Chapter 767: What You All Wanted

Shooting and Sarah of the Fallen Rose had joined Darius and Jett in their fight against Popper and Dipter. At first, it had seemed as though their arrival would be enough to secure a quick victory. They now outnumbered their opponents, and neither man possessed the overwhelming strength that Hugo and Hercules had displayed.

However, the fight was proving far more difficult than expected.

Popper used an umbrella as a weapon, intercepting Shooting’s wooden sword whenever she tried to strike. His movements were almost as sharp as hers, and he handled the unusual weapon with enough skill to make getting past it troublesome.

After deflecting a strike, Popper would step in and attack with his fists. So far, none of those punches had landed cleanly on Shooting, largely because Jett intervened whenever he could.

He would pick up an object from the ground, or even one of the nearby fallen men, and fling it towards Popper. The interruption forced Popper to move or defend himself, giving Shooting enough time to avoid his attack.

Unfortunately, Jett didn’t possess anything close to Hugo’s or Hercules’s strength. The bodies he threw moved slowly enough for Popper to evade them, and the effort was wearing him down.

That was one of their biggest problems.

Both Jett and Darius had already been fighting these two for some time before the Fallen Rose arrived. They were exhausted and had received several damaging blows. Although they still possessed the skill to help, their bodies were making it difficult to put that skill to use.

Nearby, Dipter spun his body and swung his leg towards Sarah. She raised her wooden sword to intercept him, but his kick forced the weapon down, pinning it against the ground.

Dipter immediately stepped to the side and prepared to kick her in the stomach.

Before he could connect, Darius moved between them and blocked the strike. The impact sent him backwards into Sarah, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Thanks for taking the hit," Sarah said as she worked her way out from beneath him. "But is there any chance you could try a little harder and land a decent hit on him?"

Darius pushed himself up and tried to focus. He understood what she wanted, but hitting Dipter was far easier said than done.

The problem was that Dipter moved too quickly for his intent to work effectively. Even when Darius projected an attack towards a particular part of his opponent’s body, Dipter could move out of its path before it reached him.

His speed was troublesome enough, but the fluid way he connected his movements made him even harder to catch. He could avoid one attack and immediately shift into another without losing momentum.

Darius needed to figure out how he and Sarah could work together to overcome that.

"Argh!" Jett suddenly cried out.

He stumbled backwards, staring at the blood running from his palm. During their exchange, Popper had thrust the tip of his umbrella straight into Jett’s hand.

It seemed he had been waiting for the right moment to reveal his trick. The umbrella’s tip was no ordinary piece of metal. It had become a sharp blade, capable of piercing flesh when driven forwards.

"You need to keep a few tricks up your sleeve," Popper said. "That’s how people survive a cruel life in prison."

He pulled the umbrella free of Jett’s hand and immediately attacked again. This time, the blade was aimed at Jett’s thigh, and the injured man struggled to react quickly enough.

Shooting dived in before it reached him. Her wooden sword struck the umbrella from the side, knocking the blade away and preventing Popper from landing another hit.

"The world really is an amazing place, isn’t it?" Shooting said with a smile. "I’ve never seen either of you or even heard of you, but here you are, strong enough to give us this much trouble. I suppose there’s always room for all of us to improve."

"Improve?" Popper repeated.

He continued attacking as he spoke. His umbrella clashed against Shooting’s sword, the two weapons cracking together at a rapid pace as each fighter searched for an opening.

"You have no idea how many fights I had to get into every single day," Popper said. "And they weren’t fights I chose."

Shooting kept her sword moving, intercepting his attacks while listening to him.

"Fighting when you’re injured. Fighting when you’re sick. Fighting when you don’t want to fight at all," Popper continued. "That’s what survival takes. You might be part of a gang, but you have no idea what life is really like in there!"

The struggle between the six of them continued. Shooting and Sarah could hold their ground, but finding an opportunity to finish their opponents was proving difficult.

Every so often, Darius or Jett would gather enough energy to intervene. A thrown object, a blocked kick, or an attempted strike would briefly change the flow of the fight, but Dipter and Popper continued finding ways around them.

Neither side looked likely to win any time soon.

In the middle of another exchange, a body suddenly came flying through the air.

All six fighters were forced to react as it crashed into the ground between them, interrupting the battle. When Dipter and Popper looked down, they were startled to recognise the man who had landed at their feet.

"Ahh," Dud said as he pushed himself up. "It doesn’t hurt, but I can tell that it really should."

Their attention shifted from Dud to the person who had thrown him. Max was walking towards them, leaving no doubt about who was responsible.

"You four, go and deal with the rest of them," Max said to Shooting, Sarah, Darius, and Jett. "I’ll handle these guys."

He looked between Dud, Dipter, and Popper. Earlier, the three had worked together to prevent him from fighting any one of them alone. Now Max was inviting them to do exactly that again.

"That was your plan, wasn’t it?" he continued. "If things didn’t work out, you would all attack me at once."

Max kept walking towards them, ready to take on all three.

"Well, now’s your chance. Make my job easier so I can get rid of you all at once."