The poor fucker flew through the window, his body rolling over several times and absolutely lacerated by the shattered glass. There were loud noises of alarm at the sudden commotion, followed by people doing their best to get away from the situation.

My quick thinking saved Bruno and me—I took cover behind him. Most of the glass cascaded against him at just the right angle so as not to shred him apart. However, my right side was sticking out in my haste to save the big guy. Giving me a few hot slices of pain on my right arm where it stuck out of cover. I gave the guy on the ground a quick look. A goner. Before I could say anything, Suzaki ran off to help him. We had no clue who the guy was or what was going on, whatever. Hopefully, the kid could patch him up before he bled out.

Then a second body hopped through the window. A guy launched himself out, wearing a seafoam green daoist robe. He had long hair, pinned to his head with a dragon-shaped jade hairpin. There was a sneer on his face. He didn’t even bother to look in our direction, nor at any of the other bystanders almost seriously injured by him picking a fight in a tea shop. The long sleeves of the robe concealed his hands.

Bruno broke out into a snicker which escalated into a deep belly-filled roar. I looked at him in shock as his laughter drew the attention of the monster that’d tossed someone through a window. Mockery drew his attention.

“Hmmpf, and who are you laughing at mortal?” the boy cupped his chin, trying to look down on Bruno. Even though the big guy was about seven inches taller than him.

“Hahahahahaahaaa!” Bruno wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. A mad grin on his face. “I was worried we wouldn’t do it! But we found one Luca! I knew with you around we’d run across one of them! This is why I love the markets! Oh, we’re so lucky!”

“Quiet, peasant! I am Yang Pengfi, grandson of the great Cheng Pengfi—“

“You’re in for a treat!” Bruno gave me a strong pat on the back. As if we were joking and drinking, like we weren’t pissing off some sect guy with a bad attitude. My jaw hung open, not sure how to deal with this. Yang Pengfi stomped his foot, his face growing crimson as his facade of ‘cultivator above lowly mortals’ vanished in the light of Bruno’s demeanor. If I took a stab at the guy’s age, I’d put him a year younger than me. I didn’t recognize the Sect colors. Which in a way was good, he wasn’t in the Himawari Sect. But rather, some minor one.

Horror dawned on me, as I connected the dots. Why Bruno insisted on needing Suzaki; What he’d been so excited about. He wanted to pick a fight with a sect member.

“My grandfather could buy your houses several times over, and vaporize them with your entire family inside with a single burst of his Enlightened Soul’s power—how dare you ignore me! I’ll show you the difference between heaven and earth! Before me, you are nothing but a frog in a well!” He spat as he yelled. There was a shift in the air, dust began to kick up from the ground. The current of wind swirling to form a nearly invisible figure, only perceivable due to the dust and bits of glass now caught up in its currents.

Fuck, he had a Manifested Soul.

Bruno cracked his knuckles, joy radiating off him like an inferno. “First round is mine! You can go next Luca, it’s only fair since I’m the one who found him!”

“Are ya fucking crazy!?” Bruno’s fists ignited in flame as he called forth his Soul Seed’s ability. He confidently strode towards the Sect member with an unknown immortals-damned Manifested Soul.

I felt fairly confident in my assessment of this guy’s stage, there wasn’t the additional pressure that came from later stages. Like with Romeo, or that lady in the Segreto casino. But that still put him a full stage above either of us. The difference between stages was more prominent the higher the stages were but this guy was from a sect. They were people that spent their lives training and pumping themselves full of alchemical concoctions to draw out and enhance their Soul Seeds.

Worse, I realized from multiple angles that picking a fight with this guy was a bad idea; we couldn’t let the poor bastard he threw through a window bleed out. And I saw myself in Bruno. It wasn’t fear that made my hands shake. No. It was anticipation, a thrill from the risk. If I threw myself against this monster from a sect, there were slim odds of winning, but they weren’t zero. We had a chance. We had to have had a chance.

Yang kept his hands in his sleeves even as Bruno marched. But his Soul didn’t stay fixed in place, the Soul flowed to meet my friend. It sliced through the air straight towards Bruno. The flames wrapped around the big guy’s fists grew brighter as he felt that same thrill as me. He broke out in a run to meet the Soul—before he snapped to the left side in an attempt to dodge the figure composed of air.

