Chapter 93: Three Days of Happiness (4)

Jin and Ashton—back against back—stood next to each other, and, far more intense, amidst an atrocious slew of corpses. These forever inanimate bodies spanned across the road's area to its entirety. Charnel stenches—wafting perpetually—flooded the air.

Not even afar, was an unfinished biker. He laid upon the floor; a green dagger sticking from his chest. He gagged on his own blood. He had never—in his entire life—met teenage boys with this level of competence when it came to a fight. At least his light was put out by someone powerful.

Jin looked around. He wasn't looking at the myriad of corpses. His eyes stopped at a figure who leaned against a light pole. The figure looked like an identical twin of his. His hands were jammed in his pockets. His presence was ominous. The figure noticed Jin looking at him, and took his hands out of his pockets. Finally, he started to clap, smirking.

Jin took note of Ashton's obliviousness: being unable to perceive anything related to this figure. He hadn't seen him, nor heard the clapping. The weird thing was that he seemed all too palpable for Jin.

Jin shifted his attention to Ashton again. He looked at him, rebuilding his smile. "That was fun."

Ashton had been panting. He caught his breath, and said, "I thought you weren't gonna kill the boss yet." A wry displayed on his face. He held a bat to his side.

Ashton had retained real interest in this battle. He wanted to fight for longer. He wanted to smash heads again. Enthusiasm. After all, it was, haphazardly, his very first time.

Jin had heeded Ashton's alacrity. It wasn't something he was used to seeing at all. Ashton was rarely ever zealous for anything that ensued risks. Who was this impostor? Jin sighed. "I ran out of energy. I've used up everything I've got. We couldn't win the fight without any juice left; so I ended it here. Teleportation is an easy thing to pull off. But I came to notice that it isn't energy efficient by any means."

Suddenly Jin's dagger that lingered in his last target's chest had suddenly vanished without Jin giving the mental orders. Jin noticed, and had decided to point it out. "Take that for example. I don't even have enough energy to keep my dagger existing."

Ashton heaved in disappointment. He straightened his back. "Oh fine … just when I was beginning to understand the ecstasy that is brought by winning a one sided battle."

"I fight many of those," Jin added.

"Ohh!" Ashton perked up. "Then maybe I can tag along with you. I've been wanting to get some exercise recently, but I was too scared of sores and cramps. Looks like fighting doesn't cause too many of these.

"Maybe I can be your partner. We can be another Batman and Robbin."

A screen appeared in Jin's field of view. He had temporarily disabled screen pop ups so that he didn't get blinded while changing positions in space. He figured that it threw off his precision.

[One of your active skills strengthens]

[+2 Exp]

Before he took a look at the screen, he knew exactly when he was going to see. Provided that Ashton and Sylvia were under his spell, he kept getting experience points every time they believed their delusions further.

Jin looked away. "I'm no hero," he said. "Non-heroes don't require sidekicks."

Ashton deflated. "Why not? Why not be a hero with all that power you've got?"

"It's personal."

Ashton slung his bat—which was swathed in blood—over his shoulder. "You know what else is personal? This baby on my shoulder. It's totally a keeper."

"I suppose you can keep it," Jin said. "I've never met a swinger like you in my whole life. Y'know, I used a similar bat in the past to take down a couple of street guys. Yet I never came close to your level. Keep it. It's not like it belongs to someone now anyway."

Ashton scrutinized the metal weapon with zealous eyes. The metal bat, swathed in blood smelt foul, and forever remained tainted. This corrupted weapon was to be Ashton's new prized possession. A tool. Power at his disposal. Holding the heavy weapon, he couldn't incarcerate his smile for more than a second.

"Thanks for the gift, Jin," he said, softly. " I appreciate it."

"No problem. Like I said, it doesn't have an owner anymore. It's all yours."

Suddenly, Jin and Ashton started to hear loud sirens emanating from higher up the roads. Not many cars came to this private road. Jin felt tensed in the body. "Shit! It's the cops. And I'm out of energy."

