That Time in Hong Kong: A Wolfgang Pierce Novella by Logan Ryles

Author:Logan Ryles [Ryles, Logan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

8

Wolfgang wouldn’t call what happened next “training.” At least, it was nothing like any combat training he’d ever experienced. It was more like systematic physiological torment designed to back every victim into a corner so tight that they snapped—and in the words of Zhou Yan, the Master, they found “their motivation.”

More prisoners were brought to the cavern, many of them bruised and scarred, more than a few adorned with Saimôn’s precise stitching. The prisoners were divided into pairs and armed with dummy weapons.

Then the agony began. Wolfgang was matched against a guy six inches taller and fifty pounds heavier, all of it muscle. He was given a wooden spear with a blunt tip while his aggressor wielded a heavy wooden sword already stained with dried body fluids. While the giant leered from the edge of the combat mats, the bigger man lunged at Wolfgang, his eyes alight with crazy bloodlust. He didn’t seem to really see Wolfgang as another person. It was as though he were chasing a ghost, some figment of his own imagination.

He was drugged out of his mind, as were most of the combatants Wolfgang now interpreted to be veterans. While the fresh meat stumbled and fought to remain on their feet, blows rained down and pained cries echoed across the room. One of the men who marched in with Wolfgang received a crack across his skull with a wooden battle ax so sharp and hard he flopped to the floor unconscious and was dragged away.

The veterans weren’t training, Wolfgang realized. They were actively fighting, even now, away from the pit. They were proving themselves while the giant watched. Wolfgang could see the gleam of evaluation in his eyes, and he remembered what Zhou Yan had said. “The better you fight, the longer you shall live.”

So, Wolfgang fought. Not to kill. Not even to survive. Just to keep himself alive long enough for that opportune moment of mutual destruction to appear. He fought the big man with the sword, using his stick like a quarterstaff instead of a spear. He struck with it, blocked with it, and rammed it between the guy’s legs to trip him.

The first five minutes were agonizing as the guy rained repeated strikes against Wolfgang’s back and unprotected sides. Wolfgang made no effort to shield himself, using every injury as an opportunity to gain a harder hit of his own. The big guy was strong, but he’d neglected cardio. He lacked endurance, and as he began to flag, Wolfgang stayed on him, moving quickly, dodging, ducking, and weaving. He winded himself, hanging on by a thread but ready to do whatever it took to hunt that opportune moment.

The guy stumbled, and Wolfgang struck him in the back of the knee with the end of the staff, sending him tumbling to the ground and the dummy sword flying from his hands. Wolfgang put a foot on his arm and the tip of the “spear” at the base of his neck.

The giant watched, arms folded, his mutilated face leering down at the wrestling mats, but only focused on Wolfgang.

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