Chương 5: The big bad

Then they heard it heavy, deliberate footsteps echoing through the empty streets. Mochi and Amelia turned toward the source of the sound. A hulking figure appeared at the edge of the square, his frame towering over any normal man. His body was grotesquely muscular, with veins bulging across his arms like writhing snakes. Jagged spikes jutted from his shoulders, and his skin was a sickly, mottled gray. His eyes glowed a sinister red, and his mouth curled into a cruel grin, revealing sharp, yellowed teeth.

Amelia swallowed hard.

"That's Drago," she said. Mochi clenched his fists, stepping forward. Drago's deep, gravelly voice cut through the tension.

"Well, well, Amelia. You brought yourself a little boyfriend to play hero? How sweet." Amelia's face turned bright red.

"He's not my boyfriend!" she snapped, her face turning pinck Mochi, unbothered, stepped closer.

"Enough of the jokes. I'm here to take you down Drago." He pointed to himself"My name is Mochi and I'm going to defeat you!" For a moment, silence hung in the air. Then Drago threw his head back and roared with laughter. The sound was so loud it shook the windows of nearby buildings.

"Take me down? You?" Drago said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Oh, this is rich!" Mochi narrowed his eyes.

"Laugh all you want. You won't be smiling for long." Drago grinned, motioning for Mochi to come at him.

"Alright then, pipsqueak. Show me what you've got." Mochi lunged forward, his Burning Mochi attack igniting his arm in flames. He hurled the fiery punch directly at Drago, causing an explosion on impact. Smoke filled the square as Amelia called out, "Let me help""Stay out of this," Mochi interrupted, his voice firm. He turned to Amelia with a grin.

"I wish to face him on my own." Amelia shouted "Are you crazy!? I thought we agreed yesterday we'd do this together!" Mochi landed softly saying "I mean yeah we did, but a little part of me wants to see how well I can do without any help you know what I mean, so please let me have this kay?" Amelia said nothing as she puffed her cheeks The smoke began to clear, revealing Drago coughing and waving a hand in front of his face.

"You got dust in my mouth BLEH!" he growled. Mochi didn't give him a chance to recover. He charged forward, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks. Each hit connected, forcing Drago back and sending debris flying. Drago finally hit the ground, sliding into a pile of rubble. Mochi dusted off his hands.

"This is the guy everyone's afraid of?" he said mockingly. Before he could react, a dangerous red glow illuminated the rubble. Drago emerged, completely unharmed, his eyes blazing with fury.

"You shouldn't have done that," Drago growled.

"I was having fun, but now you've gone and pissed me off." Before Mochi could retreat, Drago grabbed his arm in an iron grip. Mochi struggled, but Drago's strength was overwhelming.

"Let's see how cocky you are after this," Drago sneered, opening his massive mouth. A fiery red energy began to build inside.

"MAGIC SKILL: DRAGON CANON!" Mochi was hit point blank"MOCHI!" Amelia shouted The dust settled across the shattered town square. A smoking trench stretched dozens of meters through the ground where Mochi's body had been blasted away. For a few agonizing seconds... Nothing moved. Amelia's breathing became frantic.

"Mochi...?" Suddenly, a hand emerged from the rubble. Then another. Mochi slowly pulled himself free, coughing violently as smoke escaped from his mouth. His clothes were scorched black, and burns covered his arms. He rolled onto his back and groaned.

"... Ow." His entire body trembled as he forced himself to his feet.

"That... hurt way more than I expected." Across the square, Drago stared in genuine surprise. Then a grin spread across his monstrous face.

"Pretty impressive." He cracked his neck.

"Not many survive a point blank Dragon Canon." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. He pointed at Mochi.

"Most of them don't even leave a corpse never mind a breathing alive body." Mochi wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

"I'll... take that as a compliment I guess." Drago laughed.

"You've got guts, I'll give you that." Mochi took a deep breath. The orange aura around his fists began to intensify. Tiny flames danced across his arms. He slowly lowered his stance.

"... Alright." His smile disappeared.

"It's about time to take this more seriously..." With a deafening crack, the ground exploded beneath his feet. Mochi vanished. Drago's eyes widened. A split second later, Mochi appeared beside him, his fist wrapped in blazing fire.

"MAGIC SKILL: BURNING MOCHI!" BOOM! The punch connected with Drago's ribs, sending the giant skidding across the square. Before Drago could recover, Mochi was already above him. An axe kick crashed onto his shoulder. CRASH! The road shattered beneath them. Drago retaliated with a sweeping hook, but Mochi ducked underneath it and drove three rapid punches into his stomach. One. Two. Three. Each strike erupted with a powerful force. Amelia watched from a rooftop, eyes wide.

"He's... faster than before." Mochi leaped backward and thrust his arm forward.

"MAGIC SKILL: BURNING MOCHI!" The attack roared across the battlefield like missile. Drago crossed his arms. The explosion swallowed him whole. Buildings rattled. Windows burst. A cloud of smoke towered into the sky. For a brief moment... Silence. Mochi breathed heavily.

"... Did I get him?" Then two glowing red eyes appeared within the smoke. A massive hand burst through the cloud. Drago stepped out almost completely unharmed. His grin had vanished. Only anger remained.

