Last chapter, the quartet finally got on the move again, with them learning a bit more about Amandeath's strange past. King Metallica reveals that he wants to go to the Hopian Continents sole library in order to reconnect himself with the Five Kings, and to his surprise everyone agrees to do so. But- their happy moment is cut short by gunshots, and a group of thugs who are the cause of them.

Seric's P.O.V.

"AHHHHH!" I scream as I fly through the air.

*THUMP!*

"...Huh? You giving him to us? Well alright, if that's "King Metallica" then this brat must be... the monster, Seric! Oh we'll treat you just right...!" The bandit with the pistol grits his teeth as I slowly raise my scraped face that's next to a broken needle on the ground up from the pavement to see them all staring down at me.

"Yeah, let's take him dead then!! My... my bro was on Aprase during the slaughtering d-damn it! I never even got to say bye man..." One of the men start to tear up, which in turn makes me instantly feel guilty and to look down.

"Ah shit, stop crying man, we'll turn those tears into streng-"

"Spirit of Kodan: Strike." Karia interrupts loudly but with little enthusiasm which surprises the men and make five of them run towards her. The giant red translucent fist appears from thin air a second later, and launches into the three who try to dodge before they can reach her- but fail and get sent flying back.

Amandeath runs by Karia towards the man with the pistol right in front of me, causing the man to raise his gun as I lower my head.

"My Reaction to Action." Amandeath mumbles as she swings her arms up and with her left hand slapping the barrel of the gun and her right hand slapping the front of his wrist, causing the gun to fly out of his hands and for his finger on the trigger to break.

"Shit this is crazy!" I think to myself in panic as I start to crawl away, cutting myself on some glass as I do so.

"Shit!" The man cries out as Amandeath swings her leg back and then kicks her foot into the mans kneecap causing him to fall backwards.

"!" Amandeath's eyes open a bit wider though as the four remaining men are on both sides of her.

"Tag OUTTA HERE!" King Metallica says just as Amandeath is about to jump back as he grabs her waist, spinning his own waist 180 degrees as he chucks her behind him.

*CLANG!*

One of the men miss Amandeath and slam a metal pipe into King Metallica but it simply bounces off of his red robe covered metal.

"See ya L.O.S.E.R!" King Metallica shouts as he plants his hand on the man with the pipe's chest and with a blowing sound sends him flying up at an angle at insane speeds.

"Watch out damn it!!" Karia shouts as the three remaining men start reaching towards King Metallica with some strange gloves with electricity literally being visible on the outside of them somehow.

"Spirit of Kodan: K.O.!"

"My Reaction to Action."

Karia and Amandeath both say as they run to both sides of King Metallica as the men grab his wrists and shock him.

Karia throws her fist up in an uppercut causing a giant red ghost hand to come up from the ground and launch one of the men into the air.

Amandeath on the other hand swings both of her arms up and towards two of the mens necks, slamming the sides of her hands into both of their necks just as they try to escape which makes them instantly collapse and go limp.

"Shit you could have died there don't be so cocky, you alright?" Karia says in an annoyed tone as she catches her breath.

"YASHASHASHA, my name's King Metallica not "cocky"! And you truly think that a measly current like that could fry me? I'm built resistant to that stuff ya know! But anywho, we've got one F.I.E.S.T.Y. boy left, your time's up Pal #1!" King Metallica says as he spins his head around until he locks his eyes on me as I continue to literally lie low while he points to the man holding his kneecap.

"Oh, haha, nono I already served as a distraction so, please let me pas-"

"B.O.Y. how are you supposed to get stronger if you don't even work those muscles of yours one bit- including the squishy ones up in your noggin! Up, up with you my cowardly pal!" King Metallica says as he keeps on throwing his arms up to his head.

"Woooooooho, go Seric." Amandeath "cheers" with little enthusiasm as she raises her hands and shakes them a little.

"Loser." Karia adds.

"Ugh... but I'll just get hurt, and plus we have a new crewmember to help us figh-"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!" King Metallica screeches.

"Ow alright alright!" I groan as I stand up and dust myself off, luckily with my wounds having healed now.

The three of them step out of the alleyway, and leave me being face to face with the one man left who's just stood up.

"Tch, damn it! I'll fight you to the end, you damn monster!" The man spits as he raises a jagged rusty metal pipe.

"You think I know what I did?! I'm- I'm sick and tired of being treated like and called a fucking monster, like hell if I know what I did! My Best Friend!" I shout out in guilt, causing my boat to appear from thin air in front of me as the man starts to recklessly charge towards me.

But, just as I'm about to sloppily start to step back the man is already screaming in rage and running along the side of my boat right towards me.

"Shit!" I curse under my breath as I try to think of my options- but let my instincts take over and throw my hand towards the back of my ship.

"Just like last time!" I think to myself as I lift up the entire boat along with my arm with ease which turns it into my super heavy knife, and just as the man is about to back up- I use the help of gravity as well as my own force to swing the knife in front of me.

*SWISH!*

But it only just grazes the man, as my arm and entire right side is now being dragged down to the ground as I hold onto the small but extremely heavy weapon.

"Holy shit I almost killed him there! Like hell if that's who I am, I've gotta be careful! I know, I'll just, uh, uh-" I try to think but the man charges at me once more for some reason, and far faster than before.

"Wait stop it!! Stay back!!" I yell out to him in guilt, but he doesn't stop his charge.

"Take em' down pal! He's nothing but a stupid punk!" King Metallica "cheers" me on from the sidelines.

