Marcus: History's Most Vengeful Disciple

マーカス:歴史上最も復讐に燃える弟子

Chapter 4: Perilous Preparation for Training.

Opening Song: Fading Away by Demon Hunter

Marcus got accepted into the warehouse by the main master who is named Ohnmar Aahcwmhtaat and has now vowed to dedicate himself to train in the martial arts that will mold him to the fighter he aspires to become. But will Marcus be able to survive through the hard training regimen that his new masters will make him endure? How far will he go to accomplish his vengeful goal on the gang leader who killed his family?

After Ohnmar Aahcwmhtaat accepted Marcus to be a disciple in his warehouse, he offered him to sleep over for tonight. "I'll let you sleep in one of the rooms next to Hiroto's. Don't make any loud noises." Ohnmar then turned his back and instantly disappeared. Marcus was blinking dumbfounded to see Ohnmar vanishing away at light speed. "Just ignore that, I'll show you a good place to crash." Hiroto said. Max Keen and Kana Ayame meanwhile both silently eyeballed Marcus and walked towards him to initiate a serious conversation with him. "Not so fast Marcus. We both need to talk to you." Kana said as both masters begin to approach him. Marcus turned to Kana and Max to listen to what they have to say. "Before you get some shut eye, we're just going to warn you in advance. The type training we will put you through wont guarantee you will live to get even with whoever killed your family. You still have a chance to call it quits before you move in to live with us." Kana told Marcus. "None of us are going to take it easy on you, every time you decide to complain or try to escape, we're going to punish you with even harsher training." Max Keen added. Marcus however did not change his mind despite sweating nervously from hearing the severe warning he's receiving from both masters. "I guess I'll die trying then, its better than walking away giving up!" Kana and Max both nodded at each other then looked back at Marcus. "Prepare yourself then. We'll be here when you arrive tomorrow night!" Kana and Max turned back and also disappeared out of thin air. Marcus again was baffled to see them fade away faster than a blink of an eye.

As the night continues, Hiroto leads Marcus into his new room where he will be sleeping in for now on. "Here we are! Your new crib! It's nothing fancy, but its comfortable enough to sleep in." Hiroto states as he opens the door. Marcus walked in the room turning on the lights and was well pleased with the amount of space the warehouse room he was going to be moving into. "It's a lot bigger than my house bedroom, I'll take it!" Marcus said excitingly. Hiroto then decides to place one of his hands on Marcus's shoulders. "Come on! I've got something cool to show you!" Hiroto leads Marcus back into his room to show off his large and shiny flat screen television. "She's a beauty ain't she?!" Hiroto then grabbed his remote control turning on his high definition TV. Marcus's eyes bulged out amazed to see the monster 100 inch flat screen TV screen that Hiroto had in his room. "Whoa! Where did you get that TV screen!?" Hiroto responds as he walks to his fridge next to the TV to get himself a drink. "I usually talk to some of the dock workers sending and receiving unwanted products. I just get lucky sometimes getting them to give me some awesome stuff!" Hiroto then opened the cabinet doors under his TV. "Like these babies down here!" Marcus opened his jaws in amazement seeing multiple game systems in the cabinet all perfectly aligned with each other spotless, shiny and in excellent condition. "Whoa, that's a serious setup you've got there!" Hiroto then tossed one of the game controllers at Marcus making him catch the controller. "C'mon lets play a couple of rounds!" Marcus closed his eyes and replied gladly with a smirk on his face. "Heh. Sure thing Hiroto, but this time I'll get more head shots than you on duty calls just you wait!" Hiroto turns on the latest gaming system and the teens began to play intensely pressing buttons.

Meanwhile under the large piles of rubble that was once the police station. Firefighters and Police force were working diligently together to uncover the rubble of concrete, metal, glass and other materials to find and rescue as many survivors as they could. The entire task force were greatly exhausted and discouraged seeing that they've only found and carried away corpses of many dozen dead people. The men and women working at the paramedics were saddened and grieved to tears of the horrible explosion that occurred. "How many more dead people will we have to carry?" A female nurse asked sobbingly sitting down on the rubble covering her face with her hands. "There's nothing we can do right now." Another nurse sadly stated while carrying a stretcher. "All we can do for now is try to find and recover as many people as possible dead or alive. I hope for the best something like this doesn't happen again." The other nurse then reached out and hugged the grieved nurse to comfort her. Ten firefighters meanwhile used all their strength to lift up and flip over large concrete chunks to inspect what's under it. When 2 of the ten firefighters managed to lift up some chunks of debris, they've found two unconscious bodies. "Hey look! We've found two people!" The firefighters found the Akihiro thug and Daisuke laying down bleeding half dead slightly twitching. "Quickly! Get the paramedics with their stretchers. They're still alive!" The two men were carefully picked up and placed on the stretchers to be carried away to the hospital. The entire police, firefighters and nurses were glad to see at least two people survive the building collapse.

