Chapter 9: Don't talk about Fight Club.

I hear footsteps behind me. A fist whizzes through the air and barely misses my ear. I whip around and slam the back of my fist into my assailant's gut.

He grunts and doubles over. I bring my knee up into his face. He flips over and lands on his back. Spread eagle on the ground, he starts laughing.

"The hell are you laughing at asshole?" I walk over to him and grab the collar of his shirt. I hoist him up and pin him to a wall.

He's about 6 inches shorter than me, with long black hair and pale skin. I look into his eyes. They're a mix of maroon, burgundy, and orange. I loosen my grip in shock.

His knee hits me in the gut, sending me flying back across the street. I hit a fence and it collapses from the force of the impact. Holding my gut in pain, I struggle to my feet. The man bounds across the street and punches me hard in the face.

I rocket backwards into a hill. A depression in the shape of my body is visible in the earth. I look up and the man is on top of me.

He unsheathes a full tang tanto and holds it to my throat.

"You haven't yet built up the resistance to withstand another of your kind, young Master. The Rida will be upset. I have much to teach you." He grins.

"Who the shit are you dude, and why did you call me young Master? And who the fuck is this Rida bastard?"

"You should watch how you talk about your creator, young Master."

"What if I don't give a flying fuck?"

"Then you'll be a flying fuck."

He grabs my collar and hurls me into a building. I smash through the concrete wall and into an office space. Workers scream as they see me with blood all over my face.

My assailant bursts through the wall to the far right. The workers scream even more as he lands next to me and delivers a kick which could shatter bones to my gut.

I cough up a wad of blood and groan in agony. He kicks me over, and over, and over again. Finally he stomps on my ribs and I lurch upwards. He backhands me across the face and I fly through a bunch of cubicles, knocking people over.

"C'mon young Master, you should be a little more adept at fighting than this." Oh, you wanna see me mad asshole? Well you just made me mad.

I stand up and wipe blood from my lips. He laughs.

"Good to see you have some life left in you." He lunges at me and I grab his throat. He grabs my wrist and tries to break free.

I slam him into the floor and dent the ground with his body. He swears in pain. I lift him back up and throw him into a wall.

He crashes through the concrete and to the road outside. I follow him and hold up my hand to stab him through the heart with my claws.

Instead, pure, visible energy forms a sphere in my hand. I look at it surprised, then unleash it at the man. The beam engulfs his upper torso and rips a hole through the ground.

I cut off the stream of energy and it disperses. His upper body is smoking. I get up and begin to walk away.

As I walk, I feel a pinprick of pain in my chest. I look down and see a spear of energy protruding out of my chest.

I reach frantically to pull the bolt out of me, but it explodes before I get to it.