Chapter 49 – Let the Fun Games Begin! (part 2)

Old man Jenkins was surrounded on all sides by nine people of various looks, genders and powers. He snarled as he saw his green mist suddenly dissipate. The oldies were not smiling but the five new additions were. They looked confident that they could take on Old man Jenkins, no problem. Old man Jenkins frowned as he saw a magic circle appear under his feet. The circle had smaller inner circles of different sizes in it. The magic circle glowed a white color and old man Jenkins visibly saw two inner circles exchange positions. He jumped backwards at high speed just as the circle made a lock sound and distorted the space it covered. Old man Jenkins frowned deeply. If he was a couple microseconds late, he would have been locked in place, unable to move and use his powers. Without wasting time, the blur twin moved at an unprecedented speed and arrived behind him and struck his spine.

*bang* *sizzle*

Old man Jenkins was hit in the spine with a devastating punch but the female twin's fist also got slightly corroded by the green mist that surrounded his body in a thin veil-like armor. She hissed in pain and quickly retreated. A white mist appeared again. Old man Jenkins knew that the mist restricted his powers so he looked around quickly to find out who was controlling the mist. But, it not only neutralized his corrosive green mist but also distorted his vision to an annoying extent.

*crackle*

Old man Jenkins heard a crackle from behind him. The young old lady swung her thin rope that crackled with electricity from his side. He flipped backwards and rolled forwards as the rope curled towards him. A sword went for his neck just as he stood up straight and he bent backwards almost ninety degrees.

*Bang*

A foot smacked into his chest as he bent backwards. Old man Jenkins could only block with his hands crossed across his chest. He landed on his back with a bang and ignoring the pain, he rolled to avoid a follow up kick.

*Click* *Click* *Click*

Old man Jenkins jumped up from his lying position and rolled away just as he had the third click. The same circle formation was already lying in wait for him. They had predicted that he would roll in that direction and had placed a formation there in store for him. Luckily for old man Jenkins, he was able to move away faster than it could activate. He jumped to his feet and swung his left fist as he turned around in an attempt to hit the person who had literally appeared behind him.

*whoosh* *BANG* *SIZZLE*

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Old man Jenkins' punch connected. The victim screamed as the green mist burned her face for a couple seconds. Old man Jenkins kicked her stomach, sending her flying backwards. He was surprised. Was this person that appeared behind him a noob? How could she have gotten beaten so easily? Was this a trap? He thought even as he ducked under a hook that came from his right side and diverted a palm strike that went for his chest.

A short sword suddenly appeared out of thin air. Old man Jenkins could not sense any heat signature in time and his sight was well, was useless in the mist. But he sensed a slight space distortion. It gave him a weird feeling. He was familiar with this feeling. That was the old cane lady's ability. She could distort space to a slight extent. Enough to pass her hands and feet through but she could never make a portal large enough to fit a whole human body. Not even a toddler would fit through. Old man Jenkins made a swift backroll and transitioned it into a backflip. He kicked someone in the chest and without touching the ground, gave the same person a backhand slap that sent him flying sideways.

That someone fell and slid across the floor. The mist began to dissipate.

'is that the one in charge of the mist?' Old man Jenkins asked himself. He ducked under a meter long ice spear that was shot at him from his right, and blocked a kick with his left arm. He ran forward at the female twin that had stopped being a blur for a short period of time while she drank a small potion. He knew from watching her that it took a few seconds each time to activate her powers and it seems like it also took a lot of concentration to maintain the blur. That, to Old man Jenkins, was a massive flaw, and he wanted to take advantage of it. He took large strides towards her as his vision became clearer because of the dissipating white mist. Before he could reach the female twin oldie, he could see clearly and he noticed a palm which he identified as Baldy's palm swinging at his chest. Old man Jenkins knew that the most worrisome thing about fighting Baldy was the unpredictability of his talismans. No one could tell when he was going to use a talisman nor could they identify what the talisman was or what it could do, even if they saw it. Therefore, old man Jenkins had to stop and take a slight jump backwards, barely dodging the palm. He immediately ran forward again but the blur was already fully activated. She, the female twin, suddenly moved in a zig-zag pattern, confusing Old man Jenkins for a split second but that split second was a long time to these veterans of the battlefield. Several small portals were opened around old man Jenkins and several hands and legs and weapons swung at him and successfully drew blood, although it was in small proportions. The green corrosive veil was surprisingly durable and successfully absorbed most of the attacks. Not to mention, the feet and hands and weapons also took quite the damage as well. After all, there was no white mist to neutralize the green mist and so the corrosive property was in full swing. All this happened in just that split second.