With that being my only quick and simple reasoning at the moment I go to plan B and turn around so my back is facing the man, bend my knees, and twist my torso sideways. At the same time my right arm wielding the knife is dragged along as well as it pulls my right side closer to the ground.

"You think you'll cut me kid?!" The man shouts as he slows down for some reason- which only works in my favor as I twist my entire body to the right so I'm facing the crazed man again, using my left foot as a pivot as my hanging arm is also dragged along to the front of my chest solely due to the the spinning motion.

*SWISH- SLASH!*

I release the blade at an angle that I THINK should only cut through his side.

I then look up- but my heart drops as I see that the man has a wide cut through the center of his white shirt- which is now turning more and more red.

"Damn it..." He says softly as he grips the wound, but blood only pours out over his hands.

He falls down to the floor.

"W.O.W. nice one pal! He's certainly not getting up from that one- that fool is only going down now if you know what I mean!" King Metallica points down to the ground and... cheers me on?

"No, no no I... Oh God, I didn't mean to... no... s-shit!!" I say to myself as my entire body starts to shake.

"Huuuuuuuh? Don't tell me, this your first kill?" Amandeath asks casually.

"Y-yeah, but I didn't mean to... I don't want to kil-"

"Cut the... bullshit!! You're a... a fucking monster! Mark my words... someday, somewhere... you'll... you'll fucking pay for what you... you..." The man struggles to say in a furious tone as he holds back tears and looks up at me, but slows down his talking until his head goes limp and falls to the floor.

"Have to agree with the guy... this is why I never should have saved you, monster." Karia says with no mercy at all, causing King Metallica to stretch out his arm and spin his torso so he can slap Karia in the back of the head and cause her to get slammed to the ground.

I try to hold it back, but regardless I start to tear up anyways as I put my arm up to cover my face. Hell I'm probably just doing this for attention... how much more pathetic can I get.

"Aw... I get ya, pal! Taking the life of another is no easy task for a kind lil' rookie like yourself!" King Metallica says with some empathy at least as I lower my arm and look at the three to see Amandeath staring down at the floor, Karia looking mad while rubbing her head, and King Metallica walking towards me.

"I'm- I'm fine..." I lie as I try to prevent myself from looking any more shameful while looking away, Amandeath being here isn't helping the embarrassment either...

"Now now there's nothing to be ashamed of pal! If there's one thing that Y.O.U. guys have taught me today, it's that pals should always have each backs, and that goes both ways!" King Metallica says in a happy tone as he stomps towards me.

"I said I'm fine alright! Jeez! Thanks for the concern, but just leave me alone alright!" I yell back to him angrily in an outburst due to my swirling emotions which actually stops him from moving and causes Amandeath's eyes to open a bit wider while Karia just has a stupid smirk on her face...

"...Well, fine if that's truly what you want so be it! However, I'll leave you with a reminder- killing in self defense is permitted in the scriptures about the Five Kings! So don't fret about what you did too much, you even tried to give him a second chance after all! Plus you've got more experience under your belt now due to that fight!" King Metallica explains, which actually makes me feel a bit better when I think about how he DID attack me first... but I get a bit mad thinking about how all of that was for some stupid "training"...

"Yeah." I mumble back to him.

"Great! Now let's go pal, I'll at least keep ya company while you think about that stuff with that big brain of yours!" King Metallica says as he smiles with his silver lips, and a second later bends forwards to grab my hand.

*CLICK!*

"AH!" I squeal as he spins his arm behind him in a circle while dragging me along, until he plants me on the ground behind him.

"...Haha, damn it the hell was that?" I can't help but laugh through my anger while panting a bit due to the sudden exhilaration.

"Just getting ya back to your normal self! Now then, let's get going, it's time to dust off those old books in Hopian's greatest library... after walking for a few more days that is!" King Metallica says which kind of makes my stomach drop, but I immediately scold myself when I remember why I'm doing this in the first place.

"Hmmmm, a few days? Shiiiiiiit... well whatever- though if we walk for more than a few hours at a time someone's carrying me. Or I'll just stay back and fall asleep on the ground..." Amandeath adds, and I furrow my brow at the last part but brush it off after remembering that she's... "odd" as well, just like us.

"Heh, yeah she's already fitting in with us... but I kinda feel like I am less and less... maybe I did kill those people on Aprase intentionally, I mean it is possible... shit but I really hope not..." I think to myself as I stare at the ground just like Amandeath was doing.

"Aw what's wrong, the "bounty hunter" can't even walk around for a bit?" Karia adds in with a scoff to Amandeath which makes me roll my eyes and silently groan.

"...I can. But I'd rather use a whiny bitch like you to do that for me while I relax." Amandeath says as she glares at Karia.

"Oh- ok you think you're so tough now cause you got a lucky shot on me huh?! Fight me right now then stupid-"

"E.N.O.U.G.H., the next one of you two to start a tussle again isn't getting a S.C.R.A.P. of food for the next two weeks! Or days... or however long you humans can last without food for!" King Metallica shouts in a passive aggressive tone as he stomps towards them, causing both of the girls to look back at him.

"Poor Amandeath... though it is nice to not be the one being pushed around all the time by him right now." I think to myself, feeling a bit bad about thinking that way in hindsight.

A/N: Another group of thugs approached the quartet- but they don't stand a chance when the four- or three of them work together! And now, the story will continue with Seric getting his uncelebratory first kill as the quartet heads to Hopian's "Greatest Library!"

I hope you guys consider voting or commenting if you enjoyed, and see you next week!