Daisuke's eyes were slowly beginning to open as he begins to hear the voices of the nurses examining his wounds. He begins to see in a blurry vision that he is inside an ambulance truck with the heart monitor reading his heart rate. "It looks like he's lost dangerous amounts of blood, were gonna have to give him a blood transfusion!" One nurse alerted. The other nurse went and got the blood bags and pumped as much blood as she could to keep Daisuke alive. In the other ambulance, the thug was patched heavily on his head from the large piece of concrete that fell on his head from earlier. Both ambulances made it to the hospital receiving immediate attentive care. "We have to get these two men examined quickly!" The doctors quickly and thoroughly examined each of their physical conditions before they begin calling in the surgeons. The Doctors found bullet wounds on Daisuke's body and found severe bone cracks on the Akihiro thug's skull along with brain hemorrhaging. "Call in all the surgeons available we need to operate on them this instant!" One doctor screamed. "At least... I'm alive." Daisuke thought. Daisuke began to recollect and remember his fight with Akihiro and every word he spoke. He began to remember what Akihiro said after he was shot down by his thugs. "Remember to kill everyone remaining, no one must know what we've done!" Daisuke questioned to himself as he was being rushed into the surgery room. "Why did he want to kill everyone and blow up our police station? What on earth was he trying to hide other than killing the kids family?" Daisuke then dozed off. The surgeons closed the surgery room doors he was rushed into as they began to ready themselves to remove the bullets from his body.

As the sun dawned over the docks of Koryo city. Some ships arrived at the docks blasting the air with its loud honk scaring the sea gulls away. Inside the warehouse, Marcus was still sleeping in his new room snoring with his mouth open slightly drooling from his mouth. Hiroto walked in front of Macus's room door knocking his fists as loud as he could. (BANG BANG BANG) "Yo Marcus wake up!" (BANG BANG BANG). Marcus didn't budge. Marcus turned to his side and continued to snore peacefully. Hiroto on the other side ended up walking away with his hands behind his head. "Hmm I guess he's a deep sleeper." As Hiroto walks his way back to his room, Kana approaches him from behind grabbing the back of his shirt firmly stopping him. "Hey Hiroto, breakfast is ready! Wake up your friend already so he can join us." Hiroto responds turning his head back to her. "He's dead asleep I've already knocked a couple of times." Kana lets Hiroto's shirt go, walked and stood in front of Marcus's room door and kicked the door open breaking the locks. Kana casually walks towards the bed Marcus is sleeping in. "Rise and shine sleepyhead." Kana stared at Marcus for a brief moment of awkward silence and sighed. Kana firmly grabbed, pulled and threw all of the covers Marcus was sleeping under, grabbed Marcus's ankles and began to drag him out from his bed. Marcus continued to snore until his head hit the ground. THUD! As very moment Marcus's head hit the hard ground, Marcus let out a rudely awakened growl. "Grrrrrrrrgh! What was that for!" Kana continued to drag Marcus on the hard floor with a slightly annoyed look on her face. "Wake up already, we need to talk to you about your training schedule at the dining table." Marcus shook his head quickly snapping himself out of his grumpy attitude. "Huh? Training schedule? Are you planning to train me right now?" Kana looked back and plainly replied while Hiroto walks behind Marcus's dragged body. "Of course not, we have a couple of things to go over with you before we can get started." Kana lets Marcus go as soon she arrived to the other side of the warehouse. "I'll give you a minute to brush yourself off." Kana said.

