”How…how are you still alive?” Griff’s eyes widened as he saw Patty stand in front of him, with barely a scratch on him. But how was that possible? He definitely felt the contact between Patty and the Fiendish Armament. It should have destroyed Patty’s body into smithereens and burnt it into a crisp. But instead, Patty was standing on his own two legs, with torn and bloodied uniform, but not a scratch on his body.

He started to think that he was hallucinating. Was he seeing the ghost of Patty? Had it come back from hell to haunt him for the rest of his life? He slapped his face and the pain made him realize that he wasn’t dreaming. And he wasn’t the only one who was surprised by this. Judging by the surprised reactions of his lackeys and the sigh of relief from Grammo meant that they were also seeing the same thing.

Patty was alive. And he was back with a smile on his face like a demon waiting for vengeance.

The hairs on the back of his head started to rise, as he felt that something was wrong with Patty. He was different. If the dangerous aura he was feeling back then was a small ripple from a pond, this time, his humane instinct was telling him that Patty was a tsunami that must be avoided at all costs.

Patty was dangerous not just because he came out of being hit by the Fiendish Armament like it was nothing, but also because the power he was emitting right now was like a dangerous sheathed weapon, just waiting to have a reason to cut down an enemy. Both of those facts made Griff’s bones chill and break a cold sweat. His legs, trained by the Great Sonny Sunverk himself, were getting ready for a quick retreat instead of getting ready to fight the enemy; it knew that fighting Patty was useless.

But Patty stopped walking and just stood still near the wall. He just crossed his arms and waited for someone to come get him. Most people would think that Patty was being arrogant, but in truth, Patty was just being lazy. Why should he walk over there when they could just go to him?

Griff knew better than to fight an unknown fighter like Patty. He didn’t know what his fighting style was, he didn’t know what his strength was, and most importantly, he didn’t know how to deal with him. His well-trained eye that was molded through years of experience kept looking at Patty’s body and trying to see a chink in his armor. But he couldn’t. Despite how relaxed and vulnerable he looked, Griff somehow felt like he was an impenetrable wall with no holes.

Unfortunately, his lackeys didn’t have a sense of self-preservation. They didn’t know what kind of monster they were facing, and instead, taunted him to no end. They must have thought that Patty was the kind of guy who would back down because of some hurtful words.

“Back for seconds, huh, trash?”

“You won’t get lucky this time, you bastard. I’ll finally show you the difference between the elite and a peasant like you!”

“You should have stayed dead, then at least, you won’t be humiliated by me!”

The three of them felt ashamed that they let Patty get past them. They clearly underestimated him that time, so this time, they were going to go all out. They were sure that if they had just used their Teqx Powers against him, he would have been dead long before Griff even had to use the Fiendish Armament.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

The fact that Patty survived against a Fiendish Armament wasn't even in their thoughts. It was so impossible that they thought that Patty somehow got lucky again and avoided the Fiendish Armament because of the wind or something. They didn’t even think that Patty was a monster with a near invincible defense that not even a Fiendish Armament could kill him. They quickly forgot about that fact when facing Patty.

Since they had just gotten their Teqx this morning, their assumption of their own strength was very high. They felt invincible. They felt like supremes. Most people who transitioned from mortal humans to Teqx users felt an incredible difference in themselves that gave them false confidence about their strength. In truth, it was just leftover adrenaline from the merging with the Teqx.

But they didn’t know that. They truly believed that Patty was just some trash, weak, and pathetic kid who overestimated himself. What was he going to do? How was he going to fight against three Red Power Teqx users? He couldn’t! He would be dead before all three of them get a turn at their revenge.

“Look, Grammo. Your friend is here.” Jack grabbed Grammo’s hair and pulled it up for him to see Patty. “I want you to see this properly. I want you to see how weak, pathetic beings like you will be crushed under our rule.”

“You said you wanted help? HA! This is your help?! In just a few seconds, he will also be asking for help from the Supremes! Oh, Supremes, help me, I don’t want to get beat up by Griff and his friends anymore boo hoo!” Buck added.

Ryan liked Buck’s prediction of Patty and gave him a high five. The three of them were taking this way too easily. When they looked at Patty just standing there, they thought that he was too afraid of coming to them. Who wouldn’t be? They all had D-class Power Teqx that made them as strong as gods! Anyone would cower under their power.

“Who’s up first? Who gets the honor to punch Patty in the face?” Jack asked.

“Me! I’m raring to go!”

“No fair! I’m the oldest so I should go.”

The three of them couldn’t decide who would go first. For them, this was very important. They thought that Patty could very well be out of commission and knocked out with just the first fighter, which meant that the two of them could end up not fighting Patty at all. It wasn’t fair since they all wanted to test out their new powers on a punching bag like Patty.

In the end, the three of them played the childhood game: Power, Money, and Fame.

The game was very simple, Power beats Fame, Fame beats Money, and Money beats Power. Power symbolized a closed fist, Fame was a peace sign, and Money was equivalent to an open hand. In the count of three, they would choose one route and see if they beat the other person. If it was a draw, then they do it again.

Usually, this game was only done with two people, but since there were three of them, they just played a different version where the game continues until one person beats the other two. To make sure that it was not just luck, people usually go till a person has three points.

Critics of this game say that only luck plays a factor in winning the game, but that was not entirely the truth. If a person has fast reflexes and good eyes, he could see what the other person will play and therefore change his answer to beat his opponent. This also meant that people who had Red Teqx or Power Teqx had an unfair advantage in the game, which was true, so this game was really only played by kids who didn’t have that kind of cheat.

Since all three of them had Red Power Teqx that improved their legs, none of them had an unfair advantage in the game. And so, the three of them played Power, Money, and Fame.

In the first game, of course, they all chose Power.

In the second game, it was Power, Fame, and Money, which was a draw.

The game continued on the sixth game until Jack finally won when he chose Fame and the other two chose Money.

This was extremely disrespectful as they didn’t even look at Patty. They were treating him as if he was a punching bag that they can test their newfound strength on. Of course, Patty didn’t care. He just wanted them to come to him.

Jack was up first to attack Patty. Feeling excited, he shoved his left foot on the ground so hard that a bunch of rocks and soil flew up to his shin. This was his Teqx power, D-class Drop Shot, which can make him treat any material as if it was a football, as long as he could physically bury his foot in it.

As he kicked the soil floating in front of him, the soil suddenly compressed upon itself and became denser and harder than normal soil to the point that it became as hard as steel. Jack even regretted putting too much power into this because it might knock out Patty and playtime would be over.

But then, Patty simply stood there, waiting for the attack with an indifferent face. He didn’t even look at the soil as it hit his chest and simply disintegrated into powder without doing anything. Patty didn’t even move a slight bit.

“Why don’t all three of you come to me, because I’m too lazy to deal with you one on one.”