Fate Online: Shadow

Dusk.

Amanda and Michael were out for a jog along a mountain trail just outside the city.

Both of them wanted to do it at Central Park, but the place was too crowded. So the two of them opted for the second option, which was a mountain just outside the city that campers frequent to.

Mostly city dwellers that want to experience life living with nature.

"It's been a while since both of us went out for a jog together" said Amanda in between breaths as the two of them jog through a beaten path on the mountain.

And along the way, they met a few fellow joggers, and what confused the two of them is that all of them are wearing uncomfortable looks on their faces while discussing something between themselves in hushed tones.

Michael and Amanda looked at each other in confusion as the latter said, "What do you think happened? Their faces looked like they saw something that they shouldn't suppose to see"

Michael just shrugged his shoulders saying, "We'll know when we get there"

So the two of them slowly decreased their speed until they were just walking, and as they continued on the road, Amanda finally couldn't stop her growing curiosity just like the rest of the few people who were also running behind them earlier, and so she decided that she would ask the next person or people that would appear from the opposite direction to ask what was going on ahead.

So when they saw a group of three young girls walking hurriedly like they wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, Amanda quickly came over and blocked their path saying, "Wait up!"

Her sudden appearance made the young trio jump in fright, and the tallest girl among them hastily said, "W-what do you want? Who are you?"

Amanda just smiled and said, "It's fine, I just wanted to ask what's going on ahead as all of the people we saw that came from your direction looked like they had just seen some ghost or something. Is there something going on over there?"

The three young ladies looked at each other before the shortest of them stepped forward and were about to answer after a little hesitation.

Wan! Wan! Wan!

But the girl didn't get to answer when the sound of puppies crying in the distance and laughter of men reached their ears, and when the three girls heard that, they closed their eyes before hastily running away.

While on the other hand, Michael frowned as his face quickly darkened like the soot on the bottom of a pot.

Swoosh!

When Michael suddenly dashed forward, leaving her behind, Amanda couldn't help but call out to him hurriedly in anger, "Michael! Wait, goddammit!"

With no choice to even consider, Amanda hurriedly followed after him. While those people who were a distance behind them just looked at each other, before they also decided to go over and take a look as they were also driven by their curiosity, while some just wanted to see the drama that's bound to unfold when they saw how aggressive Michael looked earlier.

"Let's go, I'd like to see these audacious bastards who are harming those little animals" in an aggrieved tone, said a muscular fit young man, around mid to late twenties, but just as the man was about to step forward and follow the rest of the people, a hand quickly grabbed his arm and held him back.

"No way, we're not going! Those people are probably a group of cruel and crazy gangsters, they're one of the people who had the audacity to do such a cruel thing! Didn't you see how many people we met on the way? But not one of them probably dared to stop them just by looking at their faces earlier!" The person who stopped him from going was his companion, a young lady around the man's age, probably his girlfriend.

When the people who haven't gotten that far away heard her, all of them couldn't help but stop in their tracks as they suddenly contemplated their decision to go as they know how much trouble they would receive if they happen to get entangled with a group of gang members, and they know how troublesome it is!

It's like a hellish experience!

But her concern fell into deaf ears as the young man turned to her and said, "Then just stay here with the rest, and don't worry, I won't do anything reckless. I just want to see what's going ahead of us, yeah?"

The young lady stared at him as her grip on his arm tightened, but seeing his resolute gaze, the young lady could only sigh helplessly in the end as she let go of his arm and said, "Fine, but don't eat your words, got it?"

"You betcha!"

The young man smiled brightly and gave her a thumbs before leaving.

Looking at the young man leaving her by herself, the young lady could only chuckle to herself while mumbling, "Geez, does being a soldier make someone so upright?"

So after that, she and a couple of people who decided to stay behind didn't continue their excursion to continue their jog as they knew that there would certainly be trouble on the path ahead of them. Some of them are even ready to call the police if things go south.

Meanwhile, Michael arrived at a small clearing where he quickly noticed a group of five thugs covered in tats while smoking, and in between them are two pups who are constantly whining in pain because one of the five men was seen pressing a lit cigarette on the skin of one of the two pups.

"Haha! It's so fun when they cry! Hey, hey! Am I crazy for doing this?" The man who was torturing the pups laughed like a crazy person.

"Of course not! This world is still governed by the law of the jungle even with how advanced society is! It's the fate of the weak to be bullied by the strong! Us!" answered one of them, which prompted the rest to laugh like they were some kind of privileged individuals that didn't fear the law at all!

And seeing his worse assumption turning out to be true, Michael's anger shot to the skies as he slowly walked over with increasing pace before it turned into a full on rush!

Then one of the men finally noticed the figure rushing towards them like a mad bull, making him smile menacingly.

"Hey, another ignorant little rabbit is here to entertain us! Haha!"

What the man said quickly attracted the attention of the others as they quickly turned their head around and saw Michael who was slowly closing the distance between them.

"This time, we'll leave him to you! You can do whatever you want, but make sure you don't kill him, got it!?"

All of the men laughed as they waited for the good show that's about to unfold.

The man snickered with a cold grin as he threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it while looking at his companions saying, "Don't be interfering now, yeah!?"

""Watch out!!""

The man was expecting their faces full of disdain and mockery, but the only thing he saw was the horrified faces of his friends, who quickly called out to him!

"Die"

It was because Michael was already before the man!

More accurately, his foot was already before the man as he had leaped forward earlier and executed a spinning back kick while in mid air!

Kapow!

And then the man was sent tumbling to the side under the stunned gazes of his companions, like their brains had just short circuited from not being able to immediately process what just happened!

"You guys are next. so clench your as* cheeks because its gonna get dirty!"