After Marcus brushed himself off and fixed his hair, Hiroto lead him into the door that Kana went into. "After you." Marcus walked through the door and saw a large steel dining table with large plates containing large Japanese omelets piled neatly on top of each other and the other plate bowls of rice. He also noticed bigger plates in the middle of the table with one containing a stockpile of American pancakes, with a second plate containing bananas and apples neatly piled next to each other, while the third plate contained sweet blueberries on one side of it while the other side had oranges, the final plate contains mouthwatering strips of beef bacon and juicy steak next to each other nicely laying on top like a tall tower. "Whoa, now that's a real breakfast buffet!" Marcus shouted in amazement. "You can stand and stare if you want but I'm digging in." Hiroto said excitingly while rubbing his hands together. "Sit anywhere you like." Max keen said. Marcus and Hiroto looked back to see Max and Ohnmar standing behind them. "Just don't stuff your face too much, we've got some things to go over." Ohnmar said as they both get into their seats. "I'll try not to sir." Marcus replied politely. As the four get into their seats, Kana comes through the kitchen beside the dining room with plate holding large cups of tea, milk, and coffee. Kana proceeded to walk and give everyone their drinks. "Drink up fellas." All 4 of them thanked her as Kana gave them their of them said "Itadakemasu" before they started to eat their breakfast, Marcus in under a minute already finished swallowing his omelet and began to devour his pancakes and steak in large chunks while maintaining his table manners. "YO! Take it easy with that appetite." Hiroto stated. Marcus looked a bit embarrassed and calmed himself down. "Sorry about that, just a little hungry." Marcus replied while wiping his face with a napkin. "Just a little?" Kana muttered slightly amused. Ohnmar eye balls Marcus and spoke to him after devouring a large handful of blueberries. "So Marcus, I would like to talk to you about your training sessions when you get in later tonight." Marcus stopped drinking his milk and payed attention to Ohnmar. "Tonight's training session will test your current strength. But the following day after we're going to push you in your physical training until we feel that your ready to learn our techniques." Marcus then responds with a question in mind. "Well how long will I have to train my body before learning these techniques?" Ohnmar replied to his question. "As soon as you reach to level of strength we want you to be." Max keen then joined into the conversation. "You will also be required to buy your own training gear, make sure they will last you for a good while." Marcus then nodded taking a mental note of Max keens instructions. "Alrighty then.." Marcus then finishes his breakfast drinking every last drop of milk from his cup. Marcus then put his cup down on the table with a determined look on his face. "It's time for me to get going!"

Marcus then leaves the table and head towards the door. "Wait a minute Marcus!" Kana shouted. "Before you go, have Hiroto come with you just in case something happens to you." Hiroto then gets off from his table after swallowing beef bacon he was happily chewing on. "Kana's right you know, the last thing you want is another hospital visit." Marcus nodded "Hmm.. Yeah, I'm pretty aware of that scenario happening again." Marcus and Hiroto walked out of the warehouse gates ready and prepared for what awaits them. Meanwhile Akihiro was standing in his room adoring himself in front of a large mirror. "Oh Ho Akihiro! You just outdid yourself with this new look!" Akihiro was stroking his new hairstyle with great delight. "This new hair will make you the center of attention of papa's party tonight!" Akihiro was suddenly interrupted by one his gang subordinates by the sound of his door bell. "Grrrrgh! This better be good!" Akihiro growls and stomps angrily to his door. When he opens his door, he greets his subordinates with a polite yet irritated tone. "Greetings minions! Do you both have anything important to inform me on!?" The two subordinates responded nervously by giving him information. "Master Akihiro sir, we need to inform you about the situation regarding your previous attack on the Koryo police station." Akihiro raises one of his eyebrows with his arms crossed. "What is it this time? Do tell." One of the subordinates calmly continued giving Akihiro the news. "Even though you were effective in having the building destroyed and escaped the building undetected, not everyone in that building died as you wanted them to sir." Akihiro raised his eyebrows shocked to hear that there were survivors. "How many survived!? And do you know who they are!?" Akihiro asked nervously with sweat coming down his face. The second subordinate answered his question. "From what we know, there were only two survivors. Information about their identities have not yet been revealed." Akihiro frowned unhappy with their answer. "You don't know who they are!? Why are you two idiots standing doing nothing then!?" Akihiro then points his finger to his door and continues to shout at his subordinates. "Go out there and find out who they are before I turn you inside out!" Akihiro's subordinates rushed out of his room apologizing to him. "Yes Master Akihiro sir!" Akihiro quickly turned and stormed back to his room to once again look at himself at his mirror. When he saw his face covered in sweat, he began to wipe his sweat off using his handkerchief. When he looked at him self again in the mirror he grew furious. "Disgusting! Why is my divine face still tainted in so much pig grease!!" Akihiro violently grabs his mirror frame and smashed it on the ground shattering his mirror all over the floor. "*Sigh* I need to cool off again!" Akihiro said shaking in disgust walking to his shiny golden bathtub.

