Chapter 15. First Kill

A rough hand yanked him flying into a wall. Shawn then dropped to the ground disoriented

"Aghhhhh, what the-."

A hand covered Shawn's mouth as he saw a knife about to be plunged into his neck. He narrowly dodged by twisting his upper body as much as possible. He managed to move his torso enough that the knife slipped past the side of his throat. The man who had one hand on his stomach, holding him down, did not expect a kid to move that fast. Just throwing him into the wall should've knocked him out.

Shawn punched the wrist holding the knife, the assailants hand gripped tight on the dagger stabbed next to him. The man eased his grip on the dagger from the pain of the punch.

Shawn used all his strength to push up at the sturdy hand holding his stomach. Pushing all the air out of his stomach, Shawn twisted with everything he had as the hand on his stomach was no longer holding him. Escaping the grasp, Shawn was on one arm and leg, the man moved sluggishly but punched fast enough that Shawn couldn't dodge.

Being hit square in the stomach made Shawn gasp as all the air came out. He hit the wall again.

"Shitty, brat, I'm gonna…. I'm gonna… murder you." The man spoke slowly like a drunkard not sure of his words. Shawn could feel the heat in his stomach and knew it was heavily bruised but pushed off the ground and ran to the man.

Smiling, the man launched another punch but Shawn circled and ran to the knife and grabbed it.

"Why are you attacking me?"

"Snott nosed brat, you actual think you can spend a gold piece and walk around like you own the place. I know you've got more on ya, imma gut you and have enough to live a lavish life away from this fuckin war."

The drunken man rushed forward. Shawn held the dagger up ready to defend himself. The fight was between a man and a little boy. Although Shawn was getting stronger and absorbing qi, he was not the match of a grown man.

The man rushing forward moved incredibly fast to Shawn but he held a sturdy stance and got ready.

The man kicked out but Shawn ducked only to be hit with another kick that sent him flying. The man he fought seemed to still be an early body tempering cultivation but that was more than enough. The man laughed at the boy struggling to get up and took a sip of his alcohol.

"Tormenting this brat is gonna be fun."

The man took another sip of alcohol and then took a deep breath in as he started to spew flames. Shawn moved as fast as he could and pulled an impressive maneuver where he faked one way and slid under the fire now moving the opposite way. When the man moved his mouth again he aimed so the fire also covered the floor. Shawn ran vertically up a wall, spun and flung the dagger at the man.

The dagger cut open the drunkards mouth as fire leaked from the wound. Shawn dropped to the ground and got ready to go on the defensive. He was hoping that the man used a technique instead of an ability because a technique had more of a chance backfiring.

Overcome by pain the man screamed as the fire came to a stop. His left cheek was cut open and the flesh on the outside slightly burned. Shawn rushed the man and drop kicked the man in his balls. The man dropped to the floor as Shawn quickly scrambled to the dagger lying nearby and used it to plunge into the man's neck. The man looked dead into Shawn's eyes as he went limp.