The impatient man hunched on the rooftop as the rain started falling. His body trembled, not from the cold raindrops splashing against his skin, but from the violence he held back. His fingers dug into the concrete, and within him, both Songs thrummed. They resonated with their sources, dissonant, disjointed, and discordant, yet they both reached for the same goal.
Revenge.
He felt them more intensely than ever before since his awakening. This newfound clarity came with a price—increased pain and pressure. But it also brought greater control, a deeper connection, and more power.
He could feel his target, his victim, reacting to the subtle pulses of Void he was emitting. It was like a fly buzzing around, irritating and enraging the pitiful man who had no self-control. As his own signature in the Void pulsed back, unknowingly to him, Luke already knew that his target would soon exit the club.
But even if it happened now, it wouldn't be soon enough.
A flare of anger ignited within Luke. The little embers he had set out had managed to start a fire. Just moments later, he could see his victim dragging two scantily dressed women with him. With a mere glance, he could discern the mind fog surrounding them; their mental spaces were clogged and pacified.
Luke knew exactly what that meant, and the anger within him surged. His grip on the concrete tightened, crushing it into fine dust. His body coiled like a prowling cat, and then, with explosive force, he leaped into the air. He soared over the club's center in the blink of an eye, landing with a graceful slide on his feet. Without missing a beat, he immediately regained his momentum and rebounded to the next rooftop, following the trio.
Minutes stretched into eternity as Luke silently shadowed the trio, the sound of his footsteps swallowed by the unrelenting rain. His heart raced as they entered the hidden maze of alleyways, far from the prying eyes of the world.
In a tight, concealed alley, a crack appeared in the facade. One of the women managed to break free from the coercion spell, her panic erupting into frenzied thrashing. At the very moment when Luke prepared to pounce, a gruesome scene unfolded. The woman was struck down, the sound muffled by the grim snap of her spine and the sickening thud as her body met the brick wall.
A surge of fiery rage coursed through Luke, only to be doused by an eerie, bone-chilling coldness that washed over him. He stood there, frozen, his mind a hollow void. The casual snuffing out of life, the extinguishing of an innocent soul, left him in a state of numb shock.
His gaze fixated upon the monster responsible for this heinous act, the intensity of his hatred growing with each passing second. With a steely resolve, Luke inched closer, hovering just above the unaware pair. The woman's panicked screams mixed with the perverted delight of her tormentor. Each word spoken stoked the furnace of Luke's hatred, driving it to feverish heights. He remained standing directly over them, a mere four-story drop separating him from his prey.
The pressure in Luke's temples threatened to rupture his skull, his bloodshot eyes seeing nothing but crimson, and his turbulent mind teetered on the edge of releasing his cloaking spell. But then, amid the chaos of his emotions, he spotted it—an opportunity.
The freak revealed his member to the girl, arms spread wide, forcing her to pleasure him.
Luke dropped down soundlessly, but the crash of his feet embedding into the floor resounded greatly. He landed with his right knee planted in the ground, his feet digging behind deeply, looking for purchase. His body was tense and taught. Before the concrete chunks could shoot out from under him, he reared his left arm back, and with a sudden motion he pierced The Veil with it, his prosthetic superimposing into The Real with a crackle, in less than a second the movement took to reach its sickly target, the prosthetic grew tens, hundreds, thousands of small, needle-like scalpels on the inside of the palm. Sharp blades adorned their sides. As his fist clenched he could feel them embedding into the soft flesh.
He willed the needles to bloom.
As the blades separated into thorns that clung and ripped the insides with mean brutality, Luke set himself into motion. Like a sprinter at the start of the race, he put all his weight, power, magic, and physical into his right foot. With his right arm traversing from behind his hip, it drew a beautiful arc. His fist stuffed with all his hate, resentment, anger, and fear from the last months screamed as it ripped the air.
Containing all the kinetic power he managed to store from his body dropping from the roof, he smashed the blond fuck directly into the nose just as his mouth opened to let out a scream of anguish.
Luke just smirked and asked.
“Missed me?”
His fist, like a bomb, it detonates.
