All of them were surprised by this situation! They stared in disbelief at Hector, who was kneeling on the ground, trembling.
"I’m sorry! P-Please forgive me!" Hector cried out in a shaky, fearful voice.
Yet, before he could say another word—
A powerful kick struck his abdomen, sending him rolling across the ground until he crashed into a nearby trash bin.
Tom’s face was drowned in fury and madness. He could hardly believe that he had once lost to such a weakling. The mere thought of it filled him with fury, making him curse his own foolishness and carelessness during their previous fight.
But now, he had a chance to make things right.
The group lunged at Hector, throwing wild punches and kicks without hesitation; in truth, most of them had no real desire to do this. But resisting Haley’s orders meant facing unspeakable punishment themselves.
All they could do was pity Hector’s unfortunate fate.
About 10 minutes passed.
"Aaaah! It hurts!" Hector screamed in a desperate, pitiful manner.
His voice was chaotic as punches landed on his face. Within seconds, his uniform was completely soaked in blood.
At this moment, his clothes had turned entirely red—too red, almost excessive.
"P-Please! I still have a mother and son!"
A punch struck Hector’s right cheek, sending him rolling like a ragged doll again!
"Fuck! Do you have that much blood in you?" Tom narrowed his eyes while wiping the blood off his fist—on the shoulder of the guy next to him.
"Hey! Don’t do that!"
Then, Tom turned his indifferent gaze toward Hector, who was now barely recognizable after the relentless beating.
Even though the surroundings were dark and gloomy, he could still see that Hector’s body was soaked in an unknown-colored liquid.
But he knew—it was clearly blood.
"I think we should stop. He’s on the verge of death," a muscular young man said in a calm voice.
"Yeah, I think so too... Our mission was just this much anyway."
What they said made perfect sense.
At this point, Hector’s state was rather bad, yet it was just his exterior that he had created with his acting skills.
The most bloody soaking on his clothes was red liquid that he had bought before at a store in the academy.
Additionally, he had avoided nearly all the critical, dangerous attacks, but it still hurt.
Besides, this place was pretty dark and gloomy, so one could hit him correctly.
He had significantly decreased the damage he received.
Hector slowly struggled to get up while shivering, but his legs gave out again.
"No! I want to torture him more!" Tom gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, reaching toward Hector, who was still struggling to stand.
"STOP RIGHT NOW, ASSHOLES!"
A soft yet firm voice rang out loudly through the alleyway, causing everyone to freeze in confusion.
Then, a shadow of a human suddenly dropped from the roof of a nearby house and emerged in front of Hector, blocking Tom’s path.
"Who are you? Do you even know who you’re facing?" Tom shouted in anger.
However, their expressions froze as the face of the shadow gradually became clear.
"L-Lady Violet?..." they shouted at the same time.
"Hah! Finally, you stupid guys recognize ME?" Violet laughed, pointing her finger at them and thrusting her chest in a dare way.
"Ah... Of course, I know you... But why are you here at this time?" The muscular young man lightly scratched his head, asking politely and evenly.
"Yep!" A thin young man smiled in agreement.
Yet, Violet barely said anything to them.
Seeing that, Tom smiled awkwardly, then spoke in a comfortable tone.
"Uhm... So... you might leave that man to us... He picked a fight with our Lord Haley... Knowing that, we’re just following our mission... We’re hoping that you’ll understand our situation..."
All nodded quickly in obedience, hoping Violet’s response would be favorable.
"No!... I’ll protect him!" Violet declared while glancing at Hector, who was frozen from what had just happened.
"He is certainly grateful to me after that," A smile instinctively appeared on her face as she thought about that.
The others looked at each other and nodded, understanding that everything was settled.
"So... why do you protect him... Maybe... you’ve fallen for him, as rumors say?" Tom asked with a calm voice, yet he couldn’t hide the worry inside him.
Violet had a high status and was a rival of Haley, so if he was impolite to her, his fate would be so bad afterward.
However, he had to confirm it because if it was true, he might escape Haley’s wrath.
"You’re right! I love him!... and now outta my way, you guys, little piece of shit."
The corners of Tom’s mouth twitched as he heard Violet’s harsh words. Even though he knew the rumors about her—how she always cursed anyone who angered her, but- he managed to keep his voice as polite as possible.
"Yes. Lady Violet... as you wish."
Then, they left the alleyway, leaving only Hector and Violet behind.
"Awesome! Kill two birds with one stone!"
Violet smirked playfully.
" Haley has always annoyed me for a long time... And now, he can’t reach me anymore!... Moreover, I could protect Hector from bullying... so, I have repaid my debt to him..."
Violet turned back toward Hector.
"Huh? What’s wrong with him?"
At this point, Hector’s face had turned deathly pale.
He looked like a corpse.
Hector slowly stood up; surprisingly, his body barely had any visible injuries.
A few seconds later, he suddenly fell down, then tried to lean on a trash bin, hugging his head and muttering something.
Violet quickly walked toward Hector and asked carefully.
However, before Violet could touch Hector’s shoulder, he immediately raised his hand, gesturing for Violet to stop.
"Fuck! You’re my ultimate misfortune." He accidentally uttered harsh words, anger, but quickly tried to control his emotions.
Then, he glanced with deadpan eyes at Violet, who was frozen after hearing his words.
All of his plans had been destroyed. And now, that lunatic dog would kill him in the future. It was maybe that his freedom would become too limited. Everything was so bad for him after that.
He could live a more peaceful life if Violet didn’t suddenly appear there...However, it had been too late.
He had to become powerful and useful than Kevin! Because he was the person who could help Hector at this point.