First Confrontation

Emery stared at the building with a bit of apprehension. Despite his not liking Carlos, this was still something he wasn't sure about doing. Everyone had different reasons for doing what they did.

Hurting them was still a stretch, even for him. And if he didn't apply the right amount of force, he could even end up killing by mistake.

'No, I won't let that happen,' he decided inwardly, then turned back to Konnor.

"What exactly am I taking from their treasury?"

The large man explained everything in a few minutes, even giving Emery some idea of how the items would look like.

"And if I meet someone stronger than me?" he asked.

"No need to worry about that." the man lifted his spear and pointed it at the distant building, "I'm not going to chuck you straight into a lion's den. I'll make a bit of a ruckus to draw their stronger combatants out. You do what you need to do inside."

Emery nodded and then took a single step forward.

BOOOM~!

A massive explosion erupted from in front. Chunks of earth split into pieces not far from Carlos' headquarters.

He looked back to see Konnor's spear steaming lightly.

"What are you waiting for? Go!"

He quickly took action and circled around to the side of the building where there would be far fewer people coming from. Several thoughts passed through his mind. Nothing made sense anymore.

'How the hell did I end up going on a mission that's suited for assassins?! I'm a chef for god's sake. I need to be cooking!'

From that moment on, he decided that after this he would avoid things like this. It wasn't worth it if you looked at it from a certain angle.

But it did feel good, admittedly. The feeling of running with power flowed through his veins. It was why he particularly enjoyed the hunt for ingredients when he could just buy them using credits.

"Hey, stop right now!" A voice called out interrupting his thoughts.

Emery stopped to stare at the person speaking. He looked at the status and dashed forward again.

A Class 10 Awakened wasn't worth wasting so much time on.

He zoomed past the guy and slapped a palm into the guy's neck, causing him to fall over. If he did it correctly, then that guy would be out of commission for a while.

Finally, he reached the side of the building, but it was going to be tough. There was a group of people rushing out that noticed just as he approached.

"Get him!" one of them yelled.

A yellow burst of lightning emerged from where they were. Someone from their group disappeared and appeared in front of him.

'A speedster!'

They were nothing like that first group that wasted time while talking.

He ducked down, avoiding the kick by a hair's breadth. A fist came from the side abruptly. It looked normal, but Emery wasn't going to take chances. He lifted an arm ever so slightly and pushed the second opponent's hand away.

The 'normal' fist swerved off the path, connecting with one of the large pillars of the courthouse instead. 

It was one of the new skills he'd learned. Basic Improvised Martial Arts. Paired with his original Beginner's Instincts skill, he moved as well as an average Taekwondo Red Belt. (Note: This is third in the belt ranking system)

BANG~!

A huge chunk of the pillar came off, debris spraying everywhere.

'I suppose I should try testing that energy out,' he thought to himself.

He drew a bit of the energy from the veins just like he'd been doing so far and slapped out. A green aura coated his hand, outlining the sudden blur.

It slammed into the speedster who was trying to sneak him from behind. The man flew back several metres and collapsed to the ground. He was still breathing, meaning Emery was able to control his strength well.

'I need to at least put these men out of commission before moving on,'

With that in mind, he jumped into the air and kicked a clean crescent with the green energy surrounding his leg.

Razor Kick!

His leg disappeared into a blur and slammed against the remaining grunts. They were hardly able to react.

But it was just one more remaining.

Emery looked towards the final person. The guy who slammed that chunk away from the building was a… woman?

"Surprised?" she said, then punched forward. "Ha!"

He caught her attack, then followed up with a jab to her guts, hoping to end it there and then. But no. She grabbed his hand mid-swing and applied force on his wrist.

CRACK~!

The pain took a second to kick in. He weakly punched her back, then jumped away from where she stood.

'My arm?'

He feebly looked at the cleanly dislocated wrist of his left arm.

"That's going to be a problem to deal with during this mission," he muttered to himself.

This injury was nothing compared to the numerous ones he'd sustained all these past months, but it wasn't anything to simply shrug at.

'Who is she?'

He narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. She was a little muscular. A bra top covered her upper body while her lower was a pair of tight leather trousers. Her hair was a long red colour that fitted nicely with her blue eyes.

Emery checked her status. Something he perhaps should have done from the start.

'Fuck!'

Circling around her quickly, he tuned into the energy and dashed forward with everything he had in him. Fighting someone like that was only going to get him killed at his current level.

"Hey, don't run away you coward!" the lady yelled from behind.

'Yeah like I'm going to listen to you,'

Luckily, it seemed like speed was her weakness. He ran straight into the building and stopped when he got as far as possible.

Unfortunately, it seemed like he just walked straight into another mess. Several people surrounded him, all dressed in the style of Carlos' men. They looked like they were about to head out. Just when he showed up, that is.

So his mistake was a little simple.

One-armed, he had stepped into the middle of enemy territory.