(Quintiles 29, 59 / 7:55PM)

(David and Loraine)

(David) I may be a big shot, yeah, and I’m willing to kill you where you stand right here and now. But I have a question to ask of you.

On the other side of the building, David slowly put his hands in his jacket, straightening his back as he cleared his throat. And in front of both David and Loraine, Pedro had within his hands…

(David) Why do you have Boris enclosed in your arms? Is he going to run? Is he going to fight back? What danger does Boris pose to you?

Pedro, his arms holding Boris hostage, continued to look towards David and Loraine. Tightening his grip upon Boris, his arms were caging Boris not by his neck, but by his chest area.

Taking a step back from the two, Pedro let out a small chuckle as his lips gave off a warm smile, his nostrils flaring upward as his eyes were closed. Hunching back, Boris also followed the motion of Pedro, being dragged by a ragdoll by the male lich, as his chubby body continued to emit sweat.

(Pedro) Do you think I find something useful for this old fatass? It was my boss’s orders to bring him in, he thinks that Boris may be useful for something.

(David) Like what exactly? Care to explain?

David started to slowly walk towards Pedro, still having his hands inside his jacket pockets as he continued to stare intently at the lich. Seeing that Boris' lips were not moving, Boris put a hand to his chin, rubbing the jawline back and forth with his pointer finger.

(David) What’s the matter, Boris? The lich got your tongue?

Boris slowly turned towards Pedro, his face starting to be coated with sweat as his face nodded sideways frantically. With his left hand, David extended it towards Loraine, nudging her right hand to hold his as his eyes glanced at Pedro starting to walk back slowly.

Loraine accepted the hand, holding onto it as she sharpened her young eyes towards Pedro, her left hand enclosed into a fist as her body began to tremble violently. Walking with David, both of them managed to keep up with the pace of Pedro’s backward walking.

(David) During my fight with Kenichi, I could’ve had an even match with him.

(Pedro) You’re bluffing, right? I heard from Kenichi that you were on defense the entire time.

(David) Unlike you liches, there’s a thing called humanity.

Despite Pedro being slightly taller than David, David folded his arms as he managed to reach a few feet away from both Pedro and Boris. With Pedro’s face beginning to form sweat particles on his nose, Pedro tightened the hold on Boris’s chest, as Boris continued to breathe slightly raspy.

Loraine noticed this, causing her to tighten her fists even more, her knuckles on the verge of breaking as her entire focus was on Pedro’s neck.

(David) What I mean by humanity, is the fact that most of us remember who we are as people, what our beliefs are, and what goals and dreams are.

Pedro slowly looked down as his face started to darken, his smile fading away as a cold frown started to replace it, leading to him tapping his right foot on the rusty floor. Still having his right hand in his leather jacket, David started to let out a small smile as the left side of his lip managed to reach more to his ear than to his right.

(David) I had emotion and I was taken aback. I saw something that shouldn’t be considered possible. I saw him as a brother yet he fought me like he never knew me.

David looked down onto the ground, the rusted floor of the industrial building having no reflection. With his face darkened, David replaced his smirk with a frown, thinking about the rusted floor that looked too hard to be dented.

Finally, David thrust his hand outwards toward where Pedro was, his right hand wielding a handgun with the barrel of it pointed right at his head. Steadying his aim, David put his finger on the trigger, his old yet brittle fingertips slowly caressing the metal as he continued to stare at the lich.

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(David) While you, my friend, have no morals, no beliefs, no goals or dreams to follow. You kill for what? For your boss?

Pedro then started to unleash steam out of his body, the steam starting to go up on top of his head. Loraine, who noticed the steam cloud, squeezed the hand that David was holding her with, his eyes quickly glancing toward her until he looked back at them.

(Pedro) I didn’t have a choice.

(David) I knew you were going to say that.

Pulling the trigger, the chamber of the gun unleashed six of his bullets straight toward Pedro’s face, the barrel of the gun reddening as the metal started to gently melt. With each bullet launching itself out of the chamber, his arm remained in place despite wielding it with only his right hand.

In slow motion, the six bullets edged themselves closer toward Pedro’s head, the hot metal about to collide with the center of his forehead. Looking up at the fast bullets, Pedro closed his eyes as his grip on Boris continued to remain hardened, his breathing steady as the bullets…

Traversed right through Pedro’s head, his head seeming like it was made out of air.

As the bullets targeted the back of the wall, denting the rusted metal wall, David continued to ready his gun, his finger remaining on the trigger.

