A small, smooth stone shot out from Othello's left hand in a blur, hitting the hand of the nearest goon. The latter let out a cry of pain and dropped the cutlass in his hand, his voice startling the rest of the men awake.
They rushed in to drown Othello in an ocean of chaotic bodies, but he was one step ahead.
He dashed towards the wailing man who seemed to have been stripped of his awareness to his surroundings, his mind spinning as he observed the incoming attacks.
'This man had been gripping his Cutlass too tight, and his weapon was obviously too heavy for one arm judging by the veins and slight tremors that na through his right side.
'He is a novice, but the rest...'
He slammed the metal cudgel in his hand straight into the man's temples, sending him sprawling to the ground along with a fountain of crimson blood that spurted like a fountain.
He took one of the men down in an instant, causing the other four men to hesitate. The hesitation didn't last long though, as they resumed their attack with ferocity and a subtle cooperation.
Unfortunately, their moment of hesitation was all Othello needed to appear before another man. His mind scanned the man's body, analyzing the most effective way to bring him down in the short period before the remaining men could catch up.
'Tall and sturdy. Go for the knee.'
He swung his cudgel, his body already proceeding to the next planned move. For some reason, he felt invincible with the amount of information being sorted through his head.
For a moment, the five men before him seemed like prey.
Just as Othello was feeling high though, something that hadn't occurred to him- or maybe it had, but he just ignored it in his bidding arrogance- happened.
Instead of connecting to the huge man's knee as he had thought, his metal rod clashed with the sharp edge of the former's weapon. The recoil Othello hadn't accounted for sent him stumbling, but the man himself seemed to have been thrown by a ragdoll as his massive frame flew through the air.
Othello felt weak for a moment as well, and his vision swam.
That didn't matter though, as the remaining three men bore down on him without glancing at their companion. It was a tacit understanding gained only through many skirmishes, something that Othello couldn't understand at that moment.
He hissed in pain as a sharp knife stabbed into his shoulder. The pain felt real and burning, causing him to take a sharp breath with wide eye as his rod slipped from his hand.
Forcing himself to ignore the pain, he leapt and twisted his body unnaturally, narrowly avoiding another stab and a cutlass aimed at his leaping body.
He crashed to the ground, having avoided the momentary onslaught, but his tingling skin reminded him that he was still in danger. He didn't look up, but his eyes seemed to become a tenebrous pool as they absorbed the surrounding information in an instant.
'Three men. I have to disrupt their coordination!'
Othello rolled on the floor, using his aboveboard strength to ram into the man with the smallest body frame on his right. The man faltered as a slight cracking sound rang through the air, but Othello didn't pay any attention to that.
His legs swung through the air, creating momentum for him to leap up with his back and back away from the three men.
'Two and half now,' he concluded, taking a moment to look at the man he had hit with his body. The man was standing on two legs and glaring at him with the same hateful expression on the faces of everyone present, but the slight shift in his balance did not escape his eyes.
Ignoring the injured man, he looked at Boss Josh who had an incredulous expression on his face. Then, he grabbed the knife stuck in his shoulder and pulled it out expressionlessly.
'I was careless,' he thought. 'I let my power blind me, I let emotion cloud my judgement.'
As blood flowed down his back, Othello basked in the feeling of pain for a moment.
Along with the pain came weakness, but he couldn't show it in front of his foes.
Boss Josh wasn't going to let him have his moment though. With a shout that almost sounded like a cornered animal, he ordered his men harshly.
"He's injured, swarm and kill this whoreson. Kill yourselves in the process if you must but he must die a dog's death, you hear me?!"
The men ran towards Othello instantly.
Othello didn't react and just stood there, watching coldly.
'I was in a rush before, now, it's time to really see what the boon of Knowledge entails.'
His eyes turned into tenebrous pools, and the world in his view instantly became different. The alley, the bricks, stones and people in front of him had disappeared, leaving four stick shaped figures and glowing points of light in their person.
"I see," he muttered as the first man came upon him with murderous ferocity. He brought his knife down, aiming to stab the injured boy's eye before he could react, but Othello easily sidestepped the attempt and plunged the knife in his hand into the man's neck.
'The jugular,' he noted as a fountain of blood washed his face. The man fell beside him, his expression frozen in ferociousness, but Othello didn't even glance at him, moving to the next person.
The second man paused though, a look of fear replacing his previous expression. It was as if the former boy had disappeared, replaced by a far more fearsome creature.
He didn't react even when the knife used to kill his fellow slammed into his eye.
As he fell, Othello picked up the metal rod he had dropped earlier and flung it directly into the last man's neck, causing him to slump face-first.
His body twitched a few times before remaining motionless.
Othello's eyes regained their normal colour and a wave of fatigue that he was sure could only rival his times as a baby hit him.
He didn't let it show though, as he walked towards Joshua- who was already frozen in terror- with a small smile.
The man felt his heart rise to his throat the moment Othello came before him. Looking at the bloody visage of the boy in oversized clothes, he expected himself to die there and then.
Othello didn't do that though, he simply walked past him and spoke again.
"I'll meet you here tomorrow, same time. And you better have what I asked."
Joshua didn't dare look back, bobbing his head up and down.
When he looked back after a minute of silence, Othello had disappeared from his sight.