Ashton furrowed his brows. "Then we start swinging," he slung his bat over his shoulder.

"No," Jin said, quailing. "We'll loose. The cops are high ranked magic users. We have to get outta here."

"Fine. But if they catch us, we have proof that we only slaughtered these clones in our defense," Ashton ran past Jin.

Jin started to run. "It doesn't work like that. We've committed too much treason. The cops don't care at all. Not these power hungry cops."

Jin and Ashton continued to run. The police sirens were getting louder. After running for about a minute; Jin had stumbled across a woman eating a hotdog. He rammed into the woman, and grabbed her hotdog.

"Ah come on!" The woman cried.

Jin continued to run. Ashton was a bit behind. But he eventually caught up. He fell in beside Jin. "I hope you did that to the poor woman for a reason. Actually, I know it's for a good reason already. So never mind that."

[One of your active skills strengthens]

[+2 Exp]

"I can assure you that it's for a good reason," Jin replied, shifting weight from foot to foot as he ran at a moderate pace.

[Exp: 58/60 | Level 8]

Jin looked over his shoulder, only to see the police cars in the distance. "Ashton, we're running straight for the bushes. We can't keep running down this straight road, we'll get caught. Also, you might have to loose the bat—it's slowing you down."

"I'll run for the bushes," Ashton went straight for the bushes in the distance, "but I'm not loosing the bat!"

Suddenly, a tall, broad figure appeared in front of Ashton. Ashton stopped on his feet, skating haltingly. Jin pushed the hotdog down his throat and rushed in front of Ashton. He remained in front of Ashton; protecting him from the ominous monster in their presence.

The freakishly tall figure was a green Orc. He was incredibly tall—not much shorter than a Titan. Additionally, a possessed huge broad shoulders. His chin was hard, well arched, and long. His hair was white, and touched his shoulders. His build was muscular. He stood menacingly in black police uniform.

"Well I'll be damned," he said. "If it ain't another man with teleportation. I've been searching for a worthy adversary for a long, long time." his tone was ominous yet chic Italian accent.

Judging by the officer's words, he himself possessed teleportation. However, Jin didn't have enough energy to teleport himself. Much less fight. Raw strength would most certainly not be enough. He was beyond useless in the likes of a magic user without any power.

The officer grinned. "It looks like you can't teleport anymore. Or else, I'm very sure you would have long ago. I suppose you did teleport exactly two hundred and sixteen times.

"When I saw the street cams, I could not believe my eyes, hot young one. It's a pity you're out of it. But here's a proposal," he leaned it, "There are some police cars coming here in a few seconds. You're going to be inevitably arrested. They don't give a care about 'self-defense'. Once you're behind bars, I'll," he smirked, "pull some strings. I'll bust you out myself."

Jin furrowed his brows. "Ohh yeah? Now why'd you do that? There must be some cost."

"Ohh," he glared, "of course there is. Becoming a police officer only requires so little academic performance in this continent. But do not mistake me for a fool, hot young one.

"When you are free. You will have to fight me—with your teleportation—for your continued freedom. Do I, Alessandro, make myself clear?"

Jin furrowed his brows. "Fine. I accept your challenge."

"Mhm," uttered Officer Alessandro. When suddenly, he disappeared, and reappeared.

Puzzled, Jin looked around. But to no avail. He saw no reason as to why Alessandro would want to teleport, and return to the precise spot so quickly. But … however, unbeknownst to Jin, there was but a rather clear reason.

Police cars filled the road. The officers so desperate that they had drove over the plethora of corpses in the road all to arrest these two teenage monsters. They mashed their breaks. Quickly, all of the officers opened their doors, and kept them opened. And finally, they drew their guns.

"Drop your weapons, and put your hands where I can see 'em!"

Ashton frowned. "What about my bat?"

Jin raised his hands. "Do as they say," he glimpsed back at Ashton, "we'll get your bat back …"