Brutal payback

--Robber POV--

The robber intently gazed at Ren.

'Can't wait to hear him scream, Keke'

His mind was thinking of the various ways he could torture Ren for annoying him.

He was truly considering cutting his legs for trying to run. He had never done so before, it was kind of thrilling to him.

In truth, he was familiar with the area, and he wasn't vastly known either.

But he was an upcoming villain that killed people after torturing them.

He would torture people anyway, it didn't matter if they annoyed him or not, he was just crazy.

The heroes had still not picked on his trail since he was not moving wildly.

He picked dark places and only occasionally went out to hunt.

He also burns the bodies after having his fun, so it was harder to catch him.

Unfortunately for ren, today was a bad day for running at night as this guy went out to hunt, and just so happened to bump into him.

'This guy is a super too and quite strong at that… I wonder how high can he scream?'

Even though he recognized that Ren was strong, he didn't care much.

Rather the anticipation of Ren's cries made him excited beyond normal. This was the first time a prey as strong as him was found.

And he wanted them to scream in pain and die in desperation.

He was twisted in the head, but he also had something to fall onto and back up his craziness.

[Status]

[Rank: C]

[Strength: E]

[Agility: D]

[Magic: C]

[Traits: -Static Flow (C)]

*******

[Skills:

-Electric Touch (D)

-Static Rush (C)]

Of course, he couldn't see his own status, like Ren can, anytime he wanted, but there were devices to measure a person's abilities and magic stones that can show you your status.

They were quite pricy and rare so not many had access to them.

He remembered his status was like that the last time he had seen it.

Electric Touch was what he relied on usually and he didn't have to do more than that in hunting prey before.

It can stun people easily as he uses it on his hands and knife.

But it was not his most practiced skill. Since he was a kid he could remember himself running from people.

Either police after stealing, or gangs after getting into a scuffle with them.

This led to his skill Static Rush to develop.

It was the same skill he used earlier to run after Ren.

Static electricity would flood his body, increasing his strength and speed by one step.

[Status]

[Rank: C]

[Strength: D]

[Agility: C]

[Magic: C]

[Traits: -Static Flow (C)]

*******

[Skills:

-Electric touch (D)

-Static Rush (C)]

If he had a revealing stone, this would be how his status would show.

In comparison to Ren, it was almost similar.

Ren was only better in strength, but the robber had his magic stat higher.

He had earlier made the mistake of thinking Ren was stunned, thankfully he didn't let his prey run.

Now he didn't bother turning his skill off, even though it consumed mana a lot.

He would quickly incapacitate Ren to a point where he won't think of running and then the fun would start.

He licked his lips in anticipation.

"Your screams, your cries… I want to hear them! Keke"

He kicked the ground forward and jumped at Ren.

--Ren's POV--

Seeing the guy running towards him, Ren was still able to follow since they had the same speed.

He was not a fighter or martial artist so he didn't think of engaging the robber head-on.

He had thought of a plan earlier, and he prayed to the goddess Reine that it would work.

He jumped back a bit towards the pile of pipes he saw earlier and in one full motion, he kicked at it and threw the bunch of pipes upwards before he grabbed one.

His plan revolved around something impressive that had happened earlier.

When he had grabbed the bricks to throw them at the robber, he had instinctively known how to throw them.

But he was sure he had never done something similar in his life before. Maybe when he was young he threw a few rocks but that was nowhere near enough to throw with the accuracy he showed today.

'So, it must be the second trait I have in play.'

This was the conclusion he had reached in his thoughts.

And now he was gambling everything on that trait.

[Weapon mastery (B)]

He was an idiot, as when one thinks about their traits, they could gain an innate understanding of how they work, but until the moment he held the bricks he didn't do so.

The skill allowed him to handle weapons with extreme mastery.

Like he had trained in them for ages. He knew that very few people had two traits.

