Chapter 66: Unbridled

'...That was... Phantom Trace?!' Jared thought in shock.

As a rank (C+) pugilist, and also as the leader of one of the dominant gangs in the South Zone, he was well acquainted with the vast majority of martial techniques in Nightown City.

Whether it was to enrich Wolf's Fang's repertoire or for his personal use, he paid close attention to ways of acquiring them, sometimes by buying them, sometimes by trading them with other martial techniques and on very rare occasions, if the martial technique was too good, by stealing them.

However, even for him, someone known for his ferocity and dominance, there were certain limits he dared not cross.

The biggest and most important of those boundaries undoubtedly had to do with the largest force in the city, the sect known as "The Emperor's Gate".

Being a pugilist sect with a great history, reputation, power and an incredible amount of experts all over the country, martial techniques were abundant, as for their effects, they were all first class, even superior than other martial techniques of the same grade.

Phantom Trace was a good example, not only was this technique relatively easy to learn, but its effects were also much better than most evasion techniques of the same level.

With this technique alone, the combat standards of all Wolf's Fang members would be raised even higher, even making them capable of fighting supers one grade higher than them.

That was how significant the increase in power an excellent martial technique could grant to a pugilist.

But despite of this, Jared didn't even dare to think about obtaining the sect's worst martial technique, let alone Phantom Trace. The reason for this was very simple, he would only be seeking his death if he did so!

'However... even if he's a member of that sect, my life is at stake here!' He thought, deciding to deal with the consequences later.

Instantly, he threw another punch towards the bandaged man, but surprisingly, the man recoiled even faster than when he approached, moving away and only stopping when he was at a suitable distance.

As for chasing him, it would be quite difficult. He had only managed to move like this thanks to the sudden increase in power of the martial technique he used earlier, but now that his strength had stabilized, Garel again restrained him.

This confused Jared quite a bit, '...He only got closer to do that?' 

The hit he had felt could not be described as anything other than weak, though he estimated that it would be enough to damage a rank (D+) super, to Jared, who was currently in a strengthened state, it had been no different than a mosquito bite.

Of course, he wasn't the only one, Garel was also confused by the bandaged man's actions. 

'Well... as long as he keeps helping me...'

Though he didn't know his exact motives or what he wanted to achieve, since earlier the man had brought a group of monsters to attack Jared, from that fact alone he could tell that he was not an ally of Jared, and that was enough for him.

Jared had been thinking about moving again in order to catch the bandaged man, although he had almost no qi to use another martial technique anymore, now that there were several holes in the metal suit, gathering the amount needed to move would only be a matter of a few seconds.

"Now then... I have to finish him in one move..." He said, looking at the bandaged man.

'Not good, I have to do something...!' Thought Garel, not willing to lose his only "ally".

However, at that moment, before either of them could think of anything else, Jared fell to his knees on the floor while clutching his chest.

"ARGH!!" He screamed, his eyes bloodshot and his entire body filled with throbbing veins which looked like they were about to burst.

Just as he was about to gather qi, a wrenching pain assaulted his chest, specifically the center. The sensation was as if something was trying to rip out his heart andpiercing it at the same time.

'What?'

Even Garel was shocked to see the man who had just finished fighting off a horde of monster rats on his own without complaining even once suddenly falling to the ground with such a horrible expression of pain on his face.

"YOU... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!?"

Of course, as a pugilist, his control over his body was incredibly sharp, so he quickly knew what was going on inside him... and it was far worse than having his heart being pierced.

At this moment, what was undoubtedly one of the most important parts of his body, his Core, was being constantly damaged!

This was the first time Jared had ever felt anything like this. He had heard rumors that sometimes Cores could be fractured and rendered unusable due to an incredibly strong attack, but this didn't feel like a fracture at all.

Although a Core was not a physical organ, but more like a cluster of energy which was intertwined with his heart, he could still feel several "holes" beginning to appear in it.

Immediately, all the qi in his body started to escape, like a balloon with severals hole in it, losing all the air inside, and the worst part was that he couldn't do anything to avoid that.

"AAARGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!" 

It was no longer a cry of pain, but more of a roar of anger at the frustration he was feeling thanks to the current situation.

He had managed to create his Core ever since he became a rank (C+) pugilist, several years ago now after an incredible amount of hard work and mostly luck. 

With such a huge benefit, he had completely reformed his martial techniques and combat style to use the Core as the basis of all his power, which had proven to be a completely wise decision.

It was from that point onwards that he started to make a name for himself, although he also had some feats before forming his Core, they were nothing compared to afterwards, having defeated a Hero and creating Wolf's Fang also happened after that.

Unfortunately for him, what had made him so strong had ironically become the thing that was hurting him the most.

Although he tried to control the qi in his body, he was unable to do so. He had spent too much time using his Core, despite being an experienced rank (C+) pugilist, he would need days, if not weeks to be able to adapt to this change.

Unfortunately for him, Garel was not going to be so kind as to waste this opportunity.

Although he was shocked, seeing that the amount of energy coming from Jared was diminishing at such an alarming rate, he quickly took advantage of this situation to attack, cutting deep into his chest, leaving a wound running from his right shoulder to his hip.

*CHACK*

"YOU...!"

Faced with this, Jared finally reached his limit.

"IF I'M GOING TO DIE HERE, THEN I'M TAKING YOU BOTH WITH ME!" He shouted, rising from the ground with great difficulty before shouting the name of a martial technique, "UNBRIDLED!"

