Chapter 6 - Fall Out

"Hey loser, your time is up." A mocking voice said in the distance as it approaches Randy.

"Who are you? And who sent you?" Randy asked as he was already used to people meeting him along the way home and suddenly attacking him, because thy had been commissioned by someone to do it.

"That does not matter. All you need to know is that you pissed off someone that you shouldn't." The figure said as it approached Randy. Randy was surprised to find out the identity of the figure. It was one of the students that was with Jeremiah Zhang just now.

'Did Jeremiah Zhang send him. Well, it's not like it is the first time… But today is indeed a bad day… I decided to go all out with training. And now, my body is worn-out, and they chose to attack me today?' Randy's face began to pale as he thought about the beatings he would receive along with his already battered body. But before Randy could react, there was a sudden sound in the wind.

"Whoosh!"

Randy could clearly see the figure approach him, but he could not evade due to his body being battered and tired. At first, he wanted to avoid any beat down today as he was afraid that anymore damage to his body would be detrimental but alas, that was only a pipe dream since he could not move the way he wanted with his current body.

"Bam!" A dull sound was heard as Randy felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. The figure struck the back of his head, and he could feel his consciousness slowly fading, but he resisted the urge.

"What the fuck! What is your body made up of? Why can't you just fall unconscious with one hit." The owner of the voice was annoyed by Randy's resistance, but then a moment later, he spoke with a sinister gin on his face, " I guess I will have to hit you a few more times then."

"BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!"

Four consecutive punches rain in on the back of Randy's head and this time, he could feel his consciousness fading away helplessly, despite him resisting. He was already too tired and now this sudden attack on him was just too much for his current self to handle. It was a miracle that he still maintained his consciousness throughout the five strikes from someone with an ability.

"Fucking bastard! Why do you make do extra work?!" Said the student as he bends down to carry Randy's unconscious body. He clearly annoyed by Randy's resistance which made him work harder to hit him. He had to increase his strength just to knock him out.

"Fuck! He is too heavy! I need to enhance my body with ability! Phew… Now that is better! Now time to have some fun, Hehe. You can't blame me for this; I was only doing my job." Said the male student with a wide grin on his face as he carried Randy's unconscious body to an unknown location.

…

Inside an abandoned building.

Jeremiah Zhang was sitting on a comfortable couch in this abandoned building. This place used to be a factory of sorts and during one rift outbreak, the whole building was decimated after the rift got taken care of. Since then, the workers that survive decided to quit their jobs and so, the building was left ownerless. Jeremiah and his goons come here every often to deal with people who do not fall in line. At this time, he had two figures sitting next to him. He had brought in these two girls with him just for today's event— one on each arm as they fed him fruits.

"Jeremiah, what did you call us for today? You don't plan on doing 'that' again, right?" One of the girls suddenly said.

Jeremiah smiled and said, "So what if 'that' is what I am about to do?"

"You really have a weird taste. Anyway, this is the last time I am doing something like this."

"Haha… Don't worry, I promise you that this would be your last time." Jeremiah smiled and said to the girl on his right.

The girl on the left suddenly chimed in, "What are you saying? Haven't we been doing this all this time? Why do you suddenly change your mind?"

"…" The girl on the right was silence for a while before speaking, "I just don't want to do this again."

"I keep having nightmares every time we finish…" She said the last part in a low voice almost whispering.

Jeremiah did not hear this as his attention was elsewhere. He could see a figure being carried into the building. There was a wide grin on his before at this moment, then he stood up and spoke to the two girls.

"It is time to work!"

The girls turned and when they saw an individual being carried in. They finally realized that their free time is over and its finally time to do their jobs.

…

"Splash!"

"Is he still not waking up after being splashed with such icy cold water?" Jeremiah asked one of the male students who was carrying a bucket that had been emptied of its water.

"As you can see, he has been out cold." Said the male student.

Jeremiah turned and squinted his eyes at the other student, and then he asked, "Hey John, what did you do?"

The student called John gave an awkward smile while scratching the back of his head and then he spoke, "Well, he did not get knocked out from my first hit, so I had to hit him a couple more times."

Jeremiah gave him a disappointed look before saying, "What? You can't even throw a punch? What is the use of your ability then?"

"It was not me; it was this guy. He had a strong tenacity and he kept resisting my punches." John said trying to explain himself.

"Tsk. He really does live up to his status as the strongest normal human. Even without an ability or energy he is still so strong." Jeremiah expressed his admiration for Randy in a mocking tone.

And then he continued, "But that does not matter. Today, he would know not to mess with me."

After a moment of silence, Jeremiah spoke again, "Just hit him in the solar plexus, I doubt he would not wake then."

"Alright." Said the male student called John as he channeled strength into his right hand, and he aimed just above the stomach where the solar plexus was located.

"Bam!"

"Oof!"

Randy let out a muffed groan as he felt an intense pain on his body as if he had been hit by an iron bar, the pain was so excruciating enough to startle him awake from his unconscious state.

When he did, he was met with a group of people standing above him. And one of them spoke.

"You are finally awake." Jeremiah said in calm tone.

"J-Jeremiah… What do you want?" Randy asked despite knowing the reason himself. It was obvious that he came after him because of Emilia.

Jeremiah gave a cold smile before saying, "You are asking cause you don't know or are you playing dumb?"

"…" Randy maintained his silence. He was right, he already knew so there was no need to for him to play dumb.

"Since you are not saying anything then, I can only I assume that you know why I am about to do, what I am about to do to you, right?" Jeremiah gave him a sinister grin before continuing, "After all, if you don't know why you are being tortured, it won't be fun, Hahaha!!!"

The cold smile from Jeremiah sent chills to run down the spines of the girls who came to help Jeremiah today. Even the guys who were already used to this, still could not help but shudder when they saw that hysterical smile on Jeremiah's face.

'This guy really is a lunatic!' They all thought upon looking at him.

Randy had a pale face right at this moment. He did not know what they were about to do to him, but judging from the expression made by Jeremiah's goons, it was definitely not somethings that he can handle with his current body, and so, he hurriedly spoke.

"Jeremiah, why do you keep bullying me? If you like Emilia, then why don't you pursue her like everyone else. Why do you take your frustrations out on me. I also have my frustrations too—"

"So what!" Jeremiah interrupted his little speech as he, for the first dashed out himself and landed a punch on Randy's face.

"Bam!"

"Argh!" Randy let out a groan upon the sudden attack.

"Fuck! How is his face so firm. What is his body made of?" Jeremiah said as he could feel his right-hand trembling from the impact just now.. He was a mage type with all his ability's power based on spell attacks, so him suddenly physically attacking someone was something that he had never done before until now.