Liam swallowed as he saw another ball of green energy gathering in the man's hands. If he wanted to get away, he needed to do it now. And he needed to be decisive about it.

Liam channeled his [Gravity Jump] skill and pushed all the mana he had circulating into it. Then he lowered himself slightly and catapulted forward.

Before Trake even knew what was happening, Liam soared past him. His feet hit the ground at the end of the alley, a dozen meters behind Trake. He wanted to start running as soon as he landed, but he hadn’t had the time to preemptively deactivate his skill during his jump. So instead of sprinting, he stumbled.

He quickly regained his balance though, and wanted to push off again, when a green wall appeared in front of him.

It singed dangerously and seemed like it cut the air itself. Liam’s instinct told him to rather not touch it, and he was keen on trusting it.

“Thought you could escape the fun, eh?” Trake’s voice rang through the alley taunting.

Instead of answering, Liam pushed himself off the floor again. Weightlessness encompassed him, and he soared toward the roof of one of the houses instead.

A loud bang was heard and a green sphere of energy was hurled directly at where he aimed at. Liam hastily cut the connection to his skill. Immediately gravity clawed at him again, and he lost height.

The edge of the roof exploded as a ball of energy hit it. Whole tiles were blown away and half the rooftop was singed. Liam had been lucky though. All he got was the small debris shower falling onto his face while he hung onto the window still a few feet below.

He immediately Gravity Jumped again. His mana dipped dangerously low, but Liam didn’t care. He pushed himself off of the window still and landed on top of the building.

He was about to turn and run away when Trake yelled out.

“Stop it.”

His command was followed by a whimpering.

“Are you really such a coward that you would rather let her die than play some with me?”

Liam turned reluctantly and saw that Trake was holding the woman. One hand clasped on her neck, the other holding a small dagger towards her stomach. The other man stared in miscomprehension.

Liam was appalled. His anger at Bilby for making these people addicted and making them become like this intensified upon seeing how low Trake swooped.

Still, he hesitated for a moment. He didn’t know these people. And if he helped them, there was a more than real chance he would get hurt.

The old him would’ve simply run. Wouldn’t have even stopped and turned. But he couldn’t do that anymore. He wasn’t that person anymore.

Liam wasn’t responsible for the situation these people were in in life. And he didn’t owe them anything. But he was responsible for what happened to them now, while he was here and able to help them.

“Stop that Trake. It’s me you want, let her go.”

His eyes scanned the alley frantically. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but Liam was desperate.

“That’s right, it is you that I want,” Trake said. “You come down there slowly and surely and stop that fancy jumping of yours. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee anything that happens to her.”

Liam balled his fists. They stayed with their eyes locked for a long time. Finally, Liam nodded and scaled down the building.

Even without his skill, he was quick, having scaled buildings for most of his life, so he was down a few moments later.

He treaded towards Trake. “Let her go.”

“No.” A smile played over his face. “I think I will keep her a little longer, to make sure our talk goes smoothly. I can’t have you scurrying away, you see.”

He pressed his knife a little more against the woman’s stomach. She whimpered. The man next to her, mistaking her whimmering, chuckled hysterically.

Liam and Trake had locked eyes. The energy between them was loaded and all was silent safe for the man’s low manic chuckling.

A rough idea started taking root in Liam’s head. But he needed mana for it. He looked inward and waited for it to slowly trickle together.

“Take me to Bilby then and let’s get this over with.”

“Oh I would love nothing more than that,” Trake said. “But there is something else we two need to discuss first.”

“What is that?”

“The rubar. Where did you hide it?”

Liam paused. Then he started laughing. “You want the rubar for yourself, eh?”

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“Part of it was mine! It is my fucking product that you stole, and I want it back!”

Now Liam could see the signs on the man. He was thin, almost dangerously so. His cheeks were sunken and there was a grayish color to his skin.

If he hadn’t been a cultivator, he wouldn’t have taken this man seriously. Certainly not in a fight. But now, things being as they were, he knew that taking Trake too easy would be a serious mistake.

He needed to time things perfectly.

“I can show you the product,” Liam said. “I can give you all of it without Bilby ever having to know.”

Now uncertainty flashed over the man's face. Liam wondered how long it had been since he had last used it. He could be irrational and dangerous.

Greed and desire fought against fear inside of the man. It wasn’t surprising to Liam that Bilby was a leader who had his people underneath him with fear, he was like David in that aspect. But still, he was shocked to see just how much Trake feared Bilby.

Usually, nothing got between a rubar smoker and their product. Not even common sense, reasoning, or fear of pain.

Trake must truly fear terribly of Bilby, or have something else that he wanted. But at the same time, rubar was a terribly addictive drug.

“You can have all the rubar that you want Trake,” Liam said, taking a careful step toward him. “All the rubar that Bilby would’ve never given you.”

