Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 350: Barroom Brawl

As the group laughed, a few of them spoke up.

"You’re not the first Mr. Confidence to come around here."

"Maybe you’re some big shot out there, but did you forget where you are? This is the Planet of Suppression, Mr. Confident.

All your power outside don’t mean a thing in here."

"Yeah, you’re just as weakened as the rest of us."

Some of the men here may have once been Deity Realm existences, but after spending too long on this Planet of Suppression, a place that forcibly dampened the powers of all who entered, their powers had become suppressed...permanently.

They were a mixed bunch, ranging from individuals who had offended powerful figures, exiles, intergalactic criminals, and others like them, who had fled to this planet simply because their pursuers wouldn’t risk entering a world that stripped them of their power.

Hearing their words, Jamie nodded in understanding.

"I see where your confidence comes from. Very well, I suppose I’ll play along."

Finally releasing the bag, he added,

"The bag’s right here. But I guarantee, not a single one of you will lay a hand on it."

With that, Jamie turned his back on them and began walking toward the exit.

Laughter erupted behind him, mocking, scornful sounds mixed with eye-rolls and exaggerated expressions.

He ignored all of it, stopping in front of the bar doors beside a table with a half-finished drink resting on it.

Then, he snapped his fingers, summoning a walking stick with a curved handle from his pocket dimension.

This is the part where I’m supposed to say something about manners making men," he muttered, "...but that might be copyrighted, so let’s just skip to the fun part."

With that, he spun the stick and used its curved edge to hook the glass, then hurled it straight at the forehead of the one reaching for the bag of coins.

It struck him directly, shattering on contact and causing him to stumble back, clutching his forehead in stunned pain.

At the sight, Richard sighed.

’Great.’

The man who had been hit recovered just enough to shout, rage bubbling in his voice.

"Get this bastard!!"

Two of the closest men near the door lunged at Jamie, fists flying, but Jamie dodged their attacks with ease.

He swung the walking stick, slamming it into the side of one’s head and sending him crashing to the floor, then ducked under the second’s punch and came up with an uppercut that launched the man into the ceiling.

At that, the bar erupted into chaos as the others shouted and rushed toward Jamie.

The first man who charged at him came in swinging with a broken table leg, but Jamie sidestepped effortlessly, letting him stumble past. Then, he brought the curved head of the walking stick down on the back of his neck, dropping him instantly.

Another came from the side with a punch, but Jamie moved backwards, the fist missing his chin by mere inches. In response, he jabbed the walking stick into the man’s stomach, doubling him over, then punched him in the face, sending him crashing into a row of barstools.

Someone tried to ambush him with a chair from behind, but Jamie spun, ducked low, and drove the stick upward between the attacker’s legs, flipping him off his feet and into a pile of already-splintered wood.

A bottle flew through the air toward Jamie’s head, but he tilted his head slightly, letting it whistle past without touching him. When another came hurtling toward him, he raised the walking stick, caught it mid-air with the curved edge, spun smoothly, and flung it right back at the one who had thrown it.

One man tried to grab the bag of coins behind him, but Jamie turned and grabbed his arm, spun him around, and slammed his head into the wooden edge of the bar counter, knocking him unconscious with a groan.

Two men came at him simultaneously, one with a metal chair, the other holding a jagged piece of a broken table.

Jamie dodged the first and blocked the second with the shaft of the walking stick, then swept his foot across the floor and took out their legs. They both fell on their backs, and Jamie stepped over them as another tried to bear-hug him from behind.

He elbowed the man in the side of the head, then jammed the curved handle of the walking stick behind the man’s knee, yanked it forward, and slammed him down flat on the floorboards.

In the midst of the brawl, a few turned their attention toward Richard, who had been silently observing without saying a word.

One of them attempted to punch him from behind, but he easily evaded the blow and opened his mouth to speak, only for another to swing a cracked bottle toward his face.

Richard caught the bottle mid-swing with his bare hand, his brow twitching in irritation. Without a word, he slammed it straight into the attacker’s forehead, shattering it in a shower of glass and dropping the man in a limp heap.

The man was already irritated from wasting time on a dead lead, and now, these ant-like bastards had the nerve to come at him.

He immediately joined the fray, grabbing the arm of the man who had first tried to punch him and flinging him over the table, sending him crashing into a shelf lined with bottles.

Another attacker came from behind, trying to grab him, but Richard turned, grabbed the man’s wrist, twisted it, and slammed an elbow into his jaw before shoving him headfirst into a nearby pillar.

"Jamie, stick," he called out calmly.

Without missing a beat, Jamie tossed the walking stick into the air. Richard caught it with one hand, and in the same motion spun it around and cracked it into the side of a man’s face, then used the curved handle to hook the ankle of another who had just raised a chair.

He pulled it, toppling the second man and sending him face-first onto a table. Without turning, Richard reversed the stick and jabbed the back end into the gut of someone trying to rush him from behind, knocking the wind out of him before turning and kicking him aside.

Then, without needing to say a word, he tossed the stick back over to Jamie, who caught it mid-air and brought it down on the skull of a man trying to discreetly grab the bag of coins amidst the chaos.

As that one instantly dropped, another tried to rush Jamie with a table, but he kicked the edge of it, flipping the man over it and sending him tumbling into three others.

One tried to hit him from behind, but Jamie ducked, swept his leg around, and took the attacker off his feet. He followed it with an upward jab from the stick to the ribs, and the man folded with a groan.

Richard clotheslined two of them with one sweep of his arm, then hurled a barstool like a discus at a man running toward Jamie. The stool hit squarely, knocking the attacker back into a pile of unconscious men and shattered furniture.

Just then, the bar door swung open inward, smacking into one of the men who had just begun to rise, sending him crashing back to the floor.

Standing in the doorway, looking over the scene with a puzzled expression, was a stunning woman with a delicate frame, her appearance radiating a sense of youthful beauty layered with a contrasting air of maturity.

The breeze from outside stirred her black and white hair, the curled tips shimmering with shifting colours.

She blinked in confusion, her black pupils framed by faint blue accents repeatedly appearing and disappearing under her eyelids as she took in the scene before her.

Jamie and Richard turned toward her without a word, then simultaneously knocked out the last two conscious men with punches before dusting their clothes.

"...What is going on here?"

She finally asked after finding her voice, and Jamie replied casually.

"Oh, hey Sarina. Just wanted to get some money."

He strolled over to the table where the bag of coins still sat untouched, picked it up, and tossed it into his pocket dimension along with his walking stick.

And that would likely be the last time Jamie would lay a hand on that bag for the next ten thousand years.

"You’re done with your business here, right? Let’s get moving then."

With that, he walked out of the bar without another glance. Sarina momentarily glanced at the unconscious bodies littering the floor, but she quickly redirected her gaze toward Jamie, completely uninterested.

She genuinely couldn’t care less.