"Die, you brat!" a man yelled and attacked. He thrust his blade for Ken’s heart, but Ken moved faster, sliding under and lifting the hand up before delivering a punch clean into the jaw of the man and shattering whatever bones made up that place, hurling him into the air hard.

The man slammed into the ground, bleeding from the mouth after his entire jaw was ripped off. Ken walked forward and pressed his foot on the chest of the man.

"Tch, I overdid it, I’m gonna need some of you for questioning at some point."

WHOOSH!

While he was busy talking, the sound of an arrow ripping through the air fast reached his ears. Ken immediately spun around and dodged the arrow, his eyes already locked onto the man.

The man who stood across turned around and immediately bolted. Ken followed, running behind fast. He entered the alleyway.

’Tch, it’s a trap, they’re going to pounce on me at any moment,’ Ken analyzed the very moment he entered the alley, but then he had forgotten a very key detail, this was a magical world.

He stepped on something and a magical formation activated right there under his foot. Ken looked down, it was glowing red and about to explode.

His mind churned fast, but his body already reacted faster. He kicked the ground and retreated extremely fast, the magical formation went off with a massive blast, the force hurled him back through the air. He flipped and landed on his feet, skidding back a few meters.

The attackers that had planted that didn’t wait for him to recover himself after that, they immediately launched an attack, all of them bursting from where they hid, a total of five armed men, their swords already going for the kill.

’Surrounded, they are coming in fast, no time to think much, react and attack.’

Ken moved his feet, twisting his body and launching at the closest one. The man reacted professionally with a slash, but Ken evaded fast and proceeded to grab the hand of the man, kicking him in the knee so hard it bent backwards.

"Arghhhhhh!" The scream was guttural and filled with pain.

Ken grabbed the sword from the man fast and dodged the next attack at the same time. He watched as the blade of the second person grazed his hair and chopped off a few strands.

There were still three people behind him who were attacking at the same time, but the one in front took priority.

After he evaded the attack, he leaned in fast and went for a stab. The man reacted and tried to block, only for Ken to let go of the sword. It fell down and he went low, grabbing the sword down there and thrusting upwards, the sword stabbed right into the crotch of the man and penetrated into the stomach.

"Ahhhhhhhgg!"

Ken pulled the sword out as the man screamed in pain, his eyes already turning to make a quick scan of the last three, and one was already mid-attack. There was no way Ken could stop him now, because if he blocked, the other two would reach and cut him down.

So he did the only thing he could think of on the spot, grabbing the sword blade right with his hands. The blade cut into his palm and blood seeped out, but Ken was unbothered as he thrust his sword and stabbed right into the side of the man, ignoring the pain he felt.

He ripped the sword out the side as blood gushed out, his eyes already moving to the next target who was swinging from the side. Ken leaned back, dodged the attack and pulled the man he had just stabbed by the sword into the line of attack of the fourth man.

The blade cleaved into the shoulder of the man and left an even bigger wound. Stunned by what he had done, the fourth left an opening, which Ken took advantage of, rushing at him and immediately attacking with a kick to the chest, sending him flying right into a wall.

Ken then turned and looked at the last. He stood there completely shaken by what he witnessed, it was hard to imagine how a young kid had managed to cut through all of them so easily after they tried to bait him.

Even then, the last man didn’t stop. He gripped his sword with one hand and then clenched his other hand shut, but Ken noticed something inside before it was shut closed, a magical formation was in his palm.

’He is definitely going to try and use that now, that’s probably his last means of attack and victory.

It could also be a bluff, done intentionally to draw my attention, regardless, I have my own means.’

The last man charged at Ken, while charging up the formation with mana as he rushed ahead. He attacked with a slash from his right hand. Ken dodged and then proceeded to flick his bleeding hand, pouring blood right into the face of the man, blinding him for a moment as his left hand was already moving forward to ignite whatever spell he had there.

Ken grabbed the hand fast and shoved it against the chest of the man. The spell fully activated and a blast followed right on the chest.

BOOM

The body was hurled back and slammed into a wall, a massive hole remained on the chest as he struggled for life right there.

Ken looked at the men on the ground, wondering if he should kill them or not, their current situations were already bad. He decided to walk off, they were lucky.

As he passed the one that he had hurled at a wall, he tried to sneak up on Ken, because he had been pretending to be down completely. His sword came for Ken, only for Ken to kick it away and then proceed to stab him right through the neck, killing him on the spot.

"Mercy is given and taken," Ken muttered.