Real strength

Kai wasn't sure if he was talking to the bastard in front of him or to himself when he said those words. They just escaped his mouth before he even had the time to comprehend what he had said.

Even if he meant the man before him was pathetic, that didn't mean Kai himself was any better.

Actually, nevermind, Kai wasn't someone who would try to take advantage of a terrified lady, so the man was more pathetic.

The man froze, seemingly shocked by Kai's words. The small forests temperature seemed to drop by a few degrees as the man's eyes narrowed as he glared at Kai.

"What the fuck are you saying? I'm offering you a good time and you're calling me pathetic? Who the fuck do you think you are?"

Kai gazed coldly at the man. The woman under him was quivering with fear, her eyes silently pleading with Kai. But even though her eyes conveyed one thing, her body conveyed another.

She had absolutely no hope that Kai would be able to do anything against the man.

"No, who the fuck do you think you are? What gives you the right to do this shit with that poor lady? What? Sofia bruise your ego so you have to go assault someone?

Some fucking man you are. What? Can't keep it in your pants so you act like this? As I said, fucking pathetic."

The man's eyebrows twitched. He was growing agitated, he looked as if he were about to get off the woman's body and attack Kai.

Kai wouldn't mind that, it would give her time to escape.

"Kid, your saying some real big words for someone who doesn't understand he's situation. I'll give you one more chance. Get the fuck out of here..."

The man then pulled a blade, a dagger, out of the scabbard attached to his hip. The cold steel of the blade shone with the artificial light of the moon, the weapon looking like it could easily end Kai's life.

Yet all Kai could do was laugh at the sight.

"You know, someone once told me that the weapon matches the person. I didn't believe them at first, but it seems that they really were right. Especially after what Sofia told me tonight."

The man's face was slowly turning red, he looked as if he was about to pop a vein with how enraged he was.

It seemed that he understood the meaning behind Kai's words much quicker than Kai himself did when Noelle first said them.

"Kid, I gave you your warning, but it seems like you're dead set on dying here."

The man grinned as he got up off of the woman, pointing his dagger in Kai's direction.

The woman promptly crawled backwards, she then tried to get up and run away, but the man kicked her in the side and spat:

"You stay right there, whore. I'll be back to you right after I'm done with the kid."

The woman let out a moan of pain as she sprawled onto the ground, tears spilling out of her terrified eyes.

"Run-"

Her cry was silenced by the man brutally stomping down on her thigh, his boot mauling her leg.

Her cry echoed through the forest, yet Kai knew that it was only him and the rapist who heard it.

Even when she was in more trouble than Kai himself, she tried to get him to run away.

In the end, it's always the kind ones who get taken advantage of.

"Why should I run?" Kai asked as he coldly analysed the man, watching his every move.

None of this was arrogance. No, it was all confidence that was granted by Nonchalance.

Kai had no fear for his life in the current situation.

"You know, this place really is great." The man played with his blade as he spoke, and Kai mentally got ready as he knew a monologue was about to come.

"It's all about strength. Meaning the stronger you are, the more you get away with."

The man grinned, lifting his blade up to his eye and looking at Kai's reflection in the lustrous metal.

"And I don't think there's anyone in this place stronger than me except for some of those bastard beasts and that brown haired guy

And unless I'm going blind...

You're not a beast."

The man laughed as he looked down at the woman who was still squirming in pain under his boot. He looked like an egotistical maniac who enjoyed punishing those below him.

But what if someone who thought they had all the power in the world met someone with true power?

"You're right. Here, strength is all that matters."

The man grinned at Kai's words, he rolled his shoulders and said:

"See, we agree. Why do you have to be so difficult when we could-"

"So it's a shame you have none. All you seem to have is a small, rabid snake in your pants who you can't seem to control."

The man, who looked so happy a second ago, now looked pissed. His gaze looked as if it could bore holes through anything, and it was aimed directly at Kai's face.

"Kid, you've done it now. It's time I show you what real power looks like. Who knows, maybe I'll just cripple you and keep you alive so you can watch the show."

Kai's eyes narrowed.

"Show me then."

Kai stood completely still as the man charged at him. The man's blade cleanly made its way towards Kai's body, not caring about anything else in its surroundings.

The woman's, who should be more terrified about her own safety, face paled. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as she tried one more time to try and get Kai to run away.

But why should he be the one to run?

In the face of pure strength...

The arrogant man couldn't do anything to stop Kai's anger.

