Chapter 99 I’m No Hero,
Isaac just chuckled and shook his head. “Sure, just try not to kill him.”
Lenna walked over to the wizard who’s eyes were so wide it looked like they would fall out of his head and roll across the ground. She bent down and grabbed him by the collar. “Wa-wa-wait. I surrendered!” The wizard reminded her while his legs were kicking from her lifting him off the ground.
“I, hate, wizards.” Lenna told him, accentuating each word. She reared back and punched him in the cheek bone as hard as she could with her armored first. No magic or aura was used but she still managed to hit him so hard that he slipped from her grasp and had rotated a full forty five degrees before his feet made contact with the ground. The rest of him quickly followed.
Isaac gestured at the two crossbowmen who had obviously given up. “What about them?” He asked.
The one audibly gulped. The other responded quickly: “We surrender too, and we aren’t wizards!” He argued for their safety.
Lenna took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She turned to see Isaac who was walking casually towards her, chuckling at the crossbowmen. “They aren’t wizards.” She told him.
Isaac laughed even as a dark orb appeared in his hand and he pulled her magical cloth out of it, once again using shadows for cover of what he was actually doing. He held it between two fingers as he undid her helmet strap. “You did great.” He told her with a smile. His smile turned sad as he raised her helmet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect them to be as strong as they were.”
Lenna let him remove her helmet. “Water?” She asked once her face was in the open air. She felt Isaac’s mana leave her face just before he started taking her helmet off. Her eyes were heavy.
He nodded and pulled a waterskin out of a ball of shadows and handed it to her. She poured some of it on her face and then took a few sips. It wasn’t good to drink too much after a workout. It was then, when the cold water had hit her face and throat, that she processed her surroundings in their entirety. She had completely tunnel visioned during the fight once she had known that Isaac was alright.
The crowd had cheered louder and louder for each gang member that she had taken out like it was a blood sport in a colosseum. Once she had gotten the last two to surrender there was cheering and jeering alike. Likely from bets won and lost. When Isaac had removed her helmet they had almost completely gone quiet. Some of them already knew from seeing her walking through town recently without her helmet but most did not. Someone whipped an apple at her. Moving completely on instinct she caught it. She turned it over in her hand, sniffed it once and then took a bite out of it.
Isaac chuckled at the odd display. “A gift from one of your admirers I guess.”
Lenna shook her head. She nodded towards the dwarf kingpin who looked to be having a breakdown. He was yelling obscenities at his still conscious and living lackeys. He threw his wine glass and it broke on the goliath’s face. His closed eyes prevented any damage but he did not look amused.
Isaac followed her gaze. “Right. I have a dwarf to get money and a man out of. My blessing will run out soon. You look like you should sit down.” Isaac told her.
Lenna nodded and looked around for somewhere to sit. “I can feel it running out already.” She replied, playing along.
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Isaac looked around as well and didn’t see anywhere close by. He sighed and moved to her side. He put her arm around his shoulders. “Ready?” He asked.
Lenna nodded. “I should be fine.” She told him. She wasn’t sure why he was acting like she was going to fall over. Her legs almost gave out as his magic was no longer energizing her. The full exhaustion of her aura and the weight of coming down off an adrenaline high almost brought her to her knees even though she was in perfect physical health.
Isaac sat her down and used the mana he no longer had to hide to form a chair out of hardened shadows for her. She let him guide her down onto it and nodded appreciatively. “You alright?” Isaac asked. He could tell that there were some things he couldn’t heal even if he didn’t know why or even how his magic healed in the first place.
“Yes. Thank you, my Lord.” Lenna replied and closed her eyes for a moment before taking another bite of the apple. Another apple was launched at her, presumably by the same person, and this time Isaac caught it.
Isaac turned to look at the man whose face wore both shock and fury. “If you want to give the Lady an apple, do so like a normal person. Throw one at her head again and I’ll do this to you.” Isaac threatened and a near invisible blade of shadows, barely strong enough to cut the apple, split it in two in his hand. He rotated his fingers slightly and the halves slid apart. For any onlooker who didn’t have mana senses it looked as though he cut the apple in half by simply moving his thumb and index fingers slightly in different directions. He coated the one half in shadows and made it vanish into his Inventory then took a bite out of the other half.
