As the large number of people slowly made their way towards Ester and Eva, Ester keenly sensed how the atmosphere of the market changed in an instant.
From the harsh but nevertheless lively atmosphere that dominated the marketplace, when the gang appeared, it was as if the entire market was dumped in a bucket of ice water, plunging the surrounding atmosphere into one that was frozen and filled with wariness towards the approaching gang.
And from what he could discern from the eyes of the people around, it was because the leader of the gang currently saturating the market was here doing whatever the hell they wanted.
It honestly wasn't hard to notice their leader given the fact that they chose the incredibly brave move of leaving their green upper body bare to the extremely harsh elements.
In addition to the green skin and bared upper chest which distracted him, Ester belatedly noticed that he didn't have a Respirator mask to breath through, allowing sharp tusks to peek out the sides of his large maw.
With shoulders as broad as Ester was tall and fists as large as his head, there was little doubt in Ester's mind that the leader of the gang had little regard for how he or his underlings spliced to their very bone with some new Mutagen formula were carrying themselves.
Especially since the gang just smashed a stall, roughly shoving the shopkeeper aside and trampling on their wares just for being in their way.
With the harsh cracks of wood underneath their feet, the gang slowly but unmistakably moved towards them.
Glancing at the leader who had just grabbed am entire hind leg wrapped in tinfoil and bit into it without a second thought, Ester tapped Eva's side as the gang leader chewed through the metal protecting whatever animal the poor shopkeeper wasn't being compensated for.
'We should go.'
'I agree.'
Gathering the things they had prepared to trade with the vendor, the shopkeeper shot them a glare when he noticed that they were taking the chance to take his jerky, prompting Ester to leave behind the micro adjustable scope.
Removing the glare that he was giving them, once the swift trade deal had finished, Eva had already packed all of their things and was on the verge of leaving the place if not for the fact that the Green giant had suddenly stopped right in front of her.
Stopping right in front of them and forcing Ester to crane his neck upwards towards the man, the green skinned giant shifted his eyes from Ester to Eva before their toothy maw split into a wide grin.
Something he noticed though, as he stared into the giant's eyes, there was a strange... lack of intellect so to speak.
It was weird.
Pointing at Eva, the man spoke.
"You look pretty, become my toy."
Ester and Eva both spoke at the same time ["What?"]
Staring at the green giant in disbelief at what he had just heard, the green giant frowned as if annoyed.
"Pretty idiot not hear me? Become my toy."
'Nope, I'm not hallucinating.' Hearing Greenie say those words again, Ester confirmed that he wasn't hallucinating and the Greenie was indeed asking for Eva to become his toy.
But with that tone, it was more of a demand than anything.
And Ester had a bad history with demands.
"How about no?" Stepping in front of Eva and glaring at greenie, greenie turned his orange eyes towards Ester, his gaze turning from one of mild dissatisfaction at not having his desires met to one of disdain as he stared at Ester.
"I don't like you, get out of my way."
"And I said no? What's so hard to get about that?"
Greenie growled before something flashed past his eyes. "My name Borl, leader of Torks!" Borl the green idiot child stupid head pointed at his bared chest, the insignia of a metal jaw with two large tusks shoved into his skin.
"And am I supposed to say yes? My answer is still no."
Borl leaned over Ester menacingly "I am Borl! I don't like you!"
Borl's eye flickered over to Eva before he growled angrily. "Borl asks pretty idiot, do you want him or me?! I is leader of Torks!"
Eva let an annoyed hiss as she shook her head. [Borl was it?]
Borl grinned in glee and waggled his eyebrows at Ester as if it meant something.
[No.]
Borl froze in place.
Borl's eyes turned to look at Eva with a look of confusion. "What you mean no?"
Eva paused in place before looking at Ester and rolling her neck and tapping at her wrist with an unknown melody, her monotone voice echoing through her speakers. [Actually Borl, let me rephrase that.]
Borl paused.
[You seem like a pretty nice guy.] She rolled her wrists. [Come down for a moment.]
Borl bent down from his waist, bringing his head besides Ester as the green child's eyes stared at Eva.
Eva shifted nervously and leapt in place to remove the jitters hiding in her limbs.
[My answer to whether I want to be your toy or not...]
Ester swung his arm.
[It's no.]
---
The moment that Ester acted, his surroundings which were filled with the crude murmurs and gestures of the Tork family froze in an instant.
Staring in disbelief at the fact the Borl was decapitated, it was only when the green giants body fell and collapsed onto the ground that they finally realized something.
The heir of the Tork family was dead.
The throne of the Tork family suddenly opened up.
They had a chance to become the leader of Ash town.
