Chapter 38 - Swift and Merciless

"Very well. Let's make the exchange," said one of Sagat's men. "Throw us the Jade Box and we'll let your sister go."

Ailan remembered Elijah's words, and said. "No. You may not want to let my sister go afterwards. Let her go and when she's halfway across I'll throw the box at you."

"You are in no position to negotiate with us brat. However, we will not make things difficult for you and we will accept the manner of exchange you have proposed so that you will see that our intentions are true." Said the man whose ear was missing.

So they released the young woman, who had a fearful look on her face. "Walk straight ahead. Your brother is waiting for you. Don't stop," one of the men told her. The girl began to walk slowly, fearful that they were going to do something to her, but quietly.

"Sister, don't worry. Everything will be all right. Come to my voice, it will all be over soon," Ailan said as he waited anxiously for his sister. When "Eliana" had crossed the halfway point between Sagat's men and Ailan, Ailan said to his sister "Run" and threw the Jade Box towards the mercenaries.

"Eliana" ran towards her brother when she heard the voice and soon reached him, while the two mercenaries did not move but calmly received the box. It seemed that they were indeed not going to chase Ailan, so the latter calmed his tense nerves a little. With Eliana at his side, he was about to ask her if she was alright, when "Eliana" removed her blindfold and Ailan immediately opened his eyes in terror since the person next to him was not his sister. "Eliana" grabbed Ailan by the arm before he could react and bending it behind his back, she put all her weight on Ailan to pin him to the ground while she said laughing:

"Eliana, Eliana. Everything will be all right Eliana. What a good brother you are, too bad you're not my brother," said the girl mockingly.

"Who are you? You tricked me, where is my sister, what have you done to her, you bastards!" Ailan started to shout, but the girl on top of him put his head on the ground to shut him up. The girl was actually a mercenary, a Qi Master, part of the Violent Tigers. However, she was not well known, because she was usually always in the cave's lair. With a bit of make-up and a wig, as long as she kept her mouth shut she could look like Ailan's sister from a distance. Ailan in his stress and worry didn't notice that she wasn't his sibling until it was too late.

"Hehehehehehe. You really think we're going to give you your sister back. Please kid, you can't possibly be so innocent and stupid. I still don't understand how you were able to steal the stone from us. It seems that all your skills and intelligence disappeared when your sister gets involved" said one of the mercenaries with derision, as they slowly walked towards Ailan. They had not detected anyone else nearby, so they were calm as they approached the boy to capture him. They did not want to kill him quickly but wanted to make him "enjoy" the same "pleasure" they had experienced the night before at the hands of their Boss Sagat.

These words were suddenly heard when they were about 20 metres away from Ailan. The mercenaries turned towards the voice and saw a chubby boy flying towards them at a high speed with his arms above his head, and his hands intertwined with a snake of whitish Qi circling both arms, and a glowing sphere of light emanating from his two hands. Silvester fell upon the two mercenaries as he slammed the sphere of light into the ground. The mercenaries barely reacted, one of them, the one with the missing ear, jumped out of attack range and the other one accumulated Qi in his arms to defend himself from Silvester's assault and then counterattack.

Big mistake. When the mercenary received Silvester's attack, he felt as if he had been run over by a truck and his arms, one of which still bore wounds from Sagat's retribution, fractured in several places, bouncing off his chest and causing several rib fractures as well, eventually falling to the ground completely incapacitated. Silvester fell on top of him and due to inertia was unable to regain his balance and rolled a couple of metres before he could stop himself, but not before groaning to himself 'Damn it Big Brother Elijah, you didn't have to throw me that hard, did you?'

The female mercenary on top of Ailan, her hair stood on end, and as soon as she saw Silvester's attack, she decided to take a knife that was in one of her legs and kill Ailan first and then go to support her comrades. But she immediately heard a soft voice again.

In a jiffy, before she could stab Ailan, Nerun appeared beside her, at an enormous speed and tackled her, pulling her off Ailan, and throwing her to the ground and standing behind her, he put his small arms around her neck, wrapping his legs around her torso and arms. The girl used all her strength to try to get Nerun off her, but this was easier said than done. Although Nerun was only 6 years old, his Qi level was already close to 9, the force he could exert was even greater than that of many adults, not to mention that he was putting pressure on the girl's neck, a natural weak point, and she quickly began to feel the oxygen deprivation in her brain, and lost consciousness shortly after.

The Mercenary with the missing ear was extremely angry that this pair of meddling brats again stood in his way. At that moment another voice was heard saying: "I knew it. You guys were really in cahoots with that damn thief". Jackal and two more of his men appeared from nearby, on the same route that Ailan had taken to reach the Lake of Rainbow Roses. They had been hiding in the trees, watching for Ailan's support. Indeed, Jackal himself was surprised, for they had not detected the arrival of either Nerun or Silvester. He was also in shock, for though he knew he could not underestimate these two brats, in the blink of an eye they had already incapacitated two more of his men. Jackal thought to himself that if he hadn't arrived, they might have been able to escape again, and this time Sagat would definitely kill him.

