Provocation

It has been two days since their boss, Hades, sent the report to all members of Underworld to report any suspicious activity that could be linked with the Red executioner of the Red Dragon. All the members of the syndicate were on high alert and ready for an attack. Even if he was someone from the Red Dragon, a single person couldn't fight them all, right?

The hideout where potions and drugs were stored was being defended by over twenty people, and two messengers were stationed there to run in case of an attack and call back up. Even in the middle of the night, when the lights disappeared from the streets and only darkness reigned, they were still vigilant.

CRACK... The sound of a door being broken suddenly called their attention. Even the sleeping grunts woke up and ran toward the origin of the sound. In the middle of the room, a man in a red cape stood dragging the body of one of the messengers.

"BASTARD YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS!" A man with a big club screamed at the executioner.

"Oh, sorry. I don't intend to finish with this. I'm killing all of you. I just don't like to make more work for myself. I decided that you guys are dumb enough to gather in one place so I could be done with all of you faster. Isn't that right? I told you the plan, too. right?" He gestured toward the corpse he was dragging in his arms. "Oh, right?" He dropped him on the floor.

With a thunderous yell, all the present charged at the man. The only one that backed away and ran in the opposite direction was the other messenger. "Oh, I see, you're the other messenger. Thanks for showing me so soon. This way, I can be done. I need to go to sleep."

In a second, the executioner caught the messenger and crushed his windpipe with his bare hands. He passed between all the other grunts without any of them realizing what was happening. They still charged back at him, determined to kill him, avenge their dead companions, and fight for their organization, but it was useless.

The red executioner dodged all the blows and, with a flowing style of combat, broke the bones and organs of everyone in his path. Swords, axes, and arrows were all meaningless against his fists. He pummeled the bodies like they were pieces of meat. A man got his chest devasted by a single punch, another got his leg crushed, and a woman got her skull broken into the floor by an open palm strike.

Only a single member of Underworld remained alive. The executioner grabbed him by the neck and lifted him from the floor. The executioner began to talk in a calm tone. "Please stop wasting my time and tell me who is Hades?"

"AH... I'm not going to tell you anything, bastard...Ahh... go and fucking die…"

The executioner began to strangle him. "Your little syndicate is finished. You mess with the Red Dragon and must pay the consequences. You still have a chance to make it out alive. If you tell me what I want to know, you can run away. I don't care to kill grunts and lowlifes like you. My mission is to crush the syndicate and the upper echelon. Who is Hades? Where is the main base?"

The man smiled and, with his hand, pointed toward a single candle at the top of the building. The candle was lit and resting beside a window. At the same time, Eric's fist crashed right on top of the executioner.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Eric missed as the man jumped away without even looking back at him. Still holding onto the throat of the grunt, he looked at Eric.

"Oh, thank you; you were pointing me to your superior." With a sudden crack, he broke the neck of the grunt and threw him to the ground. "Now I can ask him directly."

Eric's face became full of rage. That guy just killed another of his subordinates with a smile on his face. "You piece of shit, you dare kill all my people. You even have the nerve to kill him right in my face. I'll destroy you. I'm sending your head back to your bosses in a box, so they never DARE TO TRY TO MESH WITH US!"

Eric jumped at the man at full speed, his fist aimed directly at the smiling face of his foe. With a heavy sound, the impact of Eric's fist was stopped by the hand of the executioner. "I haven't told you my name yet. I'm Toss, an executioner of the Red Dragon. Could you tell me where your main base in this city is?"

Eric launched another attack, but Toss just flicked his punch away with a single movement of his hand.

"What?" Eric's barrage of punches rained down on Toss, but he managed to dodge and redirect all the attacks. With the same flow of movements, he made Eric's attacks look like a complete amateur.

"I can tell you're a member of the upper echelon. Your fighting skills are too good for a simple thug. Tell me who is Hades?" Toss grabbed Eric's fist and crushed it with his hand.

The pain rushed through his brain, but Eric kicked at the stomach of Toss, trying to repay him the favor. The kick was blocked by the red arm. How tough is this asshole? Using all his strength, Eric broke free from the grab and, with his elbow, hit Toss right in the face. Sadly, once again, his attack changed directions and ended up hitting nothing.

This was the difference in abilities. Toss wasn't even seriously fighting; he was treating Eric like a child. The only thing that Eric's attacks did was change the smile of Toss into an annoyed expression. "Don't make me lose time."

