Chapter 55 - Excitement

Shin was walking around the city looking for some entertainment when he received a call. It was an unknown number, at first, he wasn't going to bother with the phone call since it was most probably some random person trying to threaten him and his clan. Still, since he had nothing better to do at the moment he picked it up. 

"Finally picking up." The person on the other end of the call wasn't concealing the tone of his voice as well as the background sound as Shin could hear the breathing of numerous people in the background. Usually, those that call him to threaten his Clan would do it sneakily. 

"Who's this?" 

"It's your senior from school. Shin, I called because I heard you've beaten up some friends of mine." 

"Senior, which senior? Also, friends that I have beaten up, I beat up many people, so I don't know who you're talking about. Well, whatever what is it you want? Do you want to get revenge or something, is that it? If you want to fight just say so, no need for all this cloak and dagger nonsense just come at me." 

"You really are a cocky little sh*t aren't you. Well, I already knew that you were that kind of guy, but just to make sure that you stay for a quick bout I caught one of your friends." 

"Friends? I don't remember having any, and like I said you don't need to do any of these things, just tell me where you are and I'll gladly fight you." 

"Meet me under the bridge at 2nd ave. "

"You should've just said that fro-" The person on the other end of the line. Shin shrugged his shoulders as he headed towards the meeting place. 

...

Once Shin arrived at the scene he saw a rather interesting scene. The people gathered were all wearing the school uniform and from what he could see they were mostly third-year students upward, but what was interesting to see was what was happening in the middle of the group.

Shin saw two familiar figures, one was the person he met earlier, Michael, and the other was a rather famous individual in school. The supposed strongest student in the entire martial arts course Hayate. The moment Shin had enrolled in that school one of his targets to fight was Hayate, but no matter how hard he tried to challenge the other party he would not comply. 

Now that Shin saw the scene before him, he knew that he could finally fight one of the people on his list. Seeing Michael was about to get beaten up badly, Shin was about to intervene when somebody else suddenly appeared. 

Shin was truly surprised to see someone had appeared without him sensing it. Shin then looked at the person who suddenly appeared and he could not help but tremble in excitement. The person that appeared was gaining popularity as of late and was the newest addition on the list of people Shin wanted to fight. The person that appeared was none other than the urban legend Fade. Shin smiled in excitement as he started circulating his inner energy. 

'This must be my lucky day.' Shin then charged forward and attacked Fade. After a few exchanges, Shin knew that Fade was above him in terms of technique. Still, that did not discourage him instead that got him even more excited. The only problem with this current fight was that Fade wasn't taking it seriously because of Michael. 

"I'm sure you understand that Michael's injury isn't that big of a deal, he just fainted from the pain. The internal energy attack released by Hayate was only meant to hurt a bit. So let him sleep for a while and let's have some fun." 

Hayate was about to attack, and it was at that moment he felt something entangling his body. Hayate could not move and it was at that moment Fade carried Michael and left the scene. Shin wanted to chase after them but the mysterious force entangling him made him unable to move. Shin then used his internal energy to strengthen his body to the utmost and pushed forward. 

As Shin forcefully tried to move he noticed something digging into his skin, it was at that moment he finally knew what was restraining him. 

'Wires, when did he have time to entangle me in wires?' Shin looked around and carefully and finally noticed that it wasn't just him that had wires near him, everyone present had wires near them. The moment any of them moved they would be trapped by wires. There were already some that had been entangled as well. 

"Heh, now that's the kind of opponent I'm looking for!" Shin whose battle intent was rising used all of his strength and tore off the wires that surround him. Shin whose body had numerous flesh wounds due to the wires, was smiling. It was an eerie sight to look at as he was smiling as blood continued to flow out. 

Seeing as he could no longer catch up to Fade, Shin looked at Hayate and the surrounding students. Shin then started cutting the surrounding wires freeing Hayate and his subordinates. Once they were free to move Shin looked at each of them and spoke. 

"Since I can't play with Fade, you all can replace him. So come at me and fight using everything you got!" Shin's battle intent coupled with his bloody looked had made some of the students present had unconsciously step back. Even Hayate who was the strongest in the group was a little bit intimidated by Shin but was able to hold it in as he had already felt something more horrible than Shin's battle intent. 

Seeing that no one was moving Shin was getting a bit impatient, he then gestured at the surrounding students to come at him. 

"Didn't you guys call me here to get some payback, for you friends? Why are you guys hesitating now? Fine, if you're not going to attack first, then allow me!" Shin was unable to hold his overflowing excitement and started attacking the surrounding students. 

...

Under the bridge, the sounds of screaming and laughter could be heard. Shin who was bloodied and bruised was panting as he was exhausted but the smile on his face never disappeared.

Among all of his opponents, only Hayate was left standing. Hayate was heavily wounded and had used most of his inner energy. He was now looking at Shin like he was a monster. He was shivering from fear as he tried his hardest to stand before Shin. 

"Hahaha! That was an exciting fight. As expected from the supposed strongest of the Sekiko Academy. It was fun but now it's time to end this." 

When Hayate heard what Shin said, the fear he was feeling was replaced by shame and anger. He had been standing at the top for too long, and he was not ready to let go, especially for some freshman. Hayate gritted his teeth and started gathering his remaining inner energy into his fist. When Shin noticed that he licked his lips in joy. 

"I see, of course, you wouldn't just go down like that, that's the way it should be. Come then, let's see who between us is the stronger one!"