Chet’s face was twisted, brows drawn.
It was with a start that K recognized his expression to be one of guilt.
“That man… I was tricked into killing him.” The Enforcer's lip trembled. “I hadn’t meant to shoot him. I didn’t want to kill anyone, but— he was about to pull something out. I thought it was a weapon.”
He must’ve been referring to Sunren. K thought back to the bone flute nestled in his frock coat. It could’ve been mistaken for a weapon quite easily.
His brother’s remorse was what startled him. The man had been a soldier. An Enforcer, now. Shedding another’s blood should’ve been a patriotic act.
Perhaps, that was why it sickened him.
K let his voice darken. “How… did you find me?”
“Everybody in the Militia is aware of the Triads’ cemetery plots. We just never visit them because dead men are about as useful as the dirt they’re buried in.” Chet didn’t seem fazed.
His blue eyes met K’s golden iris. “I can’t believe it. You really do have it.”
Heat flared into K’s face, and he began to struggle back and forth in the larger man’s grip. “Let me go—”
“I have a younger brother, and he has the same affliction as you.” Chet said solemnly. He sounded as if he was mourning. “He has the Beast’s Blessing as well. And I wanted to arrest you… to save him.”
‘My Sire, at least this means he still cares for you,’ snickering echoed across K’s skull. ‘Even after you gave him that awful limp.’
K, shaken, fell quiet.
“I just wanted to know what it was.” Chet spat, “...How I could remove it.”
‘What a conflicting display,’ Hun mused. ‘He wishes to save his sweet brother… who is none other than the spy he is sentencing to a life of torture.’
“You’re going to offer me to the Militia,” K growled. “Let the government poke and prod at me so you can find some impossible cure for your brother.”
That was all K spared before he dipped low— shooting his leg out to catch the Enforcer’s shin. It made the man stumble, caught aback.
“Stop!” Chet called out, although K already darted off.
K looked back and forth at his surroundings as he fell into a brisk run. The aged man burying Sunren’s body was nowhere to be found. He had probably run to hide the moment an Enforcer showed up.
All that was left was his mud-stained shovel. K zeroed in on it and bounded over to swipe it off the ground.
K knew that Chet was hiding a powerful, Militia-sanctioned Path. One that the man still hadn't activated.
It was only a matter of time until the Enforcer decided to unleash it.
All K needed was 10 minutes. He could defeat his brother in that amount of time.
If not, then K would be consumed by Hun’s power, and he’d have nobody to blame but himself.
With his old warden buried in a shallow grave in front of him; K had no choice— he needed to win this fight.
With a spin, K swiped mindlessly with the shovel when he felt the man’s presence grow too close behind his back.
The Enforcer jumped back before the thick width of metal could meet his head.
“The Farmer!” K cried.
His golden aura engulfed him. The bandages grew slack around his body before they tightened once more:
Until he bore the grimy, patchwork clothes of a farmer.
Chet stood stock-still in awe, admiring the Blessing’s power. But the wonder quickly slipped from his gaze.
He lunged, absorbing the impact of the shovel’s handle with his arm when K swung again.
Locked in a stalemate, they kept both hands on the shovel; vying for it.
With a grunt, Chet used his weight to press K forward, the boy’s back meeting a gnarled cluster of bamboo.
K cried out in pain.
Although, his eyes took in the vegetation.
Chet wasn’t able to react in time as K raised the shovel in his hands, twisted it aside—
And sliced through the node of one bamboo stalk. It sliced through the plant perfectly. With the precision that only a trained mind and hands could have accomplished.
K exhaled as he let his Blessing dissipate. That was only 50 seconds.
“I don’t want to fight you,” Chet leveled.
“You call this a fight?” K called out, letting go of the shovel.
Chet stumbled backward from his own relentless tugging. With the shovel now in his hands, he saw the exact moment K grasped at the bamboo stalk he’d sliced—
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
And stabbed it into the Enforcer’s torso.
His brother keened, dropping to his knees.
K knew that the man was wearing a Militia protection suit beneath his clothes. It kept low-impact projectiles and puncture wounds from being inflicted upon the wearer.
Still, the area would bruise horribly. And feeling something punch into your gut surely wasn’t a wonderful experience.
Regardless, K kicked the shovel far away, and bolted toward his destination:
The maintenance shed.
As K got to his feet, he felt the temperature behind him suddenly drop.
When he turned around, he saw the Enforcer staggering to his feet. A coin was pinched between his fingers.
K’s spine prickled at the sight, and he scurried over to the maintenance shed.
There was a ladder bolted to the side, leading to the roof for repairs. If he could just make it onto the roof, he’d be able to jump off the wall and escape.
Chet took the coin in his hand— and tossed it upward.
Shakily, K began to scale the ladder, trying to ignore the man across from him.
Chet’s dark blue eyes blared a bright white as the coin made a perfect arch through the air. He stared deeply at the ladder that K was steadily climbing.