"Enough games." The air around him became suffocating. Every step he took cracked the pavement beneath his feet. Mochi rushed in again. He threw punch after punch, each one faster than the last. Drago blocked them all. Mochi pivoted into a spinning kick. Caught. He tried to pull away. Drago refused to let go. With terrifying force, the monster swung Mochi through the side of a nearby building. Wood exploded everywhere. Before Mochi could regain his bearings, Drago was already in front of him.

A crushing elbow slammed into his chest. Mochi coughed blood. Still refusing to quit, he pushed off the wall and landed another flaming strike directly across Drago's jaw. The impact echoed through the village. Drago's head barely moved. He slowly turned back toward Mochi.

"... You finished yet?" Mochi's confidence faltered for the first time. Drago's fist tightened. In an instant, he disappeared. Mochi's instincts screamed. Too late. Drago reappeared directly beneath him. His arm shot upward like a cannon.

"DIE!" The uppercut landed square beneath Mochi's chin. BOOOM! The sheer force blasted Mochi high into the sky, creating a shockwave that rippled across the village. He soared above the rooftops, blood spraying into the air before his body crashed back down through three buildings in succession. The final impact left a massive crater in the earth. Dust drifted lazily upward. No movement came from within. Drago lowered his fist and looked toward the crater with cold indifference.

"Hmph." Across the square, Amelia stood frozen in horror.

"... Mochi?" Amelia's legs trembled as she stared at the crater where Mochi had fallen. Drago slowly turned his attention toward her, a cruel smile spreading across his face.

"Now then," he rumbled.

"You're next." Amelia swallowed her fear and planted her feet firmly on the ground.

"I won't let you hurt him anymore..." Drago laughed.

"Oh? You mean that Mochi kid or what ever?" He charged forward, each footstep shaking the earth.

"HE MEANS NOTHING TO ME DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!"

"Magic skill: DRYGONIC CLAW!!" Amelia thrust both hands into the air.

"I won't let you!"

"Magic Skill: Cracker Wall!" Hundreds of golden cracker like shards erupted from the ground, weaving together into a towering barrier several meters thick. The wall shimmered as more layers stacked on top of one another, creating an almost fortress like defense. Drago's claw slammed into it. Amelia struggled against the pressure, her feet digging into the dirt"Can't... H-hold it... m-much... longer..." CRACK! The impact cracked the outer layer but failed to break through. He struck again.

Another explosion echoed across the town. The wall splintered, but Amelia quickly poured more magic into it, repairing the damaged sections almost instantly. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she gritted her teeth.

"I'm not stronger than you, that may be true..." Another punch shook the barrier.

"And I know I can't beat you in a head on fight..." Drago roared and unleashed a barrage of heavy blows, each one sending fractures racing across the wall. Amelia closed her eyes and focused.

"But if there's one thing I'm good at..." The Cracker Wall thickened once more, becoming even denser than before.

"... it's protecting the people I care about! My friend!." She said she looked behind her to see Mochi unconscious. For the first time that day, Drago's grin faded slightly. Drago stood before Amelia's battered Cracker Wall, his fists still clenched. A twisted grin spread across his face.

"I'll smash through that wall eventually." Amelia's breathing was heavy. She could feel her magic reserves dwindling with every second she maintained the barrier. Then.. Something landed on the rooftop of a nearby building. Drago's ears twitched.

"Hm?" A cloaked figure stood silently against the afternoon sky, their face completely hidden beneath a dark hood. Without saying a word, they flicked three small canisters into the square. The canisters burst open on impact, releasing enormous clouds of thick gray smoke that swallowed the battlefield in seconds.

"What the?!" Drago roared. Visibility dropped to almost nothing. He swung his massive fist through the fog. Nothing. He spun around and threw another punch. Still nothing.

"COME OUT!" he bellowed.

"WHAT IS THIS FOOLERY!" The smoke muffled every sound. Frustrated, Drago began wildly attacking in every direction, smashing buildings, splitting wagons in half, and punching empty air. Every swing created violent gusts that scattered debris across the square, but he couldn't hit a single target. Hidden within the smoke, the hooded stranger moved with incredible speed. They reached Amelia first.

"Hey, can you stand?"

"Barely."

"That's good enough, we need to go now." Before Amelia could ask another question, the stranger scooped her onto one shoulder. Then they rushed to the crater where Mochi lay unconscious. The figure effortlessly lifted him as well. Without wasting another second, they leaped onto a rooftop and disappeared into the maze of buildings, vanishing from sight before the smoke had even begun to thin. Several moments later, a breeze swept through the square. The smoke slowly cleared.

Drago stood in the middle of the destruction, chest heaving. His glowing red eyes scanned the area.

"Huh?" He scanned the shattered pavement. The crater. Empty. No Amelia. No Mochi. His expression twisted into pure fury.

"... They're gone." Veins bulged across his neck as he slammed both fists into the ground. The earth cracked for dozens of meters in every direction.

"THEY'RE FUCKING GONE!?"

"WHO DARES STEAL MY PREY?!"

"I'LL KILL THEM!!" He stomped the ground over and over in pure rage..

"ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON THEM THEY'RE DEAD, THEY JUST PISSED ME OFF!" His roar echoed across the entire town, sending birds fleeing into the sky and causing terrified villagers to bolt their doors shut. Drago looked toward the horizon, his fists trembling with rage.

"You can run..." A sinister smile crept across his face.

"But I'll find you."

"And when I do..."

"There won't be enough left to bury."