The Convicts stood there, motionless, mouth agape, brewing in anger. They felt like someone had hit them on the head.
The bastard claimed to be E-rank, but displayed abilities that spoke otherwise.
"Ahh, I'm going to kill this guy!" The guy who had winked at Freya earlier, screamed as he ran in at a blistering speed, the rough edges of his blade glinting.
Hal stood motionless, his breathing steady, his gaze sharp, unreadable, but unconcerned.
The Convict lunged at Hal, a flurry of strikes aimed for his chest and head.
Hal evaded each attack, his movement swift, each step calculated.
Although his suit was that of an E-rank and the Convicts own a C-rank, Hal could still avoid all his attacks, and had a better reflex, because his strength was no longer based on just the abilities granted by the suit, but it came directly from his body.
All those daily exercises were paying off. It had basically increased his Latent Talent, making him more versatile, durable, faster and stronger than before, increasing his level of Qi absorption.
The Convict thrust his blade at Hal's stomach, but instead of retreating Hal moved forward to meet the sword, but quickly sidestep avoiding it, by letting it slip past his side, and then he raised his elbow, curved like a boomerang, and slammed it into the man's chest, causing him to want to keel over in pain, but he couldn't.
Hal immediately grabbed the blade from him, flipped him in midair, allowing him to land flat on his back, and as soon as he landed, placed the blade on his chest, and applied force, causing the tip of the blade to pierce through his suit, and then through his heart.
All this happened in one swift, fluid motion.
The remaining two Convicts seeing their brother in arms die, rushed towards Hal, rage clearly written on their faces.
The first one who made use of short twin blades, attached to a chain, swung it at Hal, aiming for his head, but Hal parried the attack with the very blade he had just stolen.
Graang!
The chained knife made a loud scratching sound as it wound around Hal's blade.
Snarling, the Convict yanked on the chain with immense force, expecting Hal to lose his balance and fall, but he was surprised when Hal remained standing.
Hal was holding the blade with his right hand, and so used his left hand to grab hold of part of the chain.
Spinning it around his hand he pulled it hard, reversing the planned move of the Convict.
"Huaah!" The Convict screamed as he was thrown off his feet, and slammed hard against the ground.
He tried to drag the chain away from Hal's hand, but his grip on it was firm.
The other Convict decided to attack Hal from behind and when he was close to him, jumped in the air with his hands in the form of a fist, the air around it splitting as it came down on Hal's head at a blistering speed, but Hal was prepared for him.
He gripped the chain stronger, applying more strength he lifted and hurled the first Convict straight into the airborne attacker.
"Urgh!"
The two collided midair in a violent crunch of flesh and armor, their screams merging into one before they slammed into the ground, carving a small crater and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Their boss, who stood at the side, watching all this was fuming with rage, repeatedly clenching his fist, unable to contain his anger.
Hal moved at a swift pace, into the crater that was formed intending to finish off the Convicts.
He met one of them in a kneeling position, as he struggled to stand up.
"Ah, ah!" He moaned in pain, but his pain was soon put to an end by Hal, who got behind him and twisted his neck. It made a cracking noise as the bones of the neck got broken sticking out the side, all covered in blood in a gruelling sight.
Hal pushed the lifeless body aside, and moved on to the next, his gaze unwavering.
The other guy was already on his feet, but was still looking around in confusion, seemingly searching for Hal.
Vwoom!
Hal whooshed past him.
"Huh?" He looked terrified and slowly walked back.
Vwoom!
Hal whooshed past again.
"Hey! Don't... don't come any closer or I'll kill you, okay?" He shouted threateningly, but his voice was shaky, and his hands were vibrating, betraying his brave last words.
As he continued walking backwards, he saw the silhouette of a person standing in the dust.
"Huh? Is that you? I said don't come any closer!" He shouted, the fear in his voice more evident this time.
Of course he had every reason to be afraid, that guy had just killed three C-rank Hunters like him, without breaking a sweat, what would it take to put down one more person.
As he looked on still, the shadow in the dust suddenly moved.
Fwissh!
The dust beside him parted and the air became clear due to the high speed of what passed.
"Waaa!" He screamed, and his legs started shaking even at a faster speed, it got to a point they were too weak to hold him up, and he fell on his butt.
It was at this very moment that Hal chose to come out, carefully walking towards the Convict on the ground, counting each step like a predator stalking its prey.
"Stop, stop, please!" The Convict screamed, as he frantically clawed at the ground as if his life depended on it.
Well, it did.
Hal opened his left palm, spreading it out and a dagger magically filled up the space there.
This seemingly impossible feat only helped to stoke the flames of fear in the heart of the Convict.
His mouth trembled non-stop, as he struggled to form coherent words through them, but they were uncooperative.
He had stopped moving now, too weak to even summon the energy to carry out that basic locomotion ability.
Hal was now in front of him and stopped a few breaths from him.
He crouched to his level, before letting out a slow, exhaustive exhale.
Puuf!
"You've wasted my time, haven't you?" Hal asked, but immediately replied by himself not giving the other guy anytime to express himself.
"Well, it's better if you don't anymore." With that he stood up, turned around, and took a step forward before coming to a stop.
"Wha...what, Y-you aren't going to kill me?" The Convict asked with trepidation, despite the little ray of hope in his eye.
"Who mentioned anything of the sort?" Hal replied.
Before the Convict could react, the dagger left his hand.
It spun in midair before coming to a stop, right in the middle of the Convicts skull.
Puish!
The gray matter in it made a squishing noise as it got pierced though.
Fwiing!
The dagger made a scratching sound as it scraped against the bones of the skull, in response to Hal's summon.
It went a few mètre in air before disappearing into the System storage.
"Hmm, still not there." Hal mused as he walked away, leaving the dead body of the Convict laying there, the little light of hope now gone from its eyes.
Hal's gaze shifted forward and upward to the edge of the crater.
"Now time for the last kill." He said as he cracked his knuckles, the sound resounding as his silhouette slowly faded into the dark