shaking his head to brush off such thought, Olive focused his attention toward the leader once more, who had arrived in front of Olive and was about to kick him.
The leader sends his foot forward toward Olive's torso.
Normally, Olive would have evaded it without a problem, but the distance between them was simply too close... Left with no choice, Olive turned his torso intending to prevent the leader's foot from landing on his torso whole. Luckily, for him, it works.
... But even so, the foot still managed to find itself landed on Olive's side of the torso.
Without paying the aching sensation any attention, Olive hunched forward and sent his hand towards the leader's face, delivering a straight punch.
The leader staggered and took a couple of steps behind
A considerable amount of blood flowed from the leader's nostril. His nose was also bent slightly.
"Aaargh! Y–You bastard!"
"What?"
"Wh–What, you said? You broke my nose!"
Olive narrowed his eyes slightly, focusing his vision on the leader's nose. The leader's nose was indeed a little distorted.
But Olive just shrugged his shoulders.
"So? What's the big deal?"
The leader froze, his eyes twitched, he was stunned by Olive's nonchalant reply.
"What's the big deal?! Bastard! Who's gonna pay for the medical expen–"
Without giving the leader time to finish his word, Olive ran toward him.
... How the turntable.
Before Olive was startled by the leader's sudden attempt to attack him while he was trying to speak. Now, it was the opposite.
Groaning vaguely, the leader opened his defense.
Olive leaped upward and swung his feet toward the leader's chin from below.
Olive held his strength a little, he wanted to knock out his enemy, not kill them.
The leader tilted his head backward and avoided Olive's swift kick, barely.
Olive was on the air, and without any solid surface to step on, he was at a disadvantage. He has nowhere to leap off to, and no way to move.
...So, seizing the opportunity, the leader brought his formed fist toward Olive with his tyrannical speed.
***
The leader had never met someone whose strength was able to push him to his limit.
...until today.
For the first time in his life, he was actually nervous. Sure, he had felt nervous in various ways before, but not like this. This strange thing that he was feeling, was unlike anything he ever experienced...
It was new.
The kid, whom he had just thought to be an ordinary weakling — like all the people he met — turned out to be a strong individual.
This kind of feeling may be the first time he experienced it.
But one thing he was sure of was that he never wanted to experience it again.
The insolent brat held the ability to plant a seed of nervousness in his heart. That was why he will condemn it. By winning the fight, right here in this alley!
His fist was on its way to the insolent brat.
And before it could reach him, however, his fist was suddenly deflected by an object.
The leader was momentarily stunned.
What could have blocked his attack? As far as he knew, the brat's hand was in the air, thus preventing him from blocking any possible blow.
The leader looked at the mysterious object that had deflected his incoming strike.
And as it turns out, the object that had blocked him was the brat's knee.
The brat's hand was restricted from countering any attack while on the air — because his hand was too high to counter it –— but that doesn't mean he couldn't counter it with his lower body!
Landing on the ground, the insolent brat looked at the leader, mockingly.
"What? That dumb head of yours thought you could hit me?"
The leader groaned.
"Why you?! Come here!"
The leader rushed at full speed in the direction of the insolent brat and leashed out all of his attacks — from a punch to a kick.
But all of those attacks were easily dodged and countered by the insolent brat, who would, on occasion, delivered punches to the leader from time to time.
It was frustrating.
Not only because of how hard it is to knock out the cockroach–like brat, but also because the brat would never cease to mock him each failed strike.
"Come on, is this all you can do?"
Deflecting another blow, he added.
"Ah, how do I pity your friend. To get such a weakling for a leader. What was the saying? Like a sheep leading a herd of lions?"
The leader tried to punch the brat again, but it was quickly caught by his tiny hand, and at the same time, the brat punched the leader on his side.
The leader reeled and took a step back away from the brat.
Standing motionlessly while looking at the leader, the brat continued his mockery:
"Look at you. Say, I'm genuinely curious, how did you manage to get those three gentlemen to follow you? I mean, you're weak, inexperienced, careless, and a little bit... well, I'm not sure if I want to say this one out loud."
"You talk too much."
The brat chuckled.
"Do I? Well logically speaking, since you're not giving me much of a challenge anyway, I have all the time I need."
The leader was stumped. He frowned, causing shadows to cast on his face.
The alleyway was always covered in dark shadows that made those who were in it bathe in its impenetrable darkness... But somehow the shadows that had already been cast on the leader's face seem even darker than before.
This... this fact was new to him. No... he had always known, it was just that he refused the accept it.
But now... he was beginning to accept the reality on the verge of defeat.
Even then, he was still determined to knock the brat out.
Standing up, the leader walked toward the brat again... This time slowly.
The brat, in particular, still has his eyes locked on the leader, his eyes never seem to waver.
The brat sighed.
"I think I fought you guys long enough. My food is on its way."