Chapter 18

The small crowd all backed off slightly so that Jack and Eric Flamewrought stood in the middle, Flamewrought wore an expensive three piece tailored suit. Everyone looked back and forth between them with a mixture of morbid curiosity and gleeful anticipation. Sort of like watching a car crash or celebrity reality tv show.

Jack didn’t respond to Flamewrought’s greeting but that didn’t seem to phase the titan slayer.

“Getting a little practice in are we? I’ve heard you’re actually quite the competent duelist.” Flamewrought grinned at him in a friendly manner.

“I’m okay I suppose, I hold my own.” Jack frowned suspiciously.

“Hmm, I see I see, well then, perhaps I might offer you a few pointers yes? A friendly spar between you and me?” Flamewrought suggested, smiling lightly.

Jack was immediately suspicious, something about the man and his ‘offer’ struck him as decidedly off. To go from grieving angry father to all smiles and friendly greetings, he didn’t buy it.

“Errrr…..” Jack tried to think of a polite way of denying someone who’d been part of the team to slay a half kilometre tall city killer.

“Come now Jack, I know you and I have had our……disputes recently, but I’m willing to forgive and forget. Especially if it's to help a promising young hunter such as yourself improve.” Flamewrought grinned again but Jack noticed his left eye twitching slightly.

“Erm yeah, no, I’m good thanks, I was actually finished and just about to head out. Maybe next time?” He quickly turned around to the whispers of the onlookers and walked to the bleachers where his gym bag was, wondering if he should’ve just abandoned it and left the arena straightaway. But the thought of what Gary would do to him if he lost all his equipment again dissuaded him from that idea.

He bent down and grabbed his bag, he turned around and jumped in surprise when he found Flamewrought standing behind him, his back to the crowd, looking enraged.

“Oh come on Jack! I told you I’m not angry! Ha ha!” he said in a loud cheerful voice so that the rest of the arena behind them could hear him. But then he lent down so that his face was inches from Jack’s.

“Listen here you little shit,” he hissed quietly, all cheer and friendliness gone, a tiny wisp of smoke escaped his nose. “Me and you are so not done, you killed my boy and for that you’re going to pay,” he growled before gripping Jack’s left forearm and squeezing, Jack winced as he felt his bones bend and grind together painfully.

“Everything okay here Eric?” A familiar voice sounded from behind. Immediately Flamewrought straightened up and turned around, his fake friendly smile plastered back on his face.

“Ah! Cheryl m’dear! So lovely to see you again! I was just having a little chat with young Jack here. We were going to spar weren't we?” Flamewrought grinned, quickly letting go of Jack's arm.

“Hell no! Dudes a psycho! I thought you said he was going to leave me alone!” he said accusingly to Cheryl, rubbing his arm.

Cheryl turned an unimpressed look on Flamewrought who simply stared back at her with an innocent ‘who me?’ expression.

“Eric, I thought we’d already had this conversation,” she sighed in exasperation.

“Oh Cheryl, this is just a misunderstanding. I’m sorry if the young man here was intimidated by me but I’m sure if he gets to know me a little better-” Cheryl cut him off with an impatient wave of her hand before she turned to Jack.

“You should probably go Jack, looks like I’ll be on interference duty for a while longer,” she said before turning her glare on an innocent looking Eric Flamewrought.

Jack didn’t need to be told twice as he hefted his gym bag and hurriedly left the training arena. However he didn’t let his guard down while he was in the narrow, dimly lit tangle of corridors until he’d walked up the stairs to the well lit reception area.

As he was walking through he gave a small nod in greeting to the receptionist, but before he could leave she stopped him.

“Oh! Excuse me! Are you Jack Errant? Recently promoted to E rank?” she asked, getting his attention just as he was about to step out.

“Yeah, that's me. What's up?” he asked.

“Great! I was hoping I’d catch you, now that you’ve been promoted to E rank I’m supposed to tell you about a new feature of the training halls you’ll be able to take part in,” she explained.

“New feature?”

