Ren quickly approached the building, recognizing it from the sign as a gym. He went to the door they had entered through and listened in.
"So this is Kai Mercer. Never thought I'd see you here," a voice said. "I never thought I'd see an orc."
Kai scoffed. "What the hell did you just call me?"
"What is this? Are you offended?" Kai mocked. "Don't tell me you're actually human—but that can't be right. No human can be this ugly."
"Oh no," Kai continued, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Mr. Orc, are you delusional? Do you honestly think you're human? Please. You have to know you're just an ugly, fat, pig-faced orc."
"Y–YOU FUCKING MUTATED FREAK!" the guy yelled, his voice so loud that even Ren could hear it clearly from behind the door.
Okay… Kai is just making things worse.
But from what Ren heard, it was clear that the four guys inside knew who Kai was. And if what Ren assumed to be the leader's last words were meant seriously—and not just said in anger—then it seemed Kai had been targeted because he had powers.
Even though Star Island was meant to bridge the gap between people with powers and those without, it was never perfect. It worked, yes—society had largely embraced superpowered individuals, to the point where the hero system was eventually created—but that didn't mean all tensions disappeared.
There were still people who feared those with powers, people with inferiority complexes, or others who simply hated them. And on the other side, there were superpowered individuals with superiority complexes who believed they were better than normal people. That only made things worse.
Ren already knew about this issue. He just never thought it was this bad—to the point where someone would be dragged off the street and beaten.
I have to get in there now.
If he didn't interfere, Kai would just keep provoking them like an idiot and make everything worse.
Ren tried to open the door It's Locked.
Damn it.
He focused and tried to sense the shadows behind the door. The shadow from the key and the door handle overlapped, creating a shadow thick enough.
He formed a tendril and used it to twist the key.
The door unlocked.
Ren pushed it open and stepped inside the gym, immediately drawing the attention of all five people inside.
Who the hell are you?"
The guy who had been talking to Kai—the one Ren assumed was the leader.
Ren could see him clearly now why the hell did Kai call him fat.
The man was tall and muscular. Normally, Ren would have been much more intimidated, but the guy was a little shorter than him, and his buzz cut honestly made him look kind of stupid. Still, the situation was dangerous.
Ren had no intention of messing around. He wanted to end this as quickly as possible, so he spoke the truth.
"It doesn't matter who I am," Ren said. "What matters is that I already called the police, and they're on their way right now. So if you don't want to get in trouble, I suggest you leave."
His words made the four guys flinch. Their expressions shifted, nervousness flashing across their faces.
"Oh… okay," the leader said. "We don't need to get the cops involved in this. We can just leave."
He started walking toward the door, trying to pass by Ren. Ren moved to the side to let him through.
But the moment the leader got close, he grabbed Ren and shoved him hard toward Kai.
Ren fell onto his back.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" The leader started laughing. "You stupid idiot. Do you really think we didn't consider someone seeing us and calling the police? It'll take them a couple of minutes to get here—plenty of time to beat both of you into a bloody pulp."
"Good job, idiot. You shouldn't have gotten involved," Kai said from the side. "We should've just called the police and walked away."
Ren felt nervous. He started sweating.
"H-Hey, why are you doing this?" Ren said. "Is this because we—I mean, he—has powers?"
Ren's stumbling words made the leader freeze for a moment. Then he burst out laughing again.
"HAHAHA! So you also have powers?" the leader said. "Well, if you want a reason, I'll give you one. There's nothing I love more than beating the living shit out of freaks like—"
Something struck him from the side.
It smashed into his cheek, sending him flying as teeth scattered across the floor.
Ren smirked.
Because he did that.
The moment he entered the gym, Ren had noticed that the door led straight into the workout area, with equipment lining the sides. The group, however, was standing in the open space at the center of the large room.
When the leader shoved him toward Kai, Ren had acted immediately.
He created a tendril from the shadow of a pipe on the ceiling and silently moved it to grab a weight. He chose the heaviest one the shade could handle—barely. He lifted it slowly and positioned it carefully.
That was why he had been sweating.
He had even deliberately revealed that he had powers, just to distract the leader and buy himself a little more time.
And when the leader stepped into position, Ren used the weight and the shade together like a pendulum—
—and struck him down.
The leader landed on his back, whimpering in pain as he curled into a ball. He tried to speak.
"Whyya… what are you doiy? Getz… theo—"
It was jumbled nonsense, but they understood what he was trying to say.
What are you doing? Get them.
With that, the other three guys moved to fight Ren and Kai.
Ren was still controlling the pendulum. He adjusted its movement, aiming it at one of the guys so that he and Kai could each focus on one opponent. The guy Ren was facing started running straight toward him.
Ren had never been in a fight before. Until now, he had never even intended to fight anyone, so he had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. The guy in front of him was just running—he didn't look like he was preparing a move or anything.
So Ren moved first.
He suddenly rushed forward, startling the guy for a second. The guy quickly regained his composure and prepared to throw a punch, expecting something sloppy.
But instead, Ren struck him with a flying knee straight to the chest.
Yes—Ren ran in and hit him with his knee instead of throwing a punch.
A little earlier, Ren had realized something without fully thinking about it: this guy didn't actually know how to fight.
Fights between people who don't know martial arts usually go like this—trying to grab each other, holding on too tightly, pushing, shoving, or attempting sloppy takedowns. They throw ineffective punches, maybe an inch of movement at best. It's chaotic, messy, and unrefined.
If someone like that tried fighting anyone with actual martial arts training—even boxing—it would be useless.
And that's where things mattered.
This guy didn't know how to fight. He probably only fought people who also didn't know how to fight. He would expect a grab or a punch.
That was why Ren went for the knee strike.
It would have been extremely ineffective against anyone else—but against him, it was perfect.
The guy was hit and fell onto his back.
Ren didn't let go of the momentum.
He immediately jumped on him and started striking while the guy was on the ground. He threw punches at his face. When the guy tried to cover his face with his hands, Ren hit his stomach. When he tried to protect his stomach, Ren hit his face. When he tried to cover both, Ren struck different parts of his face and stomach.
While Ren was beating the guy, he was also focusing on the third opponent.
Normally, controlling a pendulum like that well, focusing on a different fight would have been difficult, but Ren kept moving it unpredictably. Its erratic swings made it hard to track, and the guy it was targeting fell pretty easily.
Ren continued beating the guy beneath him—
until the door opened.
"Everybody stop!"
It was a cop.
(Author's Note:
I know from the title you probably thought this was going to be a big fight, but it ended up being short. I know that might be annoying, but it's honestly the most realistic way for someone who has never fought before to win a fight. I also struggle with writing fight scenes where a character is fighting random mobs. That said, I think this is the longest chapter so far—let's see if we can keep this pace.)