The Great Oni
Volume (1) Benoni Chapter (5)
"Ahh—i-it hurts… aaah…"
Ordinarily such torment would have knocked him unconscious, yet every time Li Fan blacked out the two soldiers sloshed cold water over him and dragged him back to awareness.
"P-please… I beg you… just kill me," he sobbed, tears and mucus streaking his face.
"See, John? That's what you get for messing with royal family" one soldier sneered, baring yellow teeth in a filthy grin.
Li Fan cried out again, his voice breaking beneath pain that refused to end.
After what felt like minutes the soldiers at last unstrapped the bucket.
The three rats scrambled out, squealed, and scurried back into the pail.
A ragged, fist-sized hole yawned in Li Fan's stomach; much of his intestines were gone, leaving only an oozing cavern.
Amazingly, he still clung to life, breathing in faint, ragged sips.
As the soldiers turned to leave, he rasped, "Please… kill me…"
"Hahaha, relax. Give it an hour—blood loss will finish you," they mocked, slammed the door, and vanished.
Li Fan's tears flowed without end. Every single breath made his body quake with agony.
Parts of his stomach and intestines were missing, but none of the truly vital organs had been severed, so death would come slowly rather than at once.
Mercifully, at last, he lost consciousness.
_____
"Li Fan, sweetheart, are you up? School starts today!"
A knock sounded on his bedroom door, and his mother's voice floated in.
He had been awake for a while, curled under the blanket.
"Yeah, I'm up, Mom," he called and got to his feet.
First thing he noticed: he was slightly taller, and limitless energy pulsed through every limb.
Whoosh—
One blur later he was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth and washing his face—both tasks finished inside thirty seconds. If the water pressure were faster, he felt he could have done it in ten.
"A few hours of brutal pain for a lifetime of supernatural power… fair trade?"
He grinned slyly at his reflection.
With his shirt off he could see that his muscles had thickened; his skin looked healthier, almost glowing. Even his face was subtly handsomer—paler, clearer, the eyes a shade sharper and no longer dull.
"Endure a bit of torture, win a lifetime of perks," he shrugged, slipped into fresh clothes, and headed out.
After breakfast with the family he set off for school.
Li Fan had been born and raised in Yankin City, one of the major urban centers of the Republic of Yan.
He was fourteen now—fifteen in june. Last year he'd finished his final year of middle school; today would be his first year of high school.
His school catered mostly to affluent families and normally reopened a month early during the summer break. Attendance for that early month was optional; students could either enroll or take the time off.
Li Fan's family would soon spend a month abroad, so for them the early-start option worked perfectly.
The school sprawled over a large area, a patchwork of classroom blocks, sports fields, snack stalls, and administrative offices.
Since Li Fan was a returning student, he didn't need to handle any enrollment paperwork; instead, he simply cut across campus toward the athletic field.
It was the middle of the lunch break, so only a handful of students milled around the track.
Seeing no one he actually knew, he veered off toward the snack shops.
Beside the stalls lay a narrow back alley—an occasional hang-out for the school's thug kids.
As he passed, he heard the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle and stepped inside for a look.
Back in the day he would never have walked into a group fight alone, but now—compared with ordinary people—he was practically a demigod, so he paid the risk no mind.
"Yan Shin! Just because your dad's a manager at my grand-dad's company, you think you can talk back to me?"
A furious voice rang out, followed by the dull thud of fists.
Li Fan took in the scene: six hefty students had a bespectacled boy—face buried in books, by the look of him—pinned against the wall.
The gang's leader, Jiao Nin, glanced over, recognized Li Fan, and smirked.
"Well, well—Li Fan the mutt. And here you are all by yourself, without your little friends for backup."
Li Fan lifted one eyebrow.
"Jiao Nin, still hiding behind family clout and a pack of lackeys to bully people?"
Jiao Nin was the son of the powerful Jiao family, whose business group controlled roughly twenty percent of the country's economy.
A while back he'd been harassing someone else when Li Fan gave him a mild warning.
Li Fan's own family was plenty wealthy—certainly no weaker than the Jiao—so to this day Jiao Nin hadn't dared exact revenge.
"Hmph. Because of that one tooth you cost me, I'm gonna break ten of yours," Jiao Nin snarled and gestured to his crew.
His followers, all children of high-ranking executives within the Jiao conglomerate, idolized him.
Li Fan merely rolled his neck, feeling the whole thing was a waste of time, and struck first.
With a blur he hammered the jaw of the closest thug.
The poor kid never even realized he'd been hit; his jaw shattered, and he collapsed on the spot.
Jiao Nin and the others had barely registered Li Fan's movement; eyes wide, they froze.
One of the thugs—the middle-school boxing champion—recovered first and lunged at Li Fan with speed above the average student's.
Li Fan arched an eyebrow and casually sidestepped.
Yesterday he could only have blocked a full-power punch like that; today, using just a fraction of his new speed, he dodged with ease.
If he tapped into his full potential—moving at the speed of sound—the entire gang would drop before they even saw the blur of his shadow.