“Oh yes, ever since the exhibition duel between Eric Flamewrought and Thomas Norton, more hunters and various media outlets have been wanting to participate and see more fights like it. So director Welts has put together a local duelling league for all hunters E rank and above, anyone of the proper rank who wants to participate is welcome to sign up.”

“A duelling league? That sounds interesting,” Jack said in curiosity.

“Yep, a lot of hunters have already signed up. If you want to also join then you can read about the rules and how it's all arranged in this pamphlet here,” she said cheerfully before handing him a pink and red pamphlet with the details on. “Then if you’re still interested, just come back here and sign up.”

“Huh, well okay. I’ll definitely look into it. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome hunter,” she nodded with a large smile. Jack bade her goodbye and left the reception area, intrigued at the idea of a duelling league.

It was dark when he left the guild and wandered over to the parking building where he’d left his car, he put his gym bag into the boot, but before he could open the drivers door he heard a voice behind him.

“Hey, hey you, turn around,” a quiet voice whispered.

Jack turned and came face to face with a young man a little taller than Jack with a hood over his head, pointing a handgun at him.

Jack tilted his head quizzically. “Are you….mugging me?” he asked in confusion. He didn’t exactly feel threatened, even if the man confronting him had a gun and Jack didn’t, the man looked nervous and was visibly shaking. Plus what was an armed mugger compared to a bloodthirsty monster? Jack was finding himself rapidly desensitised to violence these days, sometimes he almost felt anticipation for it, probably an issue to address at a later date.

“What? No, I just want you to come with me,” the young man protested.

“Erm, why?” Jack asked, feeling unintimidated, this man was decidedly not a threat. After spending so much time around hunters and cultivators Jack had begun to get a sense for who practised cultivation and who didn’t, he’d even begun to get an idea of how strong a person might be with their element. Even though another person's elemental essence may be foreign to someone else, it was still possible for another person to gain the ability to sense it. This person had nothing.

“You don’t need to know why, you just need to do what I tell you!” the not a mugger raised his voice in frustration, the sound echoed throughout the car park and he looked around in fear. No security guards came, this place really did have terrible security.

“Okay then, no,” Jack replied.

“What!?”

“No,” Jack said again.

“You can’t - What do you mean no!? I have a gun!” He showed the gun to Jack, who simply snatched the gun out of the young man's hand before he could react.

“There, now I have a gun. So that means you have to do what I say. Isn’t that how this works? So tell me what you want.”

The young man backed away in fear. “Please….please don’t shoot!” Still no security guards.

“Relax, I’m not going to shoot you,” Jack assured him, the man visibly relaxed. “But I probably am going to hit you with a few thousand volts of electricity, legally I think it's considered self defence so…..” he stepped forward and the young man yelped in fear before attempting to flee.

Jack sent a weak, dialled down arc of electricity into the man’s back who yelped this time in pain before stumbling and falling to the ground. Jack leisurely stepped over to him and pinned him to the ground with a foot to his arm, the man groaned and whimpered in pain.

“Oh don’t be a baby, now tell me what you want. Where do you want to take me?”

“Urgh….my..my boss wants to talk with you! Urgh!” the man groaned out, cringing in pain on the floor.

“Your….boss?” Jack took a closer look at the young man, tracksuit trousers and jacket, trainers, visible neck tattoo, tacky gold necklace, and no gun holster - he really hoped this man had at least carried his gun in his pocket and not down his pants. He began to have an inkling of who or what his boss might be, though he had to ask. “And who might your boss be? Hmm?” he asked.

But before the man on the floor could answer, Jack felt a strong impact to the back of his head, however it wasn’t strong enough to knock him out, it was simply painful. He turned around in annoyance, rubbing the back of his head and saw another young man similarly dressed to the first backing away in horror, holding a bent metal pipe in his hands.

The young man dropped the pipe, it clattered to the ground and he ran away in the opposite direction as fast as he could. Jack watched him go in bemusement before turning back to the first thug on the ground.

