Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Kyon interrupted her:
«Martha and I have been talking about you! Honestly, I didn’t expect her to…» – He covered his mouth with his hand as if he had said too much.
Mob took the hint and blushed to the tips of his ears, following the lead of the already crimson woman.
«Martha, you don’t have to explain yourself. It’s written all over your face.» – Mob summoned up the courage to approach Martha and hug her, but she broke loose from his embrace and dashed to her office, yelling just before closing the door:
«I am coming for you, rascal!»
The words were meant for Kyon, but Mob took them on his account. His face lit up with a happy smile. He turned to Kyon and gave him a thumb up.
Martha’s attempt to praise Mob turned into a disaster. The jerk didn’t play along. He took advantage of her yet again.
However, she didn’t have time to grieve over her sad destiny as there was a loud hammering at the door.
Mob yelled: «Who’s so impatient out there?»
«It’s Pink. I’m investigating the recent accident. Open the door.»
The supervisor shrugged and unlocked the door.
The gray-haired, hunched old man, whose eyes were like blazing fire, went inside.
Mob looked closely at the old servant and recognized him:
«Aren’t you the servant who made the authorities give you a couple of days to investigate so that you would leave them alone?»
Pink went ballistic when he heard this:
«Don’t be rude to me, brat! How can you possibly understand my situation? Who do you think you are?»
«Forget it! You’re killing my vibe! Do quickly what you have to do.» – Mob looked extremely displeased. He hated that someone was ruining his good mood. He already regretted that he had so foolishly let the old man in.
The servant gave Mob a nasty look and then he spotted Kyon:
«It’s you!»
Kyon recognized Pink at once. He became a bit alarmed but did not show it, only raised his eyebrow questioningly.
Mob gave them both a blank stare.
«Yes, it’s you. You are Kyon, the boy who was in the office at the moment!» – Pink threateningly flexed his hands and approached Kyon in two steps. – «Tell me what the hell happened there! Why did Martin choke on a bun, which he shouldn’t have had in the first place? You did it, eh?!» – Judging by the mad sparkle in his eyes, the old man was ready to shake the truth out of Kyon, along with his soul.
Martha heard the screams, opened the door and asked anxiously:
«Who are you? What do you want from Kyon?»
After Pink’s words, Mob finally got the picture. He approached the servant and firmly grabbed him by the shoulder:
«Hey, old man! Calm down, will you?»
«Up yours!» – Pink roughly pushed Mob’s hand off. – «I know that Kyon did something to my master! It’s definitely him! There’s no other way!»
«Are you even listening to yourself? How could an ordinary, incapable slave be involved in the death of your master?» – Mob snorted. {The devoted dog went crazy. It’s disgusting.}
Martha cast a worried look at Kyon. He wasn’t so “incapable” after all. He was guilty.
Pink spat angrily on the floor and bellowed like a wounded beast:
«Incapable of anything?! Then how will you explain that those guys are injured, and this boy is unscathed? Huh?!»
«It’s because I arrived in time to help him!» – Mob exclaimed and tried to grab the raging servant again.
«And I heard that he handled a good half of them! How dare you lie to my face, jerk?! Back up off me before I lose my temper!» – He pushed Mob off again but to no avail.
Events were unfolding too quickly for Martha’s liking. After some hesitation, she took Kyon’s side.
«Calm down, sir! Kyon has nothing to do with it!»
Not so long ago, she was angry with him. Now, she stood up for the obnoxious boy. Indeed, female nature is the greatest mystery on the planet. Anyway, her words had no effect on Pink. He fought to escape Mob’s iron grip, glaring daggers at Kyon.
Kyon came to a sad conclusion that no words could put any sense to the crazy man. It would be nice to use Mob’s help, but Mob could always wave him off as a slave. Kyon could rely only on Martha. He looked up at her with the most pitiful face he could make.
When Martha saw his eyes, she decided to leave soul searching and behavior analysis for later. She turned to Mob wearily:
«Don’t let anything happen to Kyon! He… He didn’t do anything…» – Her voice dropped, she almost whispered.
Mob imagined himself a brave knight coming to the rescue of his damsel in distress and her… let it be her pageboy. His chest puffed out with pride. With the help of pure energy, he pushed Pink away from Kyon and stood like a rock-solid wall between them, winking playfully at Martha.
Kyon only giggled to himself over the don Quixote and his courting. Indeed, a man will do anything for a woman he loves.
Pink screamed hysterically:
«Why are you protecting this little snot? Why do you care about him? He is just a slave! Or… Or you were in conspiracy with him the whole time! Yeah… Right… He couldn’t have done it himself! It was you who helped him!»