At Koryo city during midday, Marcus and Hiroto walked through many shopping centers diligently searching for stores that are selling the right training gear and equipment that Marcus needs to start his training. "Sigh! We've looked everywhere for five hours straight! And all the training gear we've looked at either breaks easily or is downright already used up!" Marcus expressed in frustration. Hiroto then rebuked Marcus for throwing his hot temper. "Chill out man! We'll probably find what you need in this shopping center that I haven't been into before! I know you have a dirt bag you want to bury, but you can't expect to accomplish your vendetta in one day!" Marcus relaxed himself down and responded back calmly. "*Sigh* I know that, but I can't help but get myself training asap. Besides I still remember that speed of his when he attacked my family and I." Marcus then began to have a flashback at the Koryo mall parking lot where Akihiro first appeared. Remembering how powerful he kicked one of his own subordinates towards Macario, his deceased brother from a far distance away. How quickly he approached his father and punched him down unconscious, and how he landed a devastating Yoko Keague kick to his own chin knocking him unconscious in a short manner of seconds. "The man who killed my family had great speed and strength that I can't comprehend, if he really wanted to, he would've killed me on that horrible night." Marcus continued explaining to hiroto rubbing his chin as he walked with Hiroto still searching for the right store. "I believe that guy is receiving Martial Arts training from a master who knows how to train their disciples. That's why I must train soon, to not only surpass his level of strength and speed, prevent innocent people from falling into the same situation that I've been through." Hiroto nodded his head understanding Marcus's impatience, he then turned his head to his right and points his finger in excitement. "Aha! Look what we have here!" Marcus then turned his head to see what Hiroto was pointing his finger to. "You found it?" Marcus asked. "Yup!" Hiroto replied. Marcus and Hiroto then looked and read the store sign. SPORTS MEGA COLLECTION. "Lets take look shall we." Marcus stated. Both teenagers walked into this large sized store and saw a vast amount of sports equipment from various types of sports. Both of them walked inside the store to look and observe the clothes, equipment, and other merchandise that the store had to offer. "Well this place seems to have everything!" Hiroto said with optimism. "They sure do! Let's see if they have good Martial Arts gear!" Marcus replied with high hopes. The two teens continued to explore throughout the entire store to find and mess with sports equipment of basketball, baseball, football, golf, and even fishing. "This place is pretty cool to visit!" Hiroto said happily holding fishing rods. "Yeah but too bad it doesn't have what I need, such a shame." Marcus said in disappointment. As they began to walk towards the last section of the store, both teens to their suprise saw a large poster that reads. MARTIAL ARTS GEAR. "Well what do you know Marcus! It's what you've been looking for!" Hiroto happily stated. Before Hiroto could even turn his head, Marcus immediately bolted into the martial arts section to examine the equipment quality and their price. "HAAHAA! Exactly what I was looking for!" Marcus shouted cheerfully. Marcus rushed and grabbed a couple of pairs of training gloves, fighting shorts, tough headgear, training shoes, a durable punching bag and a heavy training vest. Hiroto face went blank as he witnessed Marcus carrying a monstrous stockpile of equipment to the cashier with glee. "That.. should be… more than… enough…" Hiroto muttered to himself. Marcus was busy enjoying himself seeing that he has bought what he needed get started with his training. Hiroto sighed with his shoulders drooping and walked towards the register to help Marcus put the training gear in the bags.

While Marcus and Hiroto were busy paying and carrying bags of training equipment, little were they aware of being watched by two men dressed in casual clothing who are thugs under Akihiros command standing a good distance behind them hiding in the store. "We've found the kid sir, he's in disguise with another teenager with fiery red outfit." One of the men said while pressing his earpiece while the other kept his eyes on the boys. "Don't lose them, and wait for the perfect time to strike when he's all alone!" Akihiro commanded. "Sure thing sir, we'll make sure that boy disappears for good this time!" The thug said. Marcus and hiroto walked outside the store carrying 4 large bags full of martial arts training equipment and the punching bag b weighing down on them. "Jeez Marcus! I know you want to get started with the training, but you could at least bought gear for one person!" Hiroto spoke overwhelmed with the 2 heavy bags. "It's all part of the preparation for the process my friend! I'll make sure that I wont waste the masters time training me!" Marcus declared with determination. "Listen hiroto, I need your help with something!" Marcus asked. "What kind of help?" Hiroto asked eyeballing next to him. "I've got some stuff at my house that I need to move to the warehouse, I need you to carry all the bags back to my new room and meet me back at my place after." Marcus replied. Hiroto then sighed in response to Marcus's request. "You'll be owe me big time for carrying your stuff, just watch your back when you get back to your place. Wait for me to come to your house after you finish getting your stuff ready." Hiroto then took the punching bag and bags that Marcus was carrying. "Thanks, I'll be extra careful on my way." Marcus replied back. Both teens walked in their separate ways both unaware of Akihiro's thugs observing cunningly from a distance. "Looks like they're separating." One thug said. "Good for us, we won't have to waste our time trying to kill two kids." The other thug replied. Both men slowly followed Marcus as he walks his way back to his house. When Marcus was walking beside the Matsue Lark, the two men slightly paced faster to catch up to Marcus. "Remember to cover up his nose and mouth with chloroform to drag him into alley for us to finish the job." The first thug said carrying a dart gun in his pocket. "Yeah, then we'll drag his corpse to feed to master Akihiro's dogs." The other thug replied. "Poor kid won't know what's gonna hit him." Both thugs chuckled wickedly as they were getting closer to Marcus. Marcus began to feel uneasy and turned his head seeing the two thugs from the reflection of the Matsue Lark windows he was walking past by, he senses grave danger and begins to increase his walking pace to create further distance from them.

