The Tyrant's Return : From Beggar to Sovereign

Chapter 16: Blood in the Alleyway

A thin line of bright red blood trickled down Ethan’s cheek, mixing with the cold rain water. The sharp silver knife slammed deep into the brick wall behind him, vibrating with a low hum.

Ethan did not flinch. He did not cry out in pain. He slowly reached up with his index finger, wiped the warm blood from his skin, and looked at it. His dark eyes grew even colder, turning into the eyes of a wild beast that had just been woken up from a long sleep.

"Three of you," Ethan said, his voice flat and perfectly calm against the roaring wind. "Marcus really wants me dead."

Out from the deep shadows of the wooden crates, three large men stepped into the dim light of the flickering streetlamp. They were wearing heavy leather jackets covered in steel chains, and their faces were scarred and brutal. They were the top hitmen of the Black Cobra street gang.

The man in the middle, a giant with a shaved head and yellow teeth, held a heavy iron crowbar in his right hand. The other two pulled out long, wicked machetes that flashed under the dim light.

"You got good reflexes, kid," the yellow toothed leader scoffed, spitting a glob of dark phlegm onto the wet ground. "But Marcus Vance paid us a million dollars to bring your head in a bag. You are fast, but you are just one man in a nice suit. Boys, break his legs!"

The two thugs with the machetes rushed forward at the same time, their heavy boots splashing muddy water into the air. The thug on the left swung his blade in a wild, horizontal arc, aiming straight for Ethan’s neck.

The thug on the right lunged forward, thrusting his sharp weapon toward Ethan’s stomach. They were fast, but to Ethan, their movements looked as slow as snails crawling on glass.

Ethan waited until the very last millisecond.

He ducked his upper body down smoothly, letting the first machete slice through empty air just an inch above his wet hair. At the exact same time, he stepped his right foot inside the guard of the second thug.

Ethan grabbed the man’s hairy wrist with a grip like a steel vice. With a sudden, violent twist of his hips, Ethan bent the man's arm backward against its natural joint.

*Snap!*

A loud, wet cracking sound echoed through the empty alleyway. The thug let out a high pitched, horrific scream as his elbow bone burst straight through his skin. The heavy machete dropped from his useless fingers, clattering onto the pavement.

Ethan did not stop. He drove his hard elbow directly into the screaming man’s chest, sending him flying backward through the air. The thug crashed heavily against a metal trash container, completely knocked out out, his broken arm hanging like a piece of dead meat.

"What the hell!" the second blade user yelled, his face turning pale with sudden shock. He swung his machete down vertically with all his power, trying to split Ethan’s head in half.

Ethan did not step back. He stepped forward, right into the danger zone. He raised his left arm, using the hard, thick bone of his forearm to block the thug's inner wrist before the blade could gain full speed.

The impact made a dull thud. Before the man could pull his arm back, Ethan delivered a lightning fast punch straight into the center of the thug's knee cap.

*Crack!*

The knee bone shattered into a dozen tiny pieces. The thug collapsed instantly onto the wet asphalt, clutching his ruined leg, groaning and weeping in absolute agony. He could no longer stand up, let alone fight. Two elite hitmen had been completely disabled in less than thirty seconds.

The yellow toothed leader stood frozen near the wooden crates, his jaw dropping open in pure terror.

The heavy iron crowbar in his hand suddenly felt like a toy. He looked at his two broken men rolling in the mud, then he looked at Ethan. Ethan’s midnight blue suit was still perfectly neat, except for the tiny scrape on his cheek. He was not even panting. He looked like a god of death who had just gone for a nice walk in the park.

"You... you are not a househusband!" the leader stammered, backing away slowly as Ethan began to walk toward him. "You are a monster!"

"I told you," Ethan said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper that cut through the sound of the rain. "Marcus sent you to your graves."

The leader let out a wild, desperate roar and swung the heavy iron crowbar with both hands, aiming for Ethan's temple.

Ethan didn't even bother to dodge. He shot his right hand forward, catching the cold iron bar with his bare palm, stopping the massive force instantly. The leader pulled and yanked with all his might, his face turning bright purple, but the bar did not move an inch in Ethan’s grip.

Ethan yanked the crowbar forward violently, pulling the leader toward him. He slammed his left fist hard into the giant’s stomach, lifting his heavy body two inches off the ground. The leader gasped, all the air exploding out of his lungs. Ethan grabbed him by the throat, lifted him up completely, and slammed him hard against the rough brick wall of the warehouse.

*Thud!*

The brick wall cracked slightly from the massive impact. The leader's iron crowbar dropped into the mud, and he hung there, his feet dangling in the air, his face turning blue as Ethan’s fingers squeezed his windpipe tightly. Blood ran down from the leader's mouth, dripping onto Ethan’s hand.

"Talk," Ethan commanded, his eyes burning with a dark, demonic light. "Who gave Marcus the poison? Where is he keeping the cure for my sister?"

The leader choked, his hands clawing weakly at Ethan’s steel fingers. He knew he was staring into the face of a true tyrant. If he did not speak right now, Ethan would snap his neck like a dry twig and throw his body into the river.

Ethan loosened his grip by just half an inch, letting the man slide down the brick wall until his feet touched the wet ground, though his throat was still firmly pinned. The giant hitman coughed up a thick spray of dark blood, his body shaking violently from the intense physical pain and absolute terror.

The bleeding leader gasps: "Marcus has the antidote at the underground casino tonight... if you don't get it, she dies in forty-eight hours."