"You are going back on your commitment?!" Kaden was incensed.
They betrayed the four fools due to the money he promised! And now he was refusing to pay?!
Were their efforts for nothing?!
"Think what you want," Zed replied in a lazy tone, "You think I care about the thoughts of idiots?"
There was no way he would pay those who planned to cripple him.
In fact, he was being magnanimous by sparing their lives. Otherwise, if not for Jessica and Loren, they would be in the underworld, joining a long list of people he killed.
"What did you say?" Kaden stepped forward.
"You must be having hearing problems!" Zed looked at him with plain disinterest. "Anyways, you are worse than idiots if you believe you would be safe after crippling those fools."
A frown appeared on Kaden's face. He was sure he could handle trouble since he shared his profits with law enforcement officers.
As long as the gangs didn't overstep their limits, the political class would also bless them. In fact, most of the organized crimes in the world were backed by the political class.
If not, there would be no organ harvesting, nor forced prostitution, nor the criminal activities of the mafia. It was similar to how the overlords in the slum were backed by the city corporates and government officials.
At most, Kaden believed he and his gang would be imprisoned for a few months until the matter settled. In the worst-case scenario, one of the gang members would take the entire blame and rot in jail for years.
This wasn't bad as the rest of the gang would take care of the family.
"You don't know, do you?" Zed asked with a smile. "I guess those four didn't tell you; otherwise, you wouldn't have accepted their proposal."
"Know what?" Kaden stopped.
"You get away with petty crimes since you satisfy the needs of officers with money and other needs," Zed patiently explained. "The catch is that this only works in petty crimes, provided the matter doesn't become big."
Kaden obviously knew that. The officers can't resist public pressure in case of adverse publicity.
"Still don't understand?" Zed released a deep sigh. "Those four are the children of top government officers."
Kaden's pupils dilated as the realization hit him.
The government officers were as thick as thieves! They wouldn't allow their family members to be harmed! Not even by those they secretly support!
"Let me give you a piece of good news," Zed offered them hope.
"Good news?!" Kaden was startled.
"Yes," Zed nodded. "Their parents arrived in the city only a few weeks ago."
"Ah!" Kaden felt there was hope. The new officials wouldn't have that much influence in the city. As long as the gang ran away, they would be safe!
"You want to hear another piece of news?" Zed asked.
"There is another?" Kaden was pleasantly surprised.
"Yes," Zed replied. "Their parents are investigators."
Investigators?!
Then they would have influence in all cities!
Kaden and the others felt as if they were drowning in the cold sea. This was terrible news!
There was nothing good in it! Then they remembered Zed only said 'news' instead of 'good news.'
"Fucker! You tricked us!" Kaden and the others stared at him viciously. If not for him, they would not have crippled the four!
"I didn't!" Zed shook his head. "I only requested you to do what they wanted, by changing the target. I never asked you to cripple them!"
"You knew their background!" Kaden shouted.
"Yes, but who told you to not inquire about their background?" Zed asked. "Who asked you to leave your non-existent brains at home?"
"!#$%~" Kaden shouted a lot of curses.
When he thought about it, he felt it was indeed their fault. They didn't carry out basic research due to the lust for money!
...
"It is basic common sense to know the master of the dog before kicking it," Zed concluded.
Out of the 'four fools,' three were conscious, so they clearly heard him.
Dog?!
Son of a bitch!
We are not dogs!
As they were in no condition to speak, they could only curse in their hearts.
"Hmm?" Zed felt their stares, so he turned towards them. "It was your fault for not informing them about your background when they were crippling you! Had you done that, your legs would have remained intact!"
@#$%!
We tried to tell them, but they didn't listen!
"Human beings will die for riches, just as birds will for food," Zed remembered the famous idiom about greed.
He stepped back to his car.
"Where are you going?!" Kaden finally regained his composure.
"To my friend's house," Zed answered as he opened the door. "I have been invited for dinner."
"You think you can leave after creating this mess?!" Kaden's rage burned in his eyes.
"Yes," Zed nodded. "You should also leave while you still can."
"Damn you!" Kaden was angered.
His body blurred, and he leaped towards Zed, the scales on his hands aimed at the latter's throat!
"Watch out!" Jessica shouted.
The scales were sharp and pointed, far more terrifying than needles. She could imagine the damage they could do.
"Never let anger take the best of you!"
