As that bitch-ass punk tried to strike Daigo again, right across his face, Daigo snatched that stick with his left hand and dragged the fucker closer.
The chump couldn't resist the pull; he stumbled right into it. Daigo slammed a bone-shatterin' head-butt to his nose, sending the guy crumblin' backwards. He was barely conscious as he dropped, but Daigo wasn't letting off to easy. He grabbed the guy's shirt, hauled him in again, and delivered another gut-wrenchin' head-butt. Knocking the mother fucker OUT completely .
Just then, the goon he'd just brained collapsed, and Daigo noticed two more of them punks comin' at him. One was slower than the other, lookin' seriously fucked up with a bloody mess on his singlet around his stomach, his face lookin' sick as hell.
There were still a handful of these jokers, and Daigo's eyes shot to Shitsubo; low on the ground. He was a bit too tense, needin' to make sure Shitsubo was alright or if the bastard needed a hand.
Shitsubo was in a hunched-over stance, eyes locked on the remainin' three goons as they crept up. But they moved with more caution this time; their boss and three other crew members were down—some probably dead. They'd seen Daigo tearin' through two of their guys.
It's clear now that Daigo and Shitsubo are nasty pieces of work. Turnin' your back on one to face the other would be stupid as hell, leave your back wide open for one of 'em to carve you up.
That short hesitation gave Shitsubo a breather, a moment to pull his shit together. He stood up slow, fists raised. The three goons jumped him, almost at the same time. The one with the stick swung it down vertical, straight for the ground. Shitsubo dodged it, steppin' aside, and then kicked the stick's gut, makin' it snap in two.
Next up, another one threw a left cross. Shitsubo tilted his head back, dodgin' the punch, then closed the gap in an instant. He landed a clean, nasty right elbow strike that sent the dude fallin' fast to his right, and Shitsubo followed up with a knee to the side of his face as he dropped.
The one with the broken stick tried to use the stub he had left to smack Shitsubo in the head. But Shitsubo ducked, lowerin' his head, while deliverin' a power-packed right-cross uppercut. Teeth and blood went flyin'.
The last goon - normal human, landed a front kick to Shitsubo's shoulder before he could recover. Shitsubo fell to his left side and rolled sideways, gettin' back on his feet.
Shitsubo then lunged at the goon who'd kicked him. The goon brought his right hand down from above, a shabby pocketknife flashin' in it, with Shitsubo already in range.
Shitsubo snatched the goon's hand in mid-air with his left, twisted it. The goon let go of the knife, and just as it fell, Shitsubo caught it with his right hand. Then he started shaggin' the left side of the goon's chest repeatedly, a vicious rhythm, before finally plungin' it into his throat and lettin' the bastard drop.
Just as Shitsubo was turnin' his head to face the other two, he saw a right swing comin' for his face, from the guy whose stick he'd broken.
Shitsubo blocked it quick by raisin' his left wrist, but that only slowed the punch down, didn't stop it.
Shitsubo closed in on the guy in a flash, invadin' his personal space. He wrapped his right arm around the goon's shoulder, held the goon's wrist with his left. And with the momentum of the goon's swing, Shitsubo added his own pull-force, liftin' the goon clean off the ground and slammin' him hard to the concrete in front of him.
Shitsubo quickly shifted the shabby pocketknife in his right hand, and started jabbin' under the armpit of the goon's right hand, makin' the punk scream like a stuck pig.
He stabbed him repeatedly in his armpit area before deliverin' the final, brutal stab to the right side of the goon's neck, creatin' a gushin' stream of blood that flowed down his neck.
Shitsubo stood up slow, facin' the last goon who was on his four limbs, head to the ground. He was probably still dazed from that kick and elbow strike to the side of his face (or his ear, to be exact).
As Shitsubo slowly approached him, the goon forcefully got up and bolted towards Shitsubo, his head still somewhat pointed to the ground for a split second there, like a newborn with fucked-up knees.
He ran and wrapped his arm around Shitsubo's waist, desperately tryin' to push Shitsubo back and knock him down. Shitsubo firmly planted his left leg behind him with force to resist the push, then started ruthlessly stabbin' the back of the goon.
The goon didn't let go at first, but after a few seconds of takin' multiple stabs to his back, he just fell flat on his face, his back soaked in blood.
Shitsubo looked at the fallen goon's body and spat on it, before turnin' his head to check on Daigo, who was currently bashin' some other goon's head against a wall.
Shitsubo didn't even notice someone comin' at him from the right, and got tackled to the ground from his side.
They hit the blood-soaked dirt. The person quickly rolled Shitsubo onto his back and sat on top of his belly, swiftly pullin' Shitsubo's hands to his sides and usin' his knee to pin Shitsubo's arms to the ground.
Shitsubo tried to wrench his arms free but couldn't, and a few punches landed all over his face. After receivin' several punches - some weak, some damn strong, Shitsubo barely saw a punch comin' with some force and obeyed his instinct; movin' his head a bit to the right, makin' the person sucker-punch the bare ground instead.