He lucked out, or maybe it was the blessing of the goddess. The fact that both were quite high in rank was also amazing.

A brick dealt enough damage to leave a hole in a wall.

So, he figured if the trait really worked, then a metal pipe was bound to deal much more damage than before.

And his gamble paid off.

The moment he held the 1m long pipe with both hands, his entire aura changed.

His eyes sharpened, and his posture resembled a swordsman engaged in a life and death fight. He had entered a warrior-like state.

The robber didn't appear to notice this change and continued head-on while grinning. His eyes held a big amount of anticipation.

He was not aware that today, his plan was going to fail.

'This brat looks like he's stunned from fright'

The robber thought as his eyes brightened.

Even though he saw Ren holding the pipe in a stance, he also saw him closing his eyes and staying rooted in place. So, he figured he was scared.

Just as he was about to reach Ren and strike him with his knife, Ren finally moved.

He waited until the distance was very close, and then he moved.

His eyes opened and he glared sharply at the robber.

He brought the pipe upward and then swung down instantly, to make for a perfect downward strike.

"Guh, uhg"

The robber didn't even know what had happened before he felt pain in his shoulder and chest, and his body was thrown backward.

He started coughing as he tried getting up, but it felt like his chest bones were broken. More than a few ribs too.

Ren ignored the slight numbness he could feel in his hands and looked at the pipe he was holding.

It was now bent and deformed and he couldn't use it again.

He also felt his body and realized that just like the time when he threw the bricks, his energy had decreased.

This time more than before. He was guessing that this energy was mana from his magic stat.

'So, using abilities consumes mana as expected.' Ren thought.

He moved forward and grabbed another pipe from the ground.

'This time, I'll use less force to not damage the pipe a lot, and to decrease my consumption.' He was suddenly very confident as if he had wielded weapons and fought in wars for ages.

"You said you'll torture me? I'll beat you until you're half-dead" Ren's eyes gazed sharply at the robber.

This guy had tried to rob him, had injured him, and even said he'll torture him. Ren wanted to pay him back even if a little.

Now that he had such an understanding of weapons, his confidence soared and he would beat the shit out of the robber.

He didn't like the fact that he was put in such a situation that he couldn't do anything about. He didn't want to be at the mercy of others.

"B-Bastard! I'll kill ya, I'll kill ya!" The robber hearing him yelled with bloodshot eyes.

He got up shakily and tightly grabbed the knife.

The electricity jumped wildly around his form.

He then ran at Ren much faster than before. But not yet something that would shake up the confidence Ren was feeling at the moment.

'Too many openings' Ren flashed a confident smile for a second as he saw the robber.

"AHHHHHH! I'll kill yaaaa!" The robber yelled as he came near Ren.

He swung his arms wildly around trying to hit Ren with just one swing and stun him, but Ren found it easy to dodge.

He had both hands on his pipe and continued to jump and dodge gracefully.

Once he had gotten a taste of the flow of the fight, he finally made a move.

Just as he dodged to the side from a knife swing, he swung his pipe from right to left at the hand holding the knife.

"GUH!"

The knife was dropped as the robber held his hand in pain.

But Ren wasn't done, he swung another time from left to right hitting him in the left knee and making him fall to one knee before he moved past the robber stationing himself at the back of the robber and then he thrust his pipe backward right at the Lumbar area of his back, and Ren then spun on his left foot to position himself in front of the robber once again and swung at the throat of the robber, and finally dealt one last strike from upward right onto the head.

"Ugh, augh"

From the point of view of the robber, he was yelling from the pain in his hand, but then his knee was shattered and his eyes widened from the pain. Then his lower back was hit and he felt such a pain that traveled through his skeletal frame and he keeled dropping to both knees, but Ren didn't let him rest and hit him on the neck making him gag before he finally finished him with a strike to the head.

The robber dropped unconscious immediately once the last shot was made.

Fuah!

"Now, I'm satisfied…" Ren muttered.

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