The two men noticed Marcus walking faster and decided to increase their pace to catch up to him before losing him. Marcus didn't turn his head back to them but knew from hearing the stepping noises from their shoes began to increase in pace. Marcus then looked left and right looking for a way to lose them before they get too close. Marcus turned his head to the left where he finds a street filled with stuck traffic in a standstill. "I can use this to my advantage." Marcus mumbled to himself. He fast pace himself in between cars and buses in his attempt to lose them. "This kid knows we're following him." The two Akihiro thugs wisely backed off knowing that if they tried anything against him, they would catch unwanted attention from countless witnesses inside their cars and buses. "We will have to find a different way to catch and kill this kid before Akihiro kills us for failing our mission." The second thug said. "You don't need to remind me of that! We'll make sure that kid will become dog meat for dinner, not us." The first thug retorted. The two men then walked away from that street and went another way to further make plans. When Marcus looked back he noticed the two men walking away from him and decided to further get himself lost into the traffic until he can no longer see them. "Phew, glad I lost them. I need to be more careful." Marcus muttered with drops of sweat coming down from the sides of his face. Marcus carefully continues his way back to his house looking in every direction. Meanwhile Hiroto arrived back into the warehouse exhausted with the weight of the bags he was carrying. "Finally I'm back!" Hiroto shouted. He walked in and dropped the bags in front of Marcus's room and took a breath. "Huff… Glad that's over!" Hiroto said wiping the sweat off from his forehead. Hiroto was then approached by Max Keen with a hand wrench in one of his hands. "Hey Hiroto wheres Marcus?" Hiroto then turns his head to Max in response. "He's getting his stuff from his house to move in. I'm just dropping off the training equipment he bought earlier." Max Keen closed his eyes and turned back responding to his answer before walking back to his auto-shop. "Go and find him quickly, make sure you don't split up again." Hiroto's hair jolted upwards realizing he shouldn't have left Marcus by himself from before. "Ah crap…" Hiroto then hurried back outside the warehouse. "Hang in there Marcus! I'm coming!" Hiroto panicked as he ran and jumped through buildings racing his way towards Marcus's house.

