It was a fighter about 40 years old who held a sturdy fighting stance. There were obvious corns on his knuckles while his temples were bulging ever so slightly and his eyes especially lively. It felt as if there were two balls of flames burning in his pupils now, and one could tell that he was a good fighter at one glance. However, Steel Man let out a disdainful chuckle upon seeing him. He shook his head and said, “Not you. You’re too weak.”The middle-aged fighter was even more enraged. He grunted heavily once and said through his clenched teeth, “No, you’ll know after you fight me!”Next, he poised himself and began to launch an attack onto the Steel Man. “Hmph, you're way over your head.” Steel Man sniggered once. When the middle-aged fighter charged toward him, he made a move with each by swinging his fist to deliver a punch. He moved so swiftly and threw the punch so strongly that he hit straight at the middle-aged man’s cheek. The middle-aged man collapsed to the ground at
Bill smiled at Zayn. “Looks like your men aren’t really fighters after all. How are you supposed to secure anything if you can’t even secure a victory against the weakest goon I have? How are you supposed to protect your client—using the power of love? Bwahahahah!”The rest of the gang burst into scornful chortles.Sean’s expression increasingly darkened. His rising bile compelled him to ball his hands into fists as shades of red began to color his cheeks. He was mild-tempered by nature and patient by nurture—when one lived to his age, they would have experienced enough of life to know how most things in life were not worth throwing a fit over—and yet, Bill’s satirical remark got under his skin against his wishes.If he had the power—if only he had the power! He would wipe that smirk off Bill’s flattened face!He dared not. He could not possibly kill anyone with a single punch.And that limitation was what made Zayn’s decision more and more confusing to Sean. Why would he cast asi
“Really? Him and what—that wimpy body of his? He’s going to fly off into the sunset after receiving Terror Teddy’s punch.”“I mean, just look at that tender, unblemished, unbruised skin and that wimpy frame. Do you think he even knows how to clench his fist properly? Oh, but he sure is good at propping himself up like that against Terror Teddy. Brain-damaged much?”“And that guy’s some important mogul taking the helm of a bullish company? Mate, I don’t think its upward growth is gonna last any sooner.”“Dude thinks that just because he watches some action superhero movies on Netflix or Disney+ or something, and he’s suddenly a superhero of his own right! Haha, you can’t make this sh*t up!”Every member of the Northmob Council was seized by laughing fits. They did not try to hide their amusement and scorn behind any pretense. Some even laughed so hard that tears were rolling down their cheeks.To them, Zayn was, at best, an average guy. He was scrawny, his skin soft and completely
“Unapologetically powerful.” How could anyone imagine an example of a phrase like that?Well, Zayn exemplified it flawlessly. At that point, he had found no reason to continue his pretense anymore.Bill could feel his power sweeping across the room. His body quivered against his wishes. He grabbed his glass and tried to calm himself down with a swig of booze, but his fingers were trembling so much that the glass slipped and shattered against the floor.Everyone else suffered even more, especially the gang members. A terrible tempest had brewed in this mind’s eye, and from deep within it, a titan large enough to block out the sun had arisen. The world had darkened while their sights seemed to have been blocked completely.Hunter and the rest of the team froze. They stared at Zayn, utterly stupefied. They never expected Zayn to hide such tremendous power within him.This chaotic display of power lasted only a second before it was completely gone. When everyone opened their eyes and
Or… It was more likely someone had a death wish.Everyone thought that Zayn had a death wish. Maybe he had grown tired of his life, or he would not have done something so fatally stupid.Sean shut his eyes in an attempt to look away. Zayn could multiply himself by ten, and it still would not save him from getting his butt whooped.Terror Teddy was enraged. With a furious bellow of “Looking to die, punk?!” he strode toward Zayn, swinging a heavy punch forward aimed at Zayn’s head. Even a heavyweight professional pugilist would be out like a light from receiving it, so it became obvious how much it would hurt someone as scrawny as Zayn.Everyone watched closely. Zayn was motionless as he made no attempt to evade. Perhaps he was scared senseless.Terror Teddy’s speeding fist was now inches away from his face.Zayn shifted. It was a simple lean backward that was just enough to dodge the big man’s punch before he shifted his weight forward and used the momentum to thrust a counterpunc
The group threw themselves at Zayn simultaneously.Zayn might have boasted how easy fighting all of them at once would be, but pulling something like that off, in reality, was far from a cakewalk. Even if one discounted Branch Leader Bill Costa and his prowess, the rest of the Northmob Council gang members were still excellent fighters in their own right. These people could tear a military tank into parts if they hopped on it in unison!Hubris was no longer the word they had for Zayn. In their eyes, he was the deadly sin Pride in the flesh, a death-seeker searching for a novel suicide. Flames were coursing through their veins before they sputtered out of their eyes; it was as if the men’s wrath was compelling them to deny the mercy of killing Zayn outright and torture him to death instead.The Northmob Council alone had always been the one who made the rules and walked like tyrants. They bullied people—not be bullied—and no one ever humiliated them right on their own goddamned turf.
Could Bill's composure actually break? No! Not when being the branch leader for this particular group gave him insider’s knowledge on how strong each individual really was. Bill was sure that he could only secure a Pyrrhic victory, full of battle bruises or even lethal injuries—if he went up against his gang members’ united attacks. Asking Bill to replicate the same ease and poise Zayn had as if he was just humoring a group of schoolchildren was impossible. It also meant that Zayn was a few whole leagues above him in fighting!Bill finally understood why Zayn had the gall to assemble an unqualified ragtag company before paying the Northmob Council a visit—though “visit” was definitely the wrong word. Zayn was here not to show respect; he was here to sow ruins!No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not answer why Zayn wanted this so much. Why was he so adamant in waging a war against the Northmob Council? Was he supported by powerful backers?Hunter and the rest were even
Zayn had chosen not to threaten Bill for too long, so he let him go. Of course, it had nothing to do with Zayn growing soft—he just thought there was no reason to kill Bill because he was such a trivial, inconsequential guy. Killing him would only dirty Zayn’s hands for no actual gains.“Let’s go.” Zayn patted Sean on the shoulder and started toward the exit in a casual stroll.His action pulled Sean out of his startled trance, who immediately inhaled a sharp breath as he surveyed a floor littered with bodies and the trembling Bill amidst the chaos. He shivered and turned to follow Zayn on the way out.He thought he knew everything there was to know about Zayn, but today, he realized that his knowledge was just the tip of the iceberg. This man was even more terrifying than he had previously predicted though Sean finally understood why someone like Mr. Hyde would subjugate himself to Zayn.Hunter and the rest of the group quickly followed, afraid that staying put at where they were