"That's unfortunate"
The carefree voice of the blessed who was pinned to the wall by Hedin rang throughout the alleyway, breaking the sobs of the three rugrats and delivered silence.
It was quiet for a second, Hedin swallowed his sobs and so did Kel and Rast. They all swallowed their sobs and glared at Jeferson.
But that's all there is to it.
They could only glare as Jeferson easily subdued Hedin with his overwhelming strength. Despite Hedin being bigger than he is and having the advantage in weight class, Jeferson was able to easily subdue Hedin with his overwhelming strength and threw him to the ground. Truly living up to his name as a Blessed Person.
"I commend that teamwork of yours...it may have worked on other blessed but I am not just any blessed you know"
Glancing at the ropes hanging by his waist, Jeferson stretched his tensed muscles as he held out his hand and willed the ropes to levitate infront of him then tied it around Hedin's neck, like a noose, strangling him.
"I was considered as one of the best in The Academy"
He added before Kel then jumped off the window from above and aimed to deliver a blow on the Blessed's head with a 2x2 club that he picked up inside the house.
But it was still a futile effort.
The Blessed just turned his body around and then delivered a spinning kick to meet Kel's body with it. Since the latter was currently falling, there was no chance for him to dodge it as he soon ate the kick and was sent flying then crash unto a wall.
Hedin was currently being strangled still as Rast also followed up to help out their brute. Following Kel who was sent flying, Rast put down Clifford's body for now and wielded two ice picks that he always carried around.
He rushed forward to the blessed and delivered a stab towards him, but the blessed had already anticipated it.
"I guess I overestimated you....when you are attacking, you all should not go one by one, go together"
Once again Jeferson lectured them as he tightened the rope around Hedin's neck and easily subdued Rast as well by simply kicking him. Hedin struggled to break free but the rope around his neck was just so tight, his vision had become blurry and he could feel that his consciousness was slowly sipping out. It was then when Jeferson kicked Rast and sent him flying, did Rast throw a follow up attack.
Rast threw the other Ice Pick that he held ahead, and with precise aim. The Ice Pick precisely hit the rope that was strangling Hedin as it was then severed. Hedin finally broke free and he was coughing out a lot while he was also gasping out for air. He was still on the blessed's foot though.
"Oh?"
This action surprised Jeferson. He turned to look at Rast whom he subdued and when he saw the guy, he chuckled because Rast was holding up a middle finger to him while blood was spilling out of his mouth.
"Commendable. But he's still in my foot though. So I still have his life"
Jeferson stomped on Hedin's head to prevent him from getting up which resulted to the latter eating the pile of dirt again.
"You thought"
Rast replied with a bloody smile.
Jeferson, feeling that there was something more to this, turned his head behind him and he saw Li Sheng brandish his cleaver towards him. His eyes, were filled with fury. He had been trying to sneak up on Jeferson this whole time.
"Oh"
Jeferson tried to move away but because of Hedin holding onto his leg to prevent him from moving away.
"Motherfu—"
Cursing at Hedin with urgency, Jeferson saw Li Sheng's strike coming down so fast as he was left with no choice but to take on the swing with his left hand.
Blood splattered from Jeferson's hand, as the cleaver dug through his skin, exposing the flesh underneath it. Fortunately for him, The swing was not that powerful enough to go through his bones, but it still didn't made him escape the another attack.
Using his leg, Li Sheng kicked the ice pick on the ground upwards and then caught it with his left hand as he then drilled it to Jeferson's side. Since Jeferson was currently being held by Li Sheng's cleaver and Hedin, he wasn't able to move freely that much and eventually then the ice pick was drilled to Jeferson's side causing him to cough out blood.
"Commendable. You managed to take the blow"
Imitating Jeferson's line with fury in his eyes and tone, Li Sheng decided to mock the blessed as his glare was still glued onto the Blessed's face.
"Woah now, I might sue you for stealing my lines you know"
Jeferson had a bloody grin on his face when he met Li Sheng's eyes. He had to admit that he played around too much so...applying strength to his legs, he easily shook free from Hedin's grasp as he then stomped onto the face of Hedin which made him black out for a bit.
