Chapter 17: Consequence

Bandit’s Home, Jade Empire

-Twak-

Austin flew back two meters, his body still in motion as he rolled further away before skidding to a halt. He groaned in pain and attempted to rise, pushing himself up with both hands on the dirt, but before he could get on his knees, Kai dashed besides him and viciously kicked his face.

-Twak-

The resulting impact caused Austin’s head to snap upwards along with several of his teeth. By now, the amount of pain he was experiencing far surpassed his pain tolerance and tears uncontrollably streamed from his eyes.

“M-my ather ill ot let ou go”, Austin struggled to threaten with what little arrogance he had left. His speech was slurred from the numbing pain on his jaw and the blood in his mouth. His face was covered with a disgusting mixture of tears, blood, and snot.

Kai’s facial expression remained cold and unchanged throughout the entire fight. He felt no pity for Austin’s miserable state; only a lingering fury from the beginning of it all. Having arrived at the conclusion, he allowed the feeling of vengeance to guide him. He knelt down, roughly grabbed his hair, and pulled it. Placing his face in front of his, he stared into his eyes.

“Previously I released you and your friends out of goodwill. I left you all unharmed and in return, you dare to come back seeking revenge?…”, Kai slowly uttered in a low voice so only Austin could hear him.

Each syllable of his words contained a frightening chill imbued with his restrained fury. Austin tried to reply with superiority but his words were stuck in his throat. He gulped swallowing blood and saliva, along with his fear, and began to speak.

“Yo-”

-Smack-

Without warning, Kai smacked him across the face with the back of his free hand. At the same time, he released Austin’s hair causing his face to fly onto the dirt.

“Was it fun? Did you enjoy doing the same to my sister?”, he menacingly asked.

Austin crawled to his feet and stared at Kai, eyes full of fear.

“Bu-”

-Smack-

He tried to speak but Kai exploded forth and smacked him across the other side of his face. He staggered back several steps before losing balance and falling on his bottom. Looking up, he wore a frightful ‘I can’t even answer your question?’ expression.

“Stand”, Kai coldly commanded.

Austin unconsciously obeyed and stood on his feet. He nervously raised his head to meet Kai’s eyes.

“Show me. Show me the power you think you possess, the power that made you determine you could hurt my sister.”

Kai motionlessly stood with a cold and calm demeanor in front of Austin, patiently waiting for him to move. Driven by his innate survival instincts, Austin roared in frustration and charged at him with his fist wildly extended. As he ran, faint white strands of Ki exuded from his entire body.

Sidestepping the meager punch, Kai channeled Essence to his right hand and thrusted it at Austin’s throat. He relentlessly gripped it and with all his strength, he easily lifted Austin off his feet.

Kai was shorter than Austin so he was unable to lift him high off the dirt but it was enough to have his feet slightly dangling in the air. Choking from the death grip, Austin attempted to free himself by using both his hands in an attempt to pry away Kai’s hand. His attempt proved futile as, even with both his hands, he could not overpower him.

Austin’s face gradually went a dangerous shade of red as he struggled to breath. The urge to kill the puny weak boy in front of him was overwhelming, but Kai was sane enough to suppress the urge.

Can. Not. Kill…

Successfully resisting the urge, he empowered his feet with a burst of Essence and leapt forward. Bringing Austin’s body along with him in the air, he landed in a half knee position and slammed his body flat on the dirt.

-Crash-

Austin’s head impacted first but he withheld just enough strength to keep him conscious. Blood rushed to his throat and he immediately coughed it out. Kai removed his hand and he greedily gasped deep breathes that sent shocks of pain throughout his battered body. The breaths came with much difficulty as he grimaced with each one.

“Is this it? This is the extent of your strength?”, Kai whispered to his face.

He stood up and blankly stared at Austin’s sorry state. Placing his hands behind his back, he defenselessly waited for his next move. Austin gradually rose to his feet, his legs trembling and his pants moist from the prior embarrassment. When he finally erected himself, he realized Kai was right before his eyes, merely a feet away. Shouting with anger and fear, he drew his fist back and threw a right uppercut at him.

His mind in disarray, Austin’s no longer concentrated enough to properly control his Ki. Noticing the lack of Ki on the fist, Kai lost his intentions of dodging and stood his ground. He channeled Essence to guard his chin and readily took the full force of his naked fist.

-Bam-

Austin was stunned that he managed to land a blow. He thought, ‘Is this it? Did I defeat him?’. The heavenly thought left as fast as it arrived when he saw Kai’s still body. He realized he neither flinched nor bled; his face did not even move.

“Weak”, Kai muttered.

Austin felt his blood run cold when the words reached his ears. He always thought he was strong, a genius with limitless potential. He was the strongest child amongst the bandit’s younger generation and everyone looked up to him. Now, however, he could not even move a younger boy with a punch. Too frantic to notice his punch lacked Ki, he truly believed he was powerless and his remaining confidence evaporated.

“W-why are y-you doing th-”, Austin started to whine while retreating from his figure.

“If you won’t come, I will.”

[Shadow Two Steps]

Kai swiftly disappeared from Austin’s point of view in a blink of an eye. He desperately turned round and round but no matter how he turned, he never saw Kai.

-Pow-

All of a sudden, he felt a painful impact on his left ribs. He grabbed his side and quickly turned to see the source of the attack, but he saw nothing.