Zed stretched his right hand towards Kaden. Bright flames erupted on his hand, and from his palm, a fireball swept out, leaving behind a trail of fire.
Kaden twisted his body to dodge the fireball, but then his face fell. Another fireball, this time larger in size, charged at him with far greater speed.
In such a short span of time, he couldn't twist his body again to dodge. Still, he had plenty of experience in battles, so he didn't panic! He crossed his arms over his face, just as the fireball smashed into him!
THUD
Kaden collapsed on the floor. Except for some black burn marks on his scales, he was fine. The fireball created no damage!
"You are weak---" Kaden lifted his head to insult Zed, but then his eyes almost popped out.
A column of fire surged at him, like the mouth of a wild beast. The intensity of heat was dozens of times stronger than the fireballs!
Kaden realized the previous moves were just flashy attacks with no real power. His opponent was only toying with him!
"Shit!" Kaden leaped high in the air to dodge. But much to his shock, the column of fire changed its direction and slammed into him in mid-air.
"Ahhh!" Kaden cried. Under the intense fire, his scales started melting like wax.
BANG!
He fell on the ground in the shape of an 'X.' His scales continued to melt while another column of fire rushed at him.
"Help me, idiots!"
As Kaden tried to extinguish the fire, he shouted at his subordinates.
What angered him more than the powers of Zed was the response of his gang! They were standing there with their mouths open while he wriggled like a snake under the onslaught of fire!
"Ah!" The members of the gang stepped out of the trance-like state.
Six of them charged at Zed, while the remaining four rushed to rescue Kaden.
"I will handle him!" A man named Finlay declared. "You all follow behind to see how I destroy him!"
His hands transformed into stone hammers. Furthermore, as he charged forward, the visible skin on his body started wrapping with a stone shell!
"Stone is considered the most powerful form of Earth Element!" The other five remarked. "And everyone knows fire can never defeat stone!"
"Zed!" Loren and Jessica were worried. They wanted to help, but the five stopped them.
"Why isn't he summoning the domain?!" Jessica wondered in her heart.
Under the domain, its wielder was the god. She was sure Zed would get a chance to escape if he used the domain!
Zed continued to stand in front of his car. His expression remained the same with no signs of panic.
"Is your entire body made of stone?" Zed was curious.
"Why does it matter to you?!" Finlay asked with a smirk. "My hands are enough to send you to the next life!"
"It doesn't matter to me," Zed answered with a smile.
"Then why ask such a nonsense question?" Finlay leaped towards Zed, his hammers smashing down on his face.
"Because it would matter to you," Zed replied as two streaks of fire surged out of his back.
"You are looking to die!" Finlay was annoyed.
Zed had used large columns of fire to defeat Kaden! But for him? Only two streaks!
Two minuscule streaks of fire against stone hammers?!
It was simply courting death!
Finlay smiled sinisterly as the streaks of fire and hammers were about to collide. He was in mid-air, just two meters away from Zed, and he knew what would happen in the next moment! His hammers would crush into Zed's face, exploding his head!
Just then, his heart sank and his smile stiffened.
"What?!"
The streaks of fire swept past the hammers without colliding! Their speed exploded, and they charged at the lower parts of his body!
Sssss!
The streaks of fire smashed into his jewels!!!!
"Nooooooo!!" Finlay screamed in horror as the fire started burning his crotch.
He stumbled down on the road, his eyes wide open with terror. He quickly transformed his stone-hammer hands to their normal forms in order to extinguish the fire!
"AHHHHH!"
The fire showed no sign of extinguishing! Instead, it erupted and wrapped around his hands!
Finlay ignored the burning pain from his hands. He tried his best to wipe out the fire from his crotch.
Sadly, all his efforts proved futile.
"God nooooo!"
Finlay released blood-wrenching screams as his entire crotch melted to oblivion.
The fire scorched his hands and spread further now that he wasn't covered by the stone shell.
The mental pain of losing his jewels made him numb to everything else. He continued to stare at his crotch where there was nothing but burned flesh.
Zed waved his hand, and the fire on Finlay's body disappeared. Finlay's face was already white like paper, and the next moment, he fainted.
"Sighs~ Good intentions are never appreciated in today's age!" Zed said with a deep sigh. "I asked him whether his entire body was covered by the stone shell, but he chose not to answer!"
Behind them, Jessica and Loren were struck on the spot.
"He won just like that!?" Jessica felt she was worried for nothing.