Chaos instantly bloomed the moment the body fell onto the ground, several eyes landing onto the man who had just slayed their leader.
But make no mistake, there was no trace of loyalty in their actions as they rushed at Ester wielding whatever weapons they fashioned out of the falling debris.
No, the reason why they were rushing for Ester's head was for one reason and for one simple reason only.
'If I kill the guy who killed the boss, then that means I can be the boss!'
It was that simple reason.
It was of course a lot more complicated than that, but in essence, the desire currently running through all of the Tork family members could be summed up to that one sentence.
And as the receiver of all this killing intent, Ester felt no anger in his heart.
"If we kill that kid, I get first dibs on the girl!"
Ok. Maybe there was a little anger.
Glaring at the man who shouted out those words, the man went pale faced in an instant and stumbled, instantly getting shoved to the ground and stomped on by those who were previously his comrades.
Flicking the green blood that matched the green exterior, Ester glanced at the green giants corpse and felt the anger in his chest.
Killing Borl did nothing to quench the anger.
Ester snapped his head towards the charging crowd coming from all directions and instantly dashed towards the most strategically effective place, his mind coldly calculating the best way to kill them with the most pain possible.
'Hopefully, killing all of these fucking idiots will quench this anger.'
Feeling his limbs rush with newfound strength, Ester grabbed the knife heading his way and twisted the assailants arm, instantly stabbing him through the opening and cutting the heart.
Ester felt a cool feeling rush over his mind as he shoved the man into his friends weapons.
'Architects give me the strength to kill all these fucking idiots.'
---
Eva watched with wide eyes as Ester tore through the dozens of men and women assailing him.
Blood rising up like ribbons thrown up in the air every time he flicked his wrist, every movement had an animalistic rush to it as he jumped onto the vulnerabilities every time they were exposed, not letting go until even the last bit of flesh was torn away.
[Woah]
He was like a beast.
Eva felt a strange heat in her chest as she saw him lose his respirator from a wild swing, the respirator on his chest dented to a state where it was more economical to replace it wholesale.
'What am I feeling?'
From when she was young to where she was now, Eva believed that she had seen all the sides that Ester had to offer.
From that one sided focus when it comes to warding to how thoughtful he was when he secretly made her legs all the way to his natural dorkiness when he saw something he disliked.
But the sight in front of her? It was a whole new side to him that she never even knew existed.
Eva stared at Ester in a new light as she twisted around and dealt with a few attackers of her own, albeit at lower numbers than the madhouse currently surrounding Ester.
*BANG!
Kicking a man in the chest, Eva swiftly pivoted to stabbed at a different guys throat, both men instantly started struggling to breath. One from broken ribs and the other from a cut throat.
Twisting back towards the man who spliced lizard DNA into his body while the other nutjob clutched his throat bubbling with blood, Eva rushed towards the man who desperately tried to bite down onto Eva's flesh toned skin.
*Gurk Clunk!
Instead of biting onto flesh like the Lizard had hoped however, Eva let the man taste her steel foot currently crushing all of his jagged yellow teeth.
Putting all of her weight onto her extended foot, the Spliced man stumbled onto the ground as she used him as a stepping stone.
Leaping off of the man, Eva landed onto the upper floor, her eyes coasting over the number of corpses lying cold on the ground, some of them old as sin and others new as birth.
Eyes crawling along the bloodstained ground of the underground, Eva caught sight of Ester tearing into his surroundings like a bloody beast.
'He's scary when he's mad.'
Eva's eyes turned into crescents as she watched him rip out his blade and rip it into a man's heart, slipping in through the gaps where the metal met flesh, his cold gaze briefly meeting her own right before he bit into a pair of hands that flailed right in front of him. 'Architects I feel weird.'
Watching him bite into the hand and swallow a portion of it, Eva felt a phantom grin crawl up her face right before she dropped down, her hands raised up high right before it slammed onto the back of a woman raising a gun at Ester.
*BANG
The explosion startled everyone nearby as the use of gunpowder sent the bullet hurtling into a spliced woman's skull, drilling into her brain and killing her instantly.
Watching the woman collapse onto the ground, Ester sent a single cold glance her way right before he used the fallen woman's corpse as a shield.
Eva shuddered with euphoria at the coldness of his eyes before tilting her head in confusion.
Staring at her hands in confusion, Eva wondered. 'What the hell is happening?'
Breaking the ribs of the man who tried to sneak up on her, Eva felt an uncontrollable grin crawl up onto the side of her face as her heart beat rapidly, the respirator working overtime to filter the iron suddenly filling the air.
'Is it weird that I find this fun?'
+++
Post IELTS part 2
Tree