The man was listening, Liam saw it. He took another step closer.

“Let the woman go, and we can both get here.”

A jerk reaction went through the man's face. Suddenly, the man tightened his grip on the woman, pressing the knife deeper into her stomach, drawing blood.

“Shut up and-”

Trake didn’t get further as Liam spun into action. He pushed almost all of the mana he collected into his [Gravity Manipulation] Skill. And he focused on the dagger in Bilby’s hand. He had only done something similar once and with lower stakes. But now he knew it needed to work.

Liam focused on the thin purple thread that was wavering out of the dagger on the opposite side of the woman. Then, with one giant push, he dragged it away from her.

Immediately the dagger lurched backwards, but it wasn’t sent flying out of Trake’s hands like Liam had hoped. But it didn’t need to, his plan would still work.

With the rest of his mana, Liam activated [Gravity Jump] and dashed forward. He appeared in front of Trake immediately.

He was so fast that Trake didn't even know what was happening. In one moment the dagger was suddenly pulled to the side and Liam appeared in front of him.

Liam threw his fist forward, following all the lessons Marten had shown him, and punched Trake in the abdomen.

The man stumbled and the woman was released from his grip. At the same time, Liam’s concentration on the gravity manipulation skill broke. The strain of keeping it upright while fighting just being too much on him.

But he didn’t give Trake any chance to recover, Liam flowed into the net motion from their kata. He threw a kick at Trake's right leg, eliciting a sharp cry of pain in response.

Before he could flow into the third motion, the man recovered though. he lashed out with his dagger.

Liam barely managed to sidestep out of range. But Trake followed up with another slash. Faster than Liam would’ve expected from the lanky and weak man, he swung his dagger, forcing Liam more and more backward.

“You little piece of scum.”

Another slash.

“You think you’re better than me? You think you're better than Trake?”

He stabbed. Glinting metal in the moonlight. Liam was surprised at his quick reaction. He only managed to dodge due to his training with Marteb. He had never felt this fast, nor this in control of his body.

Every one of his moves was deliberate. Every placement of his feet allowed him to rotate just as he needed to and let Trake hit the air. Throughout their dance, his attacker became more and more desperate.

“Stand still you fuck. I will slice you for that product.”

Suddenly there it was. An opening.

Liam threw a punch directly at Trake’s sternum, and the man stumbled backward. He jabbed at his jaw and followed with a sidekick to his knee. It bent unnaturally under Liam’s force. Trake fell to the ground with a groan.

Liam quickly turned around and scanned the alley.

The green energy barrier was gone. Probably broke off during their fight. The woman was free, her man holding her upright and trying to drag her away. This was his moment.

Liam ran. He dashed towards the exit of the alley as quickly as he could. If he only made it onto the main street, he could hide between the houses and sneak away. Then he could circle back into the caravan without Trake noticing.

It was only a few steps towards freedom. He could almost see the faint light of the street lanterns when a big explosion threw him to the ground. His eyes were flickering with green light.

Trake was slowly dragging himself toward Liam. One leg limping behind awkwardly but killing intent sparkling in his eyes.

“You thought you could run?”

Liam's ears rang. His world was full of pain. He needed to blink to get rid of the lights. He saw two Trakes standing above him.

“You think you’re strong, eh?” one of the two said.

“You thought you could have all the rubar to yourself?” the other one said.

Liam blinked and they merged back together into one. His head was straining with the effort.

“Well, you want to see what that gets you?” Trake smiled. The man raised his hand back toward the rubar couple. The man was still trying to help the woman up, staring in their direction with horror.

A small green sphere flew out from Trakes' hand. Barely the size of a small stone. It hit the woman in the head and exploded. The man was thrown to the side and screamed.

“Hah that happens when you don’t want to listen:”

Trake pressed a foot to Liam’s open wound on his side.

“Will you show me where the rubar is now?”

Liam threatened to pass out from the pain. He wanted to scream, to fight and twist himself out underneath Trake. Everything to get that white-hot pain to stop.

Before he could even force a word from his lips, the pain suddenly stopped.

Liam opened his eyes in surprise and saw Trake staring down at him. His eyes wide in disbelief.

A knife was sticking out of his stomach. Blood dripped onto Liam.

Trake was about to say something when the knife was pulled out and violently rammed into him again. And again. And again.

After the fourth time, Trake fell to the floor, revealing the rubar smoker man behind him.

The man stared down at Liam, and for a second Laim felt fear. There was unpredictable craziness in his eyes.

Then the man simply let the dagger drop to the floor and shuffled away. Liam stared after him in shock. Then his eyes fell on Trake lying next to him.

It took a few seconds for realization to set in. His mind was too muddled by the pain. But when it did, Liam got up from the ground and ran as fast as he could.

Because he knew that that night, a cultivator had been killed.