“Where were we? Oh yeah, who’s your boss?” he asked politely, making sure to put more weight down on the man's arm. In the past this sort of violence over another human being would’ve made him feel queasy, but now, inwardly, he felt a faint feeling of revelment in the power he now wielded over another person. That might also be an issue to address in the future.

“Its….its Tony Chung….urgh…stop! You're breaking my arm!” the thug cried.

“Tony Chung? Okay, and what does this…..Tony Chung want with me?” Jack asked.

“Argh!” The thug simply groaned in pain.

“Oh right, your arm.” Jack lifted his foot up and allowed the man to curl up in pain. “Well? I’m waiting,” Jack said impatiently, nudging the wincing thug with his foot.

“He just wants to talk with you! He has information about Flamewrought! Said he could help you out with him, get him off your back! Urgh! God! My arm! I think it's broken!”

“Oh calm down, it's a fracture at most. Now, you were saying this Tony Chung could help me out with Eric Flamewrought? How exactly could he help me?”

“I don’t know! He just wanted me to bring you to him! I don’t know anything else I swear!” he cried out in pain and fear.

“Hmm, where is he now? Your boss?” Jack knelt down and flicked the thug's head with a finger.

“There’s a….there’s a silver Honda Civic waiting for you downstairs, it’ll take you to him,” the thug frantically explained, desperate now for Jack to just go away.

“Uh huh, and was I supposed to ride in the boot I wonder?” Jack stood up and the thug gulped nervously. He tried to get up and leave but Jack placed a foot back down on the thug's chest.

Jack stood still for a moment with various thoughts racing through his head, trying to think things through. For a start, he didn’t believe for a moment that this offer or whatever it was, was legit. Obviously whatever scenario this happened to be, it was more complicated than some guy named Tony Chung simply offering to help him out. But at the same time, Eric Flamewrought’s grudge against him was a serious cause for concern and despite director Welts and Cheryl’s intervention, he still wasn’t willing to let bygones be bygones. And security still hadn’t shown up.

With a sigh Jack lifted his foot and allowed the thug to get up. The thug struggled to his feet and eyed Jack nervously. Jack opened his car door and quickly placed his pager onto one of the seats. He had a feeling he was about to go somewhere he wasn’t supposed to and didn’t want to be tracked.

“Show me where that car is,” Jack ordered. The thug's eyes widened in fear for a moment before hurriedly nodding and scuttling to one of the parking building staircases, cradling his arm, cringing all the while.

He led Jack to the ground floor and outside to the street, on the other side was a silver Honda Civic waiting for them. They walked across the street and Jack climbed inside onto the back seat, another thug, much much larger than the first two was sitting in the seat next to him, glaring menacingly at him, but Jack could not detect any strong elemental essence from him. The young man whom Jack had bullied into bringing him to the car got in the front passenger seat.

Jack gave the large man a nod and friendly smile before turning to the driver in front. Both the large thug and the driver were dressed similarly to the first two thugs, nor were they cultivators either.

“Tony Chung please,” Jack requested with a smile.

The driver looked confused for a moment before asking, "Where's Steve?”

“He bottled it and ran away,” the first man informed him before turning to Jack. “Can I have my gun back now?” he asked timidly.

“Say please,” Jack said as he buckled himself in with the seatbelt.

“Please?”

Jack leaned forward and prodded the man in his injured arm. “Nope.” The thug recoiled and winced in pain. Jack looked at the driver. “Are we going or not?”

The driver looked undecided for a moment before sighing, he started the car and they drove away. They drove in silence through light traffic for several minutes to near the edge of the city until they arrived at what appeared to be a warehouse complex.

They parked in a parking area in front of a small office building attached to a warehouse, the three thugs escorted him into the office building before leading him through several corridors and into the warehouse.

As they walked Jack began to get a firmer idea of just who and what this Tony Chung might be. Scattered around the warehouse were boxes and crates, some of the containers were open and they contained items such as guns and other no doubt illegal items. Other crates seemed to be full of exotic harvested items from monsters, magical flora and rare minerals.