There was an loud THUD from the impact, makin' the person recoil their hand, hissin' in pain. Shitsubo finally saw it was the kid-boss, face all battered and bruised. He quickly tried to use this moment of distraction to break free, but the kid-boss held Shitsubo's arm (just by his shoulder) firm and put more pressure on his knees to keep him down.
While they both struggled, the kid-boss quickly snagged a piece of broken glass right beside them, and was about to stab Shitsubo in the neck or somethin', when a stick landed flat on the kid-boss's face, dazin' him and sendin' him fallin' backwards.
Daigo saw what just happened to Shitsubo. He left the goon whose head he was bashin' to the wall, grabbed a stick from one of the fallen goons, and ran to the kid-boss on top of Shitsubo, slammin' that stick right into his face.
Daigo extended his hand to Shitsubo on the ground. Shitsubo took the hand, and Daigo pulled him up.
Shitsubo stood up straight and cracked his neck as he faced the kid-boss, who was also gettin' up, but a bit slower. Daigo dropped the stick and cracked his knuckles.
They dashed at the kid-boss, and landed a solid punch to his face before he could even raise his hand high enough to guard himself.
He stumbled back a bit. Then Daigo ran, kicked him from the back, pushin' him forward. Shitsubo then punched his chest, pushin' him backwards again.
The two continued to deliver a barrage of punches and kicks, sendin' him to and fro like they were playin' tennis with the poor bastard.
Shitsubo picked up the piece of glass near him, and drove it into the kid-boss's neck as the kid-boss staggered. Blood flowed from the wound, gushin' all over the kid-boss's neck, upper chest, and Shitsubo's hand.
Seeing light slowly drain from his eyes, Shitsubo harshly grabbed his shoulder with his left hand and tossed him aside like trash, finally endin' the sick game.
"Piece of shit probably just awakened a few days or weeks ago, he doesn't even understand what it means to be an Evolve," Daigo said, massagin' his wrist as he walked closer to Shitsubo.
Shitsubo didn't respond. He just walked to his backpack, where he'd dropped it before the whole scrap.
"Seriously, what's your fuckin' problem?" Daigo shouted, annoyin' as hell, and kept goin'.
"Why the fuck would I fuckin' screw you over for a shitty amount of coins?
I didn't even know you were alive until a few hours ago… I already said I'm sorry!"
Shitsubo just bent down, ignorin' Daigo's 'half apology and rantin''. He picked up his backpack, then stood up, lookin' at Daigo for a few seconds. Then he walked towards Daigo.
He reached Daigo's face, then put his hand on Daigo's shoulder and said, "Why in hell do you imagine I will ever blame you? As you said, you possibly didn't even know I was alive, and most importantly — you don't have the actually balls to pull that kind of thing." Then he smirked a bit.
Daigo just smiled and said, "Fuck you too," before turnin' to the gang they'd just beat up. He stated to Shitsubo, "C'mon, let's check them for some coins and shit, before someone comes sniffin' around."
They quickly searched all of them. As Daigo was goin' through one of 'em, the goon started wakin' up. Daigo responded by grabbin' his head and smashin' it to the ground several times. The guy didn't die, but he got a concussion.
The duo even searched the guy the kid-boss beat to the inch of his life, just to make sure they didn't miss anything.
"What did you get?" Daigo asked after they'd put some distance between themselves and the scene, tryin' to avoid further complications.
Hangin' around where you just offed punks from another neighbourhood is plain suicide. No one gives a shit what happened, and them gangs are just lookin' for every reason to pull up in another neighbourhood for war and shit.
Not even Daigo was safe. Even if he was caught rollin' with me, if we were found close to these dead bodies.
"I got four cigarettes, a lighter, a flask of gin, and 400 yen… You?" Shitsubo replied, as they sat on a pile of stone in a demolished buildin' full of trash and rats. People were around the buildin', but virtually all of them were either sick or junkies, too weak to stand upright by themselves or even pay anyone any attention.
The only ones that were somewhat active were kids robbin' the hobos and junkies, and some guys havin' sex in the open.
There's hardly anything labeled shameful to folks here.
"Cards, tiny batteries, some drugs, and 550 yen. Oi, pass me those cigarettes," Daigo said, stretchin' his hand to Shitsubo.
Shitsubo passed the cigarettes and lighter to Daigo, who grabbed 'em. He put three of the cigarettes in his pocket and lit the remainin' one in his hand.
After takin' a few puffs, he extended his hand, givin' the cigarette to Shitsubo.
"Get that shit away from me," Shitsubo rejected, pushin' Daigo's hand back.
"C'mon, you really believe all that shit on that train TV about gettin' some sickness from this thing? You do know all those 'news' are just literal shit to brainwash folks like you," Daigo asked mockingly, as he took another draw from the cigarette.
"I prefer not to be an addict if cigarettes will cost me coins. If they said it can give cancer, then that's a bonus," Shitsubo said.
