"Give up now, and I might make your deaths quick," Ryan taunted.

Jett quickly looked around him. The cult members had spread out, forming a loose circle around them, armed with guns. Whimsy stood beside him, with a grin on his face. However, not the normal playful grin that Jett had grown familiar too; it was something much more devilish.

"On three," Jett whispered to Whimsy.

"Three!"

In a flash of blue, Jett teleported behind one of the cult members, disarming him with a kick and throwing him into another attacker.

The cult members immediately fired at Whimsy. Whimsy chuckled then suddenly their body contorted in impossible ways, dodging bullets as if they were moving in slow motion. Their hands transformed into giant mallets, and with a dark grin, they swung them, killing cult members instantly and sending some flying with bone-crunching force.

"Shit!" Ryan exclaimed, his ring suddenly glowing pale green.

However, before Ryan could do anything, Jett suddenly appeared in front of him in a flash of blue and delivered a bone-crunching kick to his face. Ryan fell to the ground, disoriented.

"You managed to land a hit, huh? Good for you," Ryan said, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

Jett’s eyes flashed blue. "I gave you a chance."

Suddenly, Ryan lunged forward with a spinning kick aimed at Jett's head. Jett barely had time to raise his arm, blocking the strike. However, Ryan’s kick was so powerful that it almost broke Jett’s arm, despite the fact that Jett blocked it.

‘He’s pretty skilled. He must have experience in fighting. No, that’s not all…’

Without wasting time, Ryan quickly followed up with a series of rapid punches, each aimed at a vital point. Jett managed to block and dodge some but when he could not keep up anymore, he vanished in a flash of blue. Jett then reappeared several feet away from Ryan.

'…he’s also trained too. He is a skilled martial artist. That's the only way he’d be able to move like that.'

Ryan didn't waste any time responding. He closed the distance with a flying knee strike. Jett sidestepped, parrying the blow and landing a counterpunch to Ryan's ribs.

Ryan grunted, barely noticing the pain, and reacted with a sweeping low kick. Jett jumped, avoiding being taken down by the sweeping low kick.

"You’re not a piss poor fighter, at least," Ryan remarked.

Ryan quickly aimed a powerful sidekick at Jett's head. Jett ducked, teleporting behind Ryan and delivering a swift elbow to the back of his neck. Ryan dodged it then spun around with a backfist that Jett barely dodged.

"I’m stopping you right here, right now," Jett declared.

Ryan chuckled then suddenly threw several lightning-fast punches and kicks at Jett. Jett knew he couldn’t evade them so he quickly set up his space barrier. None of Ryan’s attacks could penetrate the barrier.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"Someone’s not fighting very fair," Ryan said with a smirk.

Jett suddenly generated a burst of space that sent Ryan flying backwards. Then in a flash of blue, Jett teleported behind Ryan and delivered a powerful kick to the back of Ryan’s head. Ryan groaned in pain as he crashed into a wall.

Jett walked towards Ryan’s bleeding figure, his eyes glowing blue, "Just surrender, Ryan."

Whimsy, on the other hand, embraced the madness. They yanked a gun from a cultist's hand, transforming it into a bouquet of flowers before using the thorns to stab a cultist’ hand then swiftly knocked the cultist out. Another cultist lunged at them with a knife, only to find the blade turned into a spring that launched him across the room.

By now, bodies of several cultists littered the ground. The remaining ones were fleeing in terror. Ryan watched them, with a smile on his face.

"It’s my turn now!" Ryan said with a chuckle as his ring glowed with an intense pale green light and he began to cough up blood.

Jett's eyes widened in sudden pain as he felt a sharp, excruciating headache.

‘A cerebral hemorrhage? Damn it, I forgot about his ring,’ Jett thought, falling to his knees while clutching his head in pain as blood slowly trickled from his nose.

Whimsy glanced at Jett then turned to face Ryan. "Oh, you little bitch."

However, before Whimsy could do anything, they held their chest in pain as dark spots suddenly appeared on their skin, and it was rapidly spreading – necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease.

"I bet you thought your victory was set in stone, didn’t you? But now that’s over," Ryan’s eyes slowly started to glow with a pale green light and more blood began to pour from his mouth. "I’m going to make sure you two have truly excruciating deaths."

But before Ryan could do anything, a small, fierce rat suddenly appeared from nowhere and jumped on his finger. With a ferocious snap of its teeth, the rat severed the finger bearing the ring. Ryan screamed in pain, clutching his maimed hand as blood spurted in all directions.

The ring, now powerless, fell to the ground with a dull clink along with Ryan’s finger. The pale green glow of the ring suddenly vanished.

Jett began gasping for air as the hemorrhage ceased. Meanwhile, Whimsy's skin began to heal, the necrotizing fasciitis vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. Whimsy then leaned against a wall, a smile on their face.

"That was a close one. I thought I was a goner for a second there," Whimsy said while chuckling.

The rat suddenly glowed gold then it morphed into Sheila. Her mouth was still stained with blood. She turned to face Jett then gave a slight nod.

Jett nodded back then teleported directly in front of Ryan. He grabbed Ryan by the collar and shoved him against the wall with enough force to make the plaster crack. He placed his hands around Ryan’s neck, his grip tightening as if he was ready to strangle the life out of him.

Ryan's lips twisted into a taunting smile. "Go ahead," he sneered. "Do it. Show me you have the guts."

Jett's eyes were heavy, shaky, tears clouding his vision. His hands trembled around Ryan's throat. "Nobody has the right to do what they want with the life of another human," he said, his voice strained. "All humans deserve to have control over their own lives, to do what they want..."

Jett released Ryan, letting him drop to the ground. "I have no right," he said angrily, more to himself than anyone else.

Ryan chuckled darkly as he got up, brushing off his clothes. "Man, you’re pathetic."

Without warning, Ryan turned to Sheila, pulling a gun from his coat. "I made a promise to kill you, didn’t I?" He aimed the gun at her and pulled the trigger.

Jett moved on instinct, grabbing Ryan and teleporting in front of Sheila. The bullet meant for Sheila tore into Ryan’s chest. Ryan gasped, shocked. With his last breath, Ryan looked at Jett and managed a rasping laugh.

"You saved the girl," he croaked, blood bubbling at his lips. "But you had to use me as a shield, didn’t you? At the end, you’re the same as me. You’re willing to sacrifice others to achieve your goals. We’re both executioners."

Ryan’s eyes glazed over, and he slumped to the ground, dead.

Jett stood frozen, his lips trembling as he cradled Ryan’s lifeless body.

Sheila, still shaken, approached him slowly. "H-he was actually going to kill me."

"Yeah," Jett muttered, his voice hollow.

Sheila swallowed hard. "T-thanks."

Jett nodded, dropping Ryan’s corpse to the ground. He turned away, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "That’s two... Two people…" His voice cracked.