Both Rufus and Haley were stunned. He moved faster than the eye could follow and was way faster than Adolf Blausaber. The man was just about to strike down Haley when Leif suddenly jumped out of nowhere and got Haley out of harm's way.
"NOW BOSS!" screamed Leif.
The man looked behind him and saw Rufus going for a punch. He was startled since he sensed a lot of power in the attack. He quickly jumped to dodge the attack with Rufus's punch leaving a hole in the ground. The man was surprised but was left completely unharmed.
"You seem to have an interesting power. It's not like you just have a strong punch, but you destroy everything," said the man.
"Thanks for the compliments, but don't you dare hurt my sister,"
The man then looked at Rufus's sister.
"Fine, sorry about that"
Rufus was surprised and asked, "Wh... what did you say."
"I said sorry about that. I won't hurt your sister anymore. This fight is just between us," said the man and pointed his sword at Rufus.
Rufus was surprised at how willingly the man was letting Haley go and agreeing not to hurt her. What's more, was that Rufus sensed that his words were genuine and that he didn't want to hurt innocent people.
"THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU THANKING AND BOWING MIDS BATTLE!" yelled Haley, Leif, and the man in unison.
The man was preparing his stance for an attack. He held on to the hilt of the sword with one hand and one hand was on the blade of the sword. The man had an iron glove on his right hand that enabled him to touch the blade without himself getting cut. He then jump and plunged to attack Rufus. He pushed the side of the sword towards Rufus who quickly blocked it with his hand. Rufus's hand was surprisingly undamaged. The man then pushed one side of the sword and hit Rufus on his chest with the hilt of the sword. Rufus fell back.
Both Haley and Leif were surprised about the fighting style of the man. Never had they thought there'd be a man who would wield their sword in such a unique way. Rufus got up quickly and touched the earth. The earth started to crumble and get destroyed underneath the man. Large rocks were exploding from the earth like the earth itself was being self-destructed. The man deflected with his sword and iron glove the flying rocks with a wide smile.
"This is starting to get fun, but life is short, and I need to get this done," the man yelled.
Soon soldiers were rushing to the scene. They were yelling to stop the fight between the man and Rufus.
"Boss! We have to disappear too. If the guards are here this fight will escalate and we don't want the government to get involved," yelled Leif.
"Listen to your subordinate. I will not chase you if you run away. This is a lifesaver to you," said the man to a winded Rufus, "And before you leave tell me your name?"
"Rufus."
"I am Edward. Next time we meet let us refer to each other by our names," Edward yelled and ran away
Edwards quickly took the wounded gangsters with him and started to run off in the opposite direction. Haley also helped Rufus to escape who could barely run. Luckily every gang member during the incident was able to escape the scene none getting caught.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Later, Leif, Rufus and Haley met to discuss the situation at old man Haufen's bar. He had already given up trying to stop them from having their meetings at his bar.
"What do we do now. They have hired some person who has been blessed with divine powers," said Leif worried.
"So that person wasn't the leader of the sons of the red moon,"
"Nope. I've seen the boss previously. The boss is a fat man, but I am not surprised they hired someone to fight for them. They have vast resources to tap into to fund and upkeep such a monster, but this is the first time I've ever seen someone with divine powers as a hired sword for a gang."
"That's not anything new," said old man Haufen," During the war with the nation of Brahm our army had some mercenaries that our general had hired. There were a few elves from their world fighting alongside us. Well rather than fighting alongside them, we just made sure we wouldn't get in their way."
The room was silent. No one had an answer on what to do next. They were all hoping Rufus could be able to handle them since it was common knowledge that the sons of the red moon gang had no one who had divine power among them.
"It's no use being sad about this situation. We just must do our best and keep moving forward. Nothing in this situation is set in stone. Right everyone?!" yelled out Haley trying to raise the morale in the room.
Everyone got a little happier.
"Lady Haley is right! The fight not yet over,"
"Yeah. We are tired of being pushed around."
"Day in, day out, scrapping for some money to feed your family only to give a large sum of it to some guy who just happens to be bigger than you,"
Moral rose quickly in the building. Both Rufus, Leif, old man Haufen and Mrs. Jean were all surprised by how naturally gifted Haley was in leadership. She was able to raise the spirits of everyone in the room with just a few sentences.
"All right. If this is how it's going to be I guess I can't help it," Yelled old man Haufen as everyone looked scared of what the scariest looking man would say next," Drinks are on the house today!"
Everyone cheered. Mrs. Jean started to pour large pints for everyone.
"Thank you Mr. Haufen," said Leif.
"Don't mention it. Seeing how you are acting nowadays. Haley has turned you guys from a bunch of gangsters to proper men. You were earlier worried about your men, that also showed real maturity,"
Haufen was extremely pleased since he did not call him an old man unlike Rufus and Haley did constantly. Everyone was drinking and feasting. The moral sored up to the roof. Luckily during the attack, there were no fatalities, and all of the wounded were already starting to heal up.
"So, Rufus. What do you think? You think you up to the task of taking down that swordsman from earlier?" asked Haley from Rufus.
Rufus chuckled and laughed," Well you know me. You ask something, is kind of hard for me to say no."
One thing was still bothering Rufus. It was the man, Edward. He didn't seem to be a bad man. He did not want to hurt Haley after Rufus asked for it. He also carried out his injured comrades instead of just leaving them. It was very unusual and Rufus was having doubts about fighting such a man.
He didn't feel hatred towards him, unlike all the previous times he had fought and used his powers to protect others. Also, he thought about how such a man had ended up working for a gang in the capital.
~~
During the same time, the sons of the red moon gang had a meeting at their hideout. There were plenty of gang members as well as the boss and Edward.
"Sooo, what is your assessment? You think you can take on this boss of the black rat gang?" asked the boss from Edward.
"Shouldn't be a problem. He has a unique divine power. It is extremely destructive and has a lot of potentials, but he is no match for me," said Edward.
The boss started to laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHA! See boys. As I told you. No stress. Soon we will run those rats out of this city and kill all the friends and family that new boss has,"
The sons of the red moon gang started to celebrate themselves as they had already won the war.
"Why do we have to kill all the other non-combatants too?" asked Edward from the boss.
"Heeeeh? Why? What a stupid question. It is to send a message. A MESSAGE! We can't have another thieving gang thinking they can walk around proudly. The best motivation for people to take you seriously is fear," explained the boss and then smiled and said," If you have some moral code or something no worries. I am sure money will help you get around your morals"
For a minute Edward stared silently at the boss. The boss was starting to get uneasy and was reaching out for a hidden knife. The boss started to suspect that there was an angry face under that helmet that covered Edward's face.
"No. That won't be necessary," said Edward to the boss.
The boss smiled.
"Tomorrow guys we will hit them where it hurts. I heard their gathering spot is a local bar in the slums. The owner of the bar seems to be a good friend of the gang boss. Well, let's see how he will react after they realize we just have taken both of their friends,"