Earlier, she thought it would be impossible for a Fire Elementalist to win against an Earth Element mutant. But he won just like that, with no effort!
"I guess that man's body wasn't entirely covered with the stone shell!" Loren answered, unaware of the deep meanings of her words. "No wonder that man was easily defeated!"
Some distance away, the five gang members froze on the track, their backs drenched with cold sweat. None of them dared to take another step forward.
Their throats turned dry as they saw the state of their friend. They trembled violently as they imagined what would have happened had they charged at Zed instead of Finlay!
They always believed nothing could be worse than death, but today, reality proved them wrong!
Finlay was alive, but none of them wanted to be in his shoes, even if the choice was between death and life! Death was definitely a better outcome!
"Sieur, you go ahead and handle that Zed!" one of the five said to the man next to him. "I will provide support from behind!"
"No!" Sieur refused without the least bit of hesitation. "You are the strongest of us, so you should be in front!"
"...This is an order!" the one from before commanded.
He knew he was abusing his authority, but he didn't mind as long as he could protect himself from that demon! He didn't wish to see his precious jewels burned!
"I refuse!" Sieur refused again. "I want to father children!"
"...................."
Support Zed by kindness in the form of reviews and power stones!
"People don't appreciate kindness!" Zed remarked with a deep sigh.
Finlay's five companions flinched. They were horrified by his attitude that projected he displayed kindness!
"He ruined Finlay... and yet he's claiming he showed kindness?!" Sieur said in disbelief.
"Finlay won't be able to father any children in his life! And that's being kind?!"
"How despicable!" Rony, the one who tried to issue a command to Sieur, remarked.
"Hmm?" Zed turned towards them, "Despicable?"
"Yes!" Rony gritted his teeth, "You didn't have to be so cruel to him!"
Zed was amused. He smiled in a way that was unique to his alter ego, and said, "That's a funny thing to say. He wanted to smash my face, and you accuse me of being cruel?"
"You crippled him for life!" Rony shouted.
Face injuries and limb injuries could be healed through cloning, but healing injuries on jewels was different! The sensitive and complex organs were difficult to clone, and not to mention, the cost involved was not affordable for a gang like theirs.
"Wow! So you can attack as you please, but when your opponent does the same, it is foul play!" Zed stepped towards them. "The funny part is that many people in this world shares your perspective!"
Whish~!
Rony clenched his fists and a dazzling green glow erupted through them, wrapping the fists. The air around him twisted and he aimed at Zed.
"If you want to fight, then let's fight!" Zed said as a pillar of flames exploded from his body.
He didn't need to rely on his alter ego to face opponents like this.
Terrifying heat fluctuations rippled out, making space distort and force everyone to close their eyes.
"Dammit!" Rony jumped back to avoid the heat ripples.
"His aura is far more powerful than before!" Suir's body shook in shock. "He wasn't using his full powers till now!"
"He's a monster!" The others cursed.
"Like being rich wasn't enough, he has to be even strong!"
"The world is so unfair!"
Far away, the four fools violently trembled as the heat fluctuations crashed into them. They were crippled and in no condition to dodge.
"Argh!"
"Oh no!"
"Save me!"
Their skins turned scorching red before melting.
Sshhhh~
"Eh?" Percy opened his eyes as he felt the heat fluctuations reducing. He was pleasantly surprised, thinking someone has come to rescue him.
But then he noticed there was no one! It was only Zed who looking in his direction, with a kind smile.
"Apologies!" Zed said politely. "I wasn't able to control the initial heat ripples so forgive me if you were injured."
LIAR!
The fools swore in their hearts. They noticed Loren and Jessica were completely fine despite being near to him, and then there was his car, there was no damage to it either!
So how was it the heat ripples only rushed towards them, that too, so far away?!
...
Kaden has barely recovered and as he rose to his feet, Zed turned towards him, and asked, "Are you going to join as well?"
"@#%&!"
Kaden's veins popped out in anger. No one warned him of Zed being strong to such an extent.
"I guess not," Zed turned back to Rony. "Sorry for the wait."
Swoosh~!
The pillar of flames split open, turning into a curtain that wrapped the entire area. Under the crestfallen expressions of everyone, flames spread everywhere, from the ground to the sky!
It was like the world was made of fire!
"This is... Domain!" Sieur backed away as the realization hit him.
The air twisted with intense heatwaves.
