40 Long Time Coming

"I'm someone who should be dead, someone who would have abandoned my daughter if I was left alone. The man who brought me back from that place, who gave his best to take me out of there, that was my team leader. Chris, Hector, Laslo, those three are the other men who wanted to leave, but the choice was made solely because of my desire to be with my family."

Billy looked towards the sky, his tearful eyes looking towards the setting sun as he reminisced on the old days. He placed a hand in front of him, right over the ground. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the feeling of mana that he used to be professionally hired for and then a buzz-like sound rang off.

"Buzz. Crack." The air in between the ground and Billy's hand produced a flash of light that blinded Matthew for a second. The moment he closed his eyes, a sound of something cracking was then heard and when he opened his eyes, there was a split on the ground below Billy's hand.

"Men like us, we don't belong to society anymore. If the circumstances were different, I would have never left. But I can't leave Kylie like that, not when she needed me."

Matthew was watching the man who had just shown him a display of power walk towards the apartment building they stayed at. The same back he had seen before was showing itself again, that lonesome back of a tired man.

"Why do you follow them?" Matthew saw Billy stop for a moment before walking away again, the only thing he left behind was a short sentence that only gave Matthew more confusion.

"I owe them a life, I had to pay it back somehow."

Billy's figure disappeared on the distance as he suddenly changed directions and was heading towards a street to the right. Matthew chased after him but when he turned towards the street, he found no one on the other side.

"Shit!" Matthew had been wondering about too much to realize that Billy had been planning on doing something behind his back again. He had no other choice now than to use it.

'Damn it, Pops!'

Matthew closed his eyes as he concentrated on the beating of his heart. He felt every tremble, each flowing vein lead to the center of his chest and he followed it. When he finally reached it, a ball of energy escaped from an object that was directly connected to his consciousness. He lead that energy out of the heart and reached out to a higher place in his body until it finally reached his eyes. All this took him a little more than three minutes.

'There you are!'

The world now had a whole new look to Matthew. Nothing retained their color as most turned black while the air became white. The only things that were different were the small silhouettes that glowed differently. Most of the silhouettes were small, like a flickering red fire. A few were larger and were colored orange, giving off a vibrant aura around them.

Right now, Matthew saw four orange auras in the distance, about 150 meters away. Two of the auras were similar in size while the other two were larger than both of them. One was slightly bigger though, and the aura it had was expanding at a rapid rate, almost doubling in size. However, this was when the three others suddenly clashed with the growing aura.

'Damn it!'

Matthew ran over to their location. He didn't bother to keep the energy in his eyes and was about to take them back to his heart. Before he did though, he remembered the display of power that Billy demonstrated earlier and instead lead the now half as big ball of energy into his feet.

.....

"You really want out Billy? And here I thought you were a man of your word. Of course, it's all bullshit. Same as before."

Chris and the others were standing over a pile of rocks as they surrounded the calm Billy. Their eyes were burning from the anger that was born not only from the fact that their friend was arrested, but more so because of the implications it would have on their futures.

"When they make that idiot Max talk, who do you think they'll hunt down first?"

"Whoosh." Chris walked closer to Billy, releasing the mana he had while his eyes glowed red. He gave Billy a dangerous smile that quickly turned into one of scorn.

"Our families will all be fucking massacred you fucking bastard! You just killed your precious fucking daughter! You did this! Just like you killed Ben!" Chris was holding on to the collar of Billy who was lifted high in the air by Chris' hand.

"..." Billy was looking at Chris with an apologetic expression. He didn't want this either.

"What do we do now huh? We've already ran from them as far as we could, now they'll be looking for us without giving any of us a chance!"

"Bang. Rip. Thud."

Chris punched the hanging Billy in the stomach without releasing his grip on his shirt. Though the shirt ripped from the collar and Billy fell on the ground.

"Fucking bastard!"

Chris proceeded to kick the lying Billy on the ground. He kicked the man on the face, and when he blocked his face, he kicked him in the chest. He made sure that every kick connected without any defenses.

"Bang. Thud. Bang. Thud."

"I'll fucking kill you! Huff. Then I'll fuck your daughter to death! Huff. You think that you're being a fucking saint by taking a beating? Huff."

The heavily breathing Chris knew better than anyone how powerful Billy really is, but the man was a broken piece of shit that should have died. He was worthless before but now he was a problem. He's going to kill this bastard and take out every single frustration he has on everything this bastard holds dear.

