Chapter 11 - The 2nd Strongest Servant of the Zafisi Clan

During his stay at the Zafisi clan, Kane preferred solitary activities. He liked to spend his time alone, especially whenever he performed his daily duties or actively trained. For him socialising wasn’t that important for now; his aim was to get stronger as fast as possible. Besides, trying to communicate without the ability to speak was too much time consuming for him.

Ever since Kane started training in the sword`s room, he never experienced any visitors. However, after all these months, an unexpected guest appeared before him. She was Monica, one of the servants of the Zafisi clan. She was good looking, and her characteristics and personality were rather cute. She smiled at Kane, before she broke the silence.

“Hi. My name is Monica. I was just passing by… when I noticed the door of the room was slightly open. I thought you were inside, so I decided to come in to ask you… if you wanted some company.” She felt a little embarrassed and her delicate cheeks turned slightly red. “When I saw you weren’t here, I waited here for your return.”

She then sat down of the floor, as she crossed her arms around her legs. Kane kept calm as he patiently listened to her. He was still mad at Colin`s choice of name, so he wasn’t really in mood to train.

“In the past, I used to spend time here in this room as I watched Charles training… You know Charles Hearn right? His the number one servant of our clan, there is nobody here that can wield the sword as better as him. With him rest our clan`s hopes for the tournament. His success will be our clan`s success, and his failure will be our clan`s failure. It was thanks to him that we finished 3rd place in the last tournament.”

She sighed as she continued, “I kind of miss him now. He has been away for so long. He is taking this tournament way too serious… I really hope he comes back safe and sound.”

Kane watched her with a curious expression. Monica smiled as she explained. “The last ten tournaments, were always won by a servant from the Dorba clan. His name is Yakov Dorba, and his the current servant sword champion. He literary is a beast; his strength is totally unprecedented for a cripple, and the sword he wields is powered by a high quality blue crystal. Even Charles was no match for him in the last tournament.”

“But Charles isn’t the type who gives up that easily. He obtained permission from the Matriarch to go training outside the city, by killing random savage beasts found in the nearby mountains. He really is a hardworking man.”

She then smiled as she turned her gaze towards Kane. “You are similar to him. Like Charles, you prefer to be alone while spending most of your time focusing on your training. At least, you stop and listen to me while I am speaking. Charles usually ignores me and just focuses on his training. He rarely spoke with me, but at the same time he never told me to leave him be. So I guess I don’t annoy him… hihi…”

Kane smiled, as he grabbed his sword. Monica promptly asked him, “Is it ok if I stay here with you for some more time?” Kane nodded as he signalled that it was fine, then he started to lightly swing his sword.

In the meantime, Clinton arrived at Colin`s office to collect his tournament ID. After he was done, he prepared to leave whilst he asked Colin, “How many fighters will the clan be sending this time for the tournament Colin?”

Colin coolly replied, “Just three. You, Charles and Mr.Gululu.”

Clinton stared dumbfounded at Colin. “Mr.Gululu? Who the hell is that?!”

Colin coolly replied again, “That newcomer who joined our clan three months ago. He been busy training for all these days, and the least I could do for him is to let him participate. Who knows, he might actually be able to register a win or two for our clan.”

The calm face of Clinton instantly changed into one of aversion, “What?!! Are you kidding me!!!?? What the hell!! What`s the big idea to allow him to participate!!! Are you trying that hard to embarrass our clan?” 

Colin expression turned solemn as he interrupted Clinton. “I have already decided. He will be participating. If he fails, I will shoulder responsibility.”

Clinton clinched his fists, struggling for control. “That brat…”

Colin, who was experienced enough to read Clinton thoughts, immediately warned him. “Clinton, that kid is important for our clan. Even the higher ups think highly of him. If by any chance it happens that you do something to him… rest assured that you will not be getting away with it.”

“Blabla…blabla… I know, I know… no need to spout nonsense. Colin Zafisi, I promise you that no harm will come to him,” Clinton said as he left the room.

Colin sighed. He never expected such a reaction from Clinton. “Guess I am becoming too old for this kind of stuff, I really should start considering my retirement…”

Meanwhile, Clinton was heading straight to the sword`s room. “I can’t hurt him eh…? But as long as I don’t kill him… or break his bones… it should still be fine to smack him around? Fools like him just deserve this kind of treatment.”

