Seeing that Steve was beating a retreat with his tail between his legs, the group burst into cruel laughter. They high-fived, feeling great.
However, their victory quickly lost its appeal.
Like sharks attracted by a trail of fresh blood, the attention of the five boys shifted, inevitably and magnetically, toward the other camp.
More specifically, toward Jennifer.
Under the golden light of the midday sun, Jennifer's figure was impossible to ignore.
Her tight shirt outlined curves that seemed to defy physics, and her dark hair fell over her shoulders in perfect waves.
For a group of teenagers loaded with testosterone, alcohol, and bad decisions, she was not a person; she was a dazzling trophy.
A palpable greed lit up in their eyes.
"Damn, Brett..." whistled Cooper, another blond boy, nudging his leader, "Look at that girl. She's... incredible."
"Much better than the farm girls we saw in town last week."
Brett, who was finishing his beer, turned and his eyes slowly roamed over Jennifer's body, licking his lips without the slightest attempt to hide his desire.
Then, his gaze passed over Lief as if he were transparent, quickly dismissing him.
He tossed the bottle and adjusted his pants.
"Watch and learn."
He walked toward them arrogantly and, deliberately ignoring Lief, who was sitting calmly on the tablecloth, he planted himself directly in front of Jennifer, invading her space.
"Hey, beautiful" he said, flashing a smile he considered charming, "What is a girl like you doing in such a boring place? The scenery isn't bad, but I think you could have a lot more fun with us. We have bikes, music... and better company."
While he spoke, he moved his hand with the clear intention of caressing a lock of hair falling over Jennifer's face.
Jennifer's eyes darkened instantly, losing any trace of human warmth.
Her pupils dilated vertically for a fraction of a second and a dangerous vibration began to hum in the air around her.
She was about to rip his hand off, however, before the succubus could reveal her nature, the air shifted.
Swish
A hand emerged from out of nowhere, intercepting Brett's wrist mere inches from Jennifer's face.
It was Lief.
No one had seen him get up. He was simply there, standing, blocking Brett's view of Jennifer.
He didn't even look Brett in the eyes, he was looking at his hand.
"Get your dirty hands off."
At the same time, he closed his fingers.
The pressure was instant and brutal, the bones in Brett's wrist cracked.
Brett's arrogant smile froze and then broke into a grimace of sharp pain.
"AAaah!"
He tried to pull his arm away, tried to break free, but it was useless. The hand holding him was immovable and panic replaced arrogance in a split second.
"W-Who the fuck do you think you are!?" he screamed, his face red with shame and stinging pain, "Let me go, you damn imbecile!"
Humiliated and furious, he reacted with violence. He clenched his free hand into a fist and threw a direct punch toward Lief's face.
But Lief didn't bother to block.
In a fluid movement, he sharply yanked Brett's trapped wrist, throwing him off balance forward, and simultaneously lifted his right leg.
It was a front kick.
The sole of his boot sank deep into Brett's solar plexus.
Boom
It was a dry and nauseating sound, like hitting a punching bag with a baseball bat.
"Gahh…!"
Swish
The air left Brett's lungs violently, as he shot backward as if he had been rammed by a truck at full speed.
He flew… Literally.
He crossed a distance of seven or eight meters in the air before landing heavily against a tree.
"..."
Silence fell.
Brett was left with bulging eyes and his mouth open like a fish out of water, desperately trying to inhale air that his collapsed lungs refused to accept.
His face, formerly arrogant, was now a pale mask of agony and absolute disbelief.
Everything happened as fast as a lightning bolt striking.
For a second, the world froze. Brett's friends didn't immediately process that their leader had just been thrown through the air like a trash bag.
Steve and Jenny had their mouths open in a perfect "O" of disbelief.
They couldn't reconcile the image of the refined and calm young man drinking champagne with the machine of violence that had just manifested.
"BRETT!"
The disbelief of the remaining five instantly transformed into rage. Two of them, the closest ones, reached their hands to their belts and the metallic sound of blades unfolding cut the air.
They were switchblades.
Upon seeing the glint of the metal, Lief didn't back down.
He simply relaxed his shoulders and lightly shook his right wrist, like a pianist warming up before a concert.
Instead of adopting a defensive stance, he took a step forward, closing the distance and walking directly toward them.
The first attacker, a boy named Ricky, lunged at him with a scream, throwing a horizontal slash at Lief's chest.
But he didn't even blink and with a minimalist movement, he rotated his torso a few inches to the left, letting the knife blade pass by and before the boy could recover his balance from the inertia of the failed cut, Lief raised his right arm, bent, and unloaded the point of his elbow directly into his jaw.
Crack
The sound was crisp: the snap of the jaw dislocating.
The boy's eyes rolled back instantly, his brain disconnecting, and he collapsed as if his wires had been cut.
The second armed boy, who was coming right behind, stopped dead in his tracks.
His eyes went from the inert body of his friend to Lief, and fear replaced anger.
He hesitated, with his hand trembling.
But in a fight, hesitation is a mistake.
Lief advanced with a long stride and before the boy could raise his guard, Lief threw his right hand, with fingers extended and tense, in a "knife hand" strike aimed at the radial nerve of the wrist.
!
The impact was so precise that the boy's hand opened involuntarily and the knife fell to the ground.
Without losing momentum, Lief pivoted on his support foot and fired a low kick, aiming at the knee joint.
The sole of his boot connected squarely with the kneecap.
