The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 69: LXIX - The Punishment

Jeremy wrapped his fingers around his neck and locked them together tightly. Flames exploded between his fingers, creating a bright orange glow under his hands where the slash wound was. The light was brilliant, almost blinding in its intensity, creating a fierce glow that pulsed along with the beat of his heart. The flames crackled softly as they cauterized the wound.

Etienne looked down at the knife, now broken in half, and placed it back in his hoodie.

"You still had some power tucked away, huh? I thought your Flame Seeker move exhausted you. You really are strong, Jeremy," Etienne approached him slowly.

Jeremy drew his weapon and held it out in front of him, albeit much less confident than before. The weapon has transformed from the Dragon’s Tail back into his sleek black studded kanabo.

"Did you...did you just try to decapitate me?" Jeremy screamed out angrily.

"Does that surprise you?" Etienne questioned, "Didn’t you just try to burn me alive?"

Etienne continued to approach him. Jeremy swung the kanabo at him wildly, and Etienne caught it with one hand.

Stunned did not begin to describe the look on Jeremy’s face as he attempted to wrestle his kanabo away from Etienne’s grip.

"No," Jeremy breathed, barely a whisper. "That’s not—"

His boots scraped across the street loudly, his muscles bulged from effort, but he did not free his weapon at all.

"How is this possible?" Jeremy questioned in his mind, "How could he have recovered from fatal burns like that when he could barely heal from my kanabo strikes earlier? How is he so many orders of magnitude stronger than just a few minutes ago? Was he really holding back? Or did he just awaken something?"

Etienne let go of the kanabo, and Jeremy stumbled back, barely stopping himself from tumbling to the ground.

Etienne closed the distance effortlessly and unleashed combinations of punches and kicks that Jeremy struggled to track. He was able to successfully block some of them, but most of the attacks slithered through his defense and landed cleanly, causing him to stumble more.

Jeremy jumped back several feet and put some distance between the two of them. He looked back to where Etienne had stood and saw he had disappeared once again.

Jeremy turned around quickly and then looked back in front of him.

"Again?" Jeremy thought, "He’s showing off at this point. His speed is overwhelming, but he’s still lacking in strength."

Jeremy continued to scan the area until he felt something hard press his chest. He looked down quickly and spotted Etienne with his forehead placed against his chest and two fingers placed against his stomach. Etienne snapped his hand forward slightly and brought the two fingers into a fist, striking Jeremy and making a deep sound.

The punch knocked the wind out of Jeremy and caused him to double over in pain.

Etienne leaned in next to his ear, "You’re strong, Jeremy. I’m not just trying to taunt you; you really are. It’s obvious how much work you’ve put in to get to this level. But I want to reiterate what I said earlier. You are gifted. You possess things no one else has."

Etienne put a hand on his back as he continued to recover from the punch, "It shouldn’t offend you. I’ve heard of MRMH, the muscle condition you have. Back when I was obsessed with power, I liked to research things like that. I remember reading, of all the genetic defects and diseases that have even remotely positive effects, that one has the least amount of downsides."

He grabbed Jeremy by the hair and forced his neck back violently, "So you won the genetic lottery, you received samurai training from a disciple of Miyamoto Musashi and..."

Etienne tapped on Jeremy’s chest, right where his heart was, "On top of that, your friend Aganju is still inside you, powering all of those fiery special moves."

Jeremy jerked away from his grip and dropped into a combat stance. He gritted his teeth, "What’s your point, Etienne?"

Etienne frowned, "My point is, with all those advantages, plus your years of experience as a hero, why is The Sword Saint still thriving? Why haven’t you stopped him?"

Jeremy’s stance faltered slightly, "I...He’s still too..."

"Look, I’ll give you a little grace. You’ve been a hero, you’ve been saving people and you’ve been helping to train the next generation. I was being deliberately ignorant when I called you Alex’s master earlier. I’m aware of you and your exploits."

Etienne approached him once again, and Jeremy stumbled backwards in response.

"But I can’t even give you much grace there. You abandoned the city you protected for years to be a celebrity in California and get more notoriety."

"D-don’t make it sound so scandalous!" Jeremy retorted, "I’ve done all I can in Oregon. I needed to go there to grow my star. The more clout I have, the easier it is to convince—"

Etienne stopped and frowned at him, "You’ve been with the INHO for over ten years. I’m sure you’ve stopped hundreds of crimes and disasters. What’s a few years in Hollywood going to do that all of that experience didn’t?"

Etienne slowly drew the broken Totska knife and ran his finger along the edge, "And that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is you abandoned your star student. The prodigy who was gifted to you on a silver platter is now defecting from heroing all because of you couldn’t stick around. You left him fend for himself, and you left him to die when he was overwhelmed."

Etienne disappeared from sight and reappeared in front of Jeremy, holding the broken knife to his throat, "You’ve been asking what kind of hero I am? What kind of hero are you, Jeremy?"

Jeremy stumbled backwards at the feel of the knife and fell down. He yelled from the floor, "So that’s what this is? You gonna keep lecturing me on how bad of a hero I am?"

Etienne sat down on his torso and mounted him, "No. I just wanted you to know your transgressions, before I do what I do next. Of course, you still have one more. You tried to kill me. I actually felt my skin and my muscles burning up and shriveling. Don’t think that’s going unpunished either."

The words forced their way out of Jeremy’s mouth as he put his hands up to cover his face, "No, no, no Eti! I know I pissed you off, but we could be amicable about this. You don’t want to do this. You’ll make an enemy of the entire INHO! Do you understand what that really means?"

Jeremy’s arms dropped slightly, "Your ignorance of the hero world is making you arrogant! You’re dominating me now, sure, but even with what you’re showing me, you still can’t touch anybody in the top 25. You can’t touch the Sword Saint. You can’t touch Speed II or The Star family, any of them. Even someone as uninformed as you has to be aware of their power."

Etienne leaned back and considered his words. Jeremy took the opportunity to continue, "Think about it, being suspended from heroism will be the least of your worries. You’ll be required to register your powers. They may even throw you to Esoterica if they deem you’re an unranked, which you very well might be. You’ll be locked up on some island with your powers restricted. You won’t be able to do any more good. Just think about this for a second!"

Etienne cracked his knuckles, "No, I’ve thought about this for a while. I’m tired of being a hero under them, just like Alex is. I don’t know where he got the idea from, but I agree. If the INHO wants to hunt me, then fine. I’m a Jonin of the Iga Clan ninjas. I dare them to try to find me. And as for you..."

Jeremy tried to shake Etienne off his torso to no avail. Etienne remained in his mount position, and he rained full-powered hook after hook onto Jeremy’s head and ribs.

At first, Jeremy assumed a turtle-like defense, raising both his arms to cover his head and successfully block most of the attacks. But the guard wasn’t able to protect both his head and his ribs, and Etienne quickly varied in jabs that slipped through the gaps of Jeremy’s defense. As more and more punches connected and Jeremy’s face became more bruised and bloodied, his defense gradually faltered.

After a minute of heavy attacks, Jeremy’s arms dropped to his sides completely, and he fell unconscious, but the blows did not stop. Etienne continued to strike him in the face, grunting with each powerful blow. Blood flew from Jeremy’s nose and mouth and splattered on the pavement.

Etienne lifted his arms and clasped his hands together tightly. He slammed them down on Jeremy’s face multiple times. He looked at the heap of blood and viscera that used to be Jeremy’s face and exhaled.

"I don’t hate you, Jeremy," He muttered to himself, "But you should’ve never threatened me."