Time seemed to move slowly as the man's blade slowly edged closer and closer to Kai, yet he still didn't do anything.

He didn't fuse with Umbra, he didn't summon any items he had stored away in his soul, he had no tricks hidden up his sleeve.

He didn't need them.

His raw stats would be enough.

Activating Soul Sense, Kai looked at the man's soul and felt another wave of disgust wash over him. The perverts soul was black and had thin purple lines infesting its ethereal body.

It reminded Kai of the invisible wendigo, how its soul looked diseased and corrupted. Back then, the sight had struck fear into Kai. Of course it would have, that abomination's power was comparable only to the Depth Dweller and the first abomination Kai fought when he was a weak beginner.

Now, he only felt pure disgust.

With the help of the Soul Sense, Kai could tell exactly what the man was about to do.

Right.

The man switched the blade from his left hand to his right. Thinking he had caught Kai off guard, he grinned madly as he stabbed towards Kai's side-

Kai calmly extended his right arm, catching the man's wrist in his hand.

The man's body shook at the impact. Shocked, the man could only look up at Kai in horror as his whole body creaked from the sudden stop. He struggled to free his arm from Kai's grasp. The amount of strength in the teenagers grip had the redneck terrified.

"Wai-"

A loud cracking echoed throughout the forest, followed by the man's pained cry.

If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to here it, does it make a sound?

Kai wasn't sure about a tree, but breaking a man's wrist certainly does make a sound.

As Kai let go of the wrist, the man fell backwards in pain as shards of bone poked out through the bloody skin. Blood seeped out of the tiny holes the bones produced as the man made a pained spit onto the ground.

"What the fuck? W- What did you do!?"

Crawling backwards in raw, unadeltured fear, the man could only gaze up at Kai as the red-haired boy slowly approached him.

"You said strength was all that mattered around here" Kai spat coldly. "So where's that so called strength?

Kai took another step closer, but the man grinned madly and jumped up.

His disfigured arm dangled limply by his side, the pervert then picked up his blade with his good hand and lunged at Kai.

It was as if Kai had stepped into the man's trap.

"Idiot, I'll show you stren-"

While the man was mid lunge, his face contorted into a deplorable expression as Kai's fist connected with his jaw.

The man was sent reeling by the blow, even going so far as colliding with one of the trees.

The man cried out in pain once more as his back collided against the tree. Another crack echoed throughout the forest, but Kai wasn't sure if it was the bark or the man's spine that the sound originated from.

Kai calmly made his way over to the man, but was a bit to surprised to see that the man was conscious.

Though only barely.

"I know every attack that you will make before you do, I see it all. I know every trick, every scheme, every stunt you could pull before you even attempt to before your mind can even begin to comprehend what you are thinking. What makes you think you even stand a chance?"

Even Umbra's, a young wolf, attacks were better disguised and more creative. While Kai could only predict six out of ten of Umbra's attacks...

He was confident that he could predict ten out of ten of the man's basic and bland shows of strength.

The man, barely conscious, didn't seem to register what Kai was saying. But even though he could properly register, he could feel a sense of dread as Kai got closer and closer.

"S- Stay back!... Y... You're crazy!"

The man was panicking, his legs were trembling as he desperately tried to escape the clutches of the innocent teenager approaching him.

"I'm crazy?" Kai repeated as he looked down disdainfully at the pitiful man.

"No, I'm the sane one."

Summoning Life Eater, Kai delicately ran a finger along the blades edge, feeling the sharpness dig into his fingertip as it threatened to draw blood.

Of course, this was all a bluff. He wasn't actually some maniac who wielded a blade. He just wanted to terrify the trembling man, he deserved it.

"This blade is an uncommon weapon, much sharper than your weak knife. Since you were so keen on cutting me...

How easy do you think it would be for me to cut you?"

The words flowed freely out of Kai's mouth. He wasn't even sure about what he was saying, but it just sounded right. The man was scum, he deserved no sympathy.

He was as bad as the abominations themselves.

The man's eyes widened, abject horror hidden in the depths of his perverted gaze.

"No... I'll do anything. You want the lady... S... She's yours.... Y- You want your boots cleaned? I... I will lick them clean."

"No."

The man shut up at the one word from Kai's mouth. Terrified, he gazed up at Kai's face and asked.

"W... what are you going to do?"

Kai's eyes shone with disdain and disgust. He was angry.

Angry at the man, angry at the whole situation, but the one he was most angry with...

Was himself.

"This."

Without warning, Kai brutally thrust the blade in between the man's legs.