“W-wha-”

-Pow-

Before he could think further, another blow struck his right ribs and he reacted in a similar manner. He still saw nothing.

-Pow- -Pow-

Kai repeatedly attacked Austin with shallow, yet painful, punches while expertly hiding in his blind spots, denying even the faintest glimpse of his shadow.

Austin slowly began to sob, his mental state crumbling to pieces. The torture was more than his feeble young mind could take. First he was thoroughly beaten down, then he was given the opportunity to retaliate but was unable to accomplish anything. Now he was receiving a merciless beating by Kai without being able to even see him.

Kneeling down, he placed his forehead on the dirt and his hands behind his head. He retracted his elbows to his sides, trying to minimize the amount of places Kai could strike. All the pride he accumulated over the years disintegrated as he knelt in the pitiful position and bawled his eyes out.

“Please, please stop. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Kai circled to a halt in front of him. Throughout his assault he had no goal in mind, just an incredibly strong desire to utterly humiliate him; to punish him. He gladly followed his vindictive instincts but now, looking at the broken boy in front of him, his mind was blank and he was unsure of his next move.

“Austin! Are you here?”

The voice came from the direction of the bandits home. Turning his head towards the direction, Kai saw a man walking towards them. Seeing the features and hearing the voice of the man, he instantly recognized him.

That’s the man the Boss gave commands to during that day when we departed the ship. I believe his name was Mian. What is his relation with Austin?

Mian walked past the Watchers house and his eyes widened as he absorbed the scene before him. Four young adults he knew were motionless, sprawled on the ground, and Austin was kneeling on the ground, crying like a baby.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry”, Austin repeatedly apologized, unable to hear Mian’s call.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOY?”

Veins popped out on Mian’s forehead as he saw Austin’s less than shameful behavior. Ignoring Kai’s existence, he marched over to his side. The moment he arrived, he pulled him up to his feet and was shocked at the state he was in.

Austin was covered in minor cuts, blackened with bruises, and his clothes were roughly tattered. Fresh blood still coated his lips from the mouthful of blood he coughed out and his eyes were streaming tears. He immediately cowered from Mian’s grip and covered his face, determinately staring at the dirt.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry”, he continued to repeat in a delirious state.

“What happened?”, Mian sternly asked in a hard tone.

“I’m sorry.”

Mian gradually developed a shocking realization that the boy was currently useless and was not going to give him a proper answer. He scanned the fallen bodies once more and Kai’s figure finally came into focus. He never bothered with slaves before and naturally ignored all of them but now that he examined his surroundings, he noticed that Kai was oddly the only one standing.

The rest of the slaves were still on their knees, not because they were diligently obeying the bandit’s orders, but because they were stunned in awe by Kai’s actions. From beginning to end, they were unable to logically piece together the scenes that occurred before their very eyes. In their line of sight, Kai was like a ghost when he dashed from one bandit to another.

Teresa was also stunned but she was the only one with a smile on her face. The circumstances were gruesome and unfortunate but it was the first time she heard Kai refer to her as his sister. She was incredibly touched and felt a warm happiness in her heart, despite the bruises on her body and face. Her smile, however, faded away the moment Mian laid eyes on them.

“What happened?”, Mian demanded as his eyes returned to Kai.

Before Kai could think of a response, the doors of the Watcher’s house opened. A short round man stepped through followed by a tall skinny man.

“Austin, are you finished yet?”, the short Watcher casually asked as he walked out.

His steps came an abrupt stop as he grasped the scene around him. The tall Watcher took no notice of his companions stop and toppled over him, comedically falling onto the dirt. Mian ominously turned his head to face the short Watcher’s, his eyes shining with fury.

“What happened here?”, Mian harshly asked the short Watcher, clearly becoming tired of repeating his question.

“Sir”, the short Watcher replied as he dropped to one knee. The tall man clumsily crawled to the same position. “Austin told us to not come out of the house even if we hear fighting noises and that he would tell us when it’s cover.”

“When it’s over? What did he say he was going to do?”

“He said he was going to teach the slaves a lesson, Sir”, the short Watcher respectfully answered.

Mian turned his head back at Kai and the rest of the slaves. The Watchers did the same and they all thought, ‘What part of this looks like a lesson?’. As he carefully examined each person he grew more suspicious of Kai.

Judging the positions of the kneeling slaves, he saw their knees, with the exception of the injured girl, shallowly indented into the dirt. Recognizing they were there for a prolonged period of time, the only person left was Kai.

Kai’s clothes were slightly ruffled and showed no indication of being in a fight. His fists, however, were slightly reddened and dirty; his feet were even filthier. Connecting the dots, he knew the small slave boy in front of him was part of the fight; ‘But how?’, he thought. He did not believe the boy was capable of defeating five separate Novice’s while finishing unharmed but with no other leads, he was forced to ask.

“Boy, were you the one that hurt our people?”, Mian carefully asked.

The Watchers looked incredulously at Mian, then at Kai.

The man with the broken arm can testify against me when he wakes…

“Yes”, Kai calmly answered with the truth.

“NO!”, Teresa cried out but Mian ignored her.

“Really?”, Mian slowly replied, accepting Kai as the true culprit. His gaze hardened as brown light emitted from his body. “Then you have to deal with the consequence.”