Fall Of Fangbang

The tavern doors burst open.

Dion didn't waste time with words.

The second his eyes found Tio, who was tied to a chair, bruised and bloodied, with dozens of dart wounds on his arms and chest, Dion's heart turned to precursor rage.

"You sons of bitches!"

With a furious roar, Dion barreled forward, crashing into a group of Fangbang thugs like a wall of rage. His fists flew fast and furious in random fashion; each punch landing with loud bone-crunching efficiency. One of the guys attempted to avoid him but connected unfairly with a left hook to the ear. Another attempted to swing a bottle at Dion, only for Dion to headbutt him straight to the floor.

Hunter moved next to him like a light speed blur of destruction, his foot finding a woman's stomach, as she came running with a knife. She flew back over the table. Another guy came in from the side for a gut punch, but Hunter leaned back, snagged his wrist mid-delivery and then flipped him face first into the table with a loud crunch.

The tavern erupted into chaos.

Tables flipped. Bottles smashed. Chairs were thrown. Fangbangs struggled, but it was more of a massacre.

Their leader and higher-ups stood near the back, mouths agape as two men dismantled their gang like trained assassins.

Dion found Tio in the middle of the melee and cut the ropes binding him, letting him slump forward, barely conscious and partly out-of-it; his eyes, wet from tears.

"Take it easy, I got you," Dion said softly, drawing Tio upright.

A thug raised a chair overhead to smash Dion's head from behind.

He didn't get the opportunity.

A small mana blast ripped through the air, smashing into the thug's chest, and sent him flying across the tavern like a broken marionette.

Luenor stepped into the tavern.

With his mask and cloak, he crunched glass beneath his boots as he lazily walked towards the bar. He was stood in the middle of brawls and screams but moved as if it was only background music from a dance hall.

He got to the bar and took two random dusty bottles and poured them into a third. He swirled it, sniffed it, and took a sip. 

Then, he spat it square in the face of a thug rushing to attack him with a club.

"Ew. This place has fucking terrible drinks," Luenor said, smashing the bottle against the thug's face. The man howled in agony, covering his bloody cheek, but that was quickly silenced by Luenor's boot slamming into the side of his head.

The rest of the top brass panicked, and began to scramble, but Hunter was already there. He clotheslined two more thugs and smashed the face of another thug against the wall with terrifying force. Dion, holding Tio, let out a growl as he shoved a man away, who was half-crawling toward the exit.

Luenor turned to the whimpering leader of the Fangbang. He looked like a squaty man in dirty silk shorts that were too small for him, and he was missing teeth. 

"I-I'm gonna kill you!" he yelled, raising a broken table leg over his head in mock intimidation.

Instead of responding to the threat, Luenor simply sidestepped out of the way. 

Then he kicked him right in the ass. 

With a shriek, the man flew across the floor and flew through the wooden bar.

When he opened his eyes, Luenor, Hunter, Dion, and Tio were looking down at him.

"I give up!" the leader cried, hands in the air. "Fangbang is yours! Just don't kill me!"

Luenor raised an eyebrow and smiled behind his mask.

"Let's sit down, Mister...whatever-you-are," he said, calmly getting up from his seat and grabbing an extra chair for the defeated gang leader.

____

Elsewhere in a frigid chamber on the opposite side of the city...

Arwin lay broken on the stone floor.

Blood crusted his nose, his lip was split, and one eye was swollen shut. His body was shaking genuinely, beaten and bruised in all the materials making whitish-black bruises covering his body. 

The giant only known as the Bear stood above him with haggard breath and red-stained fists. He was breathing calmly—as if he was simply stretching before going on a run in the morning.

He heard the door slowly creak open.

Linlin walked in dressed in fine silk robes, make-up on, with a face twisted as strangely as her magic.

"Oh, goodness... look at this mess," she sighed in mock concern. "Still alive? Tsk."

Linlin knelt next to Arwin, tugging on his blood-matted hair and pulling his head upward so that he could see her better.

"You are loyal," she whispered, her eyes shimmering. "So hard to find these days."

Linlin stood again, rolling her shoulders. "But it is time to go. Tomorrow, we will take a little ride."

Arwin coughed blood and laughed. "Look forward to it."

Linlin smirked and lifted her hand. A circular yellow rune ignited as she whispered an incantation.

The pain that shot through Arwin's nerves was unimaginable. His body arched and twisted as he screamed in agony while flames crawled just beneath the surface of his skin.

Linlin smiled as the spell faded. "Sleep well, darling."

_____

Tio sat safe in Dion's arms as they entered the outskirts. The teenager was bloody, battered, and hardly able to walk—but his sheer will to see his sister through was enough.

"You never told me who your friends are," Tio said softly.

Dion smiled. "They work for a man named Luenor. Son of Arhenius Sureva."

Tio blinked at him. "Sureva...the noble house?"

Dion nodded. "And the one who's going to change everything."

When they reached the Lowlands, the same teens as before gasped at the sight of Tio. Some even rushed forward to help.

Dion carried Tio into the collapsed shack. Eva sat up in bed the second she saw her brother, tears instantly welling in her frail eyes.

"Tio!" she cried.

Tio rushed over and embraced her tightly. "I'm okay. I'm okay now."

The two siblings cried in each other's arms with Dion standing in the door way thinking of his sister back in Echlion.

Outside, the other kids stared at Dion, dumbfounded.

"You guys brought him home," one said.

"From Fangbang?" another said quietly.

Dion turned around, smug look all over his face.

"Fangbang works for my boss now."

They blinked.

Then Dion looked around at the horrific scenery: broken homes, sick children, kids who are just forgotten.

He breathed out and said something that he knew would get him hit.

"My boss...he's a good man. If any of you want work, food, coin...he'll employ you. You get paid on a weekly basis."

There was silence. Then murmurs. Then hope.

And Dion could already hear Luenor's annoyed voice yelling in his head, "What did you just offer?"

But, he didn't care.

Hope was the first thing these kids needed.

Even if Luenor killed him later.