Once done with Hedin, he applied [ Deva ] to his free hand also and delivered it towards Li Sheng's side torso, doing a liver blow powerful enough to knock a normal human out and deliver trauma to their organs.
Taking the liver blow from Jeferson, Li Sheng grunted in pain. He had no time to wonder how Jeferson was able to take the stab as he just grunted from the pain of having his liver blown by the unfathomable strength of the blessed.
"Oh? You are tougher than you look"
It only took one blow. One blow before Li Sheng was brought down to his knees.
Jeferson watched as Li Sheng agonized in pain for a few seconds before he hummed and then grabbed the cleaver out of Li Sheng's grasp and moved its blade out of his hand.
Wincing in pain as blood from his palm was flowing out, he sighed and also shot the ice pick stuck on his side. He did not try to take it out despite the pain that it was giving.
"Had my client not only requested for you to be captured, I would've taken you in as my right hand man. Seriously man, what did you even do to offend a noble?"
Not minding the pain on his hand anymore, Jeferson held a condescending gaze on Li Sheng who returned his gaze with a furious glare.
He wanted to do something against Jeferson, but even standing up is so hard for him. The best he could do was just to glare.
"Client...? Noble...? Who..?"
Despite being in agony, Li Sheng opened his mouth to ask that question whereas Jeferson was still looking down on him.
"Hmm...Maybe I spoke too much. Well, you dont have to know. You are going to die anyway so telling you is pointless and I don't want cliché endings"
With that, Jeferson raised the cleaver and hacked it towards Li Sheng's head, aiming to finally end it all but before the cleaver could come to strike Li Sheng's head, an arm came to block it causing for blood to spill out on Li Sheng's face. It was Rast.
"Kel, hurry and take Boss away from here"
Rast groaned, feeling the pain of his arm being torn as the cleaver got stuck on his bone.
Not saying any other word, Kel who had just recovered after being kicked in the face nodded at Rast's words before grabbing Li Sheng and try to escape.
"Wait—! Kel..! Rast and He..din...is st...ill there"
Struggling to form coherent words because of the pain of moving after receiving that blow, Li Sheng could not resist his subordinate trying to carry him away from this place.
"I am sorry boss.....you matter the most"
Kel answered and tried to get away before a whip then struck ahead of them and stopped them from running away, turning around, the two of them then saw Rast on his knees behind Jeferson. His arm had been severed and the flow of blood wouldn't stop.
Slowly approaching them from behind though, was Jeferson whose hands and side was also bleeding.
"Was this guy the lockpicker?"
Jeferson asked, shooting a glance at Rast and then threw Rast's severed hand towards Kel and Li Sheng. Aiming to provoke them further.
"It might be so...you know, I heard about his infamous lockpicking skills. They said that no lock could bypass his skills..well except for the Enchanted Seals which was specially made to detain dangerous criminals. To be honest, I was worried on how to detain your group so I thought of using a bluff"
Listening to Jeferson's words. The slumrats wondered what he was talking about and thought that he was speaking nonsense.
"Did you really think that a bottom feeder like me could afford something as expensive as Enchanted Seals? Hell, my client might be able to afford one but there is no way they would give me something as precious as that so easily.."
Thinking that this might be a chance to dig further about this client of his, Li Sheng listened carefully.
"What are you getting at?"
"What I mean is that...I forged a Fake Enchanted Seal to deceive you, it was actually just a lock with some bullshit [ Deva ] injected in it. Someone who is blessed by the heavens are the only ones who could tell that it is an Enchanted Seal because not only are they hard to destroy, they also seal the Blessed's power. It was actually a good thing that you lot are all idiots and unchosen which made it easier for me to detain you all"
But Listening to Jeferson's words further though, just made Li Sheng even more furious...he was piecing the information piece by piece until he finally got what Jeferson meant.
"So...you mean to say.."
