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Chapter 12 - 12 - Familiar Sensation
"Ah, but you're leaving already? What about the catch? Stay a little longer," said Noah, grinning as he hurled one of the foes in the direction of the escapee.
'...I hope that girl's family ends up footing the bill for all the damage inflicted on the city later,' he thought, watching the continuous trail of destruction he was causing. 'And it's amazing how utterly useless these guards are—none of them has even bothered to show up despite all the commotion. They could at least try to be less obvious about being paid to do this...'
After a punch, the last man still standing against Noah passed out—but he didn't stop. That exhilarating feeling of lightness overwhelmed him, intoxicating and laced with a deep nostalgia—the closest he had ever come to feeling truly free in his past life.
---
Even though Xiao Yang had reached the same age as Noah, he was still controlled by his parents; however, he now enjoyed a bit more free time and money—because if he didn't go out with any college friends, people would, at the very least, find him odd.
Yet, Xiao Yang had no friends in college, so he had to find something to do with all that extra time and cash—something that would let him vent the anger he had long bottled up inside him. And that something turned out to be Wu Shu.
When Xiao Yang began practicing Kung Fu (Wu Shu), it was solely to release his internal rage. Even though that hadn't been his original goal, over time he became so proficient that hardly anyone at his training ground could best him in a hand-to-hand fight.
Yang's instructor tried to get him to learn stick fighting as well, but Xiao Yang wasn't interested; he wanted nothing more than to release his anger by actually clashing with someone—any bout in which his hands didn't connect with the opponent was simply no use to him.
Thus, after five months of training there, there was no longer any reason for Xiao Yang to remain, since everyone was being defeated so quickly. So he decided to speak with his teacher as he was about to leave. As he made his way toward the teacher's room, one of the eight new students who had arrived that day called out:
— Hey, you there, come over here so we can exchange techniques.
Upon hearing that, all the students who had been there for over a month knew the kid was mistaken, but Yang ignored him and continued toward the teacher's office.
"Look, he's scared of a newbie, haha," the boy said confidently—boasting from his experience practicing martial arts elsewhere.
After that taunt, the other newcomers began laughing at Xiao Yang, calling him a coward. He sighed and slowly started removing his backpack as he walked toward the tatami just behind him.
"Damn, did he really fall for that...? Go on and call the teacher," whispered one of the seasoned students, sending the kid next to him off to fetch the teacher.
"Remember, no matter what happens on that tatami, it's all your fault—and only yours," Xiao Yang said as he rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt.
The boy stepped onto the tatami and assumed the cat stance, placing most of his weight on his rear leg with just a hint of pressure on the ball of his front foot, keeping both legs slightly bent.
He then raised his hands in the tiger stance: his right hand was held at shoulder height with the palm facing down and the elbow pointed outward; his left hand positioned just beneath his right wrist, with the forearm parallel to the floor. Next, he spread the fingers of both hands and then curled them into claw-like shapes, bending them slightly.
'Look, maybe this is going to be interesting,' Xiao Yang thought with a slight smile, watching the boy take his combat stance.
After settling into position, the boy glanced at Xiao Yang—who was standing in a rather casual, slouched posture—and asked,
— What's up? Gonna give up?
Yang sighed and replied,
— Come on, I think everything's fine. If you're ready, go ahead.
He raised only his right hand while keeping the other behind him.
Seeing this guy—who didn't even seem much older than him—acting so arrogantly, the boy became so irritated that he immediately lunged at Xiao Yang, only to have his charge easily evaded.
The kid tried to pull back into a defensive stance; but before he could recover, Xiao Yang delivered a direct kick to his chest, forcing him to stagger back with a sharp pain in his torso.
He raised his right hand, as if to call a halt, but Yang didn't give him a moment and swiftly knocked him down, sending him crashing onto his back.
"No, you—" the boy began, but before he could utter another word, Xiao Yang advanced and unleashed a flurry of blows while remaining seated on top of his body. The kid could only stare in terror at the grin Xiao Yang wore as he pummeled him.
"Stop!!"
When the teacher finally arrived, Xiao Yang was poised to attack again. Yet, with his fist already poised near the kid's face, he paused for a moment and surveyed the room; in that instant, he noticed expressions of sheer fear and terror on everyone's face.
Xiao Yang then got to his feet, leaving the kid behind, and slowly walked over to his backpack, which lay a little in front of the teacher. He crouched down to grab it and said,
— ...I'm stopping.
As he rose, he slung the backpack back over his shoulder.
"What!? But you—"
"Professor, I think the rookie isn't doing too well," one of the students said as he tried to help his fallen classmate.
The teacher was confused and torn, not knowing whether he should try to stop Xiao Yang from leaving or rush to aid his new student. He stood frozen for several moments, watching Xiao Yang vanish through the establishment's black door. Although he wanted to stop him from leaving—after all, he always felt that such behavior wasn't normal and that there was probably a reason behind the boy's actions (a reason that was never confirmed, since Xiao Yang never opened up to him)—at that moment, the most important thing was to take care of the student sprawled on the tatami.
Closing his eyes as he watched Xiao Yang walk away, the teacher exclaimed,
— Someone, call an ambulance!
and he quickly ran toward the boy lying on the floor.
After leaving the building, Xiao Yang sighed and slowly scanned his surroundings, looking for a place to while away his remaining free time until it was time to return to his personal hell.
With nothing else to do, Xiao Yang exhaled deeply and aimlessly wandered, just to pass the time. As he ambled along, he sighed again, realizing that he now had nowhere to release his daily frustrations—and far less, his anger.
---
Sighing, Noah looked at the kidnapper lying on the ground—his head sunk into a small hole created by successive punches—and said,
— What do I do now, system? The other one took off with the girl, but I can't just run after them, can I?
He smiled as he wiped streaks of blood from his face.
[....]
[Because it seems like you're having more fun than you should with this...?]
"I... am?"
He stretched upward, extending his arms.
"I don't know; the sensation is strangely comforting... maybe because sometimes I end up seeing their faces replaced by those demons...?"
Leaping, he climbed onto the roof of the nearest house—much like many others around it, its walls had been shattered during the fight—and set out to locate the escapee and the girl.
[Wouldn't it be better if you ran after him, wouldn't it?]
"Huh...? But wouldn't I get hurt if I did that?"
[And wouldn't that be even better?]
"What...?"
[The impact of rescuing her while keeping yourself unscathed would be minimal.]
[Wouldn't it be better to do it while incurring a slight "debt" from her?]
"...That's macabre, you know...? Are you sure you're even minimally 'integral' as you claim?"
[To my duties, yes!]
[Without a doubt!]
Noah felt a wave of revulsion, his forced smile betraying his discomfort. He braced himself to leap, hopping from rooftop to rooftop—the pain of exerting even a bit more force in his limbs was excruciating, as if they were about to shatter—while he followed the girl's location marked on the map.
Infusing a small amount of Qi into his fist, he jumped—the man above looked up, terrified—but it was too late. Noah's punch burst through the ground, toppling the walls of the nearby houses.
'Damn, this is (Argh!)... Fuck! Why didn't you warn me it would hurt this much?!'
It wasn't just a fleeting sensation—glancing at his arm, Noah saw his bones pressing painfully against his skin, struggling to break free.
'Fucking system of... SHIT!'