Even though he was feeling immense pain, Jared decided to endure it by gritting his teeth before activating a martial technique that slowly changed the color of his body to red.

The moment he did so, his body trembled, a sign that he was not in a position to use a martial technique. However, he was emanating a terrifying pressure all the same.

He was no longer trying to control the Qi inside him, but simply decided to let it escape, even actively ejecting everything he had.

The next moment, he grabbed the metal suit that was on his body and began to forcibly rip it off.

"GET OFF!"

His muscles were incredibly swollen thanks to all the force he was using at the moment, along with the pugilistic flames on his body burning at maximum power, his appearance was that of a fire berserker.

It was clear, he was fully determined to remove what had been restraining him almost since the beginning of this battle.

As for why the pugilistic flames were still active around his entire body even though he had no control over his qi, that was because what was powering those flames was no longer qi, but Jared's life force.

Although it was not as effective as using qi, it could serve as a suitable substitute thanks to the martial technique he had just used, "Unbridled".

The original purpose of this technique had been to give a power boost using both qi and life force to greatly enhance a pugilist attacks. Some even said that the effect could almost resemble having an artificial Core.

That coupled with the fact that it was not difficult to learn and that any pugilist with some money could buy this technique, made it an option available to most pugilists.

However, even those who learned this technique rarely used it, the reason was very simple, the more they used their life force, the harder it would be for them to recover, taking weeks at best and in the worst case, years.

Despite that, Jared was using it to the fullest, making it very clear that he no longer cared about the consequences this would bring him.

'Urgh, sh*t!' Garel thought, clinging as tightly as he could to Jared.

Although it had been very easy to stick to Jared's body at first, that was because his state was optimal, both his energy and the effect of the blood pill were at their highest, giving him the ability to resist Jared's tremendous strength.

However, now that his energy was almost depleted, simply staying in that liquid metal form was already becoming very difficult for him, not to mention that the flames were also slowly burning him, consuming even more of his energy to protect his body.

So, although he resisted with everything he had, he couldn't help but end up being detached from Jared's body.

"NOW GO F*CK YOURSELF!" Jared shouted.

He then launched the dense mass of metal that was Garel towards the sky, using the maximum amount of strength available in his right arm.

As he knew that physical blows would not work against him while he was in that form, instead of attacking him, he decided to send him away.

Without wasting any time, his gaze landed on the bandaged man.

"..."

But to his surprise, the latter, had moved quite far away unnoticed. So far even that he was almost reaching another neighborhood.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU FILTHY RAT!" Shouted Jared as he began to chase him, apparently fighting so many rats had made him unconsciously relate the bandaged man as such.

Despite being injured and being in no condition to run, he was still quite fast, covering several meters with a single step.

Normally this would be enough to catch a rank (D) pugilist such as the bandaged man, however, not only could he not close the distance, but it even seemed that this man was slowly accelerating, getting farther and farther away.

'Even if I have to burn up all the life force in my body, I swear I'll get you!!!' Jared thought, a fervent determination in his eyes.

As for his original target, Garel, he wasn't worried about him at all. After all, when he returned to its original form, Jared could quickly finish him off.

***

*Tap tap tap tap tap*

The sound of footsteps could be heard coming from one of the streets of District 4, a few blocks away from downtown, product of a person who had just turned a corner.

This person who only had bandages covering his upper body was currently running at full speed down this street, almost as if he had fire in his feet.

While one might think that he was just running, he was actually constantly making use of Phantom Trace, which allowed him to run faster than normal.

'Keep running, don't look back, don't stop for a second.' Jay thought, feeling extremely nervous.

Although it couldn't be seen due to the bandages covering his face, he was sweating profusely due to the nervousness of the situation he was in.

*BOOM!*

Behind him, the sound of a wall being smashed through could be heard, causing him to unconsciously tremble. 

"JUST WAIT UNTIL I CATCH YOU, YOU BASTARD!!!"

The person who looked more like a large mass of muscle than a person and was currently chasing him, not caring how many walls he had to run through was Jared.

Suddenly, he grabbed a large chunk of concrete from the wall he had just destroyed and threw it toward Jay.  Due to the force he had used when throwing it, it quickly catched up to Jay, being only a few centimeters away from crashing into him.

However, just as he was about to get hit, his feet moved in a particular way that caused Jay to suddenly accelerate for a second, moving to the right and easily avoiding the piece of concrete.

'Urgh, I won't be able to use that many more times.' Jay thought, feeling slightly dizzy.

What he had used just now was the Phantom Trace, but not the first and second step, which were something he was used to, instead, it was the third and fourth step, namely dodge and counter.

That was something he had discovered he could do very recently, specifically when he was planning how to accomplish the mission the system had given him.

Since he didn't feel so confident with just using the basics of Phantom Trace, now that his body had upgraded, he felt he should try it at least once, which fortunately worked, making many parts of his plan easier.

Though of course, each use consumed a considerable amount of his body's energy and concentration, so he wasn't going to be able to use them as often as the first two steps.

*Pin*

Just then, the sound of a notification came to his smartwatch.

Poking a hole through the bandages on his arm, Jay was glad to read what was the message.

[Jay, all set, this is the exact location...].

From that moment on, Jay suddenly changed the way he was running, starting to breathe heavily and getting into buildings or alleys to try to lose Jared, who was still charging like an enraged bull.

As for the place he was going to, it was an abandoned high school.