I am weak

Olivia

"Uggh!"

I sank to the ground as the sharp blow hit me in the gut. Hunched over and writhing in pain, I shakily tried to get up. I looked up and glared at the eyes of the person who had punched me. Cold. Those eyes lacked neither sympathy nor empathy.

The dude had an ugly expression too. His face screamed murderer which was quite common around those parts- plus I had seen worse. From his body structure to his posture, I could tell he was rugged and violent. It was obvious to me that man had suffered quite a bit.

I wasn't going to excuse the dude either. I had to stand my ground, push and move forward. The guy was a steppingstone in my progress. I had to be stronger... to be strong enough to find and... protect them.

Weakness was a sin. And I was not about to commit that sin.

So, I instead chose to continue my fight.

With a few more struggles, I unsteadily got on my feet and assumed my fighting stance. With my fists at the ready, I lunged towards the guy with all my might and punched, aiming for any part of his body. Unluckily, all my fist went in contact with was air and I ended up tripping and stumbling onto the ground.

Fortunately, I landed on all fours so I hardly had any visible bruises. I couldn't believe it.

'He dodged it! My attack was sudden...How?!'

'Is he faster than me?'

'He has to be faster than me and more experienced.' It was going to be harder than I had originally anticipated.

To him it might have looked like a child trying and failing at acting like an adult. I was a noob after all. I might have become a regular in street fights after their disappearance but that did not mean I was a master. I admit I had been quite delusional after winning a few fights and life dealt me a tight slap signaling me back to reality.

I wasn't perfect. I was weak. 

I let out a long sigh as I stared at the large man. I was truly at a disadvantage, and I wasn't giving up. I stood up and brushed off any dust from rags which in retrospect was quite pointless.

Assuming fighting stance again with my feet a good distance apart.

"I am not going down just yet!" 

I proclaimed fearlessly to my opponent.

Tsk!

He clicked his tongue to my words and parted his lips to speak.

"Utterly pathetic"

"For someone who talks big, you're pathetically unable to even touch a strand of my hair"

A scowl slowly formed on his face. He calmly strolled towards.

I moved back, fully aware that something was about to happen.

It was then.

Slap!

The prick had slapped me. Hard. I could feel a stinging sensation and a faint trickle of something on my face.

I scrunched up my nose in horror when I subconsciously touched the unknown liquid and saw it was blood. I stared blankly at my hand; I could feel my heart beating wildly.

It was a simple attack. Yet it inflicted more damage than I could ever inflict on him.

'Is it because I am too weak?'

'Is it because he is very strong?'

'Or both?'

The harsh reality slapped me harder than what he did to me.

I was really weak. And it had been reconfirmed by the menacing brute who was smiling evilly in front of me.

Slap!

The dude seemed to have noticed me dazed by the first slap that he sent another one: harsher and more painful. I staggered a bit, loosing balance and falling to the floor. I was completely helpless.

Tears pricked my eyes as I felt my whole-body trembling. I was shaking and I utterly despised it. I had to stop it! I just had to stop it all! My rapidly beating heart...My sweaty palms...My trembling hands. All of it!

I could feel the already formed tears streaked down my face. I gave the man an icy glare. Though he seemed, no, he was unbothered. I watched him walk without haste towards me. The distance was quite short, as I had only edged away from him by a couple of steps. He let out a charming and melodic whistle which was seriously contradicting the obvious tension in the dark alley way. He stopped right in front of me and squatted to the ground. I flinched as he moved his hand towards me and flicked my forehead.

"You are really pathetic."

"Can't even defend yourself from such petty attacks."

His harsh words spat out as he stared at me with spite and disgust. The cruel look in his eyes made me cower even more.

"Hmm...Maybe you're better at more 'advanced' attacks."

'Wait! What does he mea-' Before I could process what he had just said, I was hunching over in pain. The damn bastard had punched me in the gut, and I couldn't but yelp in pain. It was really painful but not as painful as my shattered will.

Still trying to deal with the pain, I heard a loud exaggerrated sigh. It was the bastard.

"Haaa...You are not even worth a percentage of my strength."

"Little girl, did you ever notice you are quite useless?"

Those words were meant to provoke me. I knew that. But...but those words still got to me. I subconsciously clenched and unclenched my hand whilst still shaking from the pain.

He reached out his hand and patted my head like a king giving grace to a lowly peasant. The corner of his lips curled up into a manipulative smirk and parted for him to speak.

"I just thought of something! You can be a training tool for my dogs!"

"Can you do that?"

The bastard acted as if I had a choice.

"Wouldn't that be great, Little girl?"

'Asshole...' I grumbled under my breath. His pious attitude completely contrasted with his previous actions and his ragged appearance. The once threatening man, had turned into a gentle smiling person who talked to me as if he was pleasing a child after a tantrum. I was disgusted by the act. As I technically had no choice without a moment of delay his signaled his dogs.

Two huge men emerged from the shadows and stood behind the bastard.

'Crane and Rock' I widened my eyes in surprise. I had done my research on the bastard. I had intentionally approached him, so I had to do it. From what I could gather-which was not much-the bastard was the head of a prominent gang of the district the two were supposedly sent to. Leopold Schutter. He was well known in the dark circles for his tendency to call those below him his dogs. Dogs that obeyed the will of their master.

'Of all of them, why did it have to be them' The bastard had brought his strongest duo. Just by looking at them, I could tell they were strong.

'I am going to die!' Death seemed an inevitable outcome. I didn't want to die. At least not like that. I was yet to find them. The pain from before had long faded and the horror of death kept my heart pumping. Stealing a glance at the bastard, I saw an evil grin plastered on his face as he gestured towards me.

"Dogs, why don't you sure our friend here why I should never be crossed."

"As a bonus, you can punish anyway you want.

"Until she is crippled or dead. I don't care as long as you perfectly do your job.

The dogs nodded in a robotic manner and walked menacingly towards me.

"Nice knowing you. No hard feelings, right?"

"I would love to stick around but fortunately for me, I have better ways to spend my time." He waved goodbye at me and strutted off leaving me with his ferocious dogs/goons.

Gulp!

I gulped preparing myself for the pain I would endure. The two were slightly weaker than the bastard and could easily kill me off. The bastard was toying with me, so I had managed to survive after my reckless and arrogant decision to take him head on. But these two were different. They were explicitly ordered to harm me.

In other words...They could kill me.

*************

I coughed up blood. I was sprawled onto the dirty floor of the alley. The stench of blood and trash nauseated me and added more pain to the one I was currently trying to endure.

Crane attacked me with another barrage of punches aimed at my face as Rock constantly kicked me without rest. I had bruises all over which were swelled enough to make me look like a monster.

"Master said to do it however we want" Crane spoke as he continued to punch me.

"He said perfectly so... I guess we have to kill her" Crane nodded to Rock 's words. Fear creeped into me as i listened to their conversation.

Rock stopped kicking me and unsheathed a dagger from its sheath. He inched closer to me, using the dagger he slowly sliced through one of my fingers. I screamed like I had never screamed before. With my damage body I couldn't do anything to defend myself. So, he was easily able to move to other areas and cut open my calf. Blood was flowing profusely from both my finger and calf, and I was soon soaked with my own blood. I felt it was about to get worse when...

Suddenly...

A familiar looking youth appeared.

"What are you doing to her?!" He screamed, his tone filled with anger.

I looked up, catching a glimpse at him.

'Huh? What is he doing here?'