Pink’s words, even if they sounded crazy, actually made some sense. The staff of the mine was forbidden to have any kind of informal relations with the slaves. For example, Martha was recently reprimanded just for bringing toys to Kyon.
The doctor blushed with emotion. Feeling worried about Kyon, she had completely forgotten that she could call the guards.
«You should be ashamed of yourself! He’s just a boy, and you’re lashing out at him like crazy!»
Pink understood that the woman was protecting the slave, too. He choked with indignation:
«Seriously? You, too? Are you in the fucking conspiracy together? TELL ME!»
Mob was sick and tired of Pink’s screaming, and his precious Martha was clearly on the verge of a panic attack. It was time to end all this nonsense. He leaped forward and grabbed Pink by the collar to throw him out.
Pink was filled with dark suspicions that everyone and everything in this room were involved in the plot. He was ready for anything. When Mob attacked him, his doubts had finally confirmed. Pink was ready to block his strike.
The servant was at the 5th stage of the base phase. Mob was at the 6th stage of the same stage.
Martha was at the 3rd stage of the base phase, but she was absolutely helpless in the fight.
Pink blocked the strike, stepped back and wailed:
«I thought so! I KNEW IT! You all will be punished! I will put your skulls on my shelf! I will burn candles in my late master’s honor in them!»
Mob fixed Pink with a thunderous look. The old man wasn’t as frail as Mob had expected. Martha was on the brink of tears. Suddenly, it occurred to her that she could call for help. The doctor rushed to her office to get the sound transmitter, but Pink reacted immediately. He instantly reached her from behind and put his arm around her neck, not allowing her to take another step.
«What are you DOING, fucking asshole!?» – Mob yelled, frightened for his dear woman.
Kyon was dumbstruck. Things were changing too fast.
Afraid to move, Martha gave a strangled squeak:
«What do you want from me?»
Pink ignored her question, glaring at Mob and Kyon, who were standing still before him:
«You insolent pricks, you have no idea what trouble you got yourselves into! I will hear your confession about what you did that day!»
Kyon squeezed Mob’s shoulder, sending him a message to calm down. They’d better not mess up with the madman. Then he mouthed to Mob:
«I’ll be the bait.»
Slowly and carefully, Kyon approached Pink, applauding him:
«Haha, bravo! How did you find out that it was me who killed the dickhead?»
His insolence was so unexpected that Pink was taken aback and even loosened his grip on Martha’s neck:
«What did you say?»
«I asked how you found out that I was the one who killed the dickhead.» – Kyon said with a wry smile, emphasizing the word “dickhead.”
«SO IT WAS YOU!» – Pink roared in an inhuman voice. The cheerful expression on Kyon’s face drove him into a frenzy.
«You should have seen his face when I shoved that bun down his throat, ha-ha-ha!» – Kyon’s eyes flashed demonically. Martha felt a cold shiver run down her spice when she saw his transformation.
«Agrrr! I WILL KILL YOU!»
But Kyon had already opened the door and ran out of the room.
In a fit of frenzy, Pink pushed Martha aside. She banged against the wall when he rushed after the boy. Mob was overloaded with too many events and couldn’t process what had happened, but when he saw Martha in pain, he quickly ran up to her.
She screamed hysterically, pushing off his hands:
«Go after Kyon, you idiot. Save him! Quickly!»
Mob ran out of the infirmary and saw Mob, frantically rushing down the corridor, yelling: «WHERE ARE YOU?! COME OUT!» – The good news was, he hadn’t reached Kyon yet.
Mob was about to follow the madman when he noticed the ringleader’s shaggy head sticking out of the door like a jack-in-the-box. Kyon had been hiding behind a wide-open door, pressing himself close to the wall.
Mob jumped in surprise:
«What the hell!?» – Who would have guessed that the boy was hiding behind the door?
«I thought you would react faster.» – The “jack” whispered with a grin.
«Sly fox!» – Mob whistled in appreciation but the next moment, there was no time for compliments: Pink had noticed Kyon and was rushing back, screaming his head off.
Kyon estimated that he stood no chance against the old servant. One or two blows reinforced with energy and goodbye to this cruel world. He could count on Mob and the guards who they should have called long ago. In the meantime, he would wait out the fight in the securely locked office with Martha.
«Hurry! Back to the hospital!» – Mob roared, shoving Kyon into the open door.
Martha didn’t waste time, either. She went to her office and called the guards, her hands shaking.
«Hang in there, for Martha’s sake!» – Kyon shouted on the run, giving Mob an incentive to defeat his adversary.
The office with medicine was wide open, the trembling woman was crying inside. Kyon shook his head, visibly irritated. He put his hand into the memorable pocket of her white coat, took out the key, and locked the door.
