The Showcase Of Strength - Part 2

[ROUGHLY AROUND TWELVE YEARS EARLIER]--

Mister Edward Jones, was conflicted on giving the judgement on the issue placed before him. A very silly issue, but the result could change the trajectory of the kids in front of him.

Bleeding all over his face, Yohan, an eleven-year-old boy, stood with his chin down, not even bothering to wipe off the dripping blood. Upon first glance itself, Edward noticed a weirdly mysterious aura around the human kid, intriguing him.

He was punched and made to bleed by none other than the 'Prince' of the Shapeshifters tribe. Even though the Prince turned 'six' just last week, his punches were not that simple to write off. And as a mere human cub, Yohan should have died at the very second the punch landed. But here he was, standing in front of Edward, accused of being a 'bully' by the crybaby prince just because he retaliated to the Prince's continuous bullying.

"We were playing football, Edward grandpa... This filthy human cub tried to steal our football. So we pushed him, but then he got angry and threw a stone at us..." The Prince of the Shapeshifters' tribe, Edison Yadav, lied to his teeth, glaring and grinning at the accused Yohan, silently.

Like any kid, Edison thought he was fooling the elder in the room, Edward Jones, the Vampire Lord. But like every other elder, Edward very well knew what was the lie and what was the truth. But to allow the truth to be heard, the human cub must have said the truth.

"What do you say? Yohan?" Edward questioned, taking a sip of the cup of goat blood while keeping his eyes darted towards the frustrated and tired Yohan.

"I'll get punished for punching the prince... Please end this already..." with a grief-stricken voice, the human cub said, as he lifted his chin and faced the Vampire lord, staring right into his eyes.

Edward's eyes widened and he felt a jolt of electricity running through his veins, as he leaned his back onto the chair, while silently chuckling. He couldn't believe that the human cub's eyes were actually glaring at him, with a cold intention.

"Prince Edward, could you leave the class... I need to have a talk with this little gentleman..."

"But Grandpa, don't listen to him. He will try to guilt trip you. Don't allow this swine to lie to you—"

"PRINCE EDWARD YADAV!! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM!"

Prince Yadav felt his bones shivering from the astounding voice of the Vampire Lord and rushed out of the room, immediately. Edward then turned back to the unflinched Yohan, who was not even slightly bothered by Edward's presence or his roaring voice.

"Hmm... From the looks of it, it seems you're clearly stronger than our dear Prince. So, why?"

"Why what?... sir."

Edward smiled. Nodding to the human cub's question with a mild chuckle, he unwrapped a bar of chocolate which he retrieved from his pocket and placed it on little Yohan's palm. He always heard from other staff members that Yohan was an adherent lover of peace and a strict follower of non-violence but he never knew that Yohan will be this adamant on following the path of peace.

"You see, kiddo... Being peaceful and following the path of non-violence is admirable. But people will laugh at your face for that and will poke your nerves, because, for their eyes, peace is for weaklings..."

Yohan listened to it with no emotions and simply tossed the chocolate into his mouth, while Edward continued.

"... So, in order to preach to them about your peace, you need to show them the dirtiness of your violence."

Yohan stopped chewing the chocolate and looked at the Vampire lord as the words struck a deep chord with him. They both exchanged understanding looks and Yohan nodded slowly to Edward's philosophy.

But never ever would have Edward thought, that a few words from a kid could send shivers down his spine; until he heard it from a human cub.

"But I can't get violent, sir... I shouldn't no matter what. Because if I get violent... I don't think I can stop myself... I might kill him. And the worst part is, I don't think I can stop myself from killing others either... I'll kill them all."

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[PRESENT - YOHAN's DUEL]

It was not long ago, since Joshua declared his interest in having a duel with Yohan. But he was met with a straight-out rejection from Yohan.

"About the duel... No, I'm not interested. If you just want me to back away from taking this job, you can have my word... I am not taking the job. Now, let me pass through."

Yohan politely pleaded to Joshua, who kept his eyes darted towards Yohan as he noticed a weird phenomenon in Yohan's movements and how he was carrying himself.

"I'm pretty sure that you don't possess any strength, but... how are you still carrying that Hundred and twenty kilograms of human meat?" He asked, as his curiosity piqued. His unquenched thirst for blood danced endlessly in his mind, prompting dangerous ideas in him.

And Yohan, even though from a distance, could sense it. The wolf within Joshua was from 'normal', having an unhealthy obsession with madness. It had an abnormal amount of bloodthirst, rage, and cravings for violence. It was almost like something was broken, and all this unusualness was a cry for help, asking for a fix.

Yohan knelt down and carefully placed the 'Master' and placed his hands firmly on his chest.

"Fifty Seconds... We'll leave," He whispered to him, assuring the Master.

