I patiently waited for Benjie to get up but once he picked up his dagger and assumed a stance, I reached a certain point in my breathing before I looked like I was about to fall flat on my face.
It was at the point where my body felt the lightest—almost feeling like I've given up all control, but when I was at the perfect angle, my whole body tensed up as everything felt freezing cold then scalding hot in an instant.
Every bit of negative emotion rushed into my head and Benjie looking like that certain someone with a dagger on his hand didn't help him one bit. Even the deranged smile he was wearing earlier looked a little too familiar and it made it easy to draw from those.
Benjie who was several feet away was suddenly in front of me but it wasn't because he was the one who bridged the distance.
My legs were screaming in pain but the whole ordeal was already getting transferred into my arms.
The mutt was already maxed out to react as my wakizashi bit the tip of his dagger's handguard and made him grasp it as hard as he could. But before that, part of his index finger came along with it and it took everything for him to not make it fly out of his hand.
Once again, his wounds bled out even more as he spat out a mouthful of blood but I had already wound up my katana to swing down for as hard as I could.
It only took a short exhale to prepare my attack but Benjie read it and he was already bracing for it by raising his dagger and holding it with both hands—dull side of the blade placed firmly on his left palm.
However, blocking just came to bite him in the ass.
I wasn't sure if he wasn't able to move properly anymore but blocking was the worst decision he could've ever made.
Once my blade made contact with his dagger, the dull side of his blade just easily carved into his left palm, making him grimace in pain and scream unintelligibly. His eyes had darted to several different directions and it didn't help when I swung the second time.
Benjie didn't know what to fucking do as his dagger which he used to carve several people up was now digging deep into his palm. Not only that, but the force I put into my swing and the way he kept putting his arms up most definitely have done damage to his joints, bones, and tendons, and it would require more than a few weeks to even partially recover.
Well, it's not like he just stood there and took everything, it was more like everything happened in quick succession and his body was working way past its limit to try and keep up.
I did promise Castro that I'd keep him alive but the keyword was to keep him intact. Sure, a part of his index finger already left him but it was probably negligible.
From that second swing, close to four seconds have passed but Benjie had only seen a fraction of "it" outside. Well, I did say that I'd just show him a glimpse but for my last swing, I made sure he would learn a lesson that he'd never forget.
I swung down with my whole body, snapping his blade in half, and next thing he knew, his left hand was torn almost beyond repair while the wound he gave himself—cutting from his abdomen up to his shoulder—more than doubled in size.
Only the tip of my katana had his blood on it because if I moved in a centimeter or an inch more, I would've easily went through his clavicle, then his ribcage, his spine, his ribcage again, all the way through without much resistance.
Later did I discover that Benjie had already lost consciousness but he was frozen in place when I stared him dead in the eyes.
It was only from an instant but before my last swing, I showed him what my "demon" looked like and it proved to him that we were never the same.
"Wha— No! You're—"
"What?"
"You're totally different there c-compared to you here..."
"Huh?"
"I... I can't explain it but—"
"Like this?"
All of a sudden, cold air just filled the air and only Mr. Cuervo was able to assume a fighting stance. However, he was covered in sweat while the three had already lost their footing.
I, for sure thought Castro would be able to resist it but a lot had already happened before we got to this moment. He was already physically exhausted and I wouldn't even dare to think about his psyche.
It was just that I tried turning it on and off again a couple of times and Mr. Cuervo had to intervene.
"STOP THAT SHIT, HERMANO! I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH!"
"Oh."
After a short moment, later did I realize that I actually bet all of our gold coins for my match against Benjie. However, the amount Mr. Cuervo gave me was more than double because part of it was Castro and Annie's thanks for keeping him alive, and they'd still owe me after that.
I now have 24 coins in total and I'm still not exactly sure about what to do with them.
With that said, I just kept all of them while I bathed in the cheers of the crowd, and I made my way back to my spot like I just went for a short walk.
Kaley instantly checked my bruises but Quinn was this close to taking me then and there.
Granted I didn't kill Benjie as per their goal, but Benjie would be out of commission for a time and the injuries I gave him was for them. Truth be told, I wanted to get rid of Benjie because he was completely unstable but I didn't realize that the respect the De Leon Family had for me shot up even more from that fight.
The other families were looking at me in a different light too but it wasn't comparable to the De Leon Family.
They almost "blinded" me for the second time and some officers were already offering free things or services I might be into.
If I wasn't careful, there would be another wedding right then and there and it wouldn't be with Kaley. Sure, Quinn was probably not the wedding type but the looks I was getting from her was starting to make me uncomfortable. I had to position myself between Kaley and Tatiana or else I'd be forced against my will.