Martha sobbed and threw herself into Kyon’s arms, happy to see him unharmed.
«Thanks for saving me.. Thank you.» – She kept whispering, clinging desperately to his clothes.
«There’s nothing to be afraid of, silly.» – Kyon said softly, frowning at his clothes soaked in her tears. And yet, he couldn’t resist stroking her hair.
Meanwhile, Pink’s fists burned a bright orange.
{Damn it, the heat element.} – Mob felt scared, but he didn’t retreat.
At that moment, Pink delivered two blows Mob in the head. Mob deftly jumped aside, the scorching heat burning his face.
«GET OUT OF MY WAY, FUCKING BRAT!» – Pink had enough energy to yell, while Mob spent all his strength to keep away from fire, in all senses of the term, waiting for the right moment to attack. {He’s too powerful, fucking barbecue!}
In spite of the elephant’s dose of sedative, some patients had woken up to the noisy fight, which they immediately regretted. Pink and Mob were fighting to the death. Their movements were twice as fast and deadly as those of ordinary people.
Pink focused the heat element and activated the smashing blow technique. It had an outstanding attack power, only it could damage the attacker’s hand as well.
Mob did not expect a blow at his plexus. It was too fast to dodge, but he managed to block the vulnerable place, awkwardly sticking out his arm.
*crunch*
The skin on Mob’s hand shriveled from a severe burn, his wrist twisted at a grotesque angle. The pain in his head was excruciating. He made a few steps back but didn’t lose his balance.
The way to the stone door leading to Martha’s office was free. Pink rushed to the final obstacle. The instantaneous recoil badly damaged his right hand, but he could kill the boy with his left hand.
Pink infused his foot with plenty of energy and slammed the door.
*bang*
The door cracked and shattered after the second kick.
Martha squealed with horror when she saw the old demon. Kyon was holding a scalpel with a desperate expression on his face, prepared to fight till his last breath.
Pink flashed an evil smile: it was the end! When all of a sudden, he got a heavy blow to his shoulder from behind. The rumble of the crashed door, and his excessive confidence that the smashing blow left his opponent writhing in agony on the floor had lowered Pink’s guard. He never expected an attack from behind.
The old servant flew a good meter inside the office, his shoulder visibly displaced. Mob seized the moment and gave a heavy kick directly into Pink’s chest with no mercy at all.
«Take that, old fart!» – He roared.
*crunch*
The blow broke a couple of ribs.
Pink screamed in pain, trying to get up.
Mob could not afford a setback, he immediately rushed to finish the madman off, not sparing kicks for Pink’s long-suffering ribs.
The old servant screamed in agony, but he had no strength to stand up. The pain was unbearable, his old bones didn’t stand the kicks. When his frantic bloodshot eyes found Kyon in the room, Pink he croaked before passing out:
«I ha… I hate you!»
Mob saw that the limp body was no longer showing signs of life and sat heavily on the floor:
«Well… It wasn’t that… difficult.» – He could barely catch his breath after the “easy” fight.
When the adrenaline lowered, the pain from the fracture and burn pierced his head like a hot needle. Mob groaned, but when he saw the frightened look on Martha’s face, he pulled himself together and gave her a forced smile:
«How are you? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?»
Martha felt affection for him welling up deep inside her. He was exhausted, badly injured but still caring for her. Her eyes glistened with tears yet again.
«You are an idiot! Look at yourself! Oh… Let me tend to your wounds!»
While those two were busy with each other, Kyon didn’t waste a moment and got rid of his potential enemy. He casually approached Pink, put two fingers to his neck and used almost all Synergy to cut a couple of vital nerves in his spinal cord. It would paralyze the old servant for good, and they didn’t keep trash. Pink would be thrown away into the corpse pit.
Martha injected anesthetic into Mob’s hand and gently applied a smear of ointment to all burn areas. Her opinion of him had grown significantly. She saw a strong, purposeful, strong-willed man. Why didn’t she notice it before?
In comparison with him, Byron had lost his importance, turning into a regular big dumb guy. Kyon was right, she couldn’t do this to Mob. She had to tell him the truth or dump Byron. Tonight, she was going to think about what she should do.
Mob had already forgotten about his swollen arm. He was a little embarrassed, but he could not take his eyes off the doctor treating him. Martha glanced at her valiant savior/patient from time to time, her cheeks flushed treacherously.
{Oops, it looks like I’ve created a little love triangle here.} – Kyon chuckled to himself, admiring the heart-warming scene.
Somewhere in the distance, they could hear the running guards. Marth, Kyon, and Mob rolled their eyes all together. {It’s about time.}
The whole fight had lasted no more than five minutes.