Mortal Enemy, Strength of the Avenger

The yellow haired thug was not just a thug. He was a person too. The people he was extorting could call him anything he wanted; loan shark, thug, bastard, hooligan, shameless. But he too had feelings. He had a name. It was Yang Longhu.

When he was just an unruly youth, abandoned by his parents, no allies in the world, he was picked up by a this company. They told him they could use some hands.

In his time there he got the chance to make something of himself in the world of lucrative business and taking advantage of the weak and poor. He received a future.

He had some talent, and even got some subordinates. From them, they were like minded in thought, and got along well together quickly, and they became as close as brothers. He received a family.

Over the years, he finally met a girl that he liked, and after some twists and turns, they got married, and even had a son. He received a family.

But despite the numerous fortunes he was granted, it all crumbled in the face of death.

It began when his two brothers, grunts 3 and 6, died without a sound. Not 10 minutes before 3 was asking for suggestions for his 3-year old daughters birthday present, while 6 was talking about what a nice guy his sister's fiancée was. They were talking like they would be back by the morning, but now they had died without a sound.

"Old 4! Not you too!"

Later when they had the girls who led the tiger that was the murderer on the ropes, before they knew it, they lost grunt 4. He was an older guy, and his wife had died a few years ago, he planned to retire in a few months to focus on raising the son she left behind.

"Tell little Yu, that I loved her..."

When the beast broke through their Rippling Shark Ring Formation, grunt 2 was taken by the throat. He valiantly held the beast to give them an opportunity, but the beast was cunning, and used Two's body to block the swords. It broke their hearts when have personally ended his life, but he did not blame them. Brother 2 did not talk much, and was gloomy, but he found a girl he liked recently, and started talking more, and became good brothers with him. But now he could never confess in person.

"Did I get stronger...? Big bro...?"

"We leave it to you..."

"Kh! Little 5! Bro 1! I'm sorry!" Finally, grunt 5, a rookie who joined because he admired him, who he personally picked up because he had a similar beginning as his own, and grunt 1, who was his best friend since his early days in the company, died to buy him time.

He would not let them down. With the time his brothers bought, he could unleash his ultimate technique, which he alone could use because of his higher cultivation, but at the cost of burning his vitality.

"Bloodthirsty Shark! Rippling Avatar!!!!" His muscles bulged, he grew 10 cm, gray fish scales grew on his body, his soul bound Shark Tooth Sword receded into his body, with razor sharp fins extended from his forearms to replace them, his eyes turned ocean blue, and aura of the same color flared through the tense air.

"ANSWER TO MY BROTHERS IN HELL!!" He shouted loud enough that he hoped that their souls would hear, and slashed at the black-furred monster who killed them all.

The slash, accompanied by the blue aura, fell downwards to the monster. The monster had long since leaped back after he completed his transformation, and swiftly avoided the reckless blow with a nimble sidestep. But the oppressive effect of the aura on the blade, had still pushed him several human steps away.

With no time for monologues, he pursued his mortal enemy and when he still a meter away, unleashed a wild blade dance. The aura focused on the blades made their range extend a bit, causing several nicks to appear on the foot tall monster's body.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!" To Yang Longhu's delight, he saw several long wounds appear on the source of his vengeance, and watched it retreat constantly. He felt he had him in the ropes, and prayed his comrades were watching.

He sweeper toward the ground, and the monster was forced to leap lightly to avoid it. But he expected this and his other blade was already swinging down toward it's torso while he grinned gleefully. The monster definitely wouldn't have time to use it's wings!

Then the monster shot backward suddenly, moving completely out of the range of the slash. He saw that it's tail was pierced into the ground there, he didn't see it because the monster had deliberately been in a position that concealed it.

Then the monster extended it's wings, and flew up, it landed upside down on the ceiling, and using its claws, ran across it, Yang Longhu swept his arm blades in pursuit, raking long scars on the ceiling, and in the process, smashing the single dim lightbulb over their heads, turning the room completely dark.

The aura not tangible enough to produce light, and though sharks could see in the dark, he had cultivated no shark eye techniques, and was thus blind. But he had no doubt that the monster could, as it was a tiger. It was also dark in color, suggesting that it did most of its hunting at night.

All was silent. He did not dare let his rage completely consume him, and when the lights went out, he immediately covered his throat and eyes, so they could not be targeted. He was confident that his scales could block the monster, as it never dared to cross blade nor claw with him before.

Then his knees buckled, he had been cut in the back of his knees, which was weaker to allow flexibility, the basics of armor. His knees hit the ground and while kept his position, he would wait for the perfect time to counterattack.

The only parts that could be cut exposed was only his armpits, the monsters most likely target. He had two so he must be careful.

Unexpectedly though, something flew up his nose, the tail?! It was too narrow, but the blade shot out caused a severe wound across his face. He barely avoided death since he leaned back upon contact, he tried to swing his right arm to sever the tail, but the it retreated just as abruptly as it arrived.

Now he had revealed an opening. His armpit was dug into with unexpectedly long claws, and his right arm fell limp. He instantly felt danger the left one as well and desperately swiped his arm blade. He hit nothing but air. Then he felt small fangs sink into his neck.

He tried to stab at the monster at his neck , to maybe die along with it, but a serpent like tail wrapped around it and rugged downward, altering its course just enough to miss the monster and pierce his own chest.

He felt his life slowly fade as his whole body fell limp.

"Sorry father... mother... your son was unfilial, he'll obediently return to your side now." His parents died without him knowing almost half a decade ago. He had a lot of thugs he wanted to say to them, but he wasn't even able to attend the funeral. He just wanted to say, he never hated them...