Not quick enough. The Soul lashed out with its fist, its arm growing in length as the air currents extended to funnel directly into Bruno’s chest. In an instant he went from charging towards Yang Pengfi to flying several feet down the road in the opposite direction, bleeding from several lacerations as the glass mixed up in the Soul tore into him. Bruno rolled across the ground several times until he came to a rest. Yang Pengfi gave a high-pitched laugh.

“As if trash stuck in the pathetic Soul Seed stage could ever stand a chance against my Relentless Gale—know your place! Come lick my shoe, then perhaps I’ll let you crawl away!” he grinned, the angry red of his face replaced with an annoyingly confident smirk.

Seeing such a self-entitled prick rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t know if the dude he tossed through the window had it coming. Hell, Bruno was probably the one in the wrong for wanting to fight this guy to start with.

It didn’t matter, this guy’s self-assured smugness begged me to test myself, to see if I had what it took to bring down a Sect member. If I’d get lucky. My body moved as my resolve settled. My hand tapped my side as I tugged Fickle Fate to activate.

An unfortunate flash of red arced from my hand, numbing the skin. I let out a quick “Motherfucker,” before Yang Pengfi’s turned his attention to me. His Manifested Soul flew through the air—light glittering off the deadly shards of glass in its currents. A second later it hit me, a sharp slash burning on my side from the glass. At the same time, its whirling fist blasted my chest.

The actual impact with the incorporeal fist brought no pain. Even if the gash from the glass stung and went immortals know how deep. No, the biggest source of pain from the hit was the feeling of my back smashing into the ground after getting tossed through the air. Then the momentum as I tumbled over concrete and rock, bruising and skinning me. Before I came to a rest.

I gasped, thoughts fuzzy as my head banged against the ground somewhere in the initial impact and tumbling.

“Don’t you dare touch him!” Yang yelled. I groaned and shifted as my senses returned. I’d had worse than this. Yang pointed a finger at Suzaki, even as the boy held an emerald halo in his hand. Just a couple of seconds from placing it on the poor fucker bleeding out. Suzaki shook as he met the eyes of the beast who caused all this. He was going to crack, Suzaki wasn’t meant for this kinda crap, his Soul Seed wasn’t made for conflict, certainly not with a monster like this. The kid was little better than a sitting duck to an enemy of this level.

Suzaki took one long look at the guy bleeding in front of him. Then leaned over and placed the emerald halo on his head.

“Trash! All of you will pay for standing against the grandson of the great Cheng Pengfi! This young master will litter these grounds with your corpses for daring to oppose the Getsu Sect!”

He stalked towards Suzaki. His manifested Soul seemed to stick within ten or so feet away. I frowned. It wasn’t sent ahead immediately to wreck Suzaki which meant… Suzaki was out of range. Even though the Manifested Soul pressed towards him—it always maintained roughly the same distance from Yang. In moving slowly to terrify Suzaki and trying to wring out some sick sense of glee at my friend’s fear, he’d given away a vital piece of information.

That information didn’t do much at this exact moment. It wouldn’t stop him from attacking Suzaki in a second or two. I stumbled around on the ground, desperately searching. Glass. Plenty of it littering the dirt.

I tapped my wrist, that sweet blue flash brought an instant hit of joy. Lady Luck went my way. I grabbed a broken shard of glass, but even being lucky didn’t prevent a bit of it from slicing my fingers and drawing blood. But that was fine. I preferred to not waste my luck on preventing some minor damage. I cocked my arm back, taking a half-second to aim at Yang’s back before chucking the glass.

The shard turned over in the air, catching him with the sharpest point square between his shoulder blades. Yang let out a horrible scream and his body shuddered. To my disappointment, he remained standing and turned my way. Now that I hurt him, he didn’t bother with a slow pace. The bastard took off at a full sprint in my direction even as the numbness faded from me signaling I’d spent all of Fickle Fate’s power.

Panic welled, along with more of that horrible thrill. I clapped my hands—Awful red sparks bridged from my fingers. Yang hit ten feet away from me, putting me in the range of his Soul.

His Manifested Soul was in my face, one of its spinning arms slamming into my chest and dicing me up with the rotating bits of glass. I flew through the air, spiraling through the broken window he’d tossed his first victim through. I caught flashes of the lantern-styled lights of the tea shop and people huddled away from the windows. Then I slammed into a table filled with food and tea. The force of the impact shattered its wooden legs with a violent crack. There was a second impact as both I and the broken table hit the ground. A horrible cough escaped my lips.