Meanwhile Marcus finally reached his desired destination. "Finally back home. Glad I lost them." Marcus then walked into his home and went to his room. Marcus immediately changed his clothes to wore his own fresh outfit, took out his suitcase from his closet unzipping the suitcase and opening up the lid. "I'll pack in the important stuff first, I'll get the rest after I get myself established in my new room." Marcus said to himself. Marcus put some of his favorite clothes, the box of money from his parents, and his laptop into the suitcase before leaving his room. Marcus then stopped by his brothers room grabbing some of his clothes for him to use to disguise himself with whenever he's outside in public. Marcus turned his head and took one last sad look at his brothers room before leaving. "Thank you Macario.. for being my big brother…" Marcus then turned away and walked away from his room and moved towards his parents room. Marcus found and took envelopes that had the money he needs to survive and placed it inside his suitcase. Marcus then looked into his fathers drawers and looked to see anything important that he could use. After going through some tax documents and other papers, he found a folder that had information about his father's job. "Whats this?" Marcus carefully looked into the papers discovering a software that his father was working on creating, that stealth fully infiltrates other peoples computers bypassing all securities and firewalls that not even the state of the art computer security programs cannot detect. "Interesting, this might help me if I can learn how to use it correctly." Marcus then saw a USB flash drive fall down from the folder. "Huh?" Marcus picked it up and thought to himself as he was observing the USB flash drive. "Maybe I'll be getting my justice after all." Marcus then carefully put the folder and flash drive into his suitcase. Marcus looked and went to his mothers side of the master bedroom and saw books containing family photos. When Marcus opened them, the first photo he saw was the last family photo they took together the day before their tragic deaths. Marcus face became sad and angry as he kept turning the pages that were full of pictures containing beach vacations, family picnics, birthday celebrations, anniversary photos of his father and mother, and a special photo of Marcus as a newborn child being held by his mother with his father leaning next to her looking down his infant self with tender love in their eyes. "I promise you three… I'll avenge you… for all what he did to you…" Marcus clenched his fists tightly, drops his tears on the photo as Marcus tries to hold his enormous sorrow and anger. "I promise!" Meanwhile the two Akihiro thugs were driving stealthily in Marcus's neighborhood carrying what looks like ten milk jugs containing gasoline looking diligently to find out where Marcus lives. "From what we were told by the guys back from base, that kid lives somewhere in this neighborhood." Said the second thug. "Just keep your eyes peeled, if one of us sees him through those windows we'll set him ablaze."

As they continued patrolling around the neighborhood the clouds began to darken the sky blotting out the sun, the first thug looked into the windows of Marcus's parents room and managed to spot him with a picture book in his hands. "I see him, lets finish this quickly!" The two men quietly got out of their van, hurried and climbed over the tall concrete fence into Marcus's front yard. "Lets overcook this chicken boy!" The second thug said. The two men poured gasoline from the milk jugs around the house and made sure lots of it was also poured into the entry door, backdoor, the garage entrance so Marcus wouldn't escape. The two men then poured the last bits as they were exiting from Marcus front yard. But as they were climbing up and down the fence one of the thugs slipped and fell on the concrete floor making a loud thud making him shout in pain. "AHHH!" The second thug shouted. "Keep it quiet! We cant afford to get caught!" The first thug scolded. Marcus heard the shout outside and looked outside the window to observe the commotion. As Marcus laid his eyes outside his front yard, Marcus eyes widened in shock and panic as he recognizes the two men who were stalking him from earlier. "What are they doing here!" Marcus said in rage. Marcus quickly put his mothers family picture book into his suitcase and rushed into the kitchen to grab the sharpest kitchen knife he could find to protect himself. Marcus then rushes back upstairs back to his parents room with his knife hidden to look back outside the window. The first thug meanwhile brought out his lighter and made a statement to Marcus who is staring him down from the second floor window. "Good riddance runt!" He lights up the lighter and throws up in the air and lands on the floor behind the gates. When the lighter touched the floor the fire quickly soared 15 feet high. Marcus fell back on the floor caught of guard by the flames that was set. "NOO! MYHOME!" Marcus shouted. The fire quickly circled around the house as Marcus tried to escape from his house attempting to preserve what he has put into his suitcase. Thunder and lighting began to consume the sky as the two thugs ran and hid behind some cars parked blocks away from the fire to observe the outcome of the fire. "Why are we still here!? We should get back in our van and get out of here!" The second thug complained. "We need to make sure that kid is as good as dead, we'll take photos of his burnt corpse to verify his death to Master Akihiro." The first thug calmly retorted. The fire began to enter into Marcus's house and began destroy and burn the entire first floor. Marcus noticed the flames consuming the first floor and began to get desperate. "I need to get out now!" Marcus having no other options decided to abandon his knife and grabbed is suitcase and used it to shatter the master bedroom window open and threw it out of his house landing it right in front of his gates away from harms way. Marcus then took a couple of steps back trying to ready himself to jump out of the broken window. Marcus nervously looked back and saw the fire being inches away from his feet. "I have only one shot!" Marcus imagined. Marcus rushed at full speed as the consuming fire chases him down not far behind. Marcus with his eyes wide open took a leap of faith and jumped high and far. The two wicked subordinates watching were amazingly shocked to see Marcus risking his life trying to escape the hot flames that has now consumed his entire house. Marcus stretched out his arms in midair and landed his hands firmly on the concrete fence holding on for dear life. Marcus slowly climbed up the concrete fence and fell on the other side on the sidewalk grass on his back.

