Chapter 80 - Defending

After a long minute of brawling, Mark had survived the enemy attack, but unfortunately, his other comrades died along the way.

'Protect Boss's family. It is what's important.' Roger bit his lips while enduring the pain of the wounds he got.

He would get the guns away from them, but Rini just intervened in his plan. Rini would always kick and punch him. Even with small retaliation, Mark still focused on getting the gun to minimize these group attacks.

But then, when he succeeded in taking away their guns and destroying them, it was already too late since his comrades had died and he was left with plenty of wounds.

'It was still worth it. I had bought much time, and others might have already secured a safe place for the boss's family. I should just stall for another minute for them to arrive and help me with these bastards.'

Rini glared at Mark. His eyes were filled with irritation towards him as Mark was still not down.

"I do get that you are strong. Even though it is amusing to feel that your attacks were strong, you still need to be down or we can't continue with our job." Rini said, with a flat tone.

Mark contained himself and slowly breathed as he assessed the situation one more time.

'I was already surrounded, and my other comrades were still on their way to support me. What should I do? I cannot hold them this long.'

Mark clenched his fist tightly and observed Rini's group's movement. But, his vision was starting to get blurry, making him disturbed along the way of his observation.

Fam!

Rini moved swiftly to Mark, with his group behind him ready to support him with their Skills. Mark could only remain firm as he waited for them to approach him. His hands were still in a ball, and just as they were about to hit him, he was pulled backward. He saw a human figure jumping onto a roof from his side, and just as he gazed at it carefully, he noticed that it was one of his comrades.

Rini's group was now away from Mark. They had stopped, noticing that Mark's reinforcement had arrived.

"..." Rini fell silent as he noticed Mark's side began to add up to more than ten. And just as his face became spiritless, his limbs started growing, which surprised them.

"What the hell..." All of them mumbled as they watched Rini become larger.

"Hey, Mark, are you okay?"

Clint gave Mark a worried look as he helped him regain his balance. Clint was one of Mark's comrades who was also a captain of a squad consisting of normal people. But, as this fight was between the Awakens, normal people were tasked with organizing orders that must be carried out immediately.

"Hey, Clint, can you at least help me put that guy down first?" Mark pointed to Rini, who looked like a forced-buffed guy. "He just got into my nerves."

Clint smirked. "Of course! There is no way that we are not putting all of them down. We got our training that honed our abilities. We can manage."

Even with how Clint was making the environment light, everyone was tense as they saw their other comrades dead. But, they didn't react aggressively to it as Roger had made them prepare for their comrade's death. And as their enemy group formed into a formation, they did as well.

"We have to put them down at all cost," Mark uttered, which made everyone shout their cries.

Mark led the group, clashing against the enemies. Their numbers were just equal, which gave them an advantage since they could focus on just one enemy. And just as this happened, even though Rini had transformed into a more severely built body, Mark still survived his attacks.

Baam! Baam!

Different ways of punching and kicking were traded in this brawl. Mark could finally hit Rini cleanly, but Rini was starting to get annoyed by Mark's tenacity. They had lost their weapons, and now, working with anything they could see would be the only applicable method to win.

"Why are your groups attacking the city? Who ordered you?" Mark asked as he was feeling the tension between Rini and him.

"Hmmm... Why would I tell that to a person? Dead or alive, I don't tell a shit. Oh, fuck!"

Rini's face became elated as he got another strong punch from Mark. The punch already had the highest amount of internal energy Mark could gather, but, looking at how Rini was enduring the agony, and even enjoying it, he couldn't help but be perplexed.

"Focus!" Mark exclaimed, then continued trading punches against Rini.

Baam!

Rini flew straight away from him as Mark made a clean hit on Rini's abdomen. And as Rini was taken aback, he could only close his eyes from the pain.

"This is the only time I hated pain..." Rini mumbled as his eyes turned into a glare.

Mark panted. He was exhausted by this fight. But, as his comrades started to take his side, he realized that their enemy was starting to lose this fight. With a stressed face, Mark looked around and saw that only Rini survived.

"You are the only one alive. Do you think you can stay alive after this?" Mark sneered at his pants.

Rini's eyes became blank but dark. He didn't reply and became spiritless as Mark's team was in front of him.

"Who said that he was the only one alive?"

Mark's eyes widened as, slowly, another group of enemies appeared, more than earlier. Rini's eyes also started to change into a domineering one, and he stood up, fixed his clothes, and patted his chest.

"Round three..."

***

In defending the city, countless people died. The whole city was in turmoil as the attack had left them on fire. Burning establishments could be seen in any direction, and just as Roger walked with his weak knees, he saw his men, lying on the ground, dead.

Devastation got Roger. He was weakened and angry with himself as he wasn't able to stop this from happening.

'I was right. There would be enemies who would appear to try to extort me. I was lenient and underestimated their greediness. For fuck's sake, I don't want this to happen.'

Roger's family was powerless. They couldn't protect themselves alone, keeping the elite 30 around them at any time.

'My decision to control myself was wrong. How come I applied my pledge to this world? Now, I can only see my city with debris everywhere.

Roger was only containing himself. He was angry, and he would explode at any moment. But he could only clench his fist in anger.

Roger's skin was cold as he sat down on the destroyed cement. It was always like this. His family would be in danger every time his influence spread. Yet, he decided to keep the words that he had made in Kluma.

'I am sorry, my wife... But, this family of mine is just as important to me... I am sorry if I have to break my words. I promise that I won't overuse it again.'

Roger stood up, and his eyes widened and lit up red. His internal energy started to fill his veins as if an energy pool had just unlocked inside of him. His body became larger, overlapping his weak appearance. He was also starting to feel the different essence in the surroundings.

Everything became visible to him. He knew if people were still alive and he knew where they were. He could see the few lines of their breath as well as their energy and essence in their veins. 

Roger remained in this state for a few minutes, thoroughly inspecting the whole city. Afterward, his eyes fell on one spot, and his face turned devasted. The red colors in his eyes slowly disappeared as he released a heavy sigh.

He was angry, but he couldn't express it as he was afraid that he might destroy everything again. He was still fixated on his pledge that he was slowly trying to break.

He clenched his fist and then uttered, "My family is gone."

And at that moment, what Roger could only do was fall onto the ground with a great disappointment in himself. His face was still wrinkling from the pain he was feeling in his heart, and just by that, he knew that change should occur again.

"Again... I was a fool... I didn't consider the cruelty of this world," he stated, slowly sweeping the pain away.

He began to think about it. In a monotonous tone, he said, "Having a peaceful world doesn't really belong to me..."

He stood up and then dragged his legs over the casualties of this event. He saw people suffering from the damage, and just as he thought of someone else, he went straight to the estate of the mayor.

However, he was disappointed as what he saw was another destruction. The mayor's estate was destroyed into pieces by fire around it, burning the plants and trees.

"I was only away for a few hours, but they have already done this much damage."