In a hall on Fish Street, the smell of sweat hung in the air, creating a very competitive atmosphere.
Inside the hall, the sounds of shouting youths could be heard.
At this moment, two young men were sparring in the middle of the mat.
One of the youths, with curly hair and blue eyes, stood in a combat stance, very defensive, waiting for his opponent to make the first move.
On the other side, a large, heavy-set young man with short hair and black eyes positioned himself, placed his fists above his shoulders, flexed his heels, and lunged forward.
Pow!
He landed a punch on his opponent, forcing him to back away. The heavy-set man returned to his position, but with no time to spare as a punch came down on him, forcing him to raise his arms in defense.
Several punches rained down on the heavy-set man, but he endured. Seeing a gap in his opponent's strikes, he delivered a blow to the adversary's abdomen.
The young man's eyes widened. He fell, breathless, only to take a kick from the heavy-set man.
"Hahaha, Adonis, I'm still the master's best student!"
Adonis was on the ground. His fingers dug into the mat, trying to push his body up. His voice was just a hoarse whisper, interrupted by gasps.
"You... you fat... bas..." A fit of coughing doubled him over, "...tard."
"Okay, stop crying. The punch was weak."
Adonis rolled his eyes. Idiot fat guy, he's already at level one, he almost killed me.
"Alright, now that we're together, we can't show weakness to our subordinates. We have to build our reputation without depending only on the master."
Adonis sat up, feeling more relieved.
"Yes. It's good that we train more. Those guys in the Family are insane." Saying this, Adonis thought about how lucky he was to have been chosen to join the Gambeta Family. His only bad luck was being joined with this fat guy.
"Eh, but don't worry, you've got me, hehe," Caleb stuck his nose in the air while pointing to himself.
"Idiot."
"Hey, just imagine the possibilities. Until last week, we were fighting over three copper coins, and look at us now. We're all collecting money, and the guards aren't bothering us, hahah!"
Caleb sat down next to Adonis. "Damn it, man, it's about time we go after that kid Julian."
"That's the first sensible thing you've said in days," Adonis said with a neutral face, rubbing his bruised abdomen.
"Well, you organize the guys. I'm going to talk to the master."
"Who put you in charge, idiot?"
"Ah, let's just say the one giving the orders isn't the one lying on the floor, dying from a punch, hahah."
Adonis's face hardened, and he shot a nasty look at Caleb, who just laughed at him and got up.
"I'm going."
"Alright. I hope the master gives you a special training session."
Caleb shivered, thinking about his master's special training.
"Fuck you."
With that, they each went their separate ways.
Caleb left the hall, walking through the streets, looking at the people and the shops, grabbing snacks along the way.
Minutes later, he arrived at a gate, where he grabbed the knocker and hit it.
KNOCK!, KNOCK!
After a short wait, the gate opened, and a servant greeted him. Caleb advanced and positioned himself in front of a room.
Inside the room, an old man was sitting on the floor, sharpening a sword.
His rhythmic movements with the whetstone were almost hypnotic; sparks flew from his fingers.
Almost half an hour passed. Caleb stood silently at the door, not making the slightest sound.
The old man finished sharpening the sword. He stood up, walked to the center of the room where an ironwood tree stump was rooted.
The old man looked at the stump, held the blade, positioned his feet, leaned his body, holding the blade diagonally, and SWISH! The blade cut through the air, extremely fast, cutting the stump in half with extreme precision, leaving the stump leveled.
Caleb shivered. He knew his master was a very terrifying old man. Cutting a stump was extremely easy, but according to rumors, he had done it to ten men at the same time.
The old man looked at the stump and analyzed it, touching it, rubbing his hand back and forth.
"Hm, no deformities. I finally achieved a clean cut."
The old man turned and looked at his new disciple.
He analyzed him. Oh! It seems this fat guy has made progress. It seems it wasn't a bad idea to accept him.
"What do you want?"
"I greet you, Master." Caleb prostrated himself before the old man.
The old man smiled, revealing golden teeth.
"Alright, you can get up."
"So, Master, this disciple has something to tell you."
The old man nodded.
"Sir, Adonis and I are going to subdue other orphans for the Family."
Caleb looked at the old man and tried to gauge his reaction, but the old man just nodded.
"Master, the guy I'm bringing in is smart and will definitely be useful."
The old man spat on the floor. "Useful? Useful would be if you brought me a level five martial artist, that would be useful, you idiot."
Caleb flinched. "But, Master, he's definitely useful. There's no better thief among the orphans of Gloomspire City."
"Idiot, we don't need thieves, we need warriors. A war could break out at any moment, not to mention those damn elders who only know how to fight."
"My apologies, Master. This little one was unfortunate to bother you with trivial things."
The old man looked at Caleb and shook his head.
"You know what, fat guy, you are smart and talented. Go and get those other orphans under your command. It will be useful to have subordinates after you grow."
Caleb's face lit up.
"Yes, sir."
"Ah, and if they don't submit, kill some and leave them as a warning. It always works."
Caleb looked at his master. He had never killed, but he knew his fate was sealed after joining the Family.
"Yes, sir."
With that, Caleb prostrated himself again and left the hall.
...
Flames rose in the hall of Caleb's troupe.
"Fuck you, Julian, I'm going to kill you!" Adonis yelled.
Julian held a club, stained with blood, with several youths lying at his feet.
Adonis, possessed by rage, his spiritual energy at its maximum, almost leveling up to one, ran towards Julian, energy in his fist.
POW!!!
The punch hit something. Jonathan was holding the punch.
Sweat dripped from Jonathan's forehead. Holy shit! This guy is already almost a martial artist, Jonathan thought.
"Julian! I'll handle him. Take down the others!"
Damn it, this bastard's already giving orders, Julian thought.