Yang was already headed towards the window. I saw him even as I struggled to push myself up. The killing intent screamed from his Soul and resonated with my Soul Seed. The desire to end my life. Toss me around in this shop, and break me and everything in it.

His Soul rushed through the window, ripping more glass from the frame and whipping it around. Once more I noted its weakness. That range. I had until he could get close enough to get away or do something.

It was hard to move, but if he closed the distance I was screwed. I just needed one more bit of good luck. One last roll. All I needed was a hot streak with Fickle Fate and I knew I could turn this fight around. I could take this asshole out all by myself.

I winced and tried to get to my feet so I could activate Fickle Fate. My body wasn’t cooperating, and the Soul was closing distance quickly. Yang was at the window.

Bruno tackled Yang from the side before the disciple could crawl through the window to end me. I saw a flash of fire as the big man crashed into the bastard. Bruno let out a loud shout saying, “My turn! Luca had two rounds, this is my second!” occasionally interrupted by the meaty smack of his fists no doubt wrecking Yang’s face.

Yang’s Manifested Soul switched around, speeding through the air to return to his side and fling Bruno off.

I heard meaty thud after thud as the brawler beat the spoiled brat’s face. His flames grew large enough to see from the window frame, the strength behind each hit amplified. Yang's Soul almost made it back to him. Almost.

It tore apart—currents lost to the air. We’d won. We fucking won.

I laughed. The sharp pain I suddenly felt told me that was a bad idea. But the thrill of our victory made me do it anyway.

Never did I expect the big guy to barrel in like that. I’d thought Bruno was down for the count. Yang was so fixated on ending me since I damage him that he forgot I wasn’t his only opponent. Bruno stood up and grinned at me from the other side window. The big guy gave me a thumbs-up before vaulting the frame and reaching my side. He offered a hand to pick me up, and I took it.

We walked out of the teashop together. I took a second to look at Yang—blood from a broken nose spattered on his face.

“W-we need to leave!” Suzaki said, rushing from the road. He gave me an anxious look. We both knew I didn’t have it in me to run. “Carry him, please?”

Bruno shrugged, before I could protest, he slung me over his shoulder like a sack of rice then took off in a jog with Suzaki. I sure didn’t like being hauled around, but the mousy boy was right. The Lantern District would react harshly to a bunch of delinquents beating the crap out of a Sect member.

Suzaki conjured that emerald halo of his as we fled, throwing it on my head. “Moving must hurt, I know, I’m really sorry. I’m especially sorry since I worried Bruno was up to something like this again but was too scared to bring it up in case it gave him the idea…” we were almost to the bikes.

“Ha! Knows me well! Suzaki’s great when you’re about to fight! Too bad he couldn’t heal that young master so we could go again! They are the Best! Always getting worked up over small things, then we get to trade glorious blows! Hahahaaha! I don’t even have to ask for a spar, they’re always ready to go!” Bruno was still in a casual jog, despite the injuries he’d sustained. Unreal.

Wasn’t fair how he could take hits like that, and his Soul Ability. That fire was fucking overpowered. People probably avoided him when they found out about it, meanwhile, mine was a coin flip on whether or not it’d hurt or help. I dug my nails into his shoulder, not to cling better, but to get a modicum of revenge. He didn’t even flinch. Venom filled my veins, as Bruno shoved me on his bike. His bike. I didn’t have one, that stung too.

Did he struggle like me? What life did he even live? Whenever I had a second to ask about where he was from, the big guy dodged my questions. Nothing ached anymore as the engine revved, leaving me with pure exhaustion and rage at these people. Then the emerald halo shattered, dunking me in shame.

My resentment vanished in an instant. But I still felt a flicker, buried deep in my heart. I hated it. We split from the Lantern District. Guilty. Tired, but also victorious. I’d gotten that psycho Sect member in the back, and done a bit of heavy lifting in the fight. Maybe I wasn’t Bruno. Didn’t have a ridiculous Soul Ability like him. Wasn’t capable of healing people like Suzaki could. But in my own way, I’d done what they couldn’t do. Without me as a distraction, Bruno would’ve never closed the distance to Yang.

Me?

If I’d gotten a chance. Maybe if Fickle Fate went my way three—no, two times in a row in that fight. I don’t think I would’ve needed Bruno at all. Hell, maybe I wouldn’t have needed Suzaki to patch me up after if I got lucky enough. With my Soul Seed, the chance of winning was never zero. Those two didn’t have that, no one else did.