Chapter 143 - Intimidating the "Strong"

[Nice hit!], Voxea said as I kicked in the face of a man who reminded me of a bloated toad. I wasn't hundred percent sure, but I think I broke his nose.

Using my momentum and the fatso's face as a platform, I pushed myself and flipped backwards. Landing in the same spot as I had launched myself, a trail of rapidly melting ice behind me.

"Darrrrgghhh!", the fat man screamed as he grabbed towards his nose, dropping the girl he was holding hostage. As he screamed in pain, the mooks looked at me with shock written all over their faces. Apparently they weren't expecting someone to come in and kick their butts.

"What are you standing around for?! Get her!", the fat toad screeched as he held his nose. The mooks immediately dropped their shock faces and began to charge at me.

[You're not going to summon any other monsters, are you?], Voxea

[Nope].

[Want to test out those fighting techniques I taught you]?

[Exactly], I replied as I subtly empowered my limbs with aether. Aside from polearm techniques, Voxea had drilled into my head several boxing and unarmed fighting techniques as well. And these idiots were about to be my training dummies.

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Deep within the interior of the New Capital, a fight was about to break out. In a hidden alleyway, away from prying eyes, four ruffians were charging at a lone girl. Unbeknownst to them, she had coated her fists with Wind aether and her feet with Ice aether.

The first to charge was a gangly man with a long face, who wildly swung a punch towards her face. The girl responded by using the Ice in her feet to shift into a horse stance and directly punching the man in the stomach, the man's eyes rolling back into his head from the sheer force of what amount to a cannonball of Wind impacting it. The man collapsed as the girl stood back up to greet the next few opponents.

The second opponent was a bug eyed man who stopped short of charging to try and kick the girl in the side. The girl caught the sloppy kick with her arms and proceeded to shoulder throw him into the alley wall, not breaking anything but causing some serious bruising...maybe a concussion.

The third guy was a rat faced fellow with messed up teeth and a bit more brains. Before rushing in, he had grabbed a plank of wood and and attempted to swing it overhead to crack her skull. Instead, the girl launched a straight elbow jab into his gut, before dropping low and sweep kicking him. A combo that ended with an axe kick stomp into his chest, the Ice aether making the impact hurt more.

The fourth guy just stood there dumbfounded as his three other companions got their butts kicked. Seeing as how he was just dumbly looking at her in shocked confusion, she kicked him where the sun didn't shine. Needless to say, he doubled over in pain.

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[Well that looked cathartic], Voxea commented as I looked over the beaten thugs.

[It was. Now let's go check on the-Of course].

"Don't move"!

After kicking the butts of those goons in, the fat toad man from earlier had grabbed the girl and was now using her as a hostage. The man didn't have a blade pointed at her neck, but his massive hands made it clear that he would snap it instead. I was going to enjoy this next part almost as much as I enjoyed the last part.

"Don't you move a muscle, unless you want her pretty little neck to snap like a twig!", the fat man threatened as he gripped the girl's neck a little tighter. For the girl's part she kept defiantly tried to fight back against the grip.

"Now why don't you-"

"Question", I said aloud to interrupt him, "Did you really think I was dumb enough to just rush in here by myself and without a plan? Azalea"?

"What the f-", the fat man managed to get out, right before my trusty Bushinado rang his bell with a pair of aether powered fists slamming into the sides of his head.

[I was expecting a splatter].