A concussive blast ripples the pale face of the man, lifting up his eyelids spraying out tears and revealing rolled-up, icy blue eyes screaming in agony.
As the head snapped back with the top, front teeth missing from his mouth, embedded into Luke’s fist, the body followed suit. A concussive blast wave spread sideways from the impact point, creating a vacuum wall and repealing any raindrops above them.
The blond man shot backward like a cannonball, as his body moved back the first few inches there was tension, like a piano wire being pulled taught.
Then it snapped.
Only blood and torn stripes of flesh are left in Luke’s prosthetic. Oozing and mangled.
In the moment it took Luke to look down at his hand, his victim traversed a few meters and the air and crashed into a metal dumpster with the sound of cars crashing. Denting it to the shape of his body.
He could hear his screams, his anguish, and torment. It radiated from his mind like a storm.
He took it all in, opened himself to his suffering, and drank it all in.
He smiled, then, he realized what he had done. His gauntlet reacted to his will without his thinking, he just wanted to rip it off, but the additional accents were greatly welcomed. The torture of getting his prosthetic attached was worth it.
“That came in handy,” he said looking at his hand and was about to chuckle, but as a piece of flesh slipped from his grip, he remembered what he was holding and frowned.
“Wrong wording on that one” he complained to himself.
He heard the blond, blood and vomit-covered man squeal at him.
“It’s you…YOU! YOU FILTH!” he yelled at him, overtaken by rage and visible shame. Shaking from the pain and surprise.
He heard himself get recognized by the monster squealing like a slaughtered pig and he smiled.
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He crushed the contents of his grip, grinding them into a finer paste as he heard the fucker scream: “NOO!” He turned his head to face him, slowly, with a radiant smile beaming from under his fixed and unmoving eyes.
“Oh, so you did miss me.”
He turned his whole body to face him, and to shield the woman behind him. His blood was violently pumping, heart smashing like a blacksmith hammer against the anvil of his ribs. He could feel the Veil whip him for showing mortal feet unreachable to others, for showing his true visage to a mind unadjusted. He could feel his skin prickle with a burning sensation but cared little for it.
He looked deep into the hazy, blue eyes of Klaus that used to terrify him so much, that to him was an Omen to an End, a sign of horror.
And he chuckled.
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The world paused as the two faced each other.
Luke stood proud, looking down on the trembling, vomit-covered man whose gaze bore so much hatred toward him, and couldn’t help but laugh at the fickle sense of humor of Fate.
*Not so long ago it was me cowering before him, overwhelmed by monstrous power, covered in my own filth. * he thought to himself.
“Oh how the tables have turned, hmm Schnitzel?” Luke cheerfully asked.
“Give it back! Give it back and I will kill you quickly! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! MY FATHER WILL ERASE YOU! I WILL MAUL AND MURDER ALL YOU LOVE! I AM KLAUS OF THE HOU…” he yapped on, which irritated Luke. It was ruining this beautiful moment.
“You are Schnitzel, a cunt and an asshole. I don’t care for your daddy or your threats.” As he said that, the man he was insulting was baffled by the audacity. His face turned red and full of veins; his bleeding crotch started pumping out more blood.
“But you know what? I’m feeling magnanimous today. I know that if you were to use the most rapidly healing spells right now, it would scab over and you would be left dickless. Quite apt for one like you but here, if you want it…” As he was saying this he started walking closer, with each word a bit more rhythm entered his steps, more speed, and he swayed his shoulders more with every step.
“HERE! HAVE IT!” He exclaimed as he rushed to Klaus. With a mighty swing, his left arm traveled like a hammer, smashing the bottom of his fist, and its contents directly into Klaus’s face. With a thought, he added concentrated lightning to his concussive blast. The contents of his palm fried on the face of his opponent as he got blasted in the face. The dumpster acted like a metal bell. Sounding loud as it slid on the pavement, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake. It moved across half of the street and toppled backward on a curb. He could hear the wailing of the man inside, but the flaming whips brought onto him by the Veil took his focus away from that.