"Alright, just don't die."
With that, Julian charged at the youths, swinging his club at them.
Carla next to him awkwardly swung her club, but each hit was a body on the ground.
Claude and Lucian fought fiercely against other youths who tried to approach Jonathan.
A youth with a club hit Julian from behind. Julian turned and hit the youth squarely on the head. Blood dripped from Julian's nose.
"Fuck, I'm going to kill you, you brat!" With that, Julian raised the club and brought it down on the youth who was already on the ground.
POW!!
A punch hit Julian in the stomach, throwing him yards away. He felt his ribs break.
Looking up, he saw Caleb. What the hell is it with these guys that they all became martial artists? Julian thought.
Caleb looked at the situation. His hall was collapsing from the fire, his subordinates were falling one after another, and Adonis was fighting Jonathan.
"Fuck, you bastards, I'm going to kill you one by one!" With that, Caleb focused on Julian on the ground and charged at him.
Damn it, come on, get up, body.
Julian writhed on the ground.
A club was thrown at Caleb, who punched the club, breaking it into several pieces. As his vision was briefly obscured, he only saw a kick hitting his face.
Claude hit Caleb. "Lucian, get the boss and take him away!" Claude said.
"Yes, let's go, boss!" Lucian grabbed Julian and dragged him out of the chaos. Carla protected the two of them; with each of her club swings, a youth passed out.
Caleb recovered, looked at Claude, and attacked him with a barrage of punches, up and down, up and down.
Claude tried to defend himself, but a martial artist's punch was literally a fracture with every hit.
Claude fell, bloody, to the ground. He looked at his boss, now away from the chaos.
Lucian looked back and saw Claude defeated. He left his boss on the ground and charged at Caleb.
"Carla, protect the boss!" he yelled.
"Y-y-yes, sir."
Jonathan delivered a series of punches to Adonis, who backed away, his defense already failing.
Adonis concentrated and, pow!
He landed a punch in Jonathan's opening, using the same situation that was used against him in his training with Caleb.
Jonathan backed up. It didn't hurt much, but he still felt it. He took a deep breath and charged again, but this time more ferociously.
Adonis, very injured, tried to counterattack, but it didn't work.
Jonathan grabbed Adonis's punch and unleashed a barrage of punches on Adonis's face. Adonis fell to the ground, and the punches didn't stop.
Adonis slowly lost his vision of the punches. Drowning in his own blood, Adonis tried to resist.
Pow! A kick threw Jonathan far away.
Caleb arrived and looked at Adonis on the ground.
"You can leave it to the boss now!" Caleb said and gave a thumbs up to the fallen Adonis.
Jonathan got up, looked at the scene. Holy shit, one almost-martial artist is already hard, now a level one? I'm screwed.
"Haha, it looks like the little girls had a meeting."
"Hey, are you shorter than usual, or is it just me? Hahaha."
Jonathan trembled with rage. "Haha, and you look fatter. I never understood how a beggar could be so fat."
Caleb fumed with anger.
With that, both of them ran at each other. Punches were exchanged, each taking hits to the face, abdomen.
Unrestrained punches and kicks were used.
Julian recovered, looked at the environment, full of fallen bodies around him and a panting Carla in front of him.
"Give me that club and rest."
Carla was surprised but quickly handed over the club and fell to the ground.
Julian looked and saw Claude, all battered, lying on the ground, and Lucian next to him, in even worse shape.
"Fuck!" Julian charged forward and yelled, "Retreat! Grab the injured and run to the hideout!"
With that, the youths next to Julian hurried.
Julian saw the battle between Jonathan and Caleb. Jonathan was losing.
Julian got closer, knocking anyone in his way down.
Caleb landed a punch on Jonathan's face, hitting him squarely.
Jonathan fell to his knees.
Several punches hit his face.
"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Caleb yelled, knocking the already defeated Jonathan down.
Pow! A club broke on Caleb's head.
Oh shit, I'm screwed, Julian thought.
Caleb stopped hitting Jonathan. He looked back and saw a trembling Julian.
"Now I'm going to kill you too, you fucking bastard!"
With that, he charged at Julian, who ran away.
"Don't run, you bitch!"
Caleb was already tired, but he still ran after Julian.
Julian, with a great effort, kicked a youth who was on the ground. The youth flew towards Caleb.
Caleb, surprised, punched the youth who was obscuring his vision.
Crack! Caleb felt something in his chest.
He looked down and saw, a pocketknife?
Julian stabbed Caleb in the chest, just a few millimeters from his heart.
Caleb was startled and screamed, "You bastard!"
Julian pulled the pocketknife out and stabbed Caleb again, who was stunned and trying to stop the bleeding.
Julian took advantage of the moment and ran to Jonathan, putting him on his shoulder and running.
...
So, at the end of the afternoon in Gloomspire, smoke rose from the old abandoned hall that had once been the hideout of Caleb and his troupe. Several youths could be seen lying in the rubble.
Caleb, on the ground, trembled, trying to stop the blood from his chest and his belly...
...
Julian arrived at the hideout, dropped Jonathan on the ground, and ran to see Lucian and Claude.
Both were injured, practically massacred in the battle.
Julian went over and looked at the two, checking their wrists. Ah, they're alive.
With that, Julian grabbed the herbs he had bought and pounded them in a pot.
"You, put this on their wounds."
A young man with purple eyes nodded and began the treatment.
Julian took some of the herbs and brought them to Jonathan.
Jonathan, almost dead, was still breathing. His eyes moved, looking at his surroundings. Hatred was visible in that look.
"Damn, man, we almost died," Julian said.
He received only silence.
He looked at Jonathan and thought, Maybe even talking is hard, haha.
With that, Julian passed herbs on Jonathan's wounds.