Daigo suddenly stood up and spread his arms sideways, sayin' in a louder tone, "Look around you. If you were to get one or two deadly diseases, I'm pretty sure it won't be from this small stick of joy," slowly turnin' back and front as he used his hands to gesture at their environment — filled with feces, piss, trash, sick people, rottin' things, etc.
"It still saves me coins," Shitsubo tried to stand his ground.
"I'm not tellin' you to buy shit," Daigo said as he sat back down and grabbed the wooden flask of gin next to Shitsubo.
"Hope you at least goin' to drink with me, because it's really good to know you didn't die…" Daigo said as he opened the flask.
"I will just have one gulp… not two or more," Shitsubo said firmly; though he wasn't totally on board, he couldn't deny Daigo this little thing.
"Three gulps for good luck," Daigo battered.
"No, no, no… Just one," Shitsubo replied, shakin' his head in disapproval.
"Guy, I'm not tellin' you to take two more, then tell you to take another and another… No, just take three; for good luck," Daigo said softly with a smirk.
The two chatted and drank. Shitsubo stopped after three gulps, and Daigo didn't force another round on him. They chatted for some time, and during those moments Shitsubo paid closer attention to the floatin' objects stuck in his vision.
The strange thing for him is - being able to see clearly, like they were there and not there at the same time, it was unnervin' to say the least.
'The writin' 'Elixirs:' had a new number: '1215' attached to it, which meant it increased from '1120'. The other writin' was still the same – 'Coins:15'. I don't know what these numbers mean, but the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't wrap my head around what the fuck was actually goin' on.
Why the hell am I seein' numbers and shit? Why am I not havin' illusions about some past scraps in Gates and shit? I'm not hearin' voices, just seein' freakin' writin's and numbers that I can't make concrete sense of…' Shitsubo thought, a nervous expression on his face, tighten' his left fist. Daigo noticed.
"Look, I know it's my fault you lost some coin, but I promise to make it up to you… somehow," Daigo said, leanin' forward, puttin' his elbows on his knees as he paid very close attention to Shitsubo's face.
"Daigo, we are… we are REALLY here, right? I'm not still down there in that fuckin' underground cave inside that Gate, dyin' slowly, while dreamin' about all this shit," Shitsubo asked, tryin' to figure out if what he was seein' was really reality, by tryin' to gauge how Daigo would respond to this weird question.
"Ohh, it's about that…" Daigo commented in a barely audible low tone, then continued, "Bro, you aren't fucked up… even if you are, you can only have illusion... you will... You will…umm." Daigo bit his lower lip, rollin' his eyes all over the place, tryin' to come up with a sound argument.
After a moment of gettin' no words out that could back him up, he surrendered and continued,
"Look, I am here, YOU are here. I don't know what's makin' you think of shit like that, but this {gesturing everything around them} is real.
Just because you think you spent days down there instead of two days, and you allow these kinds of thoughts to mess you up, causin' you to do some dumb mistake out in the Gate or on the streets… then you will be in a worse position than whatever you are babblin' about; you will fuckin' DIE…"
Daigo concluded, his tone mixed with a trace of little pity and annoyance. "So, get your shit together… you aren't goin' through any serious shit."
Shitsubo just sighed. Just as he was about to say what he was currently seein', a loud sound erupted, like a buildin' was collapsin'.
Daigo and Shitsubo snapped their heads to the direction of the sound. Vines with glowin' white markin' were eruptin' from the side of a wall – on the other side of the road, about 25 feet away from them.
They weren't the only ones who heard it. Even the two people who were fuckin' got up to check what was causin' that sound (if it was somethin' they needed to flee from, then lovemakin' could bloody wait).
After tens of seconds, the vines stopped expandin', and the glowin' marks went faint. Everyone present just stared at it. Even Daigo and Shitsubo had already grabbed their shit before the vines stopped expandin'.
It was basically common sense for people in the slums to always observe when a Gate suddenly appears, before decidin' whether to fight or flee. Turnin' your back on a sudden openin' Gate is just leavin' your bare back exposed to whatever might come out of it, and many things from Gates are freakishly fast – it's better to see if it's a Siege Gate or a Spawn Gate.
Daigo had already pulled out two arcane-daggers from the sheath behind his lower back and tossed one to Shitsubo when the Gate was expandin'. They were both ready to fight or flee, just waitin' for the Gate to finish its process.
After several minutes of watchin' the Gate along with other active people around them (most people around them weren't active even as the Gate erupted), and after tens of seconds of seein' nothin' comin' out of the cave, some of these active people began to run towards the Gate in an attempt to enter.
For a place so strange and dangerous, people, adults and kids alike, ran into it. This is because of two reasons.
The Gate was barely 6 feet in height and 4 feet in breadth, which meant it was an extremely low-Grade Gate. Normally, the size of a Gate doesn't literally determine the potential threats it holds and the type of Gate it is.
People, especially those from the slums, don't really care about the integrity or bases of rumors or hearsay.