Clack
There was a dry crunch of ligaments tearing and bone giving way in the wrong direction.
"AHHHH!"
The boy let out an agonized scream, collapsing onto the ground while clutching his shattered leg, rolling into a fetal position.
The efficient brutality of the counterattack, which had lasted less than three seconds, broke the psyche of the three remaining teenagers.
The concept of "fight" evaporated from their brains, leaving only "flight".
They screamed, turned around and started running toward the forest, tripping over their own feet in their desperation to get away from that demon.
"Why are you leaving so soon?"
An invisible pulse of energy emanated from Lief, extending like a tripwire at the height of the fugitives' ankles.
Thud Thud Thud
The three boys, in full sprint, felt their feet hit something. They lost their balance simultaneously and crashed face-first against the hard and root-filled ground.
The sound of their noses breaking resonated in the place. They stayed there, moaning, too stunned and in pain to get up immediately.
But it wasn't over.
The Rottweiler, loyal to its fallen owner, decided to come into play. Baring its teeth, the forty-kilo dog lunged toward Lief, with the clear intention of ripping out his throat.
But Lief didn't even adopt a combat stance, he just furrowed his brow with impatience.
"Get lost" he ordered, releasing a fraction of his spiritual pressure.
!
The Rottweiler stopped dead in its tracks, lowered its ears, tucked its tail between its legs and, peeing itself from fear, turned around and fled shooting toward the thicket of the forest.
"Sigh…"
He exhaled softly, Lief adjusted his jacket and walked calmly to where Brett was lying.
The leader was coughing, clutching his abdomen where the kick had mashed his organs.
Lief stood over him, looking down at him with empty eyes.
"Listen to me well" he said with an icy tone, "Pick up your trash. Get your friends on the bikes. And disappear from my sight."
He knelt down and his eyes piercing the boy's soul.
"If I see your faces around here again, or if you bother anyone else today... next time I won't be satisfied with breaking a few bones. Face the consequences."
"..."
Brett, with his face pale and covered in sweat, looked up. In his eyes there was no longer arrogance, only a toxic mixture of impotent hatred and absolute terror.
With an agonizing effort, and helped by the three who had tripped and who were now limping back, they managed to lift their unconscious or injured friends.
They got on the bikes and fled Eden Lake in a pitiful state.
When the last roar of the bikes faded into the distance, the silence returned, but the atmosphere had changed irrevocably.
Steve and Jenny approached with hesitation, casting nervous glances toward the forest in case the gang returned, but their eyes returned again and again to Lief.
Disbelief was still painted on their faces.
"Buddy..." started Steve, running a hand through his hair, "I... God, I don't know what to say. That was... you really taught them a lesson. Thank you. If you hadn't intervened..."
"It was nothing" Lief replied with indifference.
He shook his hand and sat back down on the tablecloth as if nothing had happened. For him, having broken bones of some juvenile delinquents was no more stressful than tying his shoes.
Jennifer, who had been observing everything with possessive pride, slid to his side. She took the knife, cut a piece of steak and pierced it with the fork.
With a smile dripping with adoration, she brought the meat to Lief's mouth.
"Open up, honey" she purred, completely ignoring the couple of spectators, "You are so jealous when you set your mind to it~~..."
Lief chewed, then looked at Steve and Jenny, who remained standing uncomfortably, not knowing whether to leave or stay.
"Hey" he said pointing at the banquet with a broad gesture, "Why don't you join? We have enough food to feed a regiment and it would be a crime to waste it."
"..."
Steve and Jenny exchanged a look of doubt.
"Are you sure?" asked Jenny timidly, "We don't want to disturb your date."
"Not at all. Sit down" insisted Lief, pouring two more glasses of champagne.
Finally, they accepted. And when they tasted the first mouthful of the food provided by the system, their eyes opened wide.
It wasn't camping food, it was five-star gastronomy. The contrast with their smashed ham sandwiches was so absurd that they ended up laughing, and the tension dissipated little by little.
The afternoon gave way to twilight, and twilight to the pitch-black night.
The sky over Eden Lake became a black canvas splashed with millions of bright stars.
They lit a bonfire, and the dancing flames created a circle of warm light, keeping the darkness of the forest at bay.
The atmosphere became harmonious…
...
But beyond the circle of light, reality was much uglier.
Deep in the forest, hidden by the undergrowth and the darkness, Brett and what remained of his group watched the glow of the bonfire like wounded wolves.
Brett's face was a mask of deformed hate, he held his bruised abdomen with one arm, while with the other hand he tore pieces of bark from a tree.
His friends were silent, scared and ashamed, but feeding on his rage.
"They are dead..." hissed Brett, spitting saliva on the ground, "He thinks he's so tough... he thinks he can humiliate me and then sit down to eat as if nothing happened... They are all dead."
They didn't dare to attack directly while that guy was awake, so they waited.
Toward midnight, when the conversation on the shore died down and the last embers of the bonfire were reduced to a faint glow, silence took over the camp. Lief and Jennifer had retired to their luxury tent, and Steve and Jenny were sleeping in theirs.
It was then that the shadows moved.
Taking advantage of the noise of the wind in the treetops, three figures slipped out of the thicket and stole everything they could from the couple.
________
Time: If you're craving more (and I know you are!), I have just what you need. On my Patreon, you'll find exclusive chapters. Join our community and be the first to discover what happens next!
👉 [patreon.com/Athome790]
Your support fuels me. Thank you for the support! 💖