He arrived before the sword`s room door, then he unleashed a powerful kick that burst open the door. Both Kane and Monica were given a fright by his sudden intrusion. Clinton looked straight in Kane`s eyes, like a dog readying for battle. He was about to say something offensive, when he noticed Monica was also there.

Clinton`s mind was totally caught off guard. His face turned similar to that of a ghost, as he resisted to control the sudden insurgence of emotions that rose out of his feelings. Clinton knew that Monica had a soft spot for Charles, but he was never worried. In Clinton`s opinion, it was more likely that Charles would marry his own sword, rather than end up marrying a woman. But not even in his wildest dreams he ever imagined that the woman he liked, would actually be here all alone with this trash.

Clinton`s face turned furious, then he brought out his sword. Seeing this, Monica stood up and quickly ran towards him, seemingly trying to calm down the situation.

“Clinton what`s…?” However, before she could finish, she was slapped hard by Clinton`s palm, as she lost balance and fell on the ground.

“Don’t talk to me you dirty slut…” Clinton roared as he prepared to kick her in her stomach.

BAMM~~~

Fortunately for her, his kick was blocked by Kane, who swiftly interfered by rushing between them. Clinton retreated his leg, then he smiled. Kane couldn’t believe that this guy actually dared to attack a weak innocent woman. He turned his gaze towards Clinton in resentment. Kane deeply detested cowards like Clinton who only preyed on the weakest and the defenceless. For Kane, bullies like Clinton were the scum of the whole universe.

“Oh, I was being merciful by allowing you some more time to breathe peacefully… but since you are so eager to be beaten by me, I will generously grant your wish!” Clinton laughed out, while Kane gentle grabbed Monica and put her down at one of the corners of the room.

Kane moved away from Monica whilst he assumed his fighting stance. He raised his sword but he didn’t make a move. He was busy carefully observing his opponent.

Monica softly screamed, “Please you two! Stop it, why are you doing this!!” However both of them ignored her. They both knew that this battle had to be fought.

Clinton then raised his sword and remained still. His sword was similar to Kane`s sword, and it too had a green crystal embed in it. Suddenly, Clinton rushed towards Kane, fiercely swinging the sword. Kane used his sword to block the incoming attack.

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CLASH~~~~

Clinton`s attack was easily blocked by Kane. Kane grinned, then used his physical strength to push back Clinton. Clinton was forced to retreat away from him by a couple of metres. He was a little confused, but he quickly recovered his composure.

“Not bad… not bad… I underestimated you... but don’t get any high hopes… you are still way too weak to pose any threat to me!” Colin screamed as he launched a barrage of sword attacks towards Kane. However, each attack was effortlessly blocked by Kane. Their swords danced together for a while, until Clinton stopped and retreated back. Even though Kane never exchanged blades with someone before, every move he made seemed to come off naturally for him. He felt like he had this talent from birth; his dormant instinct finally awakened.

Clinton was now deeply shocked and began showing signs of exhaustion. Not only Kane successfully blocked all the attacks with relevant ease, but he did so by only using his right hand, contrary to Clinton, who was using both of his hands to attack. Even though he didn’t want to, he started trembling, as fear started to pile up.

Whilst Clinton was distracted trying to calm himself down, Kane ran swiftly towards him, then he raised his sword and threw a light swing. Clinton was lucky to dodge, but the strike still brushed his face a little. Clinton quickly recovered his fighting stance. Afterwards, Clinton inspected his face; just to realise that his face was bleeding. In fact, Kane`s strike had left a small scar on Clinton`s face.

Clinton was now enraged. He was after all the 2nd strongest servant of the Zafisi clan. Besides Charles, there was nobody from the servants that he feared! How could someone like him lose to some random newbie that just joined the clan!

“You…! You…! You… piece of junk! I don’t give a crap about Colin`s warning anymore, prepare to die!” Clinton said as he prepared to attack Kane again.

Kane, now clearly uninterested, took the initiative, as he raised his sword whilst jumping into the air, before smashing his sword down towards Clinton. Clinton panicked, as he tried to block the incoming strike.