He turned back to the female behind him, frozen in fear, on the verge of madness. Tears streaked off her face as she trembled. Her eyes lifeless.
“Get away from here, he won’t get you. I promise.” He said to her.
It took her a moment to react, on her knees she started looking at her dead friend and back, she tried to say something, but she couldn't get any words out. She just looked like a fish taken out of water.
“FORGET WHAT YOU SAW HERE, FORGET AND LEAVE, RUN TO SAFETY!” He commanded her. The Veil left burning gashes on his mind as he spoke to her. The command set in and her eyes glazed over, shakily she stood up and wordlessly turned away and escaped the other way. Away from the monsters in front of her. His prosthetic returned to the normal hand the Veil forced on him.
*Now that’s that taken care of, back to…* as he thought that, he was turning back to face his opponent. Before he managed the full turn, he was grabbed by the side of his head and smashed into the wall. Cracking the brickwork yet still smiling. A bloody hand was tightly clutching his hair as the slightly charred face covered in snot, blood trailing from a broken nose, and with a mouth missing one pearly white tooth got closer to him, screaming at him, dousing him in spittle.
“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME! ME!!” He screamed as he pounded Luke’s head deeper into the brickwork. He just smiled, listened, and waited. His whole body was flooded with a pleasant warmth. He waited so long for this moment. He wanted to enjoy it.
As Klaus’s other hand grabbed his shirt and started pulling his whole body back and forth, he drowned out the screams of outrage. He chose the moment of rebound from the wall and as he was pulled closer he headbutted the man with enough force to crack the pavement under his feet.
The hit disoriented the man, Luke could feel the cartilage crack under his forehead, and he smiled even wider. Pushing the man backward and to the side, he aimed to have the best angle possible. It was time to follow up with his plan.
As his opponent moved back a few steps, hunched over, with eyes full of tears and blood cascading from between his palms, held closely to his nose, Luke took a step forward, lifting his knee high he cocked the kick like a revolver bullet and shot out with a heel kick directly under the opponent's solar plexus, taking his breath away from him.
Again, the body lifted into the air and sailed far, out of the alley and directly into the middle of the parking lot, just one building separating them from the busy club center of the city. Luke knew this place like the back of his hand. Besides rats and some drunks taking a piss, this place should be empty of witnesses. Just lots of cars and noise from the clubs drowning out what was about to come. The only direct connection to the club street was a small tunnel with metal gates on both sides of it. The other two streets connecting to the parking lot were devoid of life.
He rushed behind the wheezing man rolling on the pavement. Just as the Schnitzel stood up, with a sloppy guard put up, Luke crashed into him with an elbow strike. Klaus had his feet planted firmly, he didn’t get blasted away, but the power was enough to slide him backward.
As he regained his wits, he planted his legs firmer and tried to push back. Luke started throwing overhead elbows like a maniac, driving his opponent backward hit by hit. Just a few were enough to push him back against a car’s side doors. Just as Klaus was about to strike back between the elbows, Luke rapidly stepped backward and once again released a heel kick into his lower stomach. Folding him like a lawn chair the strength of the kick pushed him and the car backwards.
The tires squealed as the car moved sideways under the power of the kick. The alarm started blaring.
*The timer starts now. * Luke thought to himself.
He summoned a trinket from his storage, it nestled in his right palm. With a thought his bone bracelet cut open his veins and the blood got sucked into the amulet. The bronze metal absorbed it greedily and shone lightly. It crackled.
With a swift movement, he slammed his palm into the ground, pushing both The Primordial and The Void into the pre-prepared formation. It is embedded in the pavement and with a pulse it spreads outwards a distorting energy. Barely noticeable even to Luke himself. He grinned.
Without a pause in his movement, he shot off the ground, slamming a left hook into the bent-over Klaus and driving him deeper into the car. What followed was a flurry of punches. Aimed at the head, the cross guard the blond man was barely managing to hold up, the body, even the still bleeding crotch. The car’s tires gave out, popped with a loud bang and the car lowered onto its rims with a hiss. The windshields broke and the glass fell like rain. With every punch the metal squealed under the power, and Klaus imbedded deeper and deeper into the car frame.