Marcus got up to see his suitcase and ran to grab it. As Marcus reached towards it, the suitcase was then pulled away by the two thugs. "Well what do we have here?" The first thug said with a cocky smirk on his face while the second thug standing behind him chuckled also showing an arrogant smirk with his arms crossed. Marcus looked and saw the two men who burned his house down. "YOU!" Marcus then formed his fist and attacked the first thug with a strong right hook. The first thug managed to catch his fist barely able to hold the force of Marcus's fists back. "Heh! You're quite the fighter to stay alive kid! But its no use for the likes of us, this is where you die kid!" Marcus replies back ferociously. "If I'm going to die, I'll take you scum with me!" Marcus then shoots his left fist straight into the face of the first thug knocking him back. Marcus then was attacked by the second thug armed with a switch blade almost touching his neck by the tip as he tries to slash him. Marcus scowls angrily at the second thug he dodged the switchblade. "Coward!" Marcus roared. Marcus then sees the first thug lunge back at Marcus with a heavy punch. Marcus sees and grabs the fist of the first thug and releases an uppercut to his chin almost knocking him on the floor. The second thug meanwhile got behind Marcus and tried stab into the side of his neck. Marcus looked to his side only to see the switchblade five inches from his neck. Marcus stepped back and leaned away with the knife making a thin cut barely enough to make him bleed a drop. Marcus then responded by quickly grabbing the second thug cutting wrist after having his neck lightly cut, clenched his other fist, pulled the second thug towards him and socked the scumbag down to the ground unconscious. The first thug looked and grabbed Marcus's suitcase and rushed to slam him on the head with it. Marcus was knocked back almost falling down with his hand placed on the damaged side of his head. "Get your hands off that!" Marcus roared. "Hehehe, come over here and take it!" The man taunted. The first thug attacks Marcus with the hard suitcase, Marcus grabs the suitcase as he tries to pull it away from him. Meanwhile Hiroto was jumping from building to building on his way to Marcus's house with a bad feeling in his gut. "I hope your alright Marcus, just stay where you are!" Hiroto said in panic. Hiroto landed on one apartment twelve stories tall and spotted black smoke far away rising up to the dark gray clouds that consumed the sky. "Why is there a…" Hiroto's eyes then opened in panic recognizing the smokes location. "HANG IN THERE BRO!" Hiroto rushed faster with all he could muster getting closer to the black smoke.

Marcus manages to pull away the suitcase from the first thug and lands a side kick to the stomach knocking him back. Marcus then throws the hard suitcase aside and lunges forward to unleash a barrage of punches. The first thug jumped towards Marcus unleashing his own barrage of punches forcing both of them to engage in a vicious brawl. Marcus and the first thug punched, blocked and bruised each others faces. Marcus threw a hard punch to the first thugs face knocking him down. The second thug desperately brought out his poisonous dart gun and tried to pull the trigger, Marcus sees and manages to grab the thugs wrist before he got the chance to fire. "Not if I kill you first!" Marcus releases his own power punch strong enough to break the second thugs nose. The second thug was knocked further back on the concrete floor landing on his head first. The first thug finally got up from the concrete ground as Marcus knocked down the second. The first thug felt warm liquid dripping from his hand he placed on the back of his head. When he inspected his wet hand, he saw his own blood and realized that he's been busted open. "You'll pay for what you did to me kid!" The first thug shouted. The first thug went insane and began slashing Marcus with his switchblade. Marcus had no choice but to dodge and duck down the slashes that was being dished out with such bloodlust on the first thug's hands. "WHEN I SLASH OPEN YOUR NECK, I'M GOING TO BITE HARD INTO IT AND SQUEEZE THE LAST BITS OF BLOOD YOU HAVE LEFT!" The first thug manically screamed. The first thug charged towards Marcus thrusting his switchblade full force consumed with raging blood lust. Marcus quickly dodges to the side with the blade barely scratching his cheek. Marcus clenched his fists as hard as he could then punches the thug down on the ground with his fist dug deep into the thugs face with is eyes glowing purple with a ferocious look on his face. "ITS YOUR BLOOD THAT WILL SPILL ON THE CONCRETE!" Marcus roared in fury. Hiroto finally arrived blocks away from the house and sees Marcus sitting on top of a person he does not recognize. "Huh!?" Marcus then tightly grabs on the first thugs neck chocking him violently. "WHO SENT YOU TO DO THIS!?" Marcus interrogated. "As if... I'll ever... tell you... runt!" Marcus then tightened his grip on the first thugs neck and began to strike him mercilessly several times across his face. After bruising and blooding the first thugs eye and severly battered his cheek bones, Marcus then interrogates him again. "WHO SENT YOU!" Marcus roared loudly. The thug used the strength he had left to lift up his head. The thug gave Marcus a dirty look and spat on his shirt. "I'd rather... die than... telling you... anything kid!" The thug scowled back. Marcus's eyeballs suddenly was locked towards the switchblade that was on the concrete floor. "IF YOU WONT TELL ME!" Marcus then picks up the switchblade and held it with a reverse grip. "Wait… WAIT!" The first thug panicked with head turned away eyes closed. "MARCUS DONT!" Hiroto grabbed Marcus's forearm with one hand and quickly took the switchblade from Marcus's palm using his other hand. "Don't you dare try kill him Marcus! Do you want to be thrown into prison too!?" Marcus was caught off guard by Hiroto's interference. The first thug then looked back seeing Hiroto stopping Marcus from stabbing him. "Thanks kid! Please... get this maniac off of me!"

