Only a handful of meters stood between Shen and the thug. Shen would have to thank Ya for the constant flow of cold air, it is making the heat emitting from his hands much more bearable.
'I need to end this quickly.' Shen thought as he grabbed the damaged shield once again. 'This likely only take a few hits before it shatters.' He rushed towards the thug in a similar manner as he did with the others, a straight shot toward him.
The thug didn't seem bothered as he stepped forward lowering his stance, the fire on his hand radiating its orange light. Just as Shen was about to make contact with the thug launched his fist at the shield. A loud shattering sound could be heard as Shen was sent sliding back to the point where he was just standing at, he then looked down at the shield.
'Damn.' The thought that passed through his mind as the damaged shield that helped him so much today looked something akin to a spider web, with cracks so deep he could feel the indent of them in some spots.
"Like I said, even with the cold from your teammate helping you, winning is going to be hard for you." The thug said as he bent his legs slightly, having both his hands close to his face.
Shen throws the shield on the ground causing it to shatter into shards of ice, many of them reflecting the light coming off the few reminding bulbs. Shen decided to go back to old methods back in the slums and outlast the other person. Shen bent his knees and moved his body so that his shoulder blades were facing the thug. He took a deep breath and took off running towards him covering the small distance quickly.
As soon as Shen got close enough the thug took a half step forward and thrust his right fist out toward Shen's face. Shen in response ducked lower under the fist leaning towards the left as countered attacked with a punch towards the thug's face.
The thug turned his head slightly to the left so that the punch wouldn't hit him head-on, rather it allowed him access to the left side of his vision where he saw Shen's figure at the edge of it. The thug grabbed the back of Shen's shirt with his right hand so Shen couldn't move as he used his open fist and thrust it into his gut, making perfect contact.
Shen could sense the very air that gave him life rushing out of his body as the familiar smell of burning flesh entered his nose. His mind was in a frenzy, nothing in his mind was processing as the burning scar in his gut was taking a lot of his attention. Before he truly thought about what to do next his body was already throwing another punch.
The thug responded with another punch of his own, however, this one was colder than the others as the fuel for his arts was whining. His hands could no longer tank the pain of his hand burning, so he called off the fire around his hands leaving very scared hands with smoke flowing off them.
The thug kept throwing punches most of them connected to Shen. However unknown to the thug, the sheer adrenaline being pumped into Shen's body along with him being used to getting beaten down since he was a child allowed each and every hit he endured not to matter.
As the fight continued Shen kept overextending his attacks leaving him open for another round of attacks from the thug, he could hear his body cry out in pain but still kept pushing himself as he kept remembering why he was there. The slums he was raised in started appearing in his mind as the people who took care of him despite their status kept him moving.
As each of the thugs' attacks connected on Shen, another memory flashed in his mind till eventually, a truly precision memory appeared swiftly in his mind. It was just him when he was a child and a young man whose infection was clear on his arms. As the snow fell to the ground both of them were eating somewhat cold noodles.
Before Shen recalled more of the memory another hit connected, this time Shen was sent back into a table causing it to topple over. His vision was fading in and out as he could hear the ice shards being crushed as he assumed the thug moved forward. Shen used the table to stand back up, he could feel warm streams of liquid move down his face and legs. He didn't need to check to know it was blood.
"How the hell are you not down yet, most people would be dead or at least knocked out by now?" the thug said as he moved closer.
Shen was tired, and the pain of the fight was starting to set in as his body's adrenaline wasn't being created fast enough it felt like. "Two things. First off compared to that woman you still ain't shit." Shen said as he grabbed the knife he dropped at the beginning of the fight "Secondly, this hard body is all I have."
Shen understood he had one last chance to end this fight so he was pushing his body to the highest abilities that he could muster and dashed. The thug threw out another punch this time with his left hand. Shen got closer to the ground avoiding the thug's attack, getting closer and closer to his knees. Shen moved his knife across the thug's knee.
"Shit!" The thug cursed as the limbs supporting him were no longer working properly.
Shen sees that this is his golden opportunity. He jumped on top of the thug and started throwing punches at his face trying to knock him out, he threw punch after punch while keeping the thug pinned down. Small dots of blood were being sprayed onto Shen's face, he didn't stop punching until the thug stopped moving.
"F-finally." Shen said as he slid off the thug and onto the cold floor, the pieces of ice on the floor cooled his burning body. Shen raised his hand towards the thug's neck confirming that his pulse was still there. "Good he isn't dead."