(David) So you’re a user with a blessing I take it?

(Pedro) No, not a blessing. Something vastly better than just a normal stupid blessing.

The air on top of Pedro, or rather the cloud forming above him, grew increasingly large as Pedro started to look with his own eyes. With a smirk being drawn right across his face, Pedro’s hands then reached upwards, his hands being enveloped in the cloud as he felt the deadly air on his palms.

Taking a step back, David pulled out ammo from his jacket’s pockets, putting six bullets into the chamber as he replaced the old ones that were shot. Hitting the back of the bullets to secure their place in the gun, David turned his head up from his focus on reloading, seeing Pedro—

(Pedro) This is the pinnacle of power!

Thrusting his arms outwards to David, the cloud that he grabbed a hold of was launched forward, the clouds traveling as fast as a baseball pitch. Loraine, still having her grip on David’s hand, broke away as she pushed her legs off the ground, jumping from her left side by arching her whole body away from the cloud.

As the cloud was about to envelop David—

David was halfway towards Pedro, his legs and arms swiftly moving like a moving bullet. Pedro barely took notice of David’s speed, his eyes widened at the sudden change.

(Pedro’s thoughts) Wait what?

Reaching in front of Pedro, the gas cloud that was supposed to envelop him was now useless as David got in front of him, merely inches away from his face. Unable to defend himself from the lightning-fast man, Pedro jumped back, with Boris in tow.

Noticing that Pedro was not giving up on holding Boris hostage, David pointed his gun towards the lich, caressing the trigger softly as he pulled it back, unleashing another round of six bullets. The bullets launching themselves towards the lich, Pedro kept walking backward as his feet stomped the rusted floor, his grip on Boris unchanging as he took a fast breath in.

(Pedro’s thoughts) More bullets? Guess I have to use it again.

Standing still, Pedro saw the bullets edging closer and closer toward his head again, his breathing starting to turn ragged as his putrid and warm breath continued to trickle down Boris’s head. Boris, remaining still, looked to see that the bullets were just about to come into contact with Pedro’s head.

(Boris’s thoughts) What is his weakness? There’s gotta be a way that his power works…

Like usual, the bullets that went straight for his head managed to pour out with no tar or skin damage, his head as light as air. Smoke rose from the barrel of the gun, David noticed that the barrel started to turn a bright red, the metal slowly melting more as the metal bullets that hit the ground were sprouting steam.

(David’s thoughts) I hope I don’t overuse the gun.

Pedro then felt a rope around his waist, the rope tightening around his body as his body was trapped with Boris.

(Pedro’s thoughts) Oh, wait … shit I forgot about her!

Managing to remain standing, Pedro turned his body to see the face of an enraged little girl, her eyelids bloodshot red as her hands that held the rope convulsed, causing the rope to forcingly shake. Closing his eyes as he lit up a warm smile, Pedro looked towards the fuming girl, ignoring Boris’s squeals for air.

(Pedro) You know that I have your little fake daddy trapped in me right? He’s in more pain than I am so what do you say in letting me go?

Loraine tightened the grip on the rope even more, the nylon material starting to turn Boris’s face blue.

Boris gasped for air, his lungs being pelted against both Pedro and the rope, followed by the already small lung space that he had. With tears in his eyes, he continued to eye Loraine, his breathing starting to weaken more as his heart began to slowly pump blood.

(Boris’s thoughts) Ah! Snap out of it Loraine!

He tried to bulge his arms yet he couldn’t, he tried to yell out but his vocals worked against him. His eyes slowly rolled onto the back of his head, his throat convoluted with the gasps for freedom.

(Boris’s thoughts) You’re going to…

(David) Thank you, Loraine.

In the back of Pedro, David already had pointed his gun towards the back of him, the barrel of the hot gun targeting a specific area. With his pointer finger on the tip of the trigger, David clutched his finger, releasing not six bullets, but…

One single bullet, a bullet that wasn’t coated in black, but in red.

Traveling through the air, the bullet breached the air around it as it pushed its way onto Pedro’s left back side, as Pedro slowly turned his glance onto the incoming bullet.

(Pedro’s thoughts) One bullet? Really? I could just—

In slow motion, the bullet managed to brush against the skin of the lich, the bullet starting to make itself at home into the unguarded lich. Having the bullet inside where his left chest was, Pedro opened his mouth wide as the air started to get trapped inside his throat.