The onlooker in question backed off and Isaac decided it was time to deal with the raving lunatic twenty feet away from him. He started listening to the dwarf’s ranting and rambling just in time to hear the words “Drow whore.” Isaac patted Lenna’s brow and cheek with the cloth that was still in his hand after handing Lenna back her helmet. He gave her a smile and vanished.
Isaac appeared right in front of the dwarf. So close that his presence caused the dwarf to stumble backwards and almost trip. “Don’t call her that.” Isaac told him coldly and lightly punched him in the mouth. The impact was enough to send him staggering back a step but not hard enough to take any teeth from their resting places. Before the dwarf could regain his bearings Isaac launched into demands and monologuing. “I’m here for three more reasons than to reprimand you for being a sore loser. One, to kick the shit out of you for having one of your guys shoot me in the fucking chest.” Isaac began while counting on his fingers. “Two, to get that gold you owe me for losing. And three, to collect this guy.” Isaac explained and shoved the wanted poster for the guy they were originally after in the dwarf’s face.
The dwarf snatched the paper out of his hand and looked up at Isaac defiantly. His face was burning red, it looked like he was about to explode like an over pressurized boiler. “You don’t get to order me ‘round in me own gods damned turf!” He yelled at Isaac. His eyes were bloodshot. The scent of alcohol already strong on his breath that carried way too far in Isaac’s opinion.
Isaac didn’t have the incoming mana for a good show because he was using it to support Lenna so he decided on something a little more direct. Isaac reached out and punched him lightly in the mouth again. “I can, and I will. You have three seconds before I decide to start with beating the shit out of you.”
The dwarf dabbed his mouth with his hand and it came off a little bloody. He looked at Isaac with unrestrained hatred. “You’ll die fer that.” He threatened and took a step back while pointing two fingers at Isaac. “What I seek is… ARG!” He yelled as Isaac closed the distance in an instant, grabbed the shorter man’s fingers and yanked. He pulled the dwarf off balance as he rotated the short man’s hand by the fingers. With the arm fully extended and the arm rotated he was in perfect position to have his elbow added to the list.
“Times up.” Isaac told him calmly and proceeded to break the dwarf’s elbow, followed by a back fist to his nose which broke that as well. Isaac was met by vulgarity and weak punches from the dwarf. “I tend to get distracted by money.” Isaac told him while teleporting to his other side and quickly breaking that elbow as well. The dwarf tried to speak another spell through gritted teeth but Isaac grabbed the back of his head and forced his jaw into Isaac’s incoming knee. Isaac was merciless in his thorough beating. Even though it only lasted about thirty seconds by the time he was done the dwarf had a broken nose and a few broken ribs added to the list and was unconscious on the ground in a heap.
Isaac gave the dwarf one last kick and looked around. “Who’s second in command?” He asked. The crowd had gone from ogling Lenna to watching Isaac tear the boss of the street apart, while said boss’s guards stood by and watched with bored expressions.
The crossbowman who had shot Isaac cleared his throat. “Sorry mister, he didn’t really have a second in command. He just ordered us around mostly. The one closest to that would be him.” The man said, trying to win favor with Isaac, in hopes of not getting the shit beaten out of him like what had happened to his boss. He gestured with his good arm at the corpse of the rapier wielder.
Isaac sighed. “Whatever, I just need this guy and the twelve hundred gold this piece of shit owes me.” He explained and kicked the dwarf who was collapsed at his feet. Isaac showed the surviving gang leaders the bounty.
“Why go after him? That bounty isn’t worth it for gold rankers.” The crossbowman from before asked.
“His crime.” Isaac said coldly. “It’s about sending a message. We aren’t bringing him in.”
A few of the gang members around audibly gulped. Two in particular paled. Isaac took notice. He looked at each of them in turn. “Something I should know?” Isaac asked. “It’ll be way, and I mean way worse if I find out later.” They both shook their heads. Isaac sighed. “I’m no hero, but there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed.”