Nerun and Silvester stood up, but they were not surprised by the presence of Jackal or the other two mercenary reinforcements. Silvester was still staring at the mercenary with the missing ear. Elijah had told him that his mission was to take care of these two men, and the rest could be left to him, he was not to be distracted by other things. This was Silvester's first real battle in which his life was in potential danger, so he had to use all the skills he had acquired at the Orphanage. Moreover, his enemy was just like him, a Qi Master, if somewhat stronger, around level 14, compared to the level 11 he had reached. Still, while he felt some nerves, it was more excitement that dominated his mood. He wanted to prove to his Elder Brother and his "Father" how much he had learned. Besides, Nerun was nearby for support and to keep the mercenary from fleeing.

When Jackal saw that he was being ignored by the kids, he almost let his anger consume him, but just then, he remembered that these kids had a Praetorian as a back-up. "FAST, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he shouted to his men, but it was too late. Like an apparition Elijah appeared between the two mercenaries behind Jackal, and without a second glance he attacked with all his might at the temples of both warriors. Being Qi Masters, they had nothing to defend themselves or even react to a Praetorian like Elijah and the skulls of the two were deformed as they were thrown several metres into the distance, all trace of life in their eyes gone.

Elijah said to his brothers, "Remember what I told you earlier. Swift and Merciless". Nerun and Silvester had not finished their opponents. They were still green and certainly not natural born killers or murderers, and being children they thought that just incapacitating the enemy would be enough. But Elijah had been on the frontier for many years, and through pain, sweat and tears learned that mercy to one's enemies is cruelty to oneself. He didn't want his brothers to go through that same experience. However, that is something they would have to learn themselves as the grew up. He, as well as Maya and Father could only show the way, but their future and decisions were theirs to make.

When Jackal saw the fate of his men, he almost trembled with fear as he remembered that he himself wanted to fight this young man and kill his brother and servant. However, his years of experience on the frontier made him quickly pull himself together, and make the best choice in his eyes. He accumulated all his Qi in his legs and moved at full speed in the direction of Nerun to take him hostage so that he could escape.

The maximum speed of a human sprinter is normally up to 45 km/h, but most people cannot reach this speed, and certainly not for an indefinite period of time, but rather for a short duration. A Qi Master can reach an average top speed of up to 80 km/h, a Qi Grandmaster almost twice as fast, between 150 and 180 km/h, and a Qi Praetorian if he uses all his power up to 300 to 360 km/h. Jackal used everything he had to reach a speed of 350 km/h. Even if Elijah was faster, he had set off first and considering the distance to Nerun was only a mere 45m, he would catch him before Elijah could do anything.

Elijah seeing Jackal's reaction, remembered what Captain Roger had done in the past, as well as the injuries Nerun suffered back then, and the guilt he felt for not doing all he could when he fought Roger. 'Not again. Never again' he shouted to himself. At that very moment he circulated his Qi in the auxiliary meridians of his legs and tracing a special circulation on the soles of his feet, the Qi suddenly exploded and Elijah's speed shot up to 3 times that of Jackal, a subsonic speed. This was the true of a Praetorian, the Qi Technique that Elijah himself taught Nerun and that in the future would make Elijah known throughout the continent, when in the great battles between Territories, he would gain the fame of One Step, One Kill, and his enemies would tremble in horror, only to see a flash before they perished. But that is a story for later.

Using , Elijah appeared between Nerun and Jackal, and began to circulate his Qi in his right arm. Three snakes of pure, whitish mist coiled around Elijah's arm, and extended beyond it, forming 3 metre-long blades that hovered several inches from Elijah's hand like a claw.

Jackal's pupils shrank like a pin, and he gathered all his Qi into his arms assuming a defensive stance, but it was insufficient. Elijah lashed out at Jackal with his claw-like hand and Jackal shot several metres backwards, both of his forearms torn and broken in several places with bone clearly exposed. Jackal's chest was badly lacerated and his still beating heart could be seen through his wounds, while his eyes reflected despair and terror. This was Elijah's definition of swift and merciless.

The other mercenary had drawn his sword and was facing Silvester, who was fighting cautiously and fearfully because of his opponent's weapon. However, when the mercenary saw that his leader Jackal had been finished so quickly, he lost all courage to continue fighting and made a mistake in attacking Silvester. While Silvester was not the most agile of his brothers, he was certainly one of the most physically gifted and had gone through the same training as all the other children. Not missing the opportunity that had presented itself, he furiously lunged at his adversary, who hastily defended himself, lashing out haphazardly with his weapon in front of him. Silvester used his left arm to defend himself and received several shallow cuts, but holding back the pain he took the opportunity to close in on the mercenary and strike him furiously with his right elbow, with all his strength, weight and Qi behind it, hitting the mercenary in the sternum, plunging the mercenary's chest, who fell backwards, with blood gushing from his mouth, even vomiting up part of his lungs.

All of this may take a while to describe, but since Silvester had attacked the two mercenaries approaching Ailan, the fight had taken less than 10 seconds. Ailan stood dumbfounded at the ease and poise with which the three boys who had talked and laughed with him yesterday, faced and disposed of the mercenaries who had brought terror and despair to his eyes, and could not help but wonder what had caused boys who were also orphans and poor like him, to have this natural gleam of hope in their eyes, as well as these abilities that would surely in the future allow them to change their destiny. It also awakened in his heart the desire to change his and his sister's future for the better.