Garbo had bested Kai in every way during their fight, and now back in his human form, he had lifted his leg and slammed it right down into Kai’s stomach. Fortunately, Kai was able to use his hands to try and stop it and had grabbed onto the foot, but the powerful force of the attack had still damaged him.
“Grghhh! Did I get on your nerves!” Kai gritted through his teeth. He could taste iron in his mouth; he had received more of the blow than stopped it.
“It’s amazing how you can still talk with so much confidence. You must have realized it by now though, right?” Garbo asked. “That our entire gang is based on those with fire elemental powers. This was all curated and done purposely by our leader, Sin.
“Because, Fire was one of the first discoveries by man that set us different compared to our counterparts. It gives us the power to do many things, and the power to take it away.”
Garbo was twisting his foot, and as he did, the heat of the ring around his neck intensified while at the same time, the bottom of his foot was heating up. Like a sizzling stake, noises were coming from where he had Kai pressed onto the floor.
Kai was trying to push off with all his might, but equally, he could feel Garbo pushing down with more force.
“Not so talkative now!” Garbo laughed. “You will soon be cooked like an egg right underneath my foot!”
Stuck in the situation, what could Kai now do? He felt hopeless. He couldn’t rely on people; they were the ones that were relying on him, so he had to do something. However, rather than an increase in energy, at that point, Kai felt a decrease in his energy.
It was going down, which could only mean that more of the Howlers, of the Werewolf pack that had been created, were losing their lives.
“Damn it!” Kai shouted, screaming. He opened his eyes, and that’s when he could see something.
Two sharp blades were coming across; Garbo had only just reacted in time, pulling back, but the swords had still cut across his chest. It had caused Garbo to move off from his body.
“Who are you to get involved!” Garbo shouted as he slashed his claws in the air at his attacker. The claws of flames had come forward. Yet the new intruder didn’t try to run or hide away.
Instead, he swung his blades right down at the attack and spun his body, destroying the attack right there and then. It was a clean hit, and the flames that did touch him, his body seemed protected.
Kai quickly got up off the floor, taking this chance, and then had a look at who had just arrived. They were covered in strange black armor. It was hard cased across a man’s chest. On his face, there was a black mask, and his dark hair was tied up.
However, his shoulders were on display as he only had the armored vest on, and at the top of his shoulder, four stars could be seen.
“An Altered Hunter!” Kai called out. “And a four-star one as well.”
Four stars were high-ranking for an Altered Hunter, since their group only went up to five stars.
“You said you needed a little help, didn’t you? Sorry we were late to this whole thing,” the voice said.
The voice, Kai’s sensitive ears were able to pick it up even through the mask he was wearing. When looking around at the situation, there was one person who had bandages around his arms and had two axes in his hand as well. This one wasn’t wearing a mask but had three stars on his shoulder instead.
“It’s Innu… you made it, and if that’s Innu, then the other one is…” Kai didn’t say the name out loud, but he was sure of it; the other one was Blake.
Over a year ago now, Innu had decided to join up with the Altered Hunters in hopes that he could get strong. The Altered Hunters had equipment that was far superior to that which could be bought in the market.
On top of that, both Innu and Blake had both set out on a journey to try and learn a special power known as Qi. Unfortunately, through joining the Altered Hunters, the leader had tasked them with a year’s worth of training.
Innu had to take a break from his life in the gang, but Kai just saw this as an advantage to have his ears everywhere. When the attacks had first started, Kai didn’t waste any time in contacting Innu, claiming that he needed their help.
This was Kai’s backup plan. Before he even knew about Gary’s dad and the werewolves, he had planned for the Altered Hunters to come and help. Those that hated Altered had the chance to take out one of the top gangs; all he needed was for Innu and Blake to do some convincing.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Blake said. “But unfortunately, the Altered Hunters have something bigger to deal with, so for now it’s just us two, but we’ll be enough.”
Both Garbo and Greed had noticed the stars on the shoulders of those who had come to interrupt them. They were getting annoyed as more flies were just joining the fight one after the other.
“What is it with all you flies, why are you interrupting us!” Greed shouted.
“This makes no sense,” Garbo said. “Why would the Altered Hunters even help another gang, especially one full of Altereds? How can you have a connection with them?”
Innu readied his two red axes, while Blake did the same with his two swords. Both of them were beaming with energy, drawing it from their weapons, cultivating their power into them, and at the same time, they gave their answer.
“Because, this is our home!” The two shouted in unison.