Old cane lady who was also referred to as the Grand Elder was a lot more formidable than she looked. She opened and closed several small portals rapidly and at random. The portal could appear above old man Jenkins, below him, at his sides, strike at his vitals or non-vitals, the strikes could be punches or kicks or palm strikes or knife and short sword cuts. The attacks could even be laced with poison or talismans or electricity or icicles or ice spears. Sometimes, even potions would be attempted on him. Old man Jenkins was unable to predict where the attacks would appear. He moved, blocked, deflected, dodged and jumped around as randomly and as instinctively as he could. He relied on his instincts and slight feelings of spatial distortion in his immediate surroundings that signified the opening of a portal.

Even though the green veil was corrosive and highly durable, vastly reducing the injuries, these injuries piled up and old man Jenkins lost quite some blood. That did no distract him though. He continued to dodge and reduce the number of strikes that hit his vitals.

All of a sudden, he felt a strong spatial distortion a few meters to his left. It was only about three feet away from the old cane lady. The distortion in space was very obvious and it was apparent someone had opened a large portal in the building and old cane lady just happened to be beside it. This distracted the old cane lady and old man Jenkins saw an opportunity right away. He stuck his hand into a portal that the old cane lady aka 'Grand Elder' had opened but forgot to close in her haste to step away from the large portal that was opening too close to her. But that was not the only portal that was left opened. He threw punches and kicks through every opened portal he saw and felt around him.

*Bang* *Boom* *PIak* *thwack*

"Ahh!" "Arrgh!" "SHSHSHSH!!" "F*ck!!"

Old man Jenkins hit whoever was at the other end of each portal and their cries of pain and rage rang out bringing old cane lady back to the present. She quickly closed portals as soon as she saw old man Jenkins' left hand inside one of them. The man in black at the other end of the portal took a step backwards and grabbed Old man Jenkins' wrist. His intention was for the portal to close on old man Jenkins' hand. When space portals closed on a body, it usually ended up twisted and oddly mutated and in some cases cut in pieces. For situations such as this, old man Jenkins knew that not only will his hand be cut off, but space fragments will stick to the other end and cause him irreparable damage and excruciating pain.

'No way!' Old man Jenkins thought to himself. Unexpectedly, just as the portal was closing up, Old man Jenkins forced his hand backwards and the man in black was pulled halfway through the originally small portal. The portal closed. The man in black was cut in half, right at the waist. Old man Jenkins looked at the upper part of the body and noticed the body was twisted and all the flesh and bones had somehow found a way to mutate in such a way that the heart was where the stomach ought to be, the kidneys had joined forces with the neck, the bones were sticking out in some places they should never have been and his face was so distorted, old man Jenkins wanted to throw up.

"JAY!!!!" A female's voice shrieked out. Old man Jenkins looked at her curiously and smiled. She was also in the same black outfit and was filled with rage. They probably had a close relationship.

'She is quite pretty, so maybe boyfriend, girlfriend?' old man Jenkins thought briefly and took a step forward in a provocative manner.

"You…. I will kill you!" She shrieked again and ignoring her colleagues and elders' warnings, she ran towards him and conjured an ice spear which she grabbed and threw.

'Oh? She's the ice lady?' Old man Jenkins thought as he calmly dodged the spear. The spear whooshed past his head and old cane lady made a portal in which it entered.

Old man Jenkins immediately focused on his surroundings. He expected the portal to open anywhere around him but was surprised when he felt the small portal open behind him. He immediately turned around and saw it strike at a person. The large portal that had been slowly opening without any interruptions had finished opening. The dark purple wormhole color that signified that it was ready had appeared and someone had just stepped through when the ice spear that entered the old cane lady's small portal had exited from a second small portal. It stabbed straight at the new comer.

"Really?" the new comer's voice boomed. ""A sneak attack? Mrs Sweeny, have you lost your balls? Sneak attacking me like that." The person finally fully stepped out and away from the portal and said with the ice spear still sticking out of his chest. It was Ruthless, the ruthless noble from Forest City. A second person soon exited the portal as he hugged his sword playfully with a happy smile on his face.

"Master, I think you have forgotten something." The swordsman said as he grabbed his sword by the hilt and unsheathed it. He was usually quiet and serious but his personality always took a U-turn every time he was anticipating a fight. He would become happy and talkative like a little kid. The change in attitude still stumped Ruthless even though he had experienced it multiple times.

"Oh really, what?" Ruthless asked.

"Mrs Sweeny is a lady. She can't have balls!"

"Oh come on! Don't say that!" The third person to exit the portal said with an idiotic look. He was the gang leader of the toughest gang in Forest City. He continued: "She might have had a transplant..."

"...or a mutation." The swordsman finished.

The men who appeared after their gang leader immediately burst into laughter.