It seemed to be a lot like the hunters guild HQ warehouse, but Jack doubted this one officially existed. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw a trolley wheeled past him stacked with small cages containing something moving and squeaking. They were small fuzzy creatures, looking like a cross between a persian cat and a mouse with large adorable anime eyes, they made a cute guinea pig like squeaking and shivered in fright as they passed by.

“Forest Munchlings, people love them as pets, they sell incredibly well,” a smug voice sounded from the end of the aisle they were walking along.

Jack looked over to the source of the voice and saw a man reclining in a chair amongst all the stacked crates, surrounded by several armed men.

He continued walking down the aisle until he stood in front of the man. He was surrounded by another assortment of thugs and goons, all staring at him, holding handguns and rifles.

“Jack Errant, I’ve heard a lot about you recently, my name is Tony Chung. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The man smiled at Jack, he was still reclining in his seat so Jack couldn’t determine how tall he was. But from the look of him, he had pale skin with faint asian features and black hair. He wasn’t wearing a tracksuit like many of his men were, but instead, smart trousers, shoes and a white shirt, as if he’d just finished work at the office.

“Those Forest Munchlings, they’re monster spawns right? Not mutated animals?” Jack asked, but Chung simply shrugged with a smile. “And you’re selling them as pets? This is a blackmarket isn’t it?”

“Heh, good guess. And like I said, people love ‘em and I’ve got ‘em. Supply and demand, that's what it's all about, magic or no magic, monsters or no monsters. They’ll always be people with stuff and other people willing to buy that stuff,” Chung said with a smug smile.

“That's a fascinating take on the capitalist system but seriously though, if those things are monster spawns then keeping them around too long will cause more to spawn over time in the area. Are they at least herbivorous?” Jack asked suspiciously.

“Ah well, they can eat whatever really, though they do like a bit of meat on occasion, especially if they’re hungry.” Chung smirked in amusement.

“Riiiight, well, I’m here. One of your goons said you had information about Eric Flamewrought, about how to get him off my back he said,” Jack said, he looked around and examined Chung's apparent henchmen. Most of them seemed normal, but a few of them appeared to have a faint amount of elemental essence within them, indicating the beginnings of cultivation.

Chung didn’t answer straight away but carried on smirking, after a second he leaned to the side and looked at something directly behind Jack. Jack turned around and to his horror he saw Eric Flamewrought striding down the warehouse aisles towards them. He was accompanied by his own set of thugs escorting him.

He looked annoyed and impatient, but when he saw Jack his face changed to confusion and then savage glee.

Jack turned back to Chung. “What the fuck is this!?” Jack growled in mild panic at Chung and the surrounding henchmen all tensed up.

“I would also like to know just what the fuck this is,” Flamewrought spoke in annoyance as he approached them. “And Jack, so glad to see you again.” Flamewrought turned to him with a small predatory smile. Jack gulped.

“Excellent, you’re both here. Mr Flamewrought, it's a true honour sir. I’m a big fan of your work,” Chung stood up with a smarmy smile and offered his hand to Flamewrought to shake.

Flamewrought simply stared down at him in contempt until Chung lowered his hand and withdrew, though he looked unflustered.

“Well then, I’m sure you’re both busy men. We’ll get right down to business. Barry,” Chung stated, looking at both of them.

At the mention of his dead son’s name Flamewrought snarled angrily.

Jack glanced nervously at him before speaking to Chung. “I think he means, what about Barry?”

“Barry, may he rest in peace, was in debt to me for an extremely large amount of money, and I mean an extremely large amount. Heh heh, drugs, girls, gambling, such a naughty boy. Normally I wouldn’t let someone who owed me that much run around for so long without a broken leg or two, but since he was Eric Flamewrought’s son, I figured I’d be getting paid eventually. Barry assured me you would cover him if he couldn’t,” Chung said to Flamewrought, still aiming his smug smirk at the man that helped take down a city killing titanic monster.

Jack was confused for a moment. “If this is about Barry owing you money and his dad paying his debt, then why am I here? I’ve got nothing to do with this,” he told Chung who simply looked at Jack with perplexment.