His eyes combed through the rungs and bolts with terrifying coldness.
The coin was still suspended in the air, glinting in the sunlight.
The man made no move to climb. Instead, he swept his trench coat aside and revealed the full extent of his Enforcers’ uniform.
Nestled by his hip was his Militia-issued pistol, which he pulled out in record time.
He blinked an eye closed. A few wayward strands of his slicked, ash-juniper hair draped across his forehead.
K scrambled toward the few remaining rungs. But as he hauled himself up the last few bars, Chet’s pistol shouted a thunderous bang.
K flinched, ready for a bullet to kiss his leg.
Instead, the ladder gave a heave and a creak, the metal screeching.
K could smell gunpowder. Burning into his nose from where the bullet had lodged itself into one of the ladder’s bolts.
It was where the old thing was already rusting. One shot from a raging gun was enough to lose all support.
The ladder began to topple downwards.
“You can try to run, but my Path— A Step Toward the Sky allows me to find any physical weakness,” Chet called out in a rough slur. “And I’m not letting you get away.”
As if emphasizing his words, Chet caught the coin that came pummeling down at him with a swipe of his hand. Without it, the man wouldn't be able to perform his Cultivational abilities at all.
K felt the ladder creak even further, each bolt dislodging themselves from the wall.
The entire ladder leaned to the left, with him along with it.
Gravity pulled down on him, and K could see the ground quickly approaching his vision—
Before K could feel his head meet the ground, two arms caught him.
K shrieked madly, kicking and struggling. He let his knees strike the man’s chin, his teeth clacking in panic—
As Chet calmly said, “I’m not going to hand you over to the Militia. Not the government, either.”
“You’re lying,” K seethed, “You’re lying.”
Chet’s eyes flared white again. A Step Toward the Sky cast a perfect, spectral curtain of ivory over his brother’s figure as he tossed K to the ground.
The force made K’s eyes roll to the back of his head. He remained still, mouth set in pain.
“Knowing what I do now, the Guos are going to plan a large-scale retaliation against the Langs.” The Enforcer sighed loudly. He kept one palm flat atop K’s chest, pressing him down. “If your boss is going to make you run an intelligence agency... It could be grounds for an all-out war between the two families.”
‘Is this what I think it is?’
K listened, mind ablaze.
The Enforcer carried on, encouraged by K’s lack of retort. “This could spell disaster for Tianxia.”
“And?” K spat imperiously. “Take me away now, and my Master’s intelligence agency will fall apart. If you kill me— that can save the country.”
‘He is forming a proposition, Sire.’
“No,” the man replied emptily. “Banzai will just find another dog to do the job for him. Your boss’s partnership with the Guos is too strong to hinge on a runt like you.”
K bristled at his brother’s words. He didn’t understand anything.
“I am an important asset to the Triads,” K breathed.
He did not mention that he had to pay Sunren out of his own pocket to revive him at the end of every mission.
How that meant that Banzai could care less about K’s survival.
After all, the man only trained K to be a spy because the boy wanted more information about the Beast’s Blessing.
Without their deal… Banzai would have probably killed K a long time ago.
“Listen… You are my only tie to the Triads,” Chet leveled K a long look, “I think we should work together.”
“What?” K huffed.
“I saw how you treated the man I killed— what was his name?” the man paused in thought. “Sunren.”
K twisted his face away, unable to meet Chet’s eyes.
“Find it within that cold, unfeeling heart of yours to feel the same compassion you showed that dying man…” the Enforcer glared down at K, as if the boy disgusted him.
“Help me protect the country from the wrath of the Guos and Langs.”
“I…” K muttered.
“I’m sure that you’re still human. Only humans feel grief,” Chet urged. “So, help me. Can’t you spare this kindness?”
K didn't mention that even dogs could grieve.
He was not human— not any longer.
‘You’re so much better than that.’
“You want my loyalty,” K said, hollow.
And yet, his heart was beating feverishly in his chest as Chet said, “Your boss… Banzai, he doesn’t respect you. You can’t possibly feel any loyalty toward a man like that.”
K wondered if his brother saw Banzai's display: how his boss patted his head in mock praise.
“You are asking me to betray the Triads,” K strengthened his stance.
“You can’t betray something that you never belonged to.” Chet’s hand left its place on K’s chest, reaching down to help the boy into a seated position.
One wrong move, and K would pay for his life.
One wrong move— and the man who gifted him this Blessing would be out of his grasp.
Revenge, lost.
“Is that what you’re offering me?” K scoffed. He didn’t take the hand. “Belonging?”
“I’m offering you something better than missions and missing bodies.” Finally staring face-to-face, Chet nodded. “You have a chance to be more than just the Golden Phantom.”
K swallowed tersely.
“I’ve never been anything else.”
Spurned onward, Chet added, “You’d protect people. Even save them.”
“Save them,” K repeated, staring down at his hands.
‘Grimy, filthy.’
His answer fell easily from his lips.
The leash was passed on to another.