Taking a step back, Luke telegraphed another heel kick, like most, his opponent immediately reacted without a thought, trying to block before the well-known pain came again. He lowered his arms to his stomach and opened up his face.
Like a cocked revolver, a shot went out. Luke’s left leg shot forward, yet changed trajectory in the middle. The question mark kick. It swung upwards and downwards like an executioner's axe and connected the heel right into the temple of the blond man. The force almost toppled the car behind him to the side. As it dropped again on all four wheels another strike connected. Luke’s right fist embedded deeply into Schnitzel’s face and it detonated with concussive force. Luke could feel his knuckles crunch and his forearm strain and he smiled as bliss took over him. He stopped just for a moment.
He lost his rhythm.
“ENOUGH!” The blond man screamed, slashing away with his arm. Spit flew from his face as a bubble of force knocked Luke and all surrounding cars away from him.
“Who do you think you are !!” the blond man yelled. He took out a vial, sparing a moment to look at it concerned but as winces of pain passed his face, he quickly popped the cork and downed it all in one go.
Within seconds, the paleness of his face disappeared. He regained color, the bruises disappeared and his body cracked and groaned under the regenerative powers.
In the meantime, Luke got airborne. He landed with grace, shaking off the concussive force like it was nothing. He landed with a slide, never dropping his gaze off his opponent. He allowed him to heal up.
“Part one complete” He whispered to himself.
Luke was taught about the immensely expensive healing potions that could clamp up organs and restore vitality. He knew that he had to make his enemy use up his lifelines as fast as possible to even have a chance. In his mind, he planned to take out an important internal organ or an artery. This whole situation was a gift he did not expect.
The whole exchange took less than 30 seconds since they entered the parking lot. The clock was ticking and it was time to get this show on the road.
“I will eviscerate you, you filth! Do you think you can take me on? ME?! Compared to you, I am a god! Let’s see how you manage when I unleash my prowess!” Klaus Jr. exclaimed as energy particles glistened around him, stretching like a fabric around the figure, it covered him. The Veil glistened, taught, and tight.
And it fizzled out.
“Wha..?” Klaus was confused. His face sent Luke into a fit of laughter.
“What’s up, buddy? Buckling under pressure? Don’t worry, 1 in 3 men and all that… well, not your concern anymore, really. But come on, maybe now it will work?”
With a huff, Klaus clenched his fist, and his biceps tensed, his gaze focused. Again, the Veil covered him, twisted, and was ready to let him through.
Fizzzzzzz~
And it popped, into nothing.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?” the blond man screamed.
To that, Luke started wheezing. The joy he felt was so immense he almost wet himself.
There may have been a slap on a knee or two.
“Oh jeez, you really should have seen your face right now. I wish I had a camera on me.” He said while wiping tears from his eyes.
“EXPLAIN!” Klaus demanded.
“You are a slow one, aren’t you? I polluted this region. No, going through the Veil, no powerups, no drawing on immense magic bullshit. My homebrew formation allows us to get down and dirty. To struggle in the filth you yell about so much. You can thank the Void for that. No more ambient mana acting as a conductor for you. We are doing this Maximum Effort style.” He answered with a condescending smile.
“…ghrrrAAAAAAH!” Luke’s opponent threw himself at him in a blind rage.
“YOU THINK YOU CAN BEST ME! YOU ARE BENETH ME! I STAND ABOVE YOU!” Wide swipes rattled the air as they passed by a hair distance from Luke’s face.
Another wide swipe with the claws unfurled.
And missed.
A right overhand swipe shredded Luke’s shirt yet left no mark on his skin. Klaus smashed his palm into the ground, cracking the pavement while hunching down. As he trembled in rage and his whole body shook, ready to rip his opponent to shreds he could hear one sound of a sneaker squeaking from rotation.
A low kick connected to his temple, sending him sprawling face first on the asphalt, skin grinding off like on a cheese grater, his legs and back in the air.
As he fell dazed to the ground, Luke repositioned himself from the kicking form to a normal one.
He took a deep breath.
And his inner power exploded.