BOOM~~~~Clink~~~~Clink~~~~

Clinton`s sword fell on the guard. However, it made two sounds not one, because it was actually split in two by Kane`s strike! The strike left a long scar on Clinton`s chest. Fortunately for him, no fatal organs were hit, and the scar wasn’t that deep either. However, for a cripple like Clinton, it was more than enough to defeat him, not to mention the severe blood loss he was now experiencing. 

“Arghhhh the pain! The agony…!!! How could this be happening to me!!?” Clinton screamed. He was in a truly miserable state.

Before Clinton could utter another a word, Kane threw a powerful kick, landing directly on Clinton`s sorry face. Clinton landed on the ground shortly after, totally flabbergasted.

Kane then moved casually towards Clinton, as he grabbed his head from his hair, and turned it facing Monica. Kane wanted him to apologize to her. Monica stared at them astonished, like she was finding it hard to believe what her eyes were currently seeing.

“What the fuck you think you`re doing…” Clinton promptly screamed. Kane frowned, as he smashed Clinton`s face on the ground. This was followed by a few kicks that landed on Clinton`s chest. Clinton was powerless to stop him, and all he could do was to keep coughing up blood.

Then Kane raised Clinton`s head for a second time. Clinton face was filled with desperation. He then spoke, although it seemed that he was struggling to utter the worlds. That`s because, the words he was saying were hurting his pride.

“Sorry… I`m… sorry… Monica…” finally the words came out of his mouth, then he smiled and let out a sigh of relief.

However, Kane was still not happy by this half-assed apology, as he smashed Clinton`s face again on the ground.

Then, unexpectedly, Clinton turned around and unveiled a small blade that was hidden in his sleeve, as he charged his arm towards Kane. Kane was fast to react, and managed to catch Clinton`s hand before it could move any closer to his body.

Kane was now furious. He crunched Clinton`s hand until it let off the blade.

CLANK~~~

Clinton`s eye twitched, “You…! How can you be so strong? Are you really a…” However, he was interrupted by a series of kicks from Kane, and he didn’t stop until he was sure that Clinton didn’t have any more strength remaining to perform another sneak attack. Clinton now laid motionless on the ground, with both of his arms and legs wide apart, his face facing the roof.

Then Kane grabbed his sword with both of his hands, then smashed it straight down with all his strength between Clinton`s legs.

Both Clinton and Monica screamed in fear. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Fortunately for Clinton, this strike was a near miss. However, Kane`s current expression was saying it all. Next strike, there will be no misses.

Clinton wet himself and immediately screamed, while desperately crying, “Sorry! Sorry Monica! It was so shameful for me to act how I did! Please forgive me! Please forgive Monica!!”

He kept crying in fear for a while, before he turned his head towards Kane.

“And as for you, I admit I acted disgracefully towards you! I will acknowledge you as the 2nd Strongest of the clan from now on! I pledge to the creators that I will never bother the two of you again!  Please! Please forgive this man who isn’t any better than filth!!!”

Kane smiled, now clearly satisfied by the apology. He then grabbed Clinton and casually threw him far away out of the room, together with his broken sword and blade. Then Kane closed the door behind him. There was no need to pursue the matter any further. He was sure that Clinton had learned his lesson. Furthermore, he didn’t want to ruin his current reputation within the Zafisi clan. Nothing good would have come if he actually killed this man.

Monica looked at Kane with an astonished expression. She was expecting him to be beaten badly by Clinton, and yet the opposite actually happened! And it was also mostly one sided! The clan`s second strongest was trounced just like that!

At the same time she felt grateful towards Kane. She smiled, then leaned towards him as she gave him a kiss on his cheek. Kane looked towards her, kind of confused.

“Don’t misunderstand, I already have a man in my heart, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I just wanted to express my gratitude for what you did for me today. I will never forget your kindness.”

She then turned to look down at the floor, then she smiled, “The least I could do for you now is to clean this mess of blood that now lays on the floor. Wait for me, I shall return shortly.” She quickly ran out of the room to fetch the cleaning mats.

Kane smiled alone after hearing this. He wasn’t mad at her for the kiss either. Even if she fell in love with him, Kane would have refused her advance. He didn’t have time to venture in any amorous affairs. His heart was still quite rigid after the Julia affair at the SRC base.

Kane then sat down to relax, as he let out a small sigh. His eyes instantly opened wide in surprise. He actually heard a small sound that originated from his mouth. After all this time, the effect of the silence pill, was finally beginning to abate.