“You were the one Barry told me he could use to get the money he owed me, you’re here to pay me with whatever money you got from Barry’s little scheme.” Chung pointed a finger at Jack. “I thought it best that we bring everyone together so that we can talk about our little problem and figure something out like reasonable adults, one way another I’m getting the money that screw up Barry owed me.” Chung smiled in a menacing manner.

Meanwhile Flamewrought simply gritted his teeth, small wisps of black smoke escaped from his mouth.

“Uh oh, Mr titan slayer looks pissed,” Chung mockingly said to Jack in amusement. “But I wouldn’t try anything if I were you, all my bodyguards practise cultivation and you ain’t armed. If you make a move they’ll tear you apart,” Chung arrogantly said as he stood up and smiled, gesturing to his henchmen around him.

Again Jack was confused, he looked around at the supposed bodyguards. They certainly looked intimidating, all tall and muscular, and they definitely looked like they knew how to use those guns they carried. But as far as elemental cultivation went, Jack could sense very little power coming off them. He wondered if Chung was referring to some other bodyguards he couldn’t see.

Flamewrought however, didn’t look confused. His snarl and gritted teeth slowly morphed into a very wide feral grin. He slowly sauntered up to Chung, the bodyguards tensed up nervously but he was too close to their boss to risk shooting.

Flamewrought placed his hands on a confused Tony Chung's shoulders, he pretended to brush Chung's shoulders for dust before he suddenly grasped them hard. The crime lord barely had time to gasp in pain and surprise before Flamewrought’s head rocketed forward in a vicious headbutt.

The front of Tony Chung’s head and face caved in completely, blood and brain matter jetted out to the side. Flamewrought withdrew his head from the remnants of Chung’s with a sickening wet sucking sound, red stringy bits of bloody gore connected his face to what was left of Chung’s.

Flamewrought held up the limp body of the former crime boss and casually flung the flopping body of the former crime lord several metres to the side where it landed in a heap. He wiped some of the gore off his face and turned to the horrified, failed bodyguards. Flamewrought retained his feral grin, though with a smile nestled in amongst all the blood and gore in his beard, it made him look like a homicidal maniac. Which at this point, was pretty much exactly what he was.

“So.” Flamewrought stalked forward over to the bodyguards, cracking his neck. “Who here was going to…what was it….tear me apart? Urgh, actually that sounds like a euphemism. Nevermind, I’m just going to kill you all now.” Before they could react he extended an open palm and unleashed a massive, white hot, screaming gout of flame which he waved over the bodyguards. They cried out in agony and terror as they were incinerated while Flamewrought cackled maniacally.

That was enough for Jack, he’d already begun backing away just before Flamewrought murdered Chung. Once he’d also begun burning human beings alive Jack felt the overwhelming need to be elsewhere. He turned around and promptly began sprinting away through the warehouse while flames began to consume it.

Behind him he heard numerous explosions, panicked screams, shouting and gunfire but Jack kept running. Eventually he made it out of the building and turned back to look at what was happening, it looked like the entire warehouse and the adjoining office building was going up in smoke and flames. People, warehouse workers and tracksuited thugs alike were fleeing the building, though by the sounds of the screams it seemed there were plenty of people trapped inside.

Jack could hear the faint sounds of police sirens in the distance and realised that being caught here may not be the best idea, so he carried on running. Although he was all for law and order, to a certain extent, he still wanted to avoid awkward questions if he could. Fortunately as a cultivator, being quick on his feet was not a problem anymore. In just half a minute he was out of the large warehouse complex and nearing the river Ouse where a residential district was located.

If this ever came back to him, he could just say he was fleeing for his life from a crazed pyromaniac (which he literally was) and didn’t realise the police were there. And if anyone asked why he didn’t report it, he could again say he feared for his life due to a crazed pyromaniac. So convenient. Though he may have to tell Cheryl if she brought it up, it was unlikely she wouldn’t find out about this.

Once he was sure he was in the clear, Jack stopped running and walked back to the guild parking building where his car was, then drove home for the night. With any luck this wouldn’t come back to haunt him.