"I'm yet to be answered, Mister Gohan... How could you—"

*THUD*

A thundering sound erupted all of a sudden. And all the spectators looked around to see where it came from, but Joshua knew exactly where it came from.

Tapping his foot on the ground, Yohan tested his foot movements and proceeded to remove his heavy shoes which weighed seventy kilograms.

*THUD* *CRACK* Yohan dropped the boot shoes on the ground, breaking the spot on the floor, and also releasing a loud *thud* sound for the spectators and Joshua to hear.

"Not possible... Was he wearing those all the time?" Soon the others noticed too and their perception towards Yohan started to flicker. Especially the pink-haired lady professor who watched the entire play with her keen eyes.

'Just as the reports said... Yohan is not an ordinary human...' She thought, smiling to herself.

"Aaaargh! I really don't like others hogging the limelight, you see..." Joshua said smiling and ripped his shirt off with a single pull and flaunted his chiselled abs and monstrous arms.

It was an instant turn-on for all the ladies as in the wide gymnasium their soft moans and gasps were echoed and heard aloud.

Seeing the response, Yohan too went for his shirt, looking to flaunt his body. But a quick thought stopped him.

'I neither have the body to flaunt nor the money to buy another shirt... Let it be.'

Patting himself on the back, Yohan removed his glasses and placed them along with the 'Master'.

"So, you're not blind—"

"Don't!"

And they both prepared for the duel, swinging their arms and flexing their back before clashing. And they both stood against each other.

Their eyes met, and their hands danced around to look for an opening to make a move.

Yohan immediately knew that Joshua had no opening in his stance and it was impossible to make a first move. Hence he lowered his arms, letting his defence down and free for Joshua to make a move.

Irritated, by it, Joshua packed a ruthless punch with unrestrained power and landed right on Yohan's face.

"OUCH!" the crowd reacted together as they watched the gruesome sight. they thought Yohan must have died or must have met the same fate as the 'Master', getting his skull cracked and slowly marching towards death.

But what happened was totally the opposite. With his feet firm on the floor and with his face forcibly turned to the right by the punch, Yohan turned back to face the stunned Joshua and looked straight into his eyes.

A small cut on his lips was the only damage Joshua could do to Yohan, who was wiping the small bloodstain out of his face.

"Don't think it's over, you asshole!" Joshua let a warcry and slammed his leg towards Yohan's ribs, and a thunderous sound of the bones clashing was heard aloud. Blood pierced its way out of Yohan's mouth as he coughed and gagged, spitting the crimson.

The crowd gasped together and most of them even hid their faces.

"He is standing still..." one of the students awed as the crowd witnessed the meek and weak Yohan standing tall and still, wiping the blood off his chin and clothes. He returned back in front of Joshua and his arms stayed down, mocking Joshua to go for another punch or kick.

His eyes refused to budge and his stoic, cold face had no shred of pain, hesitance or anger. It was boring as a wall and emotionless as a stone.

"Wha... What the hell? Hey! This is... this is not possi—"

"Is that it, Mister Joshua? If you don't have any more to do... I'll take my leave." Yohan softly and calmly said, sounding like a lullaby for a crying child with a peaceful tone and an empty pair of dead eyes.

"No! I ca... I'll smash your brains out. You bothersome human—"

Joshua felt his brain interrupted as his skin tingled endlessly and his ever-hungry wolf shivered and cowered, horrified by the aura it tasted. Joshua felt engulfed and exasperated heavily, feeling more uncomfortable by the weird behaviour of his wolf.

But he felt even worse when the human he looked down started to walk towards him. His wolf screamed and cried pathetically resulting in Joshua feeling his knees getting weak and dropping down to the floor, panting.

'Why... Why are you doing this? What happened to you, all of a sudden?'

Wolves were always perceptive of their opponents and have the ability to read their opponent's aura and their emotions to boost their host's physical ability to increase the chances of winning any battle they were against. But such a treasurable gift turned into a loathsome bane for Josh, the wolf of Joshua.

"JOSH... COME OUT!" Joshua called out for his wolf, the source of his monstrous strength, but the wolf couldn't. Joshua craved to feel the bloodthirst, madness and hunger for violence again. But all his thoughts, hunger and frustration went into radio silence as soon as he felt a lifeless, cold hand placed on his shoulder.

For the first time in his life, Joshua was granted the telepathic power of his wolf directly and his super-senses felt violated and massacred like getting squashed by an axe as he felt the bloodthirst and rage of thousand mad beasts landing on him all of a sudden.

Getting the taste of who he was against, Joshua lifted his head up, seeing the 'real' Yohan, glaring at him to the death. Seeing him petrified, Yohan leaned towards Joshua's ears and whispered his thoughts.

"Let's stop it here, shall we, Josh? If you continue to push me any further, I don't think I can stop myself from killing you... And worse is, I don't think I can stop myself from killing the others either... I'll kill them all."