Hiroto then looked at the thug with an angry disgusted look. "As if I'll ever help you! You tried to kill my friend here!" The thug sweat nervously as he is now a the mercy of two angry teens with no way to escape. Marcus then once again strikes the thug down with his knuckles ramming down into one of the thugs eye. "AAAAAAGGGHHHH!" The thug screamed in agony. "WHO SENT YOU TO KILL ME!?" Marcus screamed. The thug then looked at Marcus again beginning to fear for his own life. "Alright! I'll tell you! Just don't hit me again!" The thug then began to speak. "I was sent by one of the top mafia leaders to come after you." Hiroto then walked and squatted down next to the thug to further interrogate him. "Which mafia and who?" Hiroto asked. "Aki.. HUH!" Before the thug could finish pronouncing his name, a poisonous dart was shot into the thugs neck by the other thug Marcus knocked down from before. Marcus and Hiroto looked to their side and saw the second thug with a dart gun in his hands. "You kids wont be getting any more information!" The second thug declared. Marcus and Hiroto then saw the second thug point the dart gun to his own head. "Even if you knew, you wouldn't stand a chance." The thug then pulled the trigger and fell on the floor dead as the poison quickly shut down his brain. Marcus turned around and sighed heavily annoyed and frustrated. As the heavy rain began to fall down, Marcus got up from the deceased corpse of the first thug to fetch his suitcase. Hiroto looked sorry as he watched Marcus walk towards his burning house. Marcus could only watch his burning house collapse into the ground as his face and clothes begin to soak in the heavy rain. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help you Marcus, I'm sorry..." Marcus turned around and looked towards Hiroto in the eyes. "I should've dragged you back to the warehouse before you could get to his house, this is all my fault." Hiroto spoke to Marcus looking down sad. "It's not your fault Hiroto… It was mine… I did this to myself." Marcus spoke back. "Let's go back to the warehouse, the masters are waiting for us." Hiroto and Marcus went on their way back to the warehouse. The two teens began to walk back the warehouse through the city. As the night began to fall down Marcus finally looks behind him asking Hiroto a question. "So Hiroto, how far do you think I'll be able to go in my training without dying?" Hiroto slowly responds to his question. "Depends, they'll make the training harder for every time you fail to meet their expectations." Marcus raised his eyebrows curious to further understand. "What do you mean by that?" Marcus questioned. "If you fail performing 100 push ups, they'll get you back up to do 200." Hiroto replied. Marcus closed his eyes meditating on what Hiroto words meant for his survival. The teenagers finally arrived back to the warehouse on time. Hiroto and Marcus finally entered inside the main hall to see the masters standing in front of them lined up next to each other with Max Keen on the right, Ohnmar in the middle, and Kana Ayame standing on the left. "So he's made his choice to come here." Kana eyeballed to Ohnmar. "He has, now lets see if he has the will endure and survive the training we're going to put him through." Ohnmar replied eyeballing Marcus. "Hmmmm.." Max mumbled. Ohnmar walked towards Marcus looking straight into his eyes. "Now that you're here on time, lets begin your training now." Marcus looked towards Ohnmar with his face beginning to smile ready to embrace the brutish training that he will have to overcome.

Closing Song: Blood In The Tears by Demon Hunter

End note: I will try my best to start and upload chapter 7 as soon as I possibly can. I am getting closer to finish fixing mistakes, changing words spoken from characters, adding scenes, adding details in certain parts of my chapters on the previous chapters (1-6) because I want to improve the quality of my chapters trying to make my sentences easier to understand and add a bit more emotion as I continue improving my craft. Thank you very much for your patience. (5/21/2023)