By the time domain manifested completely, everyone who was inside the domain felt their breathing turning heavy. They weren't even able to sweat as the heat killed moisture, dulling their skins.
Rony enveloped his feet with a green glow and jumped up as flames wrapped the road below. As he jumped, he complained of hardship!
Because only five members of the gang were inside the domain! The other members were outside!
Wasn't this unfair?! Shouldn't everyone suffer together!?
Why was Zed discriminating against those outside?! This was against the concept of equality!
"Break the domain otherwise we all are dead!" Rony shouted to his companions.
"Dead?" Zed was surprised. "You can rest assured I have no intention of killing anyone."
Before Rony could appreciate Zed's words, he saw an arc of fire sweeping at him, like the scythe of the grim reaper!
Rony brought his fists together and punched out.
SHRIEK
Green mass of energy bombarded out, powerful enough to destroy a building block, but when it smashed into the arc, it was burned!
The momentum of the arc of fire didn't slow down, and it rushed forward.
"Damnit! I forgot that inside the domain, the strength of its caster is amplified!" Rony cursed his bad luck.
Green ethereal steps flashed in front of him and he jumped on them to avoid the arc of fire.
SHUA!
Just as he avoided the arc, he felt powerful heat energy from the dome. He lifted his head just in time to see the dome shooting out a rain of fire!
Rony spread his arms and streams of energy cascaded out, turning into a green barrier.
"Well done!" Zed said as the rain bombarded the barrier without creating any damage. "Shall we increase the difficulty level?"
"He was toying with me!"
Rony felt a chill crawl down his spine. He and his gang had come to cripple Zed, and yet, the actual villain was Zed!
"Ahhhhhh!"
Rony was startled by a sudden shriek. He looked below and noticed two of his friends impaled by dozens of fire spears.
"The spears didn't pierce their vitals... but they are in terrible condition!" Rony realized.
"Rony! What do we do!?" Sieur shouted from the ground. He had wrapped himself with hundreds of bones to resist fire, but now his bones were showing signs of wear.
"Sieur! Join forces with me!" Rony replied, "Together we can destroy this domain!"
"You are frightening me with such powerful words!" Zed backed away, a look of terror on his face.
As he retreated, from the ground and dome alike, large spears of fire emerged, aimed at Rony and Sieur.
BOOM
"Son of a bitch!"
Rony cursed as the barrier came under the onslaught of fire spears. The barrier started shaking, and fissures sprang up.
****
Outside.
Jessica and Loren stood near Zed's car. A few steps away from them, there was the enormous curtain of fire.
"Is that the domain?" Loren asked.
"Yes!" Jessica nodded. She didn't know what was happening on the other side of the curtain, but she knew that as long as the domain was intact, Zed was safe!
"Fuck!" Kaden's body twisted with fury. He wasn't even able to determine the condition of his five subordinates.
"Boss! Let's capture those girls!" One of the remaining four subordinates suggested. "We can use them as hostages!"
"Great idea!" Kaden's eyes lit up.
Without saying anything more, he and his four subordinates rushed towards Jessica and Loren.
"Leaving his gorgeous girlfriends behind! Your boyfriend is stupid!" Kaden said with a smirk.
Jessica and Loren ignored his words and readied themselves for battle.
"Haha!" Kaden was just fifty meters away from them.
"Jessica, get ready!" Loren said, her voice serious.
"Yes!" Jessica was ready to use her new ability for the first time in real-life combat.
"Don't struggle and you can save yourself from some pain!" Kaden and others were now just twenty meters away.
VROOM~
"Eh?" Jessica, Loren, Kaden, and others were startled by the sound of the engine firing up.
The car started, and without any warning, it charged straight at Kaden and his team!
"What?" Kaden was shocked by the speed of the car.
There was another person here?!
Neither he nor his subordinates got time to think or dodge as the car smashed into them.
"AHHHHH!"
They were sent flying away, coughing up arrows of blood.
The car stopped.
"Dammit! I will tear apart the bastard driving the car!" One of Kaden's subordinates declared as he got on his feet.
Purrr
The car rushed forward, this time with far greater speed.
"N-Noo!" The subordinate cried in horror as the car crashed into him. The collision shattered all his bones, and he smashed into the ground like a broken doll.
Jessica and Loren looked at each other in blank dismay.
"Who is running the car?" Loren asked.
"I don't know," Jessica answered, "But I do know that person doesn't like insults!"
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