Shen could only look up at the ceiling as one of the light bulbs was swaying back and forth.
"If this was a movie then I would have been hypnotized," Shen said as he forced himself up, or at least tried. His body wasn't in the best condition and the pain of the fight was hitting him in full force. Warm tears were forming in his eyes due to the pain but the primary emotion he was feeling was something else.
"Ya are you there?" He asked loudly.
He heard cracking ice behind him, he moved his head the best he could to see his teammate walking toward him.
"I'm right here, I managed my side and it appears you managed your side well." She is within a hint of sarcasm.
"Do I look well to you?" Shen shouted.
Ya looked at the wounded Shen. Burn marks, bruises, and other injuries were clear to the world to see. She helped Shen up out of the room where the area was warmer.
" Since you are able to talk like that then I say it went well. I don't have any bandages for your injuries, just hope that nothing is fatal and wait for reinforcements." Ya said to him making sure he was as comfortable as possible.
"Loud and clear." Shen struggled to say.
Ya stood up and walked back into the room which allowed her to see the whole situation. All the guys Shen knocked out were still on the floor, all the way in the back stood the door that Lin and company went through. On her left stood the wall she made that separated room. She placed her hand on the wall, and a moment later a small opening about her height was created. On the other side, she took note of her handwork.
Unlike the messy brawl Shen was engaged in, Ya simply lowered the temperature of the area so that she wouldn't need to lift a finger against them. All the thugs were on the floor, just dropping the temperature enough so that they would pass out but not kill them. Seeing that her mission was complete she headed down the hall to chase Lin.
As Ya jogged down the hall a familiar smell entered her nose. 'Iron and a lot of it.' Her pace quicked as the smell got thicker eventually it got to the point where she could see the smell. Soon enough red streaks were seen on the walls, and not far from it lay a corpse. Then another corpse, and another one. Pools of blood were getting more and more common. She observed each body to see cuts and stabs, not of them were clean hits but the bodies stayed intact.
A few moments later an open door with another corpse on its side came into vision making the total five, and it was quite clear from the thick smell that a large part of Lin's fight took place there. However, what she saw was a mix of what she expected and didn't.
The room was covered in blood, it was as if a sprinkler was spraying blood everywhere causing the already powerful iron smell to get strong enough to make Ya want to throw up. In the center stood her or rather sat her teammates, resting casually on a body of motionless bodies of her enemies with her back towards Ya. The reflection of her spear which was layered with a thick coating of blood shone in the light.
"You truly are boar like the sergeant said." Ya said, pinching her nose to block the smell.
The twin-tailed woman turned towards her teammate, spots of blood were running down her face and clothes but she didn't seem the least bit bothered. She appeared as if this was a normal Sunday morning to her by the small smile she had on her face.
"These guys weren't in much trouble." Lin said as casually.
"We should fall back, Shen is roughed up and I doubt we could go further. For all, we know there could be more guys." Ya said.
Lin didn't move as she thought about Ya's words before quickly reaching a decision.
"Fine, I doubt I would get much done by anyone after this fight. Even I started to feel a little tired." Lin said as she got off the pile of bodies and walked towards Ya.
"Thought you said they weren't much trouble?" Ya asked sarcastically.
"They weren't but even I have my limits." Lin said before back towards the room Ya came from.
"I guess you do have a sense of humility. Shen would be surprised." Ya said,
"Shut up." Lin replied quickly.
After much struggle and bickering from Lin and Shen, the trio ran into the reinforcements telling them to head up and look for the Captain. Once they reached the surface Shen and Lin were treated although most of the medics' effort went to Shen, as they got treated the Captain walked towards them with a walking stick.
"Good to see you three are alive, we will go over what happened back at the station. Your orders are to rest up and feel better, you three earned it." The Captain said before walking towards other police officers.
Shen let the paramedics do their job while keeping the pain he was feeling inside instead of screaming his life out, especially when they rubbed alcohol on his wounds.
Ya stayed by Shen causing the two to have a conversation to the best of their ability. Ya only had a small bandage around her side as an arrow cut.
Lin was the only one away from the medic area. She was near the border of the perimeter that the police set up indicated with yellow tape. She was too busy looking at her bloody spear as she remembered the fight, replaying the whole encounter in her mind. As she did her heart rate increased along with a warm feeling spreading throughout her body. Soon a single question entered her mind.
'I wonder what and when the next mission will be.'