This was also the time when a figure silently appeared near them, the eyes of that figure were calm, serene, almost as if it looked at nothing.

Chris' anger was making him forget about his friends that became unusually silent. He was about to kick the beaten Billy again when he felt a presence behind him that made his body flinch for a second before hurriedly rolling to the side.

"Whoosh." A kick that was heading straight for Chris' neck missed it's mark and the owner of the leg didn't follow up. Instead, it went towards the lying Billy whose face was unrecognizable and his arms were swollen blue.

"Rest for a while, Pops! I got this."

Matthew didn't look at Billy anymore and instead went towards the flushed Chris who was looking at the two men who were lying in a pool of their own blood. The faces were even giving off a raging expression, like what he thinks was his expression just a while ago.

'Fucking hell, the boy's a ranker too?'

Chris couldn't be bothered to think anymore as the kid's feet were heading straight for his chin as he was still wondering about what to do next. The attack missed but it was enough to make him lose balance and he couldn't dodge the foot that was heading straight for his solar plexus after it redirected itself from a hook kick to an axe kick.

"Bang." Chris' body landed hard on the ground as he felt a few of his bones crack from around his ass. The pain hurt like hell, but he had no time to complain as he held the axe kick heading straight for his head.

"Thud. Argh!"

"Grip. Got you now, fucker!"

After blocking the kick, he tried holding on to the foot. He was going to use his Oven Hands to burn the thing off when he felt it become heavier. He turned his eyes only to see another foot heading straight to his left temple.

"Bang."

Chris forcefully flew to the right but still held on to the other foot. That was when the ability finally started to affect his opponent.

"Sizzle. Ahhh!"

"Ahahaha!"

"Let! Bang. Me! Bang. Fucking! Bang. Go! Bang."

Matthew repeatedly tried to kick Chris' face but the man was as hard to kill as a fucking cockroach. Matthew could feel the heat burning through the energy he placed on his legs as he stopped dividing them and placed everything into the one that Chris was holding on to.

"Burn! Fucking burn!" The repeated kicks did nothing as Chris was now laughing at the eventual win he had already seen in his head.

Matthew was forcing himself to get more energy from the stupid thing in his heart but felt it had nothing left to give. He pushed everything like that energy in his body and sent it straight to the other leg that was not held down.

"Bang. " But it didn't work. It was at this moment when Matthew was feeling helpless that a voice called out to him.

(Welcome to the System Ranker! Greet us when you wake up, we'll be waiting for your call!)

But it did nothing, he looked around to see if someone else was here but that feminine voice was nowhere to be found. He then saw a figure in the distance placing a palm on the ground.

Chris was giving everything he has into making this fucking bitch burn. He gave out all of his mana just so he can output a stronger ability but just when he did so, he heard a buzzing sound from his back.

"Buzz. Crack."

'Shit!' A crack appeared on the ground beneath Chris that made him lose his footing. He tried to balance himself using his hands, so he had let go of Matthew's left foot. That was his last mistake.

"Bang." Half of Chris' right foot was stuck inside a crack on the ground while he knelt with his left. He was unconscious from the kick that Matthew sent on the back of his head. This didn't mean he was off the hook though as Matthew then proceeded to beat the man up with his fists.

"Thud. Thud. Thud. Squish. Squish. Squish. Graaaa!"

Only when Chris' nose cracked open did Matthew stop and give out a grunt. He looked towards the sitting Billy whose eyes were showing him a gentle expression. This only caused the nerves on Matthew's head to nearly burst as he breathed heavily while heading straight to the man's side and was about to punch that stupid face of his.

"You look fucking uglier now than before pops!" But he couldn't do it, doing any more would probably kill the man.

 He took his arm and placed it over his shoulders. He'll bring him to a hospital before any permanent damage, at least any more that can result from leaving him hanging, was done. It was when he was going to carry the man on his back that he heard a crunch that tickled his heart.

'His ribs are broken, I need to be careful.'

Calling an ambulance will surely make them suspects of second-degree murder. He'd rather take the risk of sending him through an ER himself. He was sending the man the rest of the energy after all, that should be enough to get him there in one piece.

"Hey son... take care of Kyli- Bleggh."

Matthew looked at the right side of his shirt where a spittle mixed with blood trickled as he dashed straight to the nearest hospital. Though he felt as if he was about to pass out any second now, he needed to get this man to safety.