The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

304 Inside The Black Box

Black Swan and Jita Kyoei were like a group of birds being attacked by a swarm of wasps. They were mobbed.

“No ‘Tap’ here,” Emma said. She was confident that she would finish Creed any minute. (In MMA matches, a tap is a sign that an opponent is giving up in the middle of a fight.)

Unfortunately, Emma’s confidence seemed to be just a sweet dream. She forgot that now they were surrounded by swarms of wasps. Suddenly, two men came up to them and one of them punched Emma in the side of her face.

Luckily, the punch missed a bit because Emma immediately moved her head back. However, it still hit the side of her face so Emma accidentally weaken the stranglehold she was giving Creed.

As soon as Black’s grip had weakened, Creed immediately used the opportunity to escape from his lock.

“Shit! You cowardly bastard!” Emma exclaimed, finding herself already surrounded by the three men.

Creed, who had managed to escape, immediately punched Black in the face, causing the mouthpiece attached to his mask to break and almost fall off.

Emma covered her face and head with both arms. Luckily, Creed’s punch didn’t damage her voice device. But, now, Emma found herself in an even more serious situation.

The two bastards of Dragger’s men try to keep her from fighting Creed. Both men were big enough to grab her by the arms and force her to her feet.

.....

Emma looked at Creed with a vicious look. “Fair fights are just bullshit coming out of your damn mouth.”

The boy smiled faintly as he rubbed his neck which was still sore from being strangled so strongly. In fact, his body still felt weak after the lack of oxygen. “A principle of life can change when you are in a state of urgency,”

“You seem so afraid of losing that it tarnishes your own pride! You, coward!” Emma hissed.

Black’s words made Creed clench his fists. In fact, it wasn’t that he felt right about getting the upper hand by cheating. In fact, he also felt humiliated at having to deny himself a promise he had kept for years.

This was the first time Creed had lost a one-on-one fight. Yes, although now it looked like he was on the superior side, in fact, he had already lost. If his two men didn’t help him earlier, he would surely meet the same fate as Pablo now, and Dragger would be declared defeated.

Creed and Pablo always pride themselves on the principle of justice in their fights. The two of them prefer to fight more enemies, rather than ganging up on someone. They had the self-esteem of teenagers who were mostly still naive.

Today, Creed learnt to mature by finding that he must drop his own pride to survive in this world. Nothing could be perfect, even if you tried hard.

Creed’s fist landed on Emma’s solar plexus. The blow was so hard that it made her cough and curl her body in excruciating pain. Even though she had been beaten like that, the two men to her right and left still held her without the slightest bit of respite.

“Don’t call someone a coward if you’re also a coward,” Creed said, stepping very close to Black. He squeezed the top of the mask that the midget man was wearing. “Do you think covering identity is not a cowardly thing?”

On the other hand, Rachel, Kathy and Poppy, who were fighting in the same location, saw what happened to their Emma. Seeing the leader and friend, being bullied by three men made them panic.

By seeing Emma’s condition that had been held by the two men, with Creed in front of her with one hand on Emma’s head, everyone knew what Creed would do.

The boy was about to take off the mask of the Black leader. Showing who was behind the mask to about a thousand people there.

“NO!” Rachel exclaimed with bulging eyes while she was continuing to clean off the attacks of the people who ganged up on her.

“HEY! HELP HIM!!” Kathy exclaimed to Calvin and Troy who were closest to Emma.

The two men, who were busy fighting their enemies, immediately turned to Kathy who was still trying to run toward Emma, ??but kept being blocked by Dragger’s men. They immediately turned their eyes in the direction Kathy was pointing. There, they realize that the Black leader had been incapacitated by Creed and his men.

Despite the difficulties, because each of them was hindered by several Dragger core teams at once, Calvin and Troy forced themselves to help the Black leader even though it meant they had to take various hits.

However, all the help was too late. Creed’s grip was strong on Emma’s mask. The girl’s arms couldn’t be moved and her stomach hurt after receiving a few punches from that jerk.

“Just so you know, the second purpose of this war is... to reveal your identity, shadow hero,” Creed whispered beside Emma’s ear.

“You... damn bastard!” Emma growled.

“DON’T!” Rachel exclaimed, watching Creed move his hand up, pulling the mask that Emma was wearing.

The view that had been blocked by the small nets covering her eyes, suddenly changed. Her vision became clear and bright. Strands of long hair that were also pulled out from her jacket’s neck along with the mask that was removed roughly, slowly hung down the sides of her face.

Jonas once said that life was meandering. There was no straight path. No plan could go flawlessly even if you’d prepared it as thoroughly as possible. The day may not always be sunny because a storm could come at any time.

From the very beginning, Emma had continuously mentally trained herself. When she decided to help Roger and Poppy, she knew there was a big risk she had to face. A risk, which even though she had avoided in such a way, would most likely still happen. It had always been a fear for Emma.

But like what Jonas once said; You have to learn to face your fears, because one day, what you’re afraid of will come no matter whether you’re ready or not.

“Huh...” Rachel stopped her run. She stood quite a distance from Emma – too far to be able to save the girl. She couldn’t believe this would happen. She couldn’t believe that this was the day The Black Swan’s cover was exposed.

Creed’s eyes widened. He took a few steps back while still staring at the two bright brown eyes that were glaring at him. He knew that his eyes had a pretty bad minus. However, his eyes weren’t so blurry as to notice that the person in front of him was a girl.

Just like Creed, the two men who were holding Emma were also surprised that they instantly let go of the girl’s arms and stepped back with a dumbfounded faces.

In the few seconds after Emma’s mask came off, the fighting around her gradually stopped. They stopped in shock at the figure of the Black leader who was no longer wearing a mask. And what was even more surprising was the female figure behind it.

“Y-you are... a girl?” Creed stammered.

Emma held her aching stomach as her body hunched forward. She tried to unite her consciousness, strength, and spirit back. After stabilizing enough, she straightened up back. She glanced at one of Creed’s hands that still holding her mask.

Emma wiped the side of her lips, then looked at the blood that stained the finger of the glove she was wearing. She smiled crookedly and looked back at Creed.

“Is the fact that you gang up on women making your self-esteem even more tarnished?” She asked.