Afterlife

28

When he first felt his opponent's hand wrap around his wrist, Hitori could have sworn it would have been a member of Dunland's group, trying to save their fellow member from his inevitable demise. He internally sighed as he turned to address the problem, but he was just as surprised as Santino to discover that it was in fact a member of Jones' group who had come to Santino's aid. 'How interesting.'

"A bold move... stopping me like this," Hitori said with a cold expression as he turned to face Justin head on as he continued, "I said only members of Dunland's group couldn't make a move, so you took it upon yourself to act in their stead... smart." Then, in the blink of an eye, he reared up his right leg and sent a strong kick into Justin's stomach. A kick which sent the unexpecting Justin flying backwards a few feet with a yelp of pain, clutching the affected area as he regained his stance, "but not smart enough," Hitori then added as he turned to strike at Santino again, only to feel a powerful force from behind him slam into his back, forcing him to stumble forwards as he took a few steps past Santino's position in attempts to regain his stance, nearly falling face first in the process.

The moment he had regained his balance, Hitori chuckled playfully as he said, "Oh so that's how its going to be huh?" before turning to face Justin. Twirling his dagger around in his hand as he lunged forward, going in for an attack to Justin's side, but much to Hitori's surprise, Justin turned just in the nick of time, using both his hands to redirect Hitori's own movements. One to redirect Hitori's hand, which was currently holding a dagger, and the other to keep Hitori moving past him as he turned out of the way of his attack.

'Extraordinary!' Hitori thought to himself as he regained his stance after the unexpected dodge, turning once again to face his opponent, a slight smile on his face as he thought to himself, 'This boy may have even more potential than Santino if trained properly... He thinks fast on his feet, and he's already shown he knows how to use his own opponent's body and momentum as a weapon... but how long can he keep it up? And how well does he do with long distance attacks I wonder, and is defense his only weapon?'

Before either one of them could make another move, the sound of shots and screams filled the hall as every group leader from the crowd began making a mad rush for the exits on the bottom floor, filling half of the ground area with scared and horrified people who practically trampled over each other as they all raced to reach the exits first.

In attempts to take out the strongest leaders, and make it easier for them to take control of the city, the Commander's group along with all his allies were up in the stands firing arrows and bullets down upon the frightened crowd, filling the stands and ground with fallen bodies, most of them lying in splattered pools of their own blood, making the air thick with panic as every leader ran for their lives. Especially those who had little to no fighting experience, for there were no where near enough IP leaders present to protect them all, since many of them had joined force with the Commander and Hitori, leaving the rest to fend for themselves as they all tried, seemingly in vain, to escape their impending doom.

Hitori then turned his attention away from Justin and the panicked crowd as he came to the realization that this had provided Dunland's group with the perfect opportunity to escape with Santino. As he turned, he saw that his expectation was in the process of becoming a reality as Marcus and Diego had already managed to take down the two guards in charge of Santino, and were now headed back to where the rest of their group was positioned around Santino, protecting him from any further attacks from Hitori or anyone else involved in the revolution.

Realizing this might be his last chance to take Santino down, Hitori then disregarded all thoughts of Justin, as he turned and began charging once more towards Santino's position, where his friends were already hard at work trying to find the appropriate key for the cuffs on the chair. Before he managed to get even remotely close enough, however, he felt yet another shove from behind that caused him to stumble forwards slightly as he released a disgruntled sound before yelling, "Oh for Pete's sake!" as he turned sending the dagger he'd been holding flying back in Justin's direction. If it wasn't for his surprisingly quick reflexes, then the dagger would have killed him, but instead Justin managed to raise his hand just in time for it to bury itself in that instead of his chest.