When reading his sister’s message on his phone, Gary’s heart went into a panic. Amy wasn’t the type to joke around with him nor was she someone who would usually ask him for help. Since she did, it could only mean that the situation was seriously bad.
Gary’s heart started to beat faster to the point that there was no need for him to use the Charging Heart skill. Looking at the Status his Heart rate was currently at 169 BPM, making him twice as fast and twice as powerful for no Energy spent.
The high schooler didn’t think about anything else, and just ran towards the Kobe Karaoke club the two girls were supposed to be at. He no longer cared about the gang war happening at the moment, nor did he care about gaining Exp. His only wish was to get there in time to prevent anything bad happening to his family.
‘Please be safe, Amy! Please be safe, Amy!’ Gary kept repeating it like a prayer in his head as he ran and ran, completely ignoring all the fights happening around him. Eventually, he found himself in front of the right place on the main high street.
The high schooler quickly ran up the stairs until he was in the reception area. It was dark, and he could hear the loud thumping of music behind several of the doors. Originally he had planned to use his enhanced senses to find out where Amy was.
Unfortunately, his enhanced senses proved to be a detriment for once. It took him a few moments to get used to the - to him - incredibly loud noise. However, in the end he pushed through because of his sister.
Behind the reception, there was a young man with sunglasses standing behind the desk. Gary thought it was a little weird since they were indoors, it was dark and it was already late, yet he would be lying if he claimed that it didn’t fit the image of this place.
“Hey.” Gary called out. “I’m looking for two girls who came in here earlier today accompanied by three guys. One girl’s an unnaturally blonde girl, the other has brown hair and looks a bit like me?” He pulled his hood down revealing his face.
Usually, he wouldn’t be revealing his face, but right now he wasn’t thinking things through, too preoccupied with getting to Amy.
“Sorry kid, I can’t just tell you what room people are in. Customer privacy and all, I don’t even know who you are.” The man replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Were it not for the severeness of the situation, Gary might have tried again by politely asking the man, or he might have started arguing with him to convince the other how important the matter was. Right now, though, he didn’t have any time whatsoever.
He noticed that there was a tie around the man’s neck, another item that the man appeared to be wearing as a fashion statement. Dangling in front of Gary’s face, it became the perfect thing to grab. When the high schooler pulled on the front, the neck tightened and the man was pulled down so fast that his sunglasses fell off as he reached Gary’s height.
“Listen here, one of them is my sister and she asked me for help!” Gary practically growled at him. “Now tell me where they are!”
“You think threat-“
Gary didn’t let him finish, just pulled harder on the tie, to the point it was starting to suffocate the man. Seeing how determined the green-haired teenager in front of him was, he quickly pointed in one direction of the hallway. Gary immediately let go and followed to where the man had pointed.
Gary didn’t like what he had just done, it was something more along the lines of a real gangster, using violence to get his way, but this was an emergency case he told himself. Rushing, Gary looked through these small windows in each of the doors, that would show who was inside of the room.
He looked through each one, until one of them caught his attention, not because he could see his sister but he could make out the smell of blood. Opening the door, he witnessed a strange sight. One guy had his trousers down, and was holding a girl by her head.
“AMYYYYYY!” Gary shouted as he recognised her. That’s when the three guys noticed him entering the room.
“What the f*ck did you do to my sister?!” He shouted as he decided to act, punching Ben in the face, sending him off to the side, as he carefully picked up his sister, holding her in his arms.
[You are heavily enraged]
[You have exceeded 200 BPM]
[Partial transformation has begun]
[All stats increased to 125%]
His eyes narrowed, his teeth and fingernails started to sharpen, the rage had taken over Gary completely. The teenager’s body had changed slightly, yet the high schooler had yet to notice since the change wasn’t on the level as it had been during the full moon.
“Stacy!” Gary shouted, as he could see that she was still conscious. “I want you and Amy to get out of here. Grab a taxi and get to the hospital!”
Although Stacy had just seen Gary send one of the boys across the rooms she still felt he was outnumbered. She was afraid to move as Hawk was directly next to her and Ben was already recovering, holding the side of his face.
Pierre was still pissed from having been bitten by Amy, so he ran over to where Gary was, yet before he could do anything the other had already kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back. His back had hit the table, and he was hit so hard that his body flipped down on top of it. Knocking all of the bottles onto the floor.
He quickly placed Amy onto the side of the bench, then jumped on the table himself, stepping on top of Pierre ignoring him. He walked across the table, stepping on Pierre’s body along the way, not caring about him one bit. Hawk, seeing that the situation was getting out of hand let go of Stacy, and pulled out a pocket knife.
He attempted to stab Gary who approached him, but the green-haired high schooler dropped down from the table and just opened up his fist, grabbing onto the other’s hand, allowing the knife to pierce through the palm of his hand. Gary was bleeding, yet the knife was stuck.
Looking into his eyes, Hawk was seriously scared. No sane person would ever try and stop a knife by sacrificing their own body. Clenching his fist, Gary started to crush the other’s hand, who immediately started to scream in pain. He could feel his fingers breaking.
“GET GOING STACY!!!” Gary shouted once more. The high school girl didn’t need to be told again as she went over to where Amy was and grabbed her best friend. Luckily, Amy had somewhat woken up, yet her vision was still blurry.
“Come on, Amy, let’s leave it to your brother. I think he’s got this.” Stacy spoke as the two of them fumbled out of the room.
“Do you have any idea who my brother is?! You screwed up big time, Gary!” Hawk shouted yet his voice contained a hint of hesitation. “My family are part of the Grey Elephants and we will make sure to hunt you and your sister down! I will return this favour ten times worse.”
It was then that the sound of the door was heard opening behind them again, and the man who had been at the reception came in.
“Hawk, do you need help, bro?!” The man asked. Gary had initially felt bad about his earlier treatment, but now it looked as if he had been in on this all along.
Hearing these words, hearing what Hawk had said, and remembering this sister’s face. The bruising marks, she was hardly recognisable to him.
“That girl…she is the best sister in the whole goddamn world! She never complains, and she works hard…she’s only f*cking 15 years old! What the hell were you planning to do to her?! All of you are guilty!” Gary shouted as he looked at Hawk.
[Bloodlust has been detected]
[Forced Bond has been activated]
[4/5 Marks have been assigned]
[Skill activated Claw Drain]
[-15 Energy]
His hand transformed slightly, and Gary swiped with it along Hawk’s chest, causing a deep scar and blood to gush out everywhere. As the blood was felt on his clawed hands, he could feel a strange refreshing energy inside him. The effects of the Claw Drain were working. The next second, the receptionist, Ben and Pierre charged forward.
As for the events that followed… it all became a blur for Gary. A blur of red.
When it was over, he stood there in the centre of the room, covered in blood, glad that the music from the karaoke machine had been so loud. The entire room was now covered in blood, with the lights from the TV screen flashing once in a while revealing the state of the room.
None of the four men would ever move again.
‘I’ve gone and done it now… only this time it was no accident…’