Kel was the one who spoke first. His eyes were filled with fury as he glared at Jeferson who was just sneering at them.
"Yep. You guys could've escaped very easily but because of my Master super smart plan...you chose to detain yourself. Heck, your boss don't even have to come rescue you or that kid don't even have to come here and help you escape the place because you lot can just escape this place really easily. But no, you guys are a bunch of uneducated losers who lack critical thinking skills. Truly idiots"
His grin widening as it turned sinister, Jeferson finished his words.
"It was you idiots who brought this destruction upon yourselves."
With that, Hedin who had been passed out for a while after eating the boots of Jeferson, soon then came charging towards Jeferson. Screaming furiously, Hedin tried to pin down Jeferson but was once again easily subdued. Kel also let go of Li Sheng because of the provocation and came rushing forward to beat up Jeferson.
"Rast! You are the weakest just go escape with the boss yourself!"
Yelling to Rast who is still recovering from his arm getting severed, Kel held Jeferson down by clinging onto his legs and biting it. He looked so pathetic right now, but no one blamed him. They were desperate.
Jeferson was amused at this sight though as Hedin continued to persevere despite the beatdown that he received from Jeferson. His jaw had already been fractured from the blows yet the big guy just continued to tank it all just so they could buy enough time for their boss to get away.
"You make a really good punching bag"
Unbothered by Kel clinging to his legs, Jeferson continued to beat up Hedin as if the bigger guy was just an oversized punching bag.
While all of this was happening though, Rast gritted his teeth as he ignored the pain of his severed hand and went to go assist his boss and escape by themselves.
"Wait...Rast! They are still fighting...we have a chance"
Li Sheng who is struggling to maintain balance, tried to stop Rast who dragged him away, but because he no longer had any strength left after taking the powerful blow from the blessed straight up. He couldn't resist Rast dragging him away.
"I..am so sorry for being so stupid boss"
A downpour soon started as the two of them walked further and further away from that place. It was a good thing that there was a downpour, if there wasn't...Li Sheng would've been so ashamed all his life if Rast could see him crying.
Li Sheng did not blame Rast. He was stupid as well too. Guilt ate him as he thought about what happened to Clifford and his two subordinates. It was his fault actually.
Listening to the sobs of Rast beside him, he suppressed his as they both try to escape.
They were back at the house where they all encountered the blessed, the bodies of the thugs were still hanging sinisterly on the roof of a nearby house. Looking for another way out, Rast saw a silhoutte emerging from the rain. It was a tall silhoutte and resonating with the sound of the rain was its eerie cheerful hum. It was the Blessed, Jeferson.
Behind him, was Rast and Hedin's lifeless bodies being dragged by their necks with a rope.
Rast and Li Sheng weren't surprised by that scene. They were upset yeah but they did not let that get onto them. It was frustrating already to see their comrades being treated like a toy so they did not want to give the blessed the satisfaction of being provoked.
"Hello! Delivery from Jeferson Emporium! Hope you like it!"
Preparing to fight back til the end, Li Sheng struggled to form a stance as he glared at Jeferson. Rast on the other hand, just stood beside Li Sheng.
"This will be the last time Rast, let us just give everything we got. We are not going down without a fight"
Li Sheng prepared for whatever it is that Jeferson was going to do.
"Boss....you know, I consider you as my brother"
"What's this about now? Just prepare yourself he is coming"
"Do you also consider me as one Boss?"
Feeling that something was not right with Rast, Li Sheng frowned as he shot the other guy a glance.
"Of course. We have been through a lot together. You are like a brother to me"
"I see....I am glad"
Hearing that relieved tone of Rast, Li Sheng felt that something was wrong. He tried to ask what was it but before he could do so, Rast pushed him off to the dirty canals.
The last thing that Li Sheng saw of Rast as he was falling into the flooding dirty canals was the other guy smiling at him before his neck was snapped by the blessed who was smiling maniacally behind him.
With that, Li Sheng fell to the rushing flood as he was dragged away towards the outskirts of the city.
[ End of Prologue: King of The Slums ]