With a knife-hand strike, Toss hit the collar bone of Eric, shattering it. CRACK…

"…" Losing all sense and overwhelmed by pain, Eric fell to the floor defeated. He only raised his gaze to look into Toss's eyes; he wasn't even considering this a fight.

"Come on, back to my hideout. We can talk about everything there-"

PRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII… The sound of a whistle interrupted the men. Toss looked at the back, where a soldier was standing, holding his weapon. "Don't move!"

The footsteps of reinforcements were getting closer, Toss had to make a choice. Should I kill them all? Alerting the army of the presence of the Red Dragon is going to be troublesome. Then I take him with me... no, I can use him. Toss whispered something into Eric's ears and disappeared back into the darkness, leaving him gritting his teeth and at the mercy of the guards.

Four more guards show up a few seconds later. "What happened? By the angels, who did this?" "I don't know, but a man in a red cape got away. I think he was part of a syndicate." "What about him? Do you think he's a member of Underworld?"

The guards surrounded Eric. He was still recovering from the pain of having his collar bone broken. Before they could handcuff him, the five guards died with their heads crushed. The impact was so strong that even the metal helmets were flattened.

"I told you not to face him alone!" Thanatos yelled at Eric. He cleaned the blood from his fist and kneeled at his side. "What happened?"

"I saw the candle light up. Our boys did well, after I told the rest to call for backup. I came here alone and tried to catch the bastard."

"We made the plan and stood out here in the night to make sure we could react in time if any of the hideouts were attacked, a single candle being lit up in case of attack, with lookouts in different places that would light their own candles and spread the message, but you tried to take things into your own hands, without waiting for me or anyone else. Why?"

"I'm sorry boss… I can't forgive him. After seeing how he massacred my subordinates."

"Are you that mad?"

"Yes, I lost too many people already, but since we began to work under you, we have been living good, zero losses. I think I got used to it, to living without worrying about a syndicate or the army breaking in the middle of the night and trying to kill us or arrest us…" A tear rolled down Eric's cheek. "I forgot how painful it is to lose those I care about."

"You aren't the only one that doesn't want to lose people. I care about this organization. I would be lying if I said I care for all my subordinates equally, but I care about you, Eric. That's why I agreed to let you fight with me against this executioner. Do you trust me, Eric?" Thanatos looked right into his eyes.

"Yes, Boss!" With a firm handshake, Thanatos helped Eric stand up.

"Boss, the name of the bastard is Toss. He told me something before he ran away. 'If you want to prove that you aren't a disgrace as a subordinate, I'll be waiting tomorrow in the butcher store in the north.' That's what he said."

"He tried to provoke you to go alone into a trap. You didn't fall for it, good."

"I almost fell for it. For a minute, I thought to keep this to myself and go face him again. I'm sorry, boss. I'm such an idiot. I got angry and scared that you wouldn't let me accompany you, after I failed to wait for you and tried to fight him alone."

Thanatos gave Eric a healing potion. "Don't worry about it. Even after this, I want you at my side in case of anything going wrong."

"Thank you, boss!" Eric drank the potion and swallowed the liquid along with his pride. I don't need pride. You have my back, so I'll have yours.

The rest of the members of Underworld reached the hideout and cleaned the place and bodies. The disappearance of soldiers would definitely attract the army's attention, but Thanatos didn't care. The only thing on his mind was vengeance against Toss. As he saw the bodies being transported, an idea formed in his head.

You walk into our territory and murder my people without a care in the world. Tomorrow I'll show my true power.

In the butcher shop, Toss was cleaning the knives one by one. He took his time making sure they were in perfect condition. "You have a nice collection. I wonder which one I should use tomorrow for the interrogation?"

"…"

"Yes, he's going to come. He is the type that values his emotions and feelings over logic. He feels humiliated and frustrated towards me. He may try to bring a few more of his subordinates to try and beat me with numbers. But he's too ashamed to tell his companions or his boss, Hades."

"…"

"Is fine. I can deal with him with one hand tied behind my back. The best thing would be if he brought another high-ranking member of the syndicate. That way, I could interrogate both at the same time. That would make my job easier."

"…"

"Why am I talking to you? Well, that is because…?" Toss realized he was talking to the head of the owner of